County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

[glasscake]

Hi

I was hoping to work this out myself but think I need a bit of steering in the right direction.

I had a debt with Marbles for a card that was taken out in 2003. Me and my husband hit really hard times in about 2008 and I think I stopped paying around this time although can't be 100% sure. About 8 months ago I started hearing from Cabot receiving the usual letters requesting payment. I then started to receive letters from CCS Collect. I then received a notice of change of agent instructing Marlin and then Marlin advised Cabot to instruct Mortimer Clarke to which they did! My last letter from Mortimer Clarke dated 2 July 14 stated that they had been instructed to start court proceedings as I had failed to agree a reasonable payment arrangement and gave me 14 day to reply with my proposal. On the 9th of July I sent a CCA request to the original creditor, Cabot, with £1 PO and sent recorded delivery. I checked the royal mail postal tracker and my letter was received on the 10th July - within the 14 days. I worked out the 12 + 2 days to be the 31st of July - the 31st being the 3rd day. Today I came home to a court summons. I'm guessing that they have to supply me with the requested documents before taking me to court or am I wrong?? Some help as to what to do next would be greatly appreciated. One more thing. Can I have the case moved to a county court near me as it's in a court miles from me!

Just to add the particulars of claim

By an agreement between Bank of Scotland (Marbles)
("BOS") & the Defendant on or around 17/02/2003
(2the Agreement") BOS agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card upon the terms &
conditions set out therein. In breach of the Agreement the Defendant failed to make the minimum payments
due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was assigned to the Claimant on 29/04/2010.
The Claimant therefore claims 4648.14.



Thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

They have to supply the CCA before they can get judgment. Unfortunately non compliance doesn't prevent them bringing court action, only getting judgment, so you have to go through the process.

By an agreement between Bank of Scotland (Marbles)
("BOS") & the Defendant on or around 17/02/2003
(2the Agreement") BOS agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card upon the terms &
conditions set out therein. In breach of the Agreement the Defendant failed to make the minimum payments
due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was assigned to the Claimant on 29/04/2010.
The Claimant therefore claims 4648.14.


Presumably it is at Northampton ? Basically all these kind of cases come from Northampton as that is the bulk processing centre. Once you get to allocation (after defence or application) it will be moved to your local court.

So steps to take then as it;s a credit card debt;

Firstly, don't panic.

Secondly, many of these Consumer Credit debt based Court Claims are issued through the County Court Business Centre and are rather lacking in detail and information. The are often claims bought by debt purchasers who don't have the paperwork to back them up to hand and who wing it on the hope that they obtain a default judgment.

So, first steps (within 14 days of receiving the claim)

1: ACKNOWLEDGE THE CLAIM - you can do this online usually at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
You'll need your claim reference and password from the front of the claim form

2: Send A CCA REQUEST to the CLAIMANT ( see here ) (ACTUALLY AS YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE THIS YOU NEEDN'T DO IT AGAIN - YOU RESPONDED TO THE LBA with a CCA request so that's fine)
This applies to all credit cards / loans / hire purchase / store cards type debt. It doesn't apply to Mobile Phones / Utilities or Overdrafts.

3: Send a CPR request to the CLAIMANT'S SOLICITORS ( see here ) (DO THIS - I've basically underlined bits in the POC which allow you to ask for those documents - they have tried to avoid mentioning a default notice grrrrringly)
This applies to everything unless they happen to have supplied you with a bunch of paperwork to back up their claim (v. unlikely)

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Amethyst, thanks for the swift reply. Just to clarify, I send the CPR 31.14 filing my defence on 1,2 and 4 of below?

1. Agreement / Contract
2. Default Notice
3. Assignment
4. Formal Demand

Can I not include 2 because it's not included in the POC or have I got that wrong and I leave it all in??

Thanks again

[Amethyst]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Amethyst, thanks for the swift reply. Just to clarify, I send the CPR 31.14 filing my defence on 1,2 and 4 of below?

1. Agreement / Contract
2. Default Notice
3. Assignment
4. Formal Demand

Can I not include 2 because it's not included in the POC or have I got that wrong and I leave it all in??

