Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

[Judehamish]

Received a claim? Yes
Issue Date: 2-9-2014
Amount approx: 2---.--
Claimant: Lowell
Solicitor: Bryan Carter
Original Credit: HBOS

Particulars of Claim:
The claimants claim is for the sum of £1---.-- being monies due from the defendant under an agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974 between the defendant and HBOS plc under account reference 11023684429930 and assigned to the claimant on 24/06/2013 notice of which has been given to the defendant.

The defendant failed to maintain contractual repayment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served which has not been complied with.

The claim includes statutory interest pursuant to S.69 of the County Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum (a daily rate of 0.44) from the date of assignment of the agreement to date but limited to a maximum of one year amounting to 1--.--

Stat Barred? No

Have sent:

Other Info:
Could be over six years since any money went into the account. I've no idea of charges or dates etc on the account. Panicking about this as I'm desperate to avoid a CCJ

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

Hi Jude,

Apologies for the delay in replying and welcome to the forum.

Do you know if this is an overdraft or credit card / loan account ?

Do you recall receiving a default notice or notice of assignment ?

First thing you need to do is acknowledge the claim, you should be able to do this online at moneyclaimonline - tick intend to defend in full - it can be changed later, just gives you a bit more time to deal with it and decide whether to defend or make an offer/negotiate the debt. This will give you 33 days from the date of issue of the claim.

Once that's done and we know a little bit more about the debt we can write and ask for relevant information from the claimants to see how the debt is made up and whether it is valid.

Best wishes

Sharon

[Judehamish]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

Hi Sharon

Many thanks for your reply. The claim relates to an overdraft on an account that I have not used for well over five years. I've no idea how much of the debt is made up of HBOS interest and charges.

Unfortunately I had many years where I buried my head in the sand and just threw away all debt correspondence, so I have no default notices.

I was going to acknowledge the claim via registered post, but will save the money and do this online - many thanks.

I've also got a CPR 31.14 prepared and ready to send off. Do I need to enclose a postal order with that?

Thanks again for your help

Jude

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

No, no postal order needed with the CPR request - that should go to the solicitors named on the claim form.

So for the CPR request you can ask for things mentioned in the statement of case, in your case the agreement, the notice of assignment and the default notice.

It is very likely they will respond refusing to supply any of the information but don't worry, they still need to evidence the claim that money is owed and they have the right to claim it, and the letter is a good step to demonstrate to the court you have tried to find out more information.

Do you happen to recall why you stopped using the account ? was it a case of going into overdraft and their continual charges just stopping you from ever getting out of it ? If so have a search for foster-burnell v lloyds recent county court judgment which you might find of interest.... and if you wanted to consider defending on a similar basis you would need to send a full subject access request to get all your data and transaction lists from HBOS (which costs £10 and takes 40 days).

And don't worry about ostrich syndrome, we've all done it at one time or another xx

[Judehamish]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

Hello again

i stopped using the account as I was going through a divorce with an HBOS manager, so didn't want her to see my account. I was also short of money and wanted a clean start. Also, how do I get the court hearing to be at a local court.

Does Bryan Carter win most of his cases?

many thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

Ahhh tricky and understandable.

Bryan Carter probably does win most of his cases generally, but not on here, ie. ones where people stick up for themselves and defend the claims.... there's stacks of threads on Bryan Carter Solicitors on here, I've just started shifting different solicitors into their own forums for ease of browsing, so have a nosey through some of those threads ( http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...ter-Solicitors )

When it gets to allocation - which is about a month after you have submitted your defence - you'll get a 'directions questionnaire' to complete where you put down your local county court or hearing centre - and the case is transferred to there for any hearings etc needed. Tbh we don't often get to a hearing with BC, but every case is individual.

[Judehamish]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

Many thanks again for taking the trouble to reply - especially at the weekend.

I feel a bit happier now, knowing that if I do things correctly I've a chance that it still might not end up at a hearing.

Jude

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell / HBOS - 2-9-2014

There is always the option of negotiating with the claimant directly to avoid a hearing and a CCJ, you make an agreement to pay by installments under what's called a Tomlin or Consent order ... but the first step is always to find out what documentation they have to rely upon and then take it from there xx