Claim Form from County Court Business Centre

[EricvN]

Well, straight in with the questions, minutes after joining the forum, I hope someone can give me some pointers.

So, I've been burying my head in the sand for some time now, and it looks like things are catching up with me. The hard facts:

Received a claim? : YES
Issue Date: 18th June 2019
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: NOT YET
Total Amount Claimed : £9800
Claimant’s Name: Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd
Solicitors Firm: Mortimer Clarke
Original Creditor: NewDay Ltd Re Marbles
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Credit Card
Particulars of Claim: By an agreement between NewDay Ltd Re Marbles & the Defendant on or around **/**/2003 ('the Agreement') NewDay Ltd Re Marbles agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card.
The Defendant failed to make the minimum pyments due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was assigned to the Claimant. THE CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS **** 2. Costs

Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): Not Statute Barred, I had been doing minimum payments until about 4 years ago.

List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): Sadly, I was ignoring all the letters and phone calls from Mortimer Clarke, including a Letter Before Action a couple of months ago. A couple of weeks ago, the incessant calls reached fever pitch, and I concluded action really was in the pipe. I found a letter template on the Debtline website and sent a request to Cabot for information under sections 77-79 CCA 1974 (but not to Mortimer Clark) along with a £1.00 P.O.
Some 5 days or so later, the Claim Form from Northampton County Court Business Centre, dated 18th June 2019, landed on my doormat.
Over this past weekend, a letter dated 17th June 2019 arrived from Cabot, stating they do not have the relevant info on file, so will be requesting a copy of the credit agreement and terms & conditions from my original lender as well as a statement of my account. This may take some time, but they will write within the next 12 days with an update...

Any Other Information or Background Details: I'm in no position to pay this debt, and being self-employed, my income varies wildly from month to month. Some months, I literally have nothing in my bank account, and have to rely on family charity entirely. Not the odd month either, I mean for 2 or 3 months till clients cough up and I can take another gulp of air above the waves. There are other credit card debts outstanding, 2 more at about the same amount, but nobody is chasing those very hard right now. I realise they will be coming for me...
Trying to decide whether to keep on treading water or just take the big gulp and go under. There is a remote chance, via a family benefactor, of cobbling together about £8k maximum to see if I could clear my debts, but I don't actually have it in hand. I wouldn't want to get it, give it to one lot of vultures and then have the others tear me apart.
Meanwhile, as I mull it over, I need to get these people off my back...

I guess I acknowledge the claim online first, and fire off more requests to Mortimer Clarke and NewDay?

Any advice welcomed, my calm acceptance of my situation has evaporated and a rising panic is threatening to engulf me. Deep breaths, deep breaths....

[Amethyst]

Acknowledge the claim first - with intent to defend in full - and send a cpr request and a SAR to NewDay - no need to do another cca request to Cabot

. Acknowledge Claim via mcol
CPR 31.14 Request to Mortimer Clarke
Subject Access to NewDay


They haven't plead that the account defaulted at all - does it show on your credit file ?
It was opened in 2003 so would have been a manually signed agreement rather than digital - so they might struggle.

This claim is for £9800 - How much are other debts you have ?? If you might have access to £8k there is no point paying this one off at a negotiated say £7k and having another £5k debt end up at court in a few months. You would want really to use it to settle all the debts pro-rata if at all possible. You could have a chat with cab or national debtline to help work that out. Or if there's no chance of covering everything there might be other options.

[pt2537]

Well, straight in with the questions, minutes after joining the forum, I hope someone can give me some pointers.

So, I've been burying my head in the sand for some time now, and it looks like things are catching up with me. The hard facts:

Received a claim? : YES
Issue Date: 18th June 2019
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: NOT YET
Total Amount Claimed : £9800
Claimant’s Name: Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd
Solicitors Firm: Mortimer Clarke
Original Creditor: NewDay Ltd Re Marbles
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Credit Card
Particulars of Claim: By an agreement between NewDay Ltd Re Marbles & the Defendant on or around **/**/2003 ('the Agreement') NewDay Ltd Re Marbles agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card.
The Defendant failed to make the minimum pyments due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was assigned to the Claimant. THE CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS **** 2. Costs

Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): Not Statute Barred, I had been doing minimum payments until about 4 years ago.

List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): Sadly, I was ignoring all the letters and phone calls from Mortimer Clarke, including a Letter Before Action a couple of months ago. A couple of weeks ago, the incessant calls reached fever pitch, and I concluded action really was in the pipe. I found a letter template on the Debtline website and sent a request to Cabot for information under sections 77-79 CCA 1974 (but not to Mortimer Clark) along with a £1.00 P.O.
Some 5 days or so later, the Claim Form from Northampton County Court Business Centre, dated 18th June 2019, landed on my doormat.
Over this past weekend, a letter dated 17th June 2019 arrived from Cabot, stating they do not have the relevant info on file, so will be requesting a copy of the credit agreement and terms & conditions from my original lender as well as a statement of my account. This may take some time, but they will write within the next 12 days with an update...

Any Other Information or Background Details: I'm in no position to pay this debt, and being self-employed, my income varies wildly from month to month. Some months, I literally have nothing in my bank account, and have to rely on family charity entirely. Not the odd month either, I mean for 2 or 3 months till clients cough up and I can take another gulp of air above the waves. There are other credit card debts outstanding, 2 more at about the same amount, but nobody is chasing those very hard right now. I realise they will be coming for me...
Trying to decide whether to keep on treading water or just take the big gulp and go under. There is a remote chance, via a family benefactor, of cobbling together about £8k maximum to see if I could clear my debts, but I don't actually have it in hand. I wouldn't want to get it, give it to one lot of vultures and then have the others tear me apart.
Meanwhile, as I mull it over, I need to get these people off my back...

