cabot vs sarah55

[sarah55]

Hi, I received a claim form from the County Court Business Centre 09/04/2016.
The details are; It was issued on 05 Apr 2016, for the amount of £1261.79 plus £70 court fee and £80 legal representatives fee. The claimant is Cabot Financial (UK) Limited and the solicitor is Restons Solicitors Limited. Original creditor is Express Gifts. Particulars of claim states, "The claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the defendant under a contract between the defendant and express gifts dated on or about Jul 14 2001 and assigned to the claimant on Aug 19 2015". PARTICULARS- a/c no xxxxxxxx, DATE- 10/03/2016, ITEM- Default Balance, Post Refrl Cr NIL, VALUE-1261.79.
I have not acknowledged or made payment to this account in over 6 years, I have registered online and done the acknowledgment of service and said I wish to defend the claim. I also checked my credit report and this account shows up as closed, updated in Oct 2015 and that payments have been made through 2008 to 2012, I cant understand why.
Ive read the first steps to take on the forums but I am unsure if when I request my CCA and CPR whether or not I need to say that that this debt is statute barred? And should I base my defense on statute barred or wait to see what response I get from the claimant and solicitor?
Any advise will be gratefully received as Im finding it all a little over whelming.

[Noah]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

You do still need to send a cca request and while you are at it a CPR request.

I realise statute barred is red is an absolute defence but the more strings to your bow so to speak the better.

can you remember any details of how you opened the account ?

I am a little surprised they have waited so long to assign it,

How much were the payments they are saying you made from 2008?

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thanks for your reply, so when I send a cca and cpr do I mention I have not acknowledged the debt in over 6 six years?
I opened it in 2001,think I opened it through the post, made regular payments until 2005, was made redundant but continued £1 token payments till the end of 2008. I haven't made any payments since but on my credit report its marked as green, doesn't state amounts.

[Kafka]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thanks for your reply, so when I send a cca and cpr do I mention I have not acknowledged the debt in over 6 six years?
I opened it in 2001,think I opened it through the post, made regular payments until 2005, was made redundant but continued £1 token payments till the end of 2008. I haven't made any payments since but on my credit report its marked as green, doesn't state amounts.

The CCA and CPR requests are simply requests for data that they are obliged to provide and its not in your interests to communicate with them any more at this stage. In the CPR request to the solicitos you can ask for the documents they referred to and I think that's the credit agreement and the Notice of Assignment. They don't specifically state that the account was defaulted, but they do refer to the default balance, so I would ask them anyway for a copy of the Default Notice that should have been properly served before the account was defaulted. (When was the account defaulted?).

Did you receive a letter before action in advance of receiving the court claim, and if so what did it state?

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thank you for your reply, ok I understand now Ill get those letters sent, Im unsure what date to put on the cpr for my defense though, i acknowledged online on 09/04/2016 so will it be 14 days after?
I received a letter from Rentons saying their client, Cabot was seeking payment on March 11th. It also says if I fail to reply they will request the court grants a judgement in default. Other than that I dont know Ive never made payment to Cabot and the claim form states it was assigned to Cabot on Aug 19th 2015.
Thank you for help, much appreciated.

[Noah]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

You can only ask for documents mentioned in the particulars of claim which would appear to be a copy of the contract and the notice of assignment

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thank you, thats what I was unsure of, I've posted them now so guess I should think about writing my defense.
Thank you both for your help, I appreciate your time.

[Noah]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

As you have acknowledged the claim you have 33 days from the date of claim to submit your defence. Do not be put off from following this timetable by anything that the claimant might say. The only time you can delay is if they expressly give you more time (up to 28 days) AND you inform the court in writing of the fact. Otherwise the claim goes on like an unstoppable train

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thank you Noah, I intend to give them three weeks to reply and then submit my defense no matter what but reading the forums I understand things can go off track. Im hoping to get this over with asap and if I have to go to court then it will be for the judge to decide, I really dont want to get into an augment with Cabot, reading other peoples cases has me a little cautious of having to deal with this company.

[Noah]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

sarah
all you can do is follow due process , stick to time limits and trust that they will not be able to supply compliant agreements

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Hi there, I received the standard reply from Restons, from what I can gather they have denied my cpr request, anyone know if I need to reply to the letter? Also I found a statute barred template for my defense but one of the points says I've informed the claimant that the debt has become statute barred which I haven't yet, so should I write a letter telling Cabot and Restons before I file my defense?
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[charitynjw]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Hi there, I received the standard reply from Restons, from what I can gather they have denied my cpr request, anyone know if I need to reply to the letter? Also I found a statute barred template for my defense but one of the points says I've informed the claimant that the debt has become statute barred which I haven't yet, so should I write a letter telling Cabot and Restons before I file my defense?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi sarah55

IMHO

You can chase the CPR 31 letter via the solicitor.
Do not chase the CCA letter - their failure to comply means that they are barred from progressing the court claim until they do comply.
As for the SB letter, if it were me, I'd enclose it with the CPR chaser, SignedFor post. The onus is on them to prove it's not SB.

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated, to be honest I dont know how to reply to Restons because in all fairness the only thing mentioned in the POC is a contract which is described as "contract between the defendant and Express Gifts" and Default Balance, Post Refrl Cr?? When I sent my cpr request I worded it, " A copy of the contract relevant to the alleged debt" and "The notice of assignment of the debt from Express Gifts to Cabot Financial"
Should I just repeat myself and insist that I am entitled to the documents in order for me to prepare my defense? Am I entitled to an extension to give Restons time to get back to me?
Thank you for your help, really appreciate all who have taken their time to advise me.

[Kati]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated, to be honest I dont know how to reply to Restons because in all fairness the only thing mentioned in the POC is a contract which is described as "contract between the defendant and Express Gifts" and Default Balance, Post Refrl Cr?? When I sent my cpr request I worded it, " A copy of the contract relevant to the alleged debt" and "The notice of assignment of the debt from Express Gifts to Cabot Financial"
Should I just repeat myself and insist that I am entitled to the documents in order for me to prepare my defense? Am I entitled to an extension to give Restons time to get back to me?
Thank you for your help, really appreciate all who have taken their time to advise me.

There's a template reply at post #2 here - http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...385#post410385 (just make sure you check/edit as needed )

You could ask them if they are willing to agree to an extension in the same letter (if they agree you would have to inform the courts)

K xx

[sarah55]

Re: cabot vs sarah55

Thanks for your reply Kati, I've read the template but my letter doesn't mention allocation, Im unsure if I should chase this up as they seem pretty adamant that I dont need a copy??

Hope I've managed to to include an attachment. Thank you for your help.