Court claim from Cabot Financial please help with how to proceed

[Amethyst]

Check your credit files ( Noddle, MSE Credit club, & Clearscore covers everything and are free ) CIFAS markers normally show on there if that's what it is.

And get a SAR ( https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/)to your bank that's closed/ restricted your account. Have they actually written to you with an explanation?

You're dealing with 4 court claims ? Ouch. You Must feel like everything's gone to pot xxxx I'll check email and see where you're at and what needs doing xxxxx

[MIKE770]

wonder if you have a CIFA on one of your credit files?? check them to see (usually reported as suspect fraud investigation etc??? just a thought

[eire13]

Hi Mike,

If that is a Cifas warning I think I'm going to be getting one on my bank account now. I've checked the experian credit report and there is nothing there yet but I think there will be soon now. I applied for a savings account with the bank I use for the current account and they have said a credit check came back and they are closing my account. I wasn't given any warning really I don't know where to get another bank account now it's all very stressful. Yes I think the bank do suspect me of fraud probably with all this debt I owe. Thank you for helping.

Hi Amethyst,

I have sent one e-mail to the email address with letters about one of the claims for the smaller amount. I didn't know how to blank out my name and address but that will be fine I'm sure. On the claim for the larger amount it does say they are not able to find a copy of the original credit agreement but they have provided a copy of the reconstituted agreement. I can send another e mail later with all the letters on that one.

I'm very grateful to you Mike and Amethyst for your help so far. Thank you.

[MIKE770]

check Noddle as well free to join Amethyst

[Amethyst]

They were going to apply for summary judgment after 14 days from the 5th Oct and presumably haven't yet ?

If they have provided all the documents listed in their September letter then it is going to be enforceable so a negotiation may be a good idea, particularly if you can do it under a Tomlin Order so no CCJ is obtained.

However if there are 4 claims currently from Cabot then I think we need to look at the overall picture and potentially try get them all under one 'plan' - Do you have all 4 claim forms ?

[eire13]

Thank you Mike yes I will check noodle later and see what that one says.

Yes they were going to apply for summary judgement on 5th oct. They offered a reduction and a discount in the letter on the 5th october. I have not had any more letters about that claim yet. I just don't have a lot of money to pay any of these debts so I don't know which will cost me the least amount of money. I have 2 claims in my name. I don't really want to pay my husbands debt aswell. I'm not sure how that will work. I can reply more later I need to go out now. Thank you very much.

[eire13]

Hi Amethyst,

Yes maybe a Tomlin order would be better than the CCJ's. Some of their letters say about paying back 30 a month though and I don't think I can even afford that much. So I have 2 claims in my name from them.

[eire13]

Check your credit files ( Noddle, MSE Credit club, & Clearscore covers everything and are free ) CIFAS markers normally show on there if that's what it is.

And get a SAR ( https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/)to your bank that's closed/ restricted your account. Have they actually written to you with an explanation?

You're dealing with 4 court claims ? Ouch. You Must feel like everything's gone to pot xxxx I'll check email and see where you're at and what needs doing xxxxx

Hi Amethyst,

Yes I'll be checking all the credit files and see what they say. Thank you for the info about them all it's good they are free too. The bank told me I would need to phone CIFAS to find out but I have not done that yet. The whole thing is stressing me out so I havn't been dealing with it too well.

Ok yes I'll send a SAR to the bank. I just wouldn't be able to afford to pay for any information do you know if they are free now. The bank only wrote to me with an explanation after they had locked me out of my account and I was in the bank last Monday for an hour and a half waiting for them to get my money. The letter I have received says the account was passed to the fraud team and they have decided to close my account.

Yes 4 court claims so far. But it is a right mess because I have even more debt than just those 2. Yes I do feel like everything has gone to pot and I'm worried because I don't have barely any money already. Thank you yes I've sent some letters about one of the claims. I havn't done the other claim yet it takes me a long time. Thank you so much for helping. xxx

[eire13]

Hi Amethyst ,

I have checked my credit files and there are no Cifas warnings yet but maybe that will happen later. My bank account is being kept open for another few weeks even though I don't have any access to it maybe when that is closed there will be a CIFAS warning then. I'm not sure how it works. Could I ask on a different part of the forum about where to open another bank account that is easy to get.

Just about the SAR I could do with having some bank statements but what do they consider excessive would the last 2 years be ok. I would rather not pay for any info but I stupidly didn't think to download my bank statements. Then could I ask for all correspondence in the last year. Does that sound ok?

I'm still not sure what to do about these existing claims they will probably be transferring them to the court soon. I hope you can help with some advice. Thank you.

