**WON** Lowell Solicitors VS Mik3y

[mik3y]

Hi this is my first post and I'm hoping someone can help me through this process as I'm stressing about it.
I have received court papers today from Lowells for a £1000 phone bill.
To cut a long story short i had a breakdown in a 10 year relationship and made some very dumb financial decisions.
Since this breakdown (3 years ago) I have been a single parent working part time.
Some info
The debt is 2 3 years old
I have included the particulars of claim below.
I have not acknowledged the court papers yet or the debt with Lowell.
I'm willing to offer settlement of 10 percent as that's all I can afford or defend this case if I can find a loop hole.
Lowell have 4 other debts of mine dating from the same year all alot lower that the one stated above.
Can I fight this what are my best options.
Can anyone please help me through this process.

[Stu]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Firstly, don't panic.

Secondly, many of these Consumer Credit debt based Court Claims are issued through the County Court Business Centre and are rather lacking in detail and information. The are often claims bought by debt purchasers who don't have the paperwork to back them up to hand and who wing it on the hope that they obtain a default judgment.

So, first steps (within 14 days of receiving the claim)

1: ACKNOWLEDGE THE CLAIM - you can do this online usually at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
You'll need your claim reference and password from the front of the claim form - this will extend the time you have to respond to the claim to 28 days from when you received it

2: Send A CCA REQUEST to the CLAIMANT ( see here )
This applies to all credit cards / loans / hire purchase / store cards type debt. It doesn't apply to Mobile Phones / Utilities or Overdrafts.

3: Send a CPR request to the CLAIMANT'S SOLICITORS ( see here )
This applies to everything unless they happen to have supplied you with a bunch of paperwork to back up their claim (v. unlikely) You can include a copy of your CCA request with this letter for information.

If you are unsure of any of those steps then please make a new thread on the forum (you must be registered to do this)

Once those letters have been sent off you should make a new thread on the forum (you must be registered to do this) and make a post titled the claimants name v your username, and containing the date of issue from your claim form, date of service (ie when you received the claim form), type out the Particulars of Claim (exclude account numbers) and tell us the approx amount of the claim. Also tell us any specific disputes or background to the claim you may have. If you know please also tell us the last time you made a payment towards the debt or acknowledged the debt in writing, and confirm you have acknowledged the claim, and what letters you have sent off.
OR
If you received a court claim and want to start a new thread in this forum please post the following information as your first post.

Received a claim?
Issue Date:
Amount approx:
Claimant:
Solicitor
Original Creditor:
Particulars of Claim: Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers
Is the debt Statute Barred?
List any letters you have sent:
Any Other Info:

[mik3y]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Thanks Stu I will get on that now

[nemesis45]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

CCA requests are not appropriate for telephone service contracts which are not regulated by CCA 1974.

CPR 31.14 request goes to the claimants solicitor (no fee) This is specifically for the documents mentioned in the particulars of the claim only i.e. The agreement, the default notice and the notice of assignment.


nem

[mik3y]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Thanks Nemesis,
Just to clarify I don't need to send the £1 admin fee and if I'm sending it recorded delivery to sign for i only have a PO Box address can this still be signed for. Many thanks

[nemesis45]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Thanks Nemesis,
Just to clarify I don't need to send the £1 admin fee and if I'm sending it recorded delivery to sign for i only have a PO Box address can this still be signed for. Many thanks

No fee not required.

nem

[mik3y]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Could you please check this for me and let me know if it's correct many thanks

Lowell Solicitors Limited
PO Box 1419
Northampton
NN21BU




Dear Sirs,


Claim Number: xxxxxxxx


Request for documents mentioned in a statement of case under CPR 31.14


On 23/11/2016 I received a County Court claim from yourselves of which I have acknowledged receipt indicating my intention to defend in full.


To enable me to file my defence and/or counterclaim, I require inspection of documents you mention in your statement of case ahead of filing my defence on 15th December 2016.
1. Agreement
2. Default Notice
3. Assignment


You should note that this claim has not yet been allocated to a specific track and the provisions of CPR 27(2) are of no effect. Had your claim not been issued through CCBC the Claimant would have been obliged to attach copies of the documentation upon which it relies to the Particulars of Claim. I , as Defendant, am entitled to see the documents on which the Claimant relies and which you will have to produce at trial. Disclosure at this stage will enable me to fully plead my case and further the Overriding Objective.


You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the document(s) I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter.


If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing and confirm your agreement to an extension of the time allowed for me to file my defence as allowed under CPR 15.5 so I may notify the court.


For your information and records I enclose a copy of the formal request for a copy of the credit agreement relating to this claim, pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which has been posted to your client.


I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours sincerely




xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[charitynjw]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Thanks Nemesis,
Just to clarify I don't need to send the £1 admin fee and if I'm sending it recorded delivery to sign for i only have a PO Box address can this still be signed for. Many thanks

No fee not required.

nem

Good evening, nem.

I've seen other debt purchasers (apart from Arrow) who have refused SignedFor post.
Lowell Sols are a PO box address.
I've not seen any problems with them, though.
What do you reckon?

[mik3y]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Would it be better to send it just tracked and not signed for charitynjw

[Kati]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Would it be better to send it just tracked and not signed for charitynjw

so long as you have proof of postage (you'll have proof of delivery too if you decide to send tracked) you should be fine imo xx

[nemesis45]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

If you have not sent the CPR request change " assignment " to Notice of Assignment.


nem

[mik3y]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

I have already sent the CPR this morning will this cause an issue Nem

[nemesis45]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

I have already sent the CPR this morning will this cause an issue Nem

Depends how pedantic the clerks in the solicitors office will want to be, they just say you can't have xxxx or you ,may get a lecture on the CCBC process and what you and can't do via CPR31.14.

nem

[mik3y]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Should I send another with the term corrected.

[nemesis45]

Re: Court papers received today from lowells any help please

Should I send another with the term corrected.

No I'd leave it and see what happens now.

nem