Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio / Vanquis - 21-9-2017

[warwick65]

You will get their WS which will include all the documents they want to reply on in court.

Does the transaction list include credits to your account and payments from it, Can you follow how the balance is made up?

Diana M any thoughts?

Sorry I hadn't seen this earlier

[DeeS77]

Thanks for your reply. No, there's no proper statement or payments in/out, just what the charges are apparently for on the card.

[Diana M]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio / Vanquis - 21-9-2017



1. I received the claim XXXXXXXXX from the Northampton County Court on 6^th October 2017.

2.Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3.This claim is for/ appears to be for a Credit Card agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

4.It is denied] that the Defendant has entered into an agreement/agreement with Vanquis for provision of credit.

5.The Claimants statement of case fails to give adequate information to enable me to properly assess my position with regards the claim.

6.The Claimant’s Particulars of Claim fail to state when the agreement was entered into.

7.The Defendant contends the alleged debt is statute barred by virtue of Section 5 of the Limitations Act 1980 in that no payment or acknowledgment has been made for over 6 years

. . .

Statement of Truth
The Defendant believes that the facts stated in this Defence are true.
Signed ________________________________
Dated ________________________________
Encls.

You need to remove the Claim Ref number from your Defence in post # 4 on Page 1 of this thread (I've removed it in my quote above) because that identifies you. The debt purchasers and their solicitors read the forums.

Have you checked the contents of the SAR you were sent by Vanquis because this should help to clarify two of the arguments which you pleaded in your Defence?

You've said the debt is Statute Barred and you've denied entering into an agreement for credit with Vanquis. What does it say about that in your SAR because I would expect Lowells to address both of these points in their Witness Statement so you need to be prepared.

They've produced a list of purchase transactions.

However the burden of proof is on the Claimant to evidence that you entered into a credit agreement and so far they've not done that (from what you say).

Di

[Kati]

You need to remove the Claim Ref number from your Defence in post # 4 on Page 1 of this thread (I've removed it in my quote above) because that identifies you. The debt purchasers and their solicitors read the forums.

sorted x

[DeeS77]

Thank you for editing that Kati.

@DianaM - Thank you for your reply. I'm going to go through the information again sent to me by Lowell but it's like they haven't even tried to find the documentation that I requested, it's just bare bones and no proof of me entering into this alleged agreement at all.

[warwick65]

Did you ever send a SAR to vanquis ?

[Diana M]

Diana M - Thank you for your reply. I'm going to go through the information again sent to me by Lowell but it's like they haven't even tried to find the documentation that I requested, it's just bare bones and no proof of me entering into this alleged agreement at all.

I've looked back through your thread from the beginning (8th October 2017). I can't see the Particulars of Claim anywhere yet you've filed a Defence in reply to them (post # 4).

What is stated in the Particulars of Claim because that is their case?

Did they mention or refer to a "contract", "agreement" "overdue balance", defaulted/Default Notice, terminated/Termination Notice, assigned/Notice of Assigbment etc ?

You've posted that this claim is £3,000 (approx). Is the disputed sum claimed exactly the same as the figure in your SAR for when the account was charged off and assigned?

Is there an assignment date mentioned in the POC, and if so is that the same date as any reference to the assignment date in your SAR? When Lowells serve you with their WS it may include the NOA or a reconstituted one so you can cross-check since they've not disclosed one yet (or have they?).

Ditto the Default Notice.

If the POC were vague then you could have sent Part 18 Questions to put them on the spot early on. That's what my firm would probably have done.

Witness Statements are exchanged simultaneously so that neither side has the advantage of knowing what the other side discloses whilst drafting their own one. So you will have to anticipate their strengths and weaknesses (and yours) when you draft your WS.

Di

[Diana M]

Did you ever send a SAR to vanquis ?

The OP says they did in post # 24

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio / Vanquis - 21-9-2017


Did you ever send the SAR as advised

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio / Vanquis - 21-9-2017

Yes I sent everything that I was advised to.

Di

[DeeS77]

I'm sorry, anything legal is totally new to me and I'm trying to remember some of the details.I'll try to answer these questions best as I can, this is all blowing my mind a little - I've added my answers below in bold, I hope this helps?

I've looked back through your thread from the beginning (8th October 2017). I can't see the Particulars of Claim anywhere yet you've filed a Defence in reply to them (post # 4).

