Court Claim - Cabot / Shop direct - 17-9-2014

[Vicky7772]

Received a claim? Yes
Issue Date: 17-9-2014
Amount approx: 1484
Claimant: Cabot
Solicitor: Mortimer Clarke
Original Credit: Shop direct

Particulars of Claim:
by an agreement between shop direct group (SDG) and the defendant on or around 02/01/2004 ("the agreement") SDG agreed to issue the defendant with a credit card upon the terms and conditions set out therin. in breach of the agreement the defendant failed to make payments due and the agreement was terminated. The agreement was assigned to the claimant on 31/07/2008. The claimant therefore claims 1334.27

Stat Barred? No

Have sent:

Other Info:
I can't believe that these debts are still haunting me 9 years after I couldn't afford to pay them. Some background- I had lots of credit cards when I was at uni and whenever I reached my limit they just upped it again until I couldn't repay them every month and I stopped paying when I left in August 2005. I eventually entered into a CCCS repayment plan in late 2005 but couldn't keep up payments with them either due to unemployment.
In 2007 I became employed and made some payments again through CCCS but stopped in early 2008 due to another period of unemployment.
My issue after this is I can't remember exact details. I started work again in sept 2008 and tried to set up a payment plan again with CCCS but lots of other issues meant I couldn't pay.I'm not even sure if I made a payment though the CCCS at this time or if I even added this debt to the CCCS plan. My contact with CCCS went on until March 2009 when they sent me a breakdown of a budget, but not sure if they had contacted creditors at this stage or if it was just a budget for me to see where I stood. At that point I basically gave up even trying to sort out any debts and I have buried my head in the sand ever since.
I will be acknowledging the claim and sending a CCA and CPR request. Will any of these show me when the last payment was made? Or is there something else I can send to check statements to see if it may be statue barred?
Any other advice would be appreciated. I really don't want to go to court to defend but equally I don't want a CCJ meaning another 6 years of not being able to get credit or a mortgage after going through all this for the last 9 years!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Shop direct - 17-9-2014

Stat Barred? No

I'd change that to "possibly" :grin:

In 2007 I became employed and made some payments again through CCCS but stopped in early 2008 due to another period of unemployment.
My issue after this is I can't remember exact details. I started work again in sept 2008 and tried to set up a payment plan again with CCCS but lots of other issues meant I couldn't pay.I'm not even sure if I made a payment though the CCCS at this time or if I even added this debt to the CCCS plan. My contact with CCCS went on until March 2009 when they sent me a breakdown of a budget, but not sure if they had contacted creditors at this stage or if it was just a budget for me to see where I stood. At that point I basically gave up even trying to sort out any debts and I have buried my head in the sand ever since.
I will be acknowledging the claim and sending a CCA and CPR request. Will any of these show me when the last payment was made?

In theory they should send you a statement of account, in practice, they hardly ever send anything at all.

With ShopDirect accounts from as far back as 2004, it's very likely there won't be a signed agreement since they didn't usually require customers to sign one before sending out the goods. Do you recall if you ever signed anything? If you didn't, then there's no way they could enforce this in court, even if it wasn't SBd. :thumb:

Or is there something else I can send to check statements to see if it may be statue barred?

There is , take a look here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...233#post388233

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Shop direct - 17-9-2014

Any other advice would be appreciated. I really don't want to go to court to defend but equally I don't want a CCJ meaning another 6 years of not being able to get credit or a mortgage after going through all this for the last 9 years!

If the debt is SBd that's an absolute defence and if you use that in your defence, they onus would be on THEM to show PROOF that it isn't. If you never signed an agreement, they won't be able to enforce the debt even if not SBd.

In the unlikely event all the above failed, you can still avoid a CCJ with a Tomlin Order, which stays proceedings as long as you keep to the terms of the order. The terms would set out monthly installments you can afford in the long term, but we're still a long way from that stage!

For now acknowledge service, state your intention to defend in full and send your requests for documents, all recorded delivery.

The CCA request goes to the creditor (Cabot) with the £1 fee, requests under the CPR go to the solicitors (Mortimer Clarke) without a fee. Sign letters digitally using a computer font. :thumb:

Keep us posted if and when you hear from them (or not as the case may be) :typing: There's no need to chase the CCA request as non response can be used in your defence but do keep an eye on the timescales for your CPR request(s). :clock:

[Vicky7772]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Shop direct - 17-9-2014

Hi all, Thanks for the help so far.
I have had responses saying that neither parties has any of the paperwork and they will request it which may take up to 40 days. I have a letter from the solicitor saying they will give me a 28 day extension (on top of the 14? or a further 14 days?)and to send this to the court which I will do tomorrow.
Should I reply asking for them to withdraw it from court until the paperwork is produced or go ahead and enter some sort of defence? Or just sit tight and wait a little bit longer?

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Cabot / Shop direct - 17-9-2014

28 days extension is to the defence date - so get the date your defence was due to be filed and add 28 days to that. Then send that date to the court as agreed between both parties.

Wait until 4 or 5 days before that extra 28 period is up then put in your defence.