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Hi, I would be very grateful if someone could give me some advice in regards to a County Court Claim I have received as I am uncertain as to how I should go forward with it.
I had an account with Fashion World catalogue of which the original amount owing was around £350 back in 2007. Since then I would say I have paid back more than £1300. Because I got into financial difficulties several times over the years, the account accumulated a lot of interest and charges. Between 2010-12 time, both Fashion World and Reliable Collections were regularly sending me 4 letters/statements at a time when they wanted to increase the monthly payment, even though they were still in receipt of the regular payment I could afford every month through a standing order.
I have now received a County Court Claim from Lowell Portfolio for around £1500. Expensive clothing that's for certain
I think I had the account since around 2005-06 time. I can't remember if I signed any agreement then, but I have found that I have a copy of an updated credit agreement that was sent to me in 2008. That agreement doesn't have my name, address or signature on it. It just has their signature on it. It actually says on the credit agreement, only sign this if you want to be legally bound by its terms.
I have written to Fashion World once in the past and also to a debt collector around 2009 time in regards to this account when I asked for the account to be brought back to Fashion World. They agreed so long as I paid a slightly higher payment every month. I agreed to that but I didn't realise then that they would continue to add interest to my account which was in effect a lot higher than the monthly payment I was making. Also from that point in time I never really knew who was running my account as there were letters from both Fashion World and Reliable Collections, but the direct debit payment was being paid to JD Williams. Confusing! Also I ended up asking if I could have the direct debit cancelled and set up a standing order instead to which they agreed but then I noticed that they hadn't cancelled the direct debit, and so I cancelled after a couple of months and kept the standing order payment going out each month.
The last payment I made on the account was in 2015. At that point I was experiencing financial difficulties again and had no choice but to cancel the standing order.
My question is - Do I have any grounds for defence seeing that I have already paid back more than enough already to cover the original debt or am I obliged to accept this claim?
Thank you in advance for any help given.
I had an account with Fashion World catalogue of which the original amount owing was around £350 back in 2007. Since then I would say I have paid back more than £1300. Because I got into financial difficulties several times over the years, the account accumulated a lot of interest and charges. Between 2010-12 time, both Fashion World and Reliable Collections were regularly sending me 4 letters/statements at a time when they wanted to increase the monthly payment, even though they were still in receipt of the regular payment I could afford every month through a standing order.
I have now received a County Court Claim from Lowell Portfolio for around £1500. Expensive clothing that's for certain
I think I had the account since around 2005-06 time. I can't remember if I signed any agreement then, but I have found that I have a copy of an updated credit agreement that was sent to me in 2008. That agreement doesn't have my name, address or signature on it. It just has their signature on it. It actually says on the credit agreement, only sign this if you want to be legally bound by its terms. I have written to Fashion World once in the past and also to a debt collector around 2009 time in regards to this account when I asked for the account to be brought back to Fashion World. They agreed so long as I paid a slightly higher payment every month. I agreed to that but I didn't realise then that they would continue to add interest to my account which was in effect a lot higher than the monthly payment I was making. Also from that point in time I never really knew who was running my account as there were letters from both Fashion World and Reliable Collections, but the direct debit payment was being paid to JD Williams. Confusing! Also I ended up asking if I could have the direct debit cancelled and set up a standing order instead to which they agreed but then I noticed that they hadn't cancelled the direct debit, and so I cancelled after a couple of months and kept the standing order payment going out each month.
The last payment I made on the account was in 2015. At that point I was experiencing financial difficulties again and had no choice but to cancel the standing order.
My question is - Do I have any grounds for defence seeing that I have already paid back more than enough already to cover the original debt or am I obliged to accept this claim?
Thank you in advance for any help given.
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