Thanks again

Don't file a defence (I don't think you mean that but just in case you do, don't, just put the acknowledgment of service in as intend to defend in full )

The CPR letter goes to the claimants solicitors (Mortimer Clarke) and I'd do

1: Agreement between Bank of Scotland (Marbles) ("BOS") & the Defendant on or around 17/02/2003
2: Terms & conditions set out in the Agreement
3: Notice of Assignment to Claimant on 29/04/2010


And yes can't include Default notice as they haven't mentioned it. They will need it later though so not an issue.

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Right! I'm glad you said that as I was going to fill in the Acknowledgment of Service part and the Defence and Counterclaim part. So I just need to fill in Acknowledgment of Service (which gives 28 days to prepare defence) and send off the CPR to Mortimer. Think I've got that!

Thanks again!

[Amethyst]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Yes xx Just acknowledge you have received the claim and tick the intend to defend box. The 28 days runs from when you received the claim (so its max 33 days from date claim was issued)

That should be plenty of time for the claimants to reply to tell you they won't comply with the CPR request and you to put a defence in based on non compliance with the CCA request you sent beginning July. xx

Anything you receive come and let us know - if you don't hear anything then just come back when you have a week or so to go before the defence is due and we'll help you with it.

And be having a nosey around some other peoples threads as you'll find it really helpful and be prepared for any letters you receive.

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Marvellous you are and, yes I have just looked at something almost identical to mine! I'll post back a soon as I hear anything.
Thanks for your time - again xx

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Hi, just a few more questions.

I've acknowledged service online and have my CRP letter ready to post. The issue date on the claim form is 29 July so it would be deemed to be served on the 3rd of August. I then have 28 days to prepare defence which takes me to the 31st of August. I'm on holiday in Spain from the 12th - 28th of August. Now, having had a look at a few other posts, if Mortimer Clarke agree to the extension, I will have to e-mail the court to confirm? Fingers crossed MC reply before I go away! This won't give me much time when I get home to defend!! Home on late on Thursday the 29th so doable on the Friday. I read on another forum that if the 28th day lands on a weekend you get an extra day - is this the case. I hope so! Wished I'd only booked a week away now!!


Thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

It is unlikely they will agree to the extension so when you get back from holibobs it will be a case of spend that weekend getting the defence sorted and checking over anything you receive from the claimants or creditors whilst you are away. You'll be fine submitting on the Monday just give the court a call first thing to tell them its done so they can note it on the file just in case MC are quick off the mark.

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Hi

I was just looking at your post where you advised me to send a CPR request requesting the docs stated in the POC and you say they left out the default notice. Would this be the very first default notice I would have received from Marbles? The only reason I ask is that my last payment may have been in 2008 so there is a chance the debt could be statute barred.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Hi

I was just looking at your post where you advised me to send a CPR request requesting the docs stated in the POC and you say they left out the default notice. Would this be the very first default notice I would have received from Marbles? The only reason I ask is that my last payment may have been in 2008 so there is a chance the debt could be statute barred.

A DN doesn't prove whether a debt is SBd because a lot of people make payments after defaulting. The reason for asking for the DN is to ascertain whether it was compliant in the first place. If you want to obtain information regarding the last payment date, you could send a Part 18 request, see here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...233#post388233 :thumb

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Ah! yes, hadn't thought of that. The DN is not mentioned in the POC. Is there any way of getting Cabot to produce it?

Thanks again

[glasscake]

Re: County Court summons from Mortimer Clarke, help please!

Hi all

I'm back from holiday and ready to start preparing my defence. I am a bit worried about what to put as a few letters arrived whilst we were away. I sent my CPR request to Mortimer on 2nd August (claim issue date 29 July) and they replied on the 8th (although arrived whilst on hols so after the 12th Aug) stating they were taking client's instruction in relation to request and that they agreed to the 28 day extension and that I should write to the court - should I ring/email the court as my 28th day is on Sunday? I also received a letter from Cabot dated the 18th August thanking me for my request under the CCA 1974 and telling me they currently don't have the info required on file but that they anticipate having it within 40 days, if not they'll write to me. So what now? I sent Cabot the CCA request in early July yet Mortimer still went ahead and issued a claim. If Cabot don't have the info required why did they put what they did in the POC? What is my defence? Would it be ignoring the CCA request in July and allowing Mortimer to issue a claim? And will they now have to produce these docs if it gets to court?

Many thanks again