ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

[ILoveLists]

Hello,

I am writing this on behalf of my husband as he's at work and cannot spend time on the computer.

From the beginning, he had an outstanding debt with Sainsbury's bank from 2004 which was unresolved until ARROW GLOBAL purchased the debt and restarted action in 2016. They have claimed that this debt is not statute barred due to a payment of £100.00 on 9th April 2013, they included a barely legible photocopy as evidence. My husband has checked with his bank who have confirmed no such payment was made and looking at the evidence I suspect the payment was between Sainsbury's and ARROW GLOBAL.

I was wondering if anyone could please let me know if this means we have a defence in court? Unfortunately my husband has buried his head in the sand so we are now at the point where a CCJ might be inevitable?

Any help would be gratefully received, thanks in advance.

[charitynjw]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Hi ILoveLists, welcome to LB.

Have AG initiated a court claim?
If not, have they (or their representative(s)) sent a letter 'before action'? (Will litigate, rather than may/might)

[ILoveLists]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Hello charityjnw! Thanks for the warm welcome and response

We have a load of papers through including a Witness Statement from the solicitors. It looks like a 'summary judgement' is set for 22nd June 2017 which I presume is a court claim? Sorry if I'm being thick.

[MIKE770]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

you been sitting on this???

[warwick65]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Hi

So from what you are saying it seems that you have had the claim and entered a defence of Statute barred?

You have now had the witness statement from Arrow global

At what stage is your husband, has he entered a witness statement yet? If not that would be his opportunity to state his position.

Are AG applying for a summary judgment based on no merit to the defence?

It is really difficult to give advice without knowing more details , for example
how much is the claim for?
Was a CCA request sent to AG?
What exactly was the defence entered?
Has a witness statement been sent- if not do you have a date when it needs completing by

Clearly if no payment left your husbands bank around that date to either Sainsbury or AG then AG need to show there that payment came from

If this for a large claim, it may be worth looking at legal advice to see if anything extra can be done [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] [MENTION=551]pt2537[/MENTION]

[ILoveLists]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Hi Mike770 - I've only just found out about it. My husbands been burying his head in the sand hoping it will go away having already told them it was statute barred.

I don't think he has entered a witness statement to the court just to ARROW GLOBAL.

The claim is for an outstanding balance of £4,905.62 plus a claim fee of £185.00 and fixed costs of £80.00.

A letter dated 21st April 2016 was sent to my husband in compliance with the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols. He didn't respond.

Restons are saying -

"The Defendant does not dispute signing the Credit Agreement, being provided with a loan or the fact that the loan has not been repaid."
"Throughtout the lifetime of the account, the defendant would have been sent annual statements of account by the original creditor which would have recorded payments made towards the account and the application of contractual interest/charges, as well as confirming the outstanding balances."
"The Defendant does not allege that he is still being pursued for the this debt by the original creditor and hence there is no sensible reason for the Defendant to challenge the assignment of this account"
"As show from the Transaction Log at 'LRM3' the last payment credited to the account was on 9th April 2013 for the sum of £100.00. In the circumstances I would respectfully submit that the debt is not statute barred"

He has checked with his bank and no payment was made as stated above.

The solicitor goes on to say

"I acknowledge that these proceedings have been stayed since August 2016, Following receipt of the Defense my firm made the decision to allow the claim to become stayed automatically so that attempts could be made to obtain account documentation from the original creditor and to try to resolve the matters amicably with the defendant in order to avoid the need for this litigation to continue. However as those attempts have been unsuccessful I respectfully ask the court to now lift the stay"

"I also respectfully as the court to strike out the defence on an ex-parte basis and to enter judgement in accordance with the request attached to this witness statement at "LRM5". That request seeks costs entering Judgement and a breakdown of those costs is detailed in the Statement of Costs attached to this witness statement "LRM6". I respectfully ask the court to award those costs on the basis that -

i. The defendant has been given numerous opportunities to withdraw the defence previously filed but has not done so

and

ii. The costs sought are in my respectful submission, reasonable and proportionate"

I hope this helps? Thank you again for your input.

- - - Updated - - -

My husband hasn't sent a CCA but the pile of papers includes a signed copy of the original credit agreement with Sainsbury's.

[MIKE770]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

ok await response [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION]

[ILoveLists]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Thank you

[Diana M]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Well at least your husband isn't (can't) bury his head in the sand anymore. There's a court hearing listed in the diary and it needs to be dealt with.

A quick glance at your thread suggests that the Claimant's solicitors were asking the court to strike out his Defence on "an ex-parte basis" which basically means behind his back without him being present to fight his corner.

If you say you have a hearing listed for 22nd June that could mean that the court took the view it would be unfair to make a decision without giving him the opportunity to be heard.

I also see you say your husband hasn't sent a CCA Request so my suggestion is that he should do that now as a matter of urgency. Send it to Arrow and send a copy of it to Restons solicitors pronto.

You say they sent him heaps of paperwork, but that's no good to them if it's not compliant.

There may be a signed application form but where are the Ts & Cs? Old Sainsbury's accounts had them on the reverse of the application form but they routinely only scanned the front for their files.

Has he been sent the Default Notice and/or has he asked for it? I can't see any reference to that in Restons WS.

They say that he "would have been sent" Annual Statements by the original creditor (s.86) but have they provided any evidence of that? I can't see anything to say they have. Since the Claimant didn't own the debt at the time they say these statements "would have been sent" how did they know that they were actually sent?

Your husband may need to file and serve a WS of his own 14 days before the hearing. (Did the Notice of Hearing give Directions telling him he could do that?).

If he only pleaded Statute Barred in his Defence then he may also need to file an Amended Defence at some stage too.

Your husband is being bullied by Restons probably because they think they can. He needs to fight back if he wants to avoid a CCJ and a costs order if they are successful at the SJ hearing.

Di

[ILoveLists]

Re: ARROW GLOBAL & Festons Solicitors - help please

Thank you so much for your response Di. My husband has checked with HSBC and no money was paid from his account on the 9th April 2013 to Sainsbury's or anyone else so does this mean the Statute Barred status stands? We have ordered statements to prove this...