Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd v cowsgomoo

[cowsgomoo]

Issue Date: 6 June 2016
Amount approx: £754.46 (amount claimed £624.46, court fee £60, Legal costs £70)
Claimant: Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd
Solicitor: BW Legal
Original Creditor: Home Retail Group (Argos Store Card)
Particulars of Claim:
I had signed up for an Argos Card at a date I don’t actually remember, I used it in a responsible manner up until the start of 2014 (last purchase Dec 2013) when a direct debit was returned Jan 2014 (£14.92) and I received a token £12 fee.
I made the following D/D payment in February (£27.25) but also received a £12 late payment fee (I didn’t query this at the time).
I missed the next 2 D/D payments in March (£26.98) & April (£27.80) and received two £12 late payment fees to cover these, (the direct debit for this account was set up to come out towards the end of the month and as I was having a few other money priorities at this time there just wasn’t enough money left to cover these payments).
I sorted my finances out by May & made sure the May D/D got paid (£32.06) but then I received a late payment fee £12 plus an additional £12 for a ‘letter fee’.
I called Argos card in May and queried the additional charge and they told me the account had been passed onto their collections department and the fee is from them so I would need to take it up with them.
Bizarrely I couldn’t get anywhere with their collections department as I couldn’t pass the identification process as my date of birth didn’t match their records and I was asked to supply a copy of my birth certificate, all they wanted to do was take a full payment to close my account. I went back to Argos Card and queried the amount that I need to pay the following month to bring my account up to date so I paid that amount to Argos Card plus an additional 1p (£31.69) but then the following 2 weeks I received another late payment fee £12 and a letter fee £12.
This time I couldn’t speak to Argos Card regarding my account directly as they said my account had been fully transferred over to the collections department who when I called them said they can only take a complete payment to close my account, and they couldn’t discuss the fees incurred until I had satisfied their identity process.
This is all at a time when I was inside my credit limit of £480.
The last statement I received I had 6x£12 late payment charges and 2x£12 letter fees (£96 in charges) in 6 months for 3 missed payments.
I moved house about 4 months later and didn’t hear again from Argos Card until 9^th June 2016 (after I finally updated my electoral roll details) when I received a letter from BW Legal with a notice of County Court Claim. It states that they represent Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd.
The next day I received the claim/admission forms from the CCBC Northampton.
I sent a letter to Lowell & BW Legal requesting the CCA and CPA. I didn’t and still haven’t had a response to these requests. As I live in a village in Cornwall with no Post Office didn’t send the letters with any proof of delivery & my £1 check has not been paid in.
I used the Moneyclaim website to put in a my defence and filled out the N9A & N9B forms as I admit I owe money but I cannot agree to the amount that they are asking for. I had to submit my forms and defence letter by email as I had troubles logging into the website but the people I contacted there where very helpful & understanding.
I received the letter from BW Legal on the 14^th July (the letter was dated 12/07/16) saying I needed to contact them by 11/07/16 to sort out a payment plan which could stop proceedings, which I didn’t do as that date had already passed.
In the last week I received a letter from BW Legal which was confirmation that they have contacted the County Court wishing to proceed with the claim.
I received a letter the nest day 17/08/16 from the county court saying this case was suitable for the Small Claims Track & if I dispute this I need to inform them by 05/09/16 by way of a N180 form.
There were also some forms with this letter asking about the small claims mediation service and if I would like to take that route.

I really do not want a CCJ against me as I had one in the past & it affected me greatly.
I know I owe money originally to Argos and I am fine & have always been fine with paying that back but all the excessive charges are my issue as I know once paid I cannot/will not claim them back.
I just wrote to both Lowell & BW Legal again requests the CPA & CCA obviously this time I will travel to a post office & get the proof of delivery (2.5 hour round trip).
I’m assuming that the mediation is the way to go but I really need some paperwork so I can make sure I have all my facts.
I guess I am making this post to make sure I doing things correctly from now on.
I am resigned to paying for this debt sooner rather than later but as mentioned all the extra charges that keep mounting up I find hard to accept.

Any advice at all would be more than welcome as I feel completely out of my depth with all of this and I don't really have anybody that I can talk to personally about any of it.
Thank you so much.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd v cowsgomoo

Morning xx

Sounds like things just spiralled after missing those couple of payments and Argos were utterly useless at helping you sort it out.

Would you happen to have kept a copy of what you submitted to the court as your defence/admission ? that will help with your next steps, whether you may need to amend your defence or bulk it up a bit with your witness statement ( which would go in around 14 days before the hearing ) Lowell/BW will need to provide the Credit Agreement & Terms to enforce the debt so we should check you did include that within your defence.

Mediation you should agree to, but when it comes to the telephone call you can advise the mediator you haven't received any documentation so are unable to proceed with mediation - and it will then go on to have a hearing date set.

It might also assist if you sent a subject access request to Argos for full details about your account and how they mismanaged it - including screennots, transaction lists etc.

[cowsgomoo]

Re: Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd v cowsgomoo

Morning everybody,
I just wanted apologise for my post being full-on and quite impersonal, I had to post this on my work PC and did a quick cut and paste job from what took me forever to type up originally on my mobile phone.
Thanks again

[cowsgomoo]

Re: Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd v cowsgomoo

Thanks for the quick reply
I have hopefully attached the paperwork I have in multiple posts, I have also included my defence submitted on MCOL; which reading back again is just terrible.
As mentioned I had constant issues logging in to moneyclaim and had to do a last minute email submission whilst on holiday (nothing fancy, just camping).

[cowsgomoo]

Re: Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd v cowsgomoo

2 batch of attachments

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd v cowsgomoo

Thanks


As you know already there are some deficiencies in your defence, it would be preferable to apply to amend, however as a LIP, and with a relatively low value claim, the £255 fee for amending seems a little disproportionate.

You have included in your defence the main points, the agreement was completed for you, you had no opportunity to review the terms before signing, you have sent CCA and CPR requests which have not been complied with and the original debt has arisen from charges which you deem unfair. You have admitted to £313 ish in the defence, but as it stands even that would be unenforceable without the agreement. You could negotiate with BW at this point to pay the £313 - if you wanted to and save the hassle of the rest of the court process - IF you did want to do that you should ask them for a consent order putting the case on hold until it has been paid, and confirming that it is a full and final settlement.

It doesn't sound like BW legal have applied to strike out the defence or anything, just informed court they wish to proceed so I think you can pull this back around with your witness statement, so while you wait for mediation and a court date you could make a start putting that together.

I do think a SAR to argos would be helpful - although it does take 40 days, a court date is likely to be further away than that, and you would be able to submit a further document - either WS or skeleton arguments - before then. See here for a basic outline - http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...otection-Act-)