What is stated in the Particulars of Claim because that is their case?
"1) The Defendant entered into a Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulated agreement with Vanquis under account reference XXX ("the Agreement")
2) The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and a default notice was served and not complied with.
3) The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on xx/xx/15 and notice given to the Defendant
4) Despite repeated requests for payment, the sum of £XXX remains due and outstanding. And the Claimant claims:
a) The said sum of £XXX
b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum
c) Costs

Did they mention or refer to a "contract", "agreement" "overdue balance", defaulted/Default Notice, terminated/Termination Notice, assigned/Notice of Assigbment etc ?
"Agreement"

You've posted that this claim is £3,000 (approx). Is the disputed sum claimed exactly the same as the figure in your SAR for when the account was charged off and assigned?
I believe so yes

Is there an assignment date mentioned in the POC, and if so is that the same date as any reference to the assignment date in your SAR? When Lowells serve you with their WS it may include the NOA or a reconstituted one so you can cross-check since they've not disclosed one yet (or have they?).
Yes it was mentioned in the POC and is the same date in the SAR. No, nothing else has been disclosed not mentioned in this thread, nothing at all since they last contacted me.

Ditto the Default Notice.
Yes

If the POC were vague then you could have sent Part 18 Questions to put them on the spot early on. That's what my firm would probably have done.

Witness Statements are exchanged simultaneously so that neither side has the advantage of knowing what the other side discloses whilst serving their own one. So you will have to anticipate their strengths and weaknesses (and yours) when you draft your WS.

[DeeS77]

Okay so I've just given my Witness Statement a go following some of the examples kindly linked to me by Amethyst earlier. What do you think?

1. I, XXXXX of address XXXXX am the Defendant in this claim. The matters set out below are within my own knowledge, except where I indicate to the contrary.
2. On 7/10/17 I made a written request to the Claimant’s solicitors, Lowell Solicitors Limited, of address, PO BOX 1419, Northampton, NN2 1BU, requesting that the Claimant provides copies of all documents mentioned in the statement of case, along with the statutory £1 fee. [EXHIBIT A]. I also enclosed a copy of the letter sent directly to Lowell Financial Limited, of address, Ellington House, 9 Savannah Way, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1AB, requesting a copy of my Consumer Credit Agreement as entitled to do so under sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 [EXHIBIT B]. This information was requested by 24/10/17 so that I could submit my defence online by 25/10/17.
3. On 28/10/17 I received a letter from Lowell Solicitors Limited [EXHIBIT C] stating that they have “requested a copy of the Agreement and Statements from Vanquis and these will be sent to you upon receipt”. This letter was dated 20/10/17. They stated that “we note that you have filed your Acknowledge of Service which provides you with 28 days from the date of service of the Claim to respond back fully, in this case you have until 24 September 2017 to respond”. This is 26 days before the letter is even dated. As you can see, the list of transactions provided is very basic, without dates or values and not a true copy of account.
4. Requested documents included, true copy of agreement/contract, default notice, assignment and formal demand, as in [EXHIBIT B].
5. Only 2 of the 4 aforementioned requested documents were received. To this date, 05/03/18, I have not received a copy of the agreement/contract, nor the formal demand. Copy of the default notice and assignment received are included [EXHIBIT D AND E)
6. The Claimant has mentioned a Credit Agreement in its Statement of Case and yet it has not provided this document. The Claimant has not complied with my formal request for the Credit Agreement under s.78(1) and therefore is unable to enforce the debt at this time.

STATEMENT OF TRUTH

I, XXXXX, the Defendant, believe that the facts stated within this Witness Statement to be true.

Signed:

Dated: 05/03/2018
Encls.

[DeeS77]

Does anyone have any thoughts please? I'm going to send this off today.

[warwick65]

My initial thoughts are that you haven't explained many of the points you pleaded in your defence

This is your chance to explain why they need to show a Default notice was needed and why they need to prove legal assignment

I would start from the basis you were explaining to someone who doesn't know what the law is- remember, many judges know relatively little about the consumer credit act

As an example , in my first hearing , the Judge, when asked about default notices said 'I know one needs to be sent' but maybe he didn;t know what needed to be sent

[DeeS77]

Aha, good tip, thank you warwick65 . I will re-write this evening

[warwick65]

It might be worth going through your SAR and double checking things such as dates of assignment, date of default notice = these should match exactly because if they don't = well they can't both be right can they?