Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

[Windsock]

Received a claim? Yes
Issue Date: 9-1-2015
Amount approx: £800
Claimant: Cabot
Solicitor: Restons
Original Credit: Vanquis

Particulars of Claim:
The Claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and Vanquis dated on or about xxx xx 2009 and assigned to the Claimant on xxx xx 2012 in the sum of 8xx.xx.

PARTICULARS a/c no xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

DATE ITEM VALUE
xx/xx/2014 Default Balance 8xx.xx
Post Refrl Cr NIL
TOTAL 8xx.xx

Stat Barred? No

Have sent: Acknowledged the Claim, Sent a CCA request, Sent a CPR 31.14 request

Other Info:
I've received the following replies to my CCA/CPR requests:

1. Cabot - the standard response letter - "We anticipate that we will be able to provide this information within 40 days"

2. Restons - the standard response letter - "You would have been provided with a copy of the contractual Terms and Conditions at the time the account was opened and hence we see no reason why you now require an additional copy" ... "the Particulars of Claim contains sufficient information in order for you to understand what the claim relates to..." etc etc.

I have been following Nuff55's Cabot/Restons thread on this forum with interest, and as far as I can see my defence should be along the same lines as the defence posted by Nuff55 here:

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...787#post507787

Could anyone confirm if I'm going in the right direction with this? Many thanks.

[Windsock]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

Update:

I submitted my defence on MCOL on 8 Feb.

I heard nothing further from Restons or Cabot until today, when I received the following from Cabot

(N.B. I made the CCA request to them on 19 Jan, so this has taken 41 days):






(Also some T&Cs enclosed and a Statement of Account with today's date.)

So is this bit of reconstituted tat really enough for them to win in a court hearing? I'm prepared to fight it all the way, but only if there's a reasonable prospect of success.

Any advice/pointers greatly appreciated.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

So your defence was based around the lack of documents and they have now supplied you with one of them at least. Have you heard whether they are going ahead with the claim? It's been nearly 28 days since you submitted your defence.

To be honest, if they have supplied you with the T&Cs as well as the above it's not going to be very easy to fight this one. They have now complied with your CCA request so you can't argue non-compliance with the requirements of s.78 of the CCA. For online applications submitted from Jan 2005, a tick box fulfils the role of a signature, so there wouldn't be any more in the way of a credit agreement. It was taken out in 2009 so you no longer have the protection of s.127 that prevented a court from enforcing a debt unless there had been a properly executed agreement. The court would have discretion to enforce this one unless you can find a major flaw with the default notice or the assignment.

May be worth thinking about an offer to settle it or a Tomlin order if you want to avoid a CCJ.

[Windsock]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

Many thanks for the detailed reply, FP.

It does now appear that the claim has been stayed. At no stage did I hear anything from Restons since submitting my defence.

Am I correct in thinking that I can now spend £155 on applying to get the claim struck out, and that Restons would also have to spend £155 on applying to get the stay lifted?

If so, what do you reckon the chances are that Restons would throw money like that on a fairly low value claim? I'm just trying to crunch the numbers. Is it worth me spending £155 or should I bank on them not wanting to spend £155 ?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

You may consider 'inviting' them to discontinue the claim rather than throwing money at the court system....

[Windsock]

UPDATE - CLAIM DISCONTINUED - Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

Just wanted to update this thread as I know it's annoying when stories are left open-ended on forums such as these.

Since my last post 9 months ago I've had 4 or 5 letters from Miss D Armstrong at Restons with various reduced settlement offers and other waffle.

The gist of all the letters implied that there was a judgment against me and that I had no legal options left but to pay. Which, of course, was utter garbage.

I vaguely recall that it's a breach of the SRA rules to mislead an unrepresented opponent, but not sure if that applies to paralegals.

Anyway, needless to say I ignored everything and have just had the following letter. Many thanks to all who advised on this thread.

[MIKE770]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Vanquis - 9-1-2015

nice one