Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

[LoNK1]

Hi.
I received a claim form from the county court business centre in Northampton stating a claim of £1,460.22 (claimant being lowell), "assigned to the claimant on 23/12/2011, the defendant failed to maintain the contractural payment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served and not complied with."
We contacted lowell to find out exactly what this was in relation to and they did not easily give this information. Initially they were insistant that it was a date in 2011 and so i thought this must be identity theft. So we told lowell that we would be defending this case. However eventually we were able to find out that it was in fact relating to pc world in august 2006. So now it changes, its not identity theft, but this debt is statute barred. Prior to finding this information we received a notice of proposed allocation to the small claims track. I dont know what to do from here; I need some advice.
I have a brief account statement from lowell with the dates 2006 to 2008 showing no payments, but nothing further. I wrote 4 letters to them informing them that this is statute barred, but they deny this and are adamant that the debt is not statute barred until November 2017. They are saying the default date was in 2011. I have to reply to this letter to the courts by 25th May and i am at a loss which way to turn. Thanks guys

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Morning

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Hi.
I received a claim form from the county court business centre in Northampton stating a claim of £1,460.22 (claimant being lowell), "assigned to the claimant on 23/12/2011, the defendant failed to maintain the contractural payment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served and not complied with."
We contacted lowell to find out exactly what this was in relation to and they did not easily give this information. Initially they were insistant that it was a date in 2011 and so i thought this must be identity theft. So we told lowell that we would be defending this case. However eventually we were able to find out that it was in fact relating to pc world in august 2006. So now it changes, its not identity theft, but this debt is statute barred. Prior to finding this information we received a notice of proposed allocation to the small claims track. I dont know what to do from here; I need some advice.
I have a brief account statement from lowell with the dates 2006 to 2008 showing no payments, but nothing further. I wrote 4 letters to them informing them that this is statute barred, but they deny this and are adamant that the debt is not statute barred until November 2017. They are saying the default date was in 2011. I have to reply to this letter to the courts by 25th May and i am at a loss which way to turn. Thanks guys

Can you post up exactly what you sent as your Defence please, and if you can the letter you have received. Remove personal details.

You need to send a couple of letters - primarly, very importantly, you need to send a CCA request and a CPR 31.14 request ASAP - see CCA Request || CPR 31.14 Request


Then you may need to amend the defence but lets see exactly where we are first and get those letters sent off.

Also what do you have to reply to the court with ? the Directions Questionnaire ?

[MIKE770]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

send Recorded delivery


CPR31.14 to solicitors no charge
CCA1974 to lowells with £1.00 postal order

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Do you have any recollection of how much the original agreement was for and over what period it was ? Or even what you bought, how much it was, and how much you paid a month ?

[LoNK1]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Thank you for your replies guys I really appreciate the help!
Ok so we never received a defense form in the original claim sent to us. At the time I didn't know there was supposed to be one with it 😶. So we just signed an acknowledgement of service and sent that in. I'm In the meantime we had asked Lowell to send us out further info regarding what this was about. Stupidly I was waiting on Lowell to send this info out before I did anything else and now I'm in the situation where it looks like I have no defense. I haven't filled out a defense form because of waiting for the info. I have a notice for proposed allocation to the small claims track which I need to sort asap.
Gosh reading this back it sounds like I'm utterly stupid.

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

reply from other thread

I have a short statement of my account which shows that the agreement was 31st August 2006 for a period of 48 months which would take that to 2010??

48 months is 4 years so that would be November 2010. So if they argue BMW v Hart ( which is natural end of contract ) they're pooped.

You stick to your guns on statute barring - last payment/acknowledgement. BMW v Hart arguments come later.

See previous post re needing to send some letters and post up your defence

[Kati]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Do you have any recollection of how much the original agreement was for and over what period it was ? Or even what you bought, how much it was, and how much you paid a month ?

from the other thread

I have a short statement of my account which shows that the agreement was 31st August 2006 for a period of 48 months which would take that to 2010??

- - - Updated - - -

beat me to it lol xx

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Thank you for your replies guys I really appreciate the help!
Ok so we never received a defense form in the original claim sent to us. At the time I didn't know there was supposed to be one with it ��. So we just signed an acknowledgement of service and sent that in. I'm In the meantime we had asked Lowell to send us out further info regarding what this was about. Stupidly I was waiting on Lowell to send this info out before I did anything else and now I'm in the situation where it looks like I have no defense. I haven't filled out a defense form because of waiting for the info. I have a notice for proposed allocation to the small claims track which I need to sort asap.
Gosh reading this back it sounds like I'm utterly stupid.

Okay, you're not stupid, you just don't deal with court claims every day, and the court information is terrible.

Okay so we need to make sure you have a defence - now you wouldn't usually get a small claims track allocation unless you have defended. SO when you acknowledged the claim did you write anything in the box that might have been taken as your defence ? I'll go grab a copy of the acknowledgement to remind you of the form.

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Here - did you just fill in that ticking intend to defend in full - or did you fill any other sheets/pages in ? like https://formfinder.hmctsformfinder.j.../n009b-eng.pdf ?

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Actually you mentioned telling Lowell it was statute barred - was this in writing and could they have taken this as your defence and submitted it to the court?

[LoNK1]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Sorry for delay had to switch to desktop view to see the attachment.
Okay so we just ticked the box defend in full.
We originally thought this was identity theft because they told us that the date of purchase was on the 23rth December 2011. So we spoke to Lowell and said we was looking into identity theft and would be defending it on this basis.
However in a further phone call to Lowell they then told us that the purchase date was in 31st August 2006. So we realised it wasn't identity theft at this point.
It was then a few days later when we received the small claims track form.

- - - Updated - - -

I did write to Lowell last week informing them that this was statute barred using a template letter from national debtline. But Lowell are denying this.

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Hmmm okay. I think you might need to phone Northampton CCBC court - sorry ( they keep you on hold for months and the music is very annoying ) but we need to know what was taken as your defence - so need to call and ask them why you have a Directions Questionnaire when you haven't submitted a defence please. If they say you have submitted a defence ask if they could possibly email a copy to you ( or give you an idea what has been taken as your defence )

You'll need your claim number when you ring.

Telephone 0300 123 1056

Telephone 01604 619 400


It could be that Nat Debtline letter template has been used as your defence. Did you use registered post? Address used to send it to ?

Dear Sir/Madam


Account No:

You have contacted me about the account with the above reference number, which you claim I owe. I do not admit any liability for your claim.

Under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5:

“An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”

Also, the Financial Conduct Authority's Consumer Credit sourcebook states the following.

"...a firm must not attempt to recover a statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if the lender or owner has not been in contact with the customer during the limitation period." 7.15.4

"A firm must not continue to demand payment from a customer after the customer has stated that he will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred." 7.15.8

Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the amount you allege I owe.

Please confirm in writing that you will not make any further contact about the above claim and confirm that this matter is now closed.


I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

[LoNK1]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Ok I will phone the court.
If they say it's being defended on the basis of identity theft, do I need to tell them that this is incorrect and instead it should be defended on statute barred?

[Amethyst]

Re: Help needed with Lowell and Small Claims Track

Nope you just want to find out what's been used as a defence - then we can figure out whether you need to amend or take any action