Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

[Madcookie]

Hello all,

My partner received a letter recently from Lowell Portfolio I LTD RE:Lowell Finance Limited stating that she owed them over £1200 from a CCJ that had been defaulted against her. This was due to an old debt, which looks to have been about £8 according to the fees issued since. She never knew about this debt, she still doesn't know what it is for but thinks looking at the time of it, it could be when she swapped bank accounts, so maybe some unsettled costs?

When the CCJ was issued she was living at an address that is not where they appeared to have sent the original court letters (that was her mums address but she never passed it on). This can be seen on her credit reports. On these grounds we applied to have the CCJ set aside. We have a hearing re. this on Monday, but are not sure what we need to prepare or argue to prove all of this. I see that to have a CCJ set aside you have to prove that you kept your creditors informed, but as stated she never knew she was in debt, so would have had no reason to consider this. Not long after the bank account swap she spent several months in Greece, with no UK address. This could be why she never knew about the original debt.

I'm not sure why it took lowell so long to catch up with her, but now they have we need to fight it. £1200 is not something we can afford, with 2 young children, and not only that it looks like robbery considering what it started as.

I cant supply the original debt dates tonight as she is away due to a family emergency. I will endeavor to get these as soon as i can, if needed.

We received 3 letters from the court.
First just a notice of transfer of proceedings.
Second a general form of judgement or order - which states "List the application to set aside judgement for hearing on the first open date with a time estimate of 15 minutes plus 5 minutes reading time"
Third, Notice of Hearing of application, which give the date and time of the hearing.

Any advice would be massively appreciated. If you need any more info let me know.

Kind Regards

Anthony

[Amethyst]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Hi Anthony

So you believe this CCJ is for an old bank account ? possibly completely made up of charges, barring about £8 ?

You've applied top set aside on the grounds you didn't receive any of the paperwork from the claimant or the court and had no reason to suspect you were even in debt with the original creditor.

Which bank was it?

You will need to show the court you have a reasonable prospect of success in defending the claim - what did you enter with the set aside application - witness statement ? draft defence ? or just the N244 form ?

Have you got anything from when the account with the bank was closed at all ? ( any way your partner can check with the bank if they have anything about it being closed and can tell her what the debt was and why she wasn't informed of it at the time of closure - possibly a final statement copy or something )

You should be okay with the no debt, no communications - also if you can show that other creditors were informed of change of address, that credit file is up to date, on electoral roll and so on - ie demonstrate to the court that Lowell could easily have sent it to the right address - they seem to have managed to send this recent letter to the right address for example.

Sharon
xx

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Thank you for your reply Sharon, I read it before the case and used what I could. We never really got chance to do much research beyond this or even put a full reply on here due to a death in the family and my mrs being up north consoling her mother till Sunday evening when she came back home to be here for todays case.

We had the hearing today, Lovell sent an agent, they came and agreed even before the hearing that it should be set aside. Unfortunately i was unable to go into the hearing as we had our youngest with us. When my partner came out she said we had been successful in having it set aside, as Lovell had agreed.

She said we now had to file our defense with Lovell (writing to them), with in 30 days. My query here is, what are we defending as she has no idea what the bill is for. The original debt is from Lloyds, who sold it to Lovell. Their agent said it is for £1200 (which doesn't correspond to their paper work from last year), and we must write to Lloyds requesting clarification with regards the bill. Is this true as it is not Lloyds filing for the CCJ?

She has nothing from the original account as it is from 2008/2009, maybe earlier. She does remember having a meeting with Lloyds when closing that account and specifically asking them to add any outstanding interest (which they said they did). she worked in banking so knew this. She had no correspondence saying about any outstanding interest so fairly assumed this to be dealt with.

What do we do now? The Lovell agent said we must write her defense and send it to them within 30 days. That is all we know.

Thanks in advance, your help is much appreciated.

Kind regards

Anthony

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Bump

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

@Amethyst could you help me with this please?

I'm conscious that time is of the essence, although i imagine you're all very busy!

I'm looking at the next steps and think they are as follow:

submit a CCA to Lowell
Submit a CCA and CPR request to Lowell Solicitors
Submit a CCA to Lloyds (although i don't have any details with regards Lloyds)

What do we enter for account numbers etc as we dont have these? and if it is a bank account what do we do instead?
and what about a SAR? Where does that go/is it needed?

Our problem is not having all the relevant paper work including the original ccj. Can anyone offer us some advice please? I registered my partner on MCOL but with out the defense pack i could not open the case linked to this CCJ. Should we expect some correspondence from the courts after the we got it set aside?

Kind Regards

Anthony

[Kati]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

I know @Amethyst will be along soon Anthony ... in the meantime I believe that it will be a SAR you need to send to Lloyds (not a CCA) so that you can get all the information they hold on the account. CCA to Lowell, CPR and copy of CCA to Lowell Solicitors.

I'm sure you'll get something in writing from the courts and Lowell before the 30 days is up, but it might be an idea to get started on the letters (leaving the account numbers blank until you know what to put there)

K xx

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Also where it states :

NB: ONLY LIST HERE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE MENTIONED IN THE PARTICULARS 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...IF IN DOUBT TYPE OUT THE PARTICULARS OF CLAIM AND ASK ON THE FORUM.( and remove this paragraph too!!!!)
for EXAMPLE
1. Agreement / Contract
2. Default Notice
3. Assignment
4. Formal Demand

what do we do, as we dont have any paperwork?

