County court claim received

[tnageoff]

Hi, I have received a county court claim for £1350 plus court and solicitor fees. Having checked my experian account I have a defaulted account from the same debt collection agency but for a different sum, nearly £1000 less. The default date date is showing as 31/7/2009 and I am sure I have not paid anything for longer than this and have never acknowledged the debt in writing. Is the default date (listed under the debt agency not the original creditor) the same as the last payment?
Can anyone help me with my best next steps please?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County court claim received

Welcome aboard

Hi, I have received a county court claim for £1350 plus court and solicitor fees. Having checked my experian account I have a defaulted account from the same debt collection agency but for a different sum, nearly £1000 less. The default date date is showing as 31/7/2009 and I am sure I have not paid anything for longer than this and have never acknowledged the debt in writing. Is the default date (listed under the debt agency not the original creditor) the same as the last payment?

In a word, no, it isn't. It couldn't be. Defaults are supposed to be recorded between three and six months after your first missed payment. With a bit of luck, your last payment would have been between January and April 2009 so it could well be Statute Barred. :high5:

Can anyone help me with my best next steps please?

See below for the usual steps to take upon receipt of a claim

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 - this will extend the time you have to respond to the claim to 28 days from when you received it. Step-by-step instructions can be found here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...313#post499313

2: Send A CCA REQUEST to the CLAIMANT ( see here )
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 )
This applies to everything unless they happen to have supplied you with a bunch of paperwork to back up their claim (v. unlikely)

You may also want to look at this post: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...233#post388233

Would be useful if you could type up the particulars of claim and also tell us a bit more about this account. typing:

[nemesis45]

Re: County court claim received

Some more detailed history will help us to advise appropriately.
1. The name of the original Creditor.

2. The type of account. credit card/unsecured loan?

3. When was the last payment or written acknowledgment of the debt?

nem

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

Thank you FlamingParrot, much appreciated.
Nemisis45 - the original creditor was Capital one for a credit card. I have never acknowledged the debt in writing but have received chasing letters every 2 to 3 months or so if that's what you mean.
Thanks.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County court claim received

Thank you FlamingParrot, much appreciated.
Nemisis45 - the original creditor was Capital one for a credit card. I have never acknowledged the debt in writing but have received chasing letters every 2 to 3 months or so if that's what you mean.
Thanks.

That shouldn't make any difference.

My view is that, with a recorded default date of July 2009 and no payments made after initial default, the debt should be statute barred because defaults are recorded months after your last payment. I don't suppose you'd have a copy of the default notice issued by Cap One after all these years. One of the documents you'd request on your CPR request is the DN, which should have been issued before recording a default.

Although you could go straight for a SBd defence, I'd say it's worth going through the usual motions to get more information and also to have a back-up plan.

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

Unfortunately I don't have any old paperwork no.
I will follow your instructions to get all of the relevant information and go from there.
Once again, thank you so much for your help and advice.

[nemesis45]

Re: County court claim received

There is an approach that I have used successfully when dates are somewhat unclear and a CCA request has been made to the claimant and not been complied with ( you have I take it made a CCA request?)
It is to write directly to the claimant/copy to the solicitors along the lines of:

Ref: County Court Claim No.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Sir/Madam.

I refer to the above mentioned claim which ( name claimant) is pursuing via its solicitors ( name sols) receiving this claim has prompted me to check my credit history and I have concluded that this alleged debt was already statute barred when the claim was issued on (date).

I respectfully suggest that given this information that (name claimant) withdraws the claim in the interest of saving costs and court time.

No part of this communication is an admission of any liability for the alleged debt and if ( name claimant) decides to continue the claim it will be robustly defended.

Signed for post.

No admission of liability gives the claimant something to dwell on and if nothing else may bring about disclosure of anything they might be relying upon.

nem

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

Thanks nem, I will be sending the CCA on Tuesday and will wait to see if they can find any paperwork to back their claim up.
Depending how that goes I'll use this template.
Thanks :-)

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

Hi,

I have just logged on to the Gov Gateway to log a defense, but am unsure what to put as my defense. Until I have the paperwork to make sure it is barred or not do you have any advice on what to put?

[Amethyst]

Re: County court claim received

There is an example here http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...t-Court-Claims plus you want to put as your primary point about the claim being time barred....

something like

The Defendant contends that the debt claimed is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980. The claim appears to be based on simple contract and an excess of 6 years have elapsed since any cause of action may have accrued. The claim that the Claimant's are entitled to payment of £xxxx, or any other sum, or relief of any kind, is denied.

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

My apologies, I should have read the previous replies again as instructions were already included!
I have acknowledged the claim on the Gov website now. I assume that I now send the information requests and wait to hear from them? Is there anything I need to do in the meantime?
Thanks

[Kati]

Re: County court claim received

You could read some of the other threads while you're waiting for replies to give yourself an idea of what to expect
http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...-a-Court-Claim

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

Hi Kati,

I have been reading through the templates to send to Cabot and their solicitors.

Within the guidance for the solicitor letter it says - NB: ONLY LIST HERE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE MENTIONED IN THEPARTICULARS OF CLAIM ON THE FRONT OF THE CLAIM FORM - eg. IF THEY DON'T MENTION ' DEFAULT NOTICE' YOU CANNOT ASK FOR IT UNDER CPR 31.14, IF THEY MENTION CONTRACT rather than AGREEMENT - ask for the CONTRACT.

No documents at all are mentioned within the Particulars of action, therefore what documents can I request please?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County court claim received

Hi Kati,

I have been reading through the templates to send to Cabot and their solicitors.

Within the guidance for the solicitor letter it says - NB: ONLY LIST HERE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE MENTIONED IN THEPARTICULARS OF CLAIM ON THE FRONT OF THE CLAIM FORM - eg. IF THEY DON'T MENTION ' DEFAULT NOTICE' YOU CANNOT ASK FOR IT UNDER CPR 31.14, IF THEY MENTION CONTRACT rather than AGREEMENT - ask for the CONTRACT.

No documents at all are mentioned within the Particulars of action, therefore what documents can I request please?

I've gone all the way to the top of the thread but can't see the particulars of claim having been typed up or scanned so I can't tell you what they mention, however, from experience, they will not explicitly mention documents as such, but make reference to them, like "the defendant entered into a credit agreement with xyz under account number yyyyyyyy. The defendant defaulted on the account on xx/xxxx/20xx and the account was assigned to the claimant on xx/xxxx/20xx" or something along those lines.

In most cases they will allude to at least three items: an agreement or contract, a default and assignment, that means you can request copies of the agreement or contract, the default notice and the notice of assignment. In some cases they may mention something else like a final demand, if they don't you don't ask for that either.

Hope that helps.

[tnageoff]

Re: County court claim received

Hi FlamingParrot,

below is exactly what is on the summons -

1 - the defendant entered into a credit agreement described by the original creditor as Capital One-Credit Card and having account number xxxxxxx ('the Account')
2 - The Claimant, a UK Limited company with company number 3757424, is the assignee and legal owner of all rights previously enjoyed by the original creditor in respect of the Account
3 - The Defendant is indebted to the Claimant in respect of the account in the sum of 1350.18
4 - The Claimant claims the said sum of 1350.18, plus costs

From the above I can ask for copies of the credit agreement, can I also ask for any other details of the account as they state the account number, such as payment history (I ideally wish to confirm the last actual payment date to see if it is as I believe Statute Barred)?

If I can only get the credit agreement, I am unsure as to how to proceed because I cannot be certain if it is Barred or not.

Thanks
Geoff