Application to lift stay

[liberty24]

Hello,

I would be grateful for any advice to help me in defending a court claim for an old credit card debt from 2011 that I contested back in April 2015 requesting a copy of the relevant documents e.g credit agreement, default notice, notice of assignment and statement of accounts etc. After 4 years and 2 months, they have finally provided their copies of documents requested, or the best that they can offer, and have written to give notice that they will apply to the court to lift the stay on proceedings. I have submitted the following response

"I am writing in response to your recent communication regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim I owe. I do not admit any liability for your claim. Furthermore, I question why it has taken over 4 years since the filing of my initial defence on 2/4/15 to provide the documents you have supplied. I question whether this is an abuse of court process. I also question the quality of the documents supplied and whether copies of documents and screenshots would suffice as evidence of my liability for this debt. I would be interested to hear your views on this and will be seeking advice from my solicitor in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you"

I would be grateful for any advice in defending this claim should they proceed to lift the stay. Thank you in advance for your support.

[liberty24]

Received a claim? Yes/No: Yes
Issue Date: 30/03/15
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: Filed a defence on 2/4/19 on the basis that I required validation that I hold any legal obligation to pay the debt and requested evidence of this - see attached documents.
Total Amount Claimed : 4500
Claimant’s Name: Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd
Solicitors Firm: SHOOSMITHS LLP
Original Creditor: HALIFAX
Original Debt Credit card
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ): documents to follow
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): Unsure. I have had no communication with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years, however, court proceedings started back in March 2015
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): CCA, also evidence of claimant's authority to collect the debt, credit agreement that bears my signature, documentation that bears my name and balance of the debt, verification that the debt was assigned or sold to the creditor, complete account of the alleged debt. They have supplied the attached information.
Any Other Information or Background Details: I submitted the response in my previous post, and have submitted a SAR to Halifax today.

[liberty24]

[liberty24]

[liberty24]

[liberty24]

[liberty24]

[liberty24]

Here is the latest response from Shoosmiths

[Amethyst]

Evening xxx I'll take a look in the morning if no one looks in tonight sorry I missed your first posts xxxx

[Amethyst]

What are the dates on this ? ( where the red lines are)

[Amethyst]

Other than checking the default notice dates ( checking it's over 14 days ) it does all look correct and enforceable- so the only argument left is that the claim being brought in 2015 was an abuse of process to stop it becoming statute barred despite their not having had sight of any of the documents until 4 years later.

I dont recall anyone being successful in that argument - pt2537 do you ?

[liberty24]

Thank you Amethyst, no need to apologise. I am sure this site gets very busy! I am grateful that this site exists to provide such a wealth of information for people that need it. In response to your question, there are no dates on the document queried. They have been blacked out as shown in the attachment. In response to their communication, I submitted the following response:

"I am writing in response to your recent communication regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim I owe. I do not admit any liability for your claim. Furthermore, I question why it has taken over 4 years since the filing of my initial defence on 2/4/15 to provide the documents you have supplied. I question whether this is an abuse of court process. I also question the quality of the documents supplied and whether copies of documents and screenshots would suffice as evidence of my liability for this debt. I would be interested to hear your views on this and will be seeking advice from my solicitor in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you"

Their response was:

We note your comments regarding the length of time it has taken for documents to be provided to you. As our client is a debt purchaser they have to rely upon the originating creditor, namely Halifax, to provide them with documentation relating to the account. Unfortunately, the time frame for this is out of our client’s control.

Whilst we appreciate that it has taken some time to obtain the documentation from Halifax, we do not agree that it has taken four years to provide you with the same. Documentation has been provided to you, prior to our letter dated 19 June 2019, as and when this has been received from Halifax. Included below, for your reference, is a timeline of the correspondence sent to you:-

• 6 January 2017 - copy of agreement;
• 4 July 2017 – copy of agreement;
• 26 October 2017 - copy of agreement, notice of assignment from Halifax and notice of assignment from our client;
• 24 November 2017 - copy of agreement, notice of assignment from Halifax and notice of assignment from our client;
• 14 November 2018 - copy of agreement, notice of assignment from Halifax, notice of assignment from our client, default notice screen print, default notice template and statement from our client; and
• 19 June 2019 - copy of agreement, notice of assignment from Halifax, notice of assignment from our client, default notice screen print, default notice template, statement from our client and statement from Halifax.

You have also raised concerns over the quality of the documents and queried whether copies of documents and screen prints would suffice as evidence of your liability. Having reviewed the documentation, we would submit that all of the documents are legible and, specifically within the agreement, your signature is clear. Furthermore, our client is not obliged to provide you with the original documentation, copies of the same are sufficient.
From the documentation provided to you, it is evident that you entered into an agreement with Halifax, that you failed to repay the sums outstanding and that the debt was subsequently assigned to our client. Therefore, our client is confident in its position that the sum of £4,246.96 remains due and owing to them and, should an application for summary Judgment be necessary, that Judgment would be entered against you for the full sums claimed.

Despite this, our client would prefer to bring this matter to an amicable conclusion and, in the circumstances, we enclose a further standard financial statement for you to complete and return to our offices, endorsed with your suitable proposals for repayment.

You have stated that you will be seeking advice from your solicitor, please contact our offices within the next 14 days to provide an update as to your position.

We look forward to hearing from you.

I have submitted an online SAR to Halifax earlier this week, and will submit a CCA request tomorrow by recorded delivery along with the £1 postal order. Shall I then just watch and wait to see if they lift the stay, or respond to their recent response in which they have given me 14 days to respond?

Many thanks for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

[Amethyst]

Strange to black out the dates and amounts on the front page of the default notice letter.
On page 2 it says this;
[IMG]https://legalbeagles.info/forums/image/gif;******,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==[/IMG]
which says to me the letter was dated 22/10/2010.
The consequences of not making payment by the date ( which is redacted ) then the account would be closed, the cards stop being used and returned to the bank by the 6/12/2010.Then it goes on to say the amount requested should be paid within 28 days of the date of this letter ( 22/10/2010) which would be 19/11/2010...so that should be what the redacted date on the first page should be I'd guess.

Do you know what the actual date of default was ?
Do you have the statements from November & December in that bundle they sent you ? Do they show when the account was defaulted ? ( Think they said they'd included statements up to April 2011 )

Ahhh they say they sent

, default notice screen print,,

what does that show for date of default?

It does seem like it will comply but just weird they've blanked out the dates on one page and called it a template but then left dates on the second page - thus wondering if there is a problem with the dates and they've tried to cover it up, but forgotten to redact page 2.

[liberty24]

Hello Amethyst, the screen shot of the default notice states 16/12/10. The statements of account (attached below) show that payments were made past that date, and also do not appear to show any dates of default from what I can see. Also, the date on page 2 of the default notice template reads 22/11/10? Will the evidence they have provided of them having supplied a default notice stand up in court do you think?

[liberty24]