Kind regards

Anthony


- - - Updated - - -

Thank you [MENTION=49370]Kati[/MENTION]

It is a start

There is soooo much to read through and consider, I understand why solicitors charge so much now lol

[Amethyst]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Apologies for not replying yesterday xx

Send a SAR to Lloyds - just simple is fine - http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...964#post685964 - just your partners details from when she held the account and new details should be okay. And the £10. It might be worth her having a chat with Lloyds in branch or something to save time/confusion over identity protection etc. They might even have details on the system and be able to give her a print out of the end of the account stuff ( when she closed it, how the hell it went up to £1200 etc etc ) then and there. You never know.

There's no need to do a CCA request as this is an overdraft so it wouldn't apply.

Send a CPR request to Lowells solicitors - this should ask for the Agreement/Contract, Statement of Account, Notice of Assignment and Default Notice. I know you don't have the particulars of claim so it is a little bit of a wing it and see what they do situation.

So amend letter thus;

Dear Sirs,

Claim Number: XXXXXX

Request for documents mentioned in a statement of case under CPR 31.14

You will be aware that judgment in the above Claim has been set aside by the court and I am now preparing my defence to your claim. I have not yet received a copy of the original particulars of claim in the case and would appreciate it if you could send me a copy as soon as possible. In addition I require inspection of documents you mention in your statement of case, as time is limited and documentation lacking, I would request that you supply a copy of the;

1. Agreement / Contract
2. Default Notice
3. Notice of Assignment
4. Statement of Account

that apply to the account relevant to the claim and that you intend to rely on in court.

As ordered by District Judge xxxxxxxxxxxxx I shall be filing and serving my defence on xxxxxxx(just under 30 days from the hearing) and should I not receive the documents requested I shall reserve the right to amend my defence and request the cost of that amendment be awarded against your client should the required documents deem it necessary.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Thank you @Kati

It is a start

There is soooo much to read through and consider, I understand why solicitors charge so much now lol

The above bit was still on my screen...hadn't hit post!
@Amethyst

Thank you for your help, I've wrote the CPR out and removed the reference to CCA. at the top it has claimants name etc, is this Lowell Financial Limited? Their representative gave us the following address but no names etc:

PO BOX 1419
Northampton
NN21BU

Our court letter says:
Lowell portfolio I LTD RE:Lowell financial limited

Looking it appears we dont have an address for any solicitors either.....this may be Lowell address so may be all direct?

Thanks again

[Amethyst]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Personally I would use their proper address;

the solicitors...

Lowell Solicitors, Darwin House, 7 Savannah Way, Leeds Valley Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1AB, England

and the claimant....

Lowell Financial Ltd, Ellington House, 9 Savannah Way, Leeds Valley Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1AB, England


You could cc the letter to the sols to Lowell Financial, to be certain.

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Thank you [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] ,

My god this is confusing without the original paperwork! There are just so many questions, I see why people don't defend.

So even though no solicitor appears to have been involved we still send the CPR to:

Lowell Solicitors, Darwin House, 7 Savannah Way, Leeds Valley Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1AB, England?

and we disregard the address their agent gave us. Is this a delaying tactic used by them?

I will get the CPR sent today by recorded delivery.

One other thing, as this appears the be from 2008ish would it not be statute barred? or does the default CCJ rule that out?

Kind regards

Anthony

[Kati]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

So even though no solicitor appears to have been involved we still send the CPR to:

Lowell Solicitors, Darwin House, 7 Savannah Way, Leeds Valley Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1AB, England?

and we disregard the address their agent gave us. Is this a delaying tactic used by them?

you could send it to BOTH addresses just to make sure??

- - - Updated - - -

One other thing, as this appears the be from 2008ish would it not be statute barred? or does the default CCJ rule that out?

if a CCJ judgement is set aside, the mark on your credit file will be removed, @Amethyst should know if this makes a difference to SB'd (although I'd hazard a guess that it should)

[Madcookie]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

Thanks [MENTION=49370]Kati[/MENTION]

I've printed two copies and will send it to both addresses.

I'd assumed (incorrectly it appears) that by getting it set aside Lowell would have to go through the whole process again, starting with submitting a claim to the court. But since the judge said we have 30 days to submit our defense to both the court and lowell it appears to have just taken us back to the beginning, as if the claim has already been submitted. this is a problem because we are still fighting blind, with little records to help. Hopefully the CPR ans SAR will help aid this.

Kind Regards

Anthony

[Amethyst]

Re: Setting aside a CCJ - Lowell

The clock continues so if it was statute barred before they first issued the claim it still is now. So that should go in your defence too

The CCJ will take 28 days or so to come off your file and the register.

If there was no solicitor and it was just lowell financial then send to the lowell financial address, fine to cc it to the PO Box address too though not sure you can send recorded to a PO box though can you? so recorded to the lowell financial proper address maybe?

[Madcookie]

Re: Court Claim form Lowell Solicitors

Hi again,

I've attached the order from the court that came through last week, seemed to take an age but its here now. Ive sent the CPR and SAR (although i didnt add a £10 PO to the SAR so not sure what will happen with that?)

Our defence has to be in by Monday but just realised this is a bank holiday so will post it on Wednesday. But i still don't know what our defence is? can you help me with that please?

As it stands we still have no idea what the amount is for, other than something from lloyds. We do know that she hasn't had an account with Lloyds since 2007/2008 though and has made no payments of any kind to them in the time since. does this mean we could argue it is statue barred? even though they originally filled the CCJ in 2014 so may not have been at that time? although it could have if it was 2007, but with no info we do not know. If this is the case what do we put in as our judgement?

Can anyone get the particulars of this case? we were hoping for more info from the courts but didn't get them either.

Kind regards

Anthony