[Amethyst]

Lloyds or Nationwide do basic accounts which are straightforward although you do need to visit with ID.
https://www.lloydsbank.com/current-a...ic-account.asp
https://www.nationwide.co.uk/product...s-and-benefits

In the SAR you should ask for ' Transaction lists' for the time period you need - asking for Statement Copies attracts their copy statement charge ( usually about £5 a statement )

The court claims - in total come to just under £10k ( not sure how much the Lowell one will be for ?)

It doesn't seem like you are in a position to make any payments at all.

The Cabot claims come to about £7k overall. They're all relatively recent debts.

Do you own your house ? ( thinking what your risk is of letting them go to a CCJ and asking the court to set payments or just sending your IE sheets to make an out of court offer on all the debts in one go under a Tomlin order so the CCJ isn't obtained )

If there's much more than those 5 - and your circumstances are such that you are simply not going to be able to do anything with them you could try get yourself a list together of everything and have a chat with Stepchange or CAB about other options, such as a Debt Relief Order ( if you're not a homeowner - https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-he...ief-order.aspx ) and get them dealt with all in one go rather than spending all your time trying to bat off court claims. It would wreck your credit file but it sounds like it's pretty wrecked anyway and if these claims do go to CCJ's it's going to be a pretty similar effect. Might be worth a chat with the professionals about the debt situation now then see what options they give you and can then try deal with these court claims if appropriate through IE sheets and negotiation ( as they are likely to be enforceable being so recent )

[eire13]

Lloyds or Nationwide do basic accounts which are straightforward although you do need to visit with ID.
https://www.lloydsbank.com/current-a...ic-account.asp
https://www.nationwide.co.uk/product...s-and-benefits

In the SAR you should ask for ' Transaction lists' for the time period you need - asking for Statement Copies attracts their copy statement charge ( usually about £5 a statement )

The court claims - in total come to just under £10k ( not sure how much the Lowell one will be for ?)

It doesn't seem like you are in a position to make any payments at all.

The Cabot claims come to about £7k overall. They're all relatively recent debts.

Do you own your house ? ( thinking what your risk is of letting them go to a CCJ and asking the court to set payments or just sending your IE sheets to make an out of court offer on all the debts in one go under a Tomlin order so the CCJ isn't obtained )

If there's much more than those 5 - and your circumstances are such that you are simply not going to be able to do anything with them you could try get yourself a list together of everything and have a chat with Stepchange or CAB about other options, such as a Debt Relief Order ( if you're not a homeowner - https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-he...ief-order.aspx ) and get them dealt with all in one go rather than spending all your time trying to bat off court claims. It would wreck your credit file but it sounds like it's pretty wrecked anyway and if these claims do go to CCJ's it's going to be a pretty similar effect. Might be worth a chat with the professionals about the debt situation now then see what options they give you and can then try deal with these court claims if appropriate through IE sheets and negotiation ( as they are likely to be enforceable being so recent )

Hi Amethyst,

Thank you for the info and links about the bank accounts I'll apply for one of those and hopefully get one. I have ID so that should be ok.

Thank you for helping about the SAR. I should have been downloading my statements properly but didn't think this would happen. Will the transaction lists give me any info about why they have closed the account or will that be just what I have been spending. I think they said somebody wrote to them about me.

Yes the court claims are for large amounts. Lowell have not issued any court claims yet but it could only be a matter of time with that really. They have been sending letters, emails and lots of phone calls.

Yes it's a lot of money that Cabot want. They are fairly recent too so that's not good either. I'm afraid to say about the house just in case Cabot do monitor the forum sorry. The whole thing has me worried sick. I really don't know what to do about whether to deal with the courts or deal with Cabot. It would be less money overall to pay back at the moment if I deal with Cabot that's what I'm not sure about.

It's not just 5 there are a few more. Yes my circumstances are that I can barely afford to live without paying all these debts. Yes my credit file is very wrecked indeed. It's going to get even worse now. I need to just decide if I will let them go to CCJ's will that make any difference if they are already bad defaults. Yes they must be all enforceable. It's looking like I need some other help with the debts. Would I have to go to court if they apply to lift the stay.

Thank you for all your help. x

[Amethyst]

Okay, so a DRO is probably out... I think you should get your IE sheet together with the help of Stepchange or CAB - go through your whole situation with them - they are good and might be able to get you some breathing space to deal with things that aren't already at court.

Then once you know where you are, and have an idea of affordable pro-rata payments ( even if it's £1 a month!) put together an offer to Cabot cover all the debts that they have and try get them all set under a Tomlin order to avoid the CCJs.