I guess I acknowledge the claim online first, and fire off more requests to Mortimer Clarke and NewDay?

Any advice welcomed, my calm acceptance of my situation has evaporated and a rising panic is threatening to engulf me. Deep breaths, deep breaths....

you may want to watch this space, as there is a trial in July that may well have an interesting impact on New days marbles portfolio. I cannot say too much at this stage because of obvious reasons but will update as soon as i can

btw the pleadings are shite too, where is the default notice? where is the mention of how the agreement was t erminated, when was it terminated etc

[Amethyst]

2003 it'd have been SAV I think - so potential assignment issues there.

[pt2537]

2003 it'd have been SAV I think - so potential assignment issues there.

i dont think so lol

[pt2537]

i dont think so lol

https://newday.co.uk/about-us/history/

[pt2537]

Marbles was still in the hands of Beneficial Bank plc a subsidiary of HSBC Bank Plc til 2007, those pleadings are woeful, not only do they not plead the assignment, they dont plead the default notice either, thats fatal

[Amethyst]

Ahh HSBC... there's just so many that ended up with Newday. So Marbles was HFC, then HSBC ( in 2003?) then SAV in 2007, changing to Newday in 2014 ? bit of a trek.

[Amethyst]

Marbles was still in the hands of Beneficial Bank plc a subsidiary of HSBC Bank Plc til 2007, those pleadings are woeful, not only do they not plead the assignment, they dont plead the default notice either, thats fatal

They plead very little at all. Strike app pre defence? Already in default of CCA request pre issue as well.

[pt2537]

They plead very little at all. Strike app pre defence? Already in default of CCA request pre issue as well.

I think its certainly arguable that this is the way to go, their claim is hopeless, it is incapable of proof based on the facts.

[Amethyst]

Basic

(1) Summary judgment be given against the Claimant under CPR 24.2 on the ground that the claim has no real prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason why the case should be disposed of at a trial, or alternatively


(2) The claim be struck out on the ground that it discloses no reasonable grounds for being brought and/or is an abuse of the court's process

They have actually plead Assignment ( very vaguely)

The Agreement was assigned to the Claimant.

NewDay Ltd Re Marbles agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card.

is wrong in any event as Newday were never HFC ( beneficial ) nor HSBC, only SAV ( possibly depending which arm of Newday Cabot bought the debt off of ) so even with assignment saying NewDay re Marbles can never be correct, that's just the party that Cabot bought the debt off of.

Use this

letter dated 17th June 2019 arrived from Cabot, stating they do not have the relevant info on file,

as an exhibit to the application?

[EricvN]

Acknowledge the claim first - with intent to defend in full - and send a cpr request and a SAR to NewDay - no need to do another cca request to Cabot

. Acknowledge Claim via mcol
CPR 31.14 Request to Mortimer Clarke
Subject Access to NewDay


They haven't plead that the account defaulted at all - does it show on your credit file ?
It was opened in 2003 so would have been a manually signed agreement rather than digital - so they might struggle.

This claim is for £9800 - How much are other debts you have ?? If you might have access to £8k there is no point paying this one off at a negotiated say £7k and having another £5k debt end up at court in a few months. You would want really to use it to settle all the debts pro-rata if at all possible. You could have a chat with cab or national debtline to help work that out. Or if there's no chance of covering everything there might be other options.

Firstly, many thanks for the speedy advice, it's a ray of hope!

Credit file? Hmmm, as you may have gathered, I think I have some sort of financial autism - when it comes to all things money, my brain scrambles and I will do ANYTHING to avoid dealing with it. I've never checked my credit file, I know I am hopeless and skint and have left it at that! I shall investigate...

My other debts are a couple of other credit cards of around the same figures - one about 8k, one about 11k. My thoughts were exactly as you expressed - no point in paying one off and being hammered for the others a little later. I shall make an effort to get to speak to CAB or Debtline, see what I can do.

[Amethyst]

Some links to help access your credit files here https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...-report-access

If you write down everything that appears and the status of it then CAB etc should be able to help you come up with a plan to get on top of things xxx It might feel a bit scary when you look at the list but once you know where you stand and start dealing with it it really is amazing the weight it lifts off your mind

[EricvN]

Well, well, well, interesting times.
Got a letter from Cabot saying that as they haven't been able to provide me with the info requested, the CA is unenforceable, meaning they are not permitted from obtaining a judgement or decree against me in court.

Great news, but do I need to do anything in regards to MCOL? I'm not saying Cabot are a bunch of snakes, but they aren't leading me into (more) inaction and a subsequent judgement against me, are they? Does their claim just get struck out if they don't proceed within a certain time, or do they have to withdraw the claim (it's still there, the latest info being my acknowledgement of claim)?

Many thanks to those who give their time helping inadequates like me!

[Amethyst]

You do still need to file your defence by day 33 from the date of issue of the claim unless they formally agree to an extension. The reply from Cabot to the CCA letter is quite standard and they likely actually have no idea that its already at court via Mortimer Clarke, so no, it's rubbish admin rather than purposely misleading. So your defence wants to go in around 18th July - there's a starting point here -> Example Defence