Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

[FallonRPG]

Hi,

I'm actually posting on behalf of my wife.

The claim form was issued 17th February 2017, and she received the claim form yesterday (1st March 2017).

Particulars of Claim
The claim is for the sum of £780.20 due by the Defendant under an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for a Aqua account with the account reference of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

The Defendant failed to maintain contractual payments required by the agreement and a Default Notice was served under s87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which has not been complied with.

The debt was legally assigned to the claimant on 31/Mar/2014, notice of which has been given to the defendant.

The claim includes statutory interest under S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue of these proceedings in the sum of £62.42.

The Claimant claims the sum of £842.62.

Background Information
My wife believes this debt to be Statute Barred based on the fact that she got the credit card shortly after we moved into our previous address (May 2008). The last time she remembers making a payment toward the account was 2009, but can't remember a specific month.

I/we have acknowledged the claim and have sent off a CCA to the claimant (based on the template provided - including the £1 postal order with their name on it, but I wasn't sure how to "endorse" it), and a CPR Request to the solicitor (Cohen Cramer Solicitors - also using the provided template).

Many thanks in advance for any help that may be provided to us.

FallonRPG

[FallonRPG]

Re: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

UPDATE:

Letter dated: 07 March 2017 - Response from Cohen Cramer:

"We write in relation to the above matter.

"We have received your letter in which you make a request for documents and have notified out client Lowell Portfolio I Ltd of this request. Documents in support of our client's claim will be disclosed on or before disclosure as directed by the Court. In the meantime, please file your response to the Claim Form in accordance with the Court's timetable. If you require further time to prepare your response, please let us know as we may be able to agree a short extension to the Court time table.

"If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

"Yours faithfully etc."

Letter dated: 27th March 2017 - Judgement for Claimant (in default)

"You have not replied to the claim form
"It is therefore ordered that you must pay the claimant £942.62 for dect [and interest to date of judgement] and £152 for costs [less £0 which you have already paid]."

Letter dated: 29th March 2017 - Letter from Cohen Cramer
Basically a more "fluffy" version of the letter from the Court.

FallonRPG's musings
So, it seems as though Lowell can get away with not providing the information requested and then state the court that you haven't responded to the claim. We acknowledged that claim, but couldn't respond to it without the information that we'd requested. What do we do now?

[warwick65]

Re: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

I thought I had replied to this but obviously not

Unfortunately Lowell are well known for saying it is on hold and then getting a judgement by default

You could apply to get the judgement set aside but that does cost money unless of course you are on a low income and qualify for fee remission

When was the account opened?

maybe [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] or [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] could offer an opinion

If you pay the ccj in full within a month it will not appear on your credit file

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

Oh no, I'm so sorry that we didn't see your post when you posted on the 2nd March. From what I can see you did make a CCA and CPR request as per the first steps, and acknowledged the claim ? but didn't enter a defence as you were awaiting the documents from the claimant.

I can't see that Lowell did mislead and said the case was on hold ( as they often had in the past ) and actually make it clear that you should follow the court timetable.

In the meantime, please file your response to the Claim Form in accordance with the Court's timetable. If you require further time to prepare your response, please let us know as we may be able to agree a short extension to the Court time table.

So as Jon has said yes you will either need to negotiate settling the CCJ with Lowell within the next couple of weeks to avoid the CCJ being entered on your credit file for the next 6 years. Or apply to set the judgment aside. They have jumped on the default judgment button quite quickly being the claim took so long to reach you so you might be able to plead that you were still in time.

Default judgment is available to the claimants after 33 days of issuing the claim - as five days are allowed for service - 28 for response. As you didn't received the claim until the 1st March ( is there any way to evidence that at all ?) then that would be the start of the 28 days so default judgment shouldn't have been available until the 28th March.

You'd need to show there is a strong argument that you have a reasonable chance of success with defending the claim - and likely to require more than just a simple non provision of documents (as that could be resolved at any point )

Were there any issues with the Aqua card, has there been 6 years between the claim and your last payment/communication about the debt ? ( last payment 2009 ? so possibly statute barred ).

Also as Warwick said the set aside application would have a fee - if not eligible for remission you could ask for without a hearing and pay £100 but be aware the court but require it to be with a hearing at £255.

Really I think check if there is a defence (at the moment non provision of documents & CCA and statute barred debt ) and consider if you want to possibly risk the CCJ remaining on the file by fighting for a set aside and defending the claim.

[FallonRPG]

Re: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

Thanks ever so much for your responses. There is no mention of the Aqua card on my wife's credit file, whatsoever, which I find a touch unusual. Surely, there would be something if it was a legitimate debt?

We're a low income family (I only work a few hours a week, and my wife is a full-time carer for our step-nephew who has learning difficulties), so forking out money to try and defend the claim isn't really an option we can afford, at least not right at this moment. The only thing that we have, for certain, is that we can prove the 1st March 2017 date, but only by the fact that we sent the relevant letters by recorded delivery on 2nd March 2017 (I still have the receipt that can validate this). I suppose they could argue that a receipt doesn't prove anything (which I would have to concede!), but the fact we haven't (to date) had a single response from Lowell is really frustrating...not even a response from them to say they have received our letter!

So, they have failed to provide the information requested in the letter (which they have been paid for! - £1 postal order)...could we possibly argue it on the grounds that we didn't have sufficient evidence/information, in spite of requesting it, to enter an adequate defence?

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

Thanks ever so much for your responses. There is no mention of the Aqua card on my wife's credit file, whatsoever, which I find a touch unusual. Surely, there would be something if it was a legitimate debt?

We're a low income family (I only work a few hours a week, and my wife is a full-time carer for our step-nephew who has learning difficulties), so forking out money to try and defend the claim isn't really an option we can afford, at least not right at this moment. The only thing that we have, for certain, is that we can prove the 1st March 2017 date, but only by the fact that we sent the relevant letters by recorded delivery on 2nd March 2017 (I still have the receipt that can validate this). I suppose they could argue that a receipt doesn't prove anything (which I would have to concede!), but the fact we haven't (to date) had a single response from Lowell is really frustrating...not even a response from them to say they have received our letter!

So, they have failed to provide the information requested in the letter (which they have been paid for! - £1 postal order)...could we possibly argue it on the grounds that we didn't have sufficient evidence/information, in spite of requesting it, to enter an adequate defence?

I'm afraid that's typical Lowell behavior !!

When was the CCA request sent? Lowell has 12 + 2 Working Days to comply after which the debt is rendered unenforceable Until the agreement or a compliant reconstituted one is produced.

nem

[warwick65]

Re: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd vs FallonRPG

Problem is, Fallon has already received a judgement by default so non compliance is only relevant to the set aside request if that is the route being followed.

I'm afraid that's typical Lowell behavior !!

When was the CCA request sent? Lowell has 12 + 2 Working Days to comply after which the debt is rendered unenforceable Until the agreement or a compliant reconstituted one is produced.

nem

Have you decided if you are going to apply for a set aside, while non compliance with the cca request may be grounds for set aside, it is quite possible they will then stump up the goods. Of course if there is some reason why they can't such as a systems failure it might be ok but as it's 2008 I think they could.

The argument of SB is of course relevant
Does you wife know or just think it is SB?
Maybe call aqua and ask when the last payment was made on it, hopefully they will have records.

As for your your comments on the credit file, this falls off 6 years after default so do you know when the default happened?

sometimes payments continue after default.

If you need more help I'm sure [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] will give additional advice