You've had a change of circumstances and things have kind of all blown up at the same time it seems, it's understandable, I just don't want it to get too on top of you dealing with everything separately one after another when you might be able to get everything back on a level in one go. Try having a chat with them tomorrow and see what thoughts they have - it might take some of it off your shoulders even if it leaves the ones already at court claim stage to deal with ..... remember to the debt companies you are just a number on a sheet of paper and they have no idea of your circumstances until/unless you tell them - Cabot are actually pretty good and treat people like people ( once they communicate - until then they're numbers ) - Lowell are getting better at recognising they're dealing with actual people... . Mortimer Clarke aren't great yet so I'd stick to writing with them.

Anyway basically I think you should ring Stepchange, look at the overall picture, see what they suggest as you can discuss your overall circs with them, then we can figure out which way to go with the court claims.

[eire13]

Okay, so a DRO is probably out... I think you should get your IE sheet together with the help of Stepchange or CAB - go through your whole situation with them - they are good and might be able to get you some breathing space to deal with things that aren't already at court.

Then once you know where you are, and have an idea of affordable pro-rata payments ( even if it's £1 a month!) put together an offer to Cabot cover all the debts that they have and try get them all set under a Tomlin order to avoid the CCJs.

You've had a change of circumstances and things have kind of all blown up at the same time it seems, it's understandable, I just don't want it to get too on top of you dealing with everything separately one after another when you might be able to get everything back on a level in one go. Try having a chat with them tomorrow and see what thoughts they have - it might take some of it off your shoulders even if it leaves the ones already at court claim stage to deal with ..... remember to the debt companies you are just a number on a sheet of paper and they have no idea of your circumstances until/unless you tell them - Cabot are actually pretty good and treat people like people ( once they communicate - until then they're numbers ) - Lowell are getting better at recognising they're dealing with actual people... . Mortimer Clarke aren't great yet so I'd stick to writing with them.

Anyway basically I think you should ring Stepchange, look at the overall picture, see what they suggest as you can discuss your overall circs with them, then we can figure out which way to go with the court claims.

Hi Amethyst

Hi yes I think the DRO is out that would have been a good solution. Yes that sounds like a good solution now to contact Stepchange and see what help they can provide. I'm going to find the expenditure a bit tricky now seeing as I can't access my bank account and don't have statements. Yes it would be good to talk to someone about the problems I'm having.

I'm wondering if I can wait with the Lowell ones until they definitely are taking me to court. I would love if they did accept £1 a month but not sure how likely that is. I just would rather the Tomlin order is just for my debts and my husband's are separate but I'm not sure if it works like that. They have already applied to lift the stay on one of these and he says he doesn't care.

Thank you for understanding. I feel really bad about what I have done but it's happened now. Yes things have got a lot worse financially in the last few years. Yes I'm starting to worry coming up to Christmas as that is usually when debt collectors start sending a lot more letters. It's good to hear Cabot might be reasonable if I communicate with them. Yes it's been Mortimer Clarke mainly writing.

Yes I'm going to contact Stepchange today hopefully or else Monday. Hopefully they can help and I'll let you know what is happening.

Thank you so much for all your time in helping me it's good to at least be talking about it.

I've got a letter from Mortimer Clarke this morning giving me 14 days or they will lift the stay it's for the larger amount. I'll contact Stepchange.

[eire13]

Hi Amethyst ,

I'm wondering if I could have your thoughts again please Amethyst. I have contacted Stepchange now. They said my options were to offer a small amount of £1 a month to all the creditors or else to go bankrupt. They didn't advice going bankrupt at the moment in case it affects where I live. They also said the £1 a month would be just a temporary arrangement until maybe my circumstances improve. The problem is I don't see them improving anytime soon. Anyway I followed the advice and wrote directly to Cabot offering £1 a month for the 2 claims in my name. I'm doubtful they will accept this but I suppose I need to wait and see.

Stepchange also advised I write to Lowell with an offer of £1. I'm just unsure about doing this when I've been avoiding contact with them so far. I'm just worried that this isn't any long term solution and maybe they will just try for a CCJ sooner if I contact them. Would you have any advice about this please.

I just thought there might have been more options to avoid CCJ's.

[eire13]

Hi,

I am hoping that somebody could please help with some advice on this ongoing claim. It is causing me a lot of stress and worry because I don't know how to deal with it properly. What is happening now is I have written back to Cabot offering 1 a month with the I and E form. They have rejected this. I put down my own expenses and outgoing on the form. I left my husbands income off the form but now they want to know his income too. He doesn't really want to tell them he thinks the courts will be fairer. They are telling me they are going to lift the stay on one of mine if I don't reply in 14 days. I'm worried about the extra costs they will be putting on to it. Could someone please give me some advice.