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Letter of Claim rec'd from Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors

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  • Letter of Claim rec'd from Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors

    So yesterday, 21/01/19, I received a ‘Letter of Claim’ dated 15/01/19 from Cohen Howard & Co Solicitors advising that they were acting for their client, Hoist Finance Uk Holding 1 LTD (HFUKHIL (ex Barclaycard) who intend to issue proceedings in County Court for an outstanding amount I have failed to pay, with the purpose of obtaining a CCJ, unless I provided them with acceptable proposals for paying them £4k+ within 30 days of their letter - clearly leaving only a short amount of time, which I consider an unreasonable amount of time to trawl the internet and/or take advice and respond or make contact.

    Any previous letters sent by Barclaycard, Robinson Way LTD or Hoist Finance UK Holdings 1 LTD concerning an alleged 'Notice of Assignment' have not reached me or been acknowledged by me, I suspect largely because they were sent to previous addresses and not forwarded on to me, or because by the time they had reached my current address so much time had lapsed and I had no knowledge of who they were or any evidence of entering into a credit agreement with them.

    Today I have sent a CCA request to HPH1Ltd/Robinson Way Ltd and also included a copy of the 'Pre Action Conduct - Request for Information' that was also sent to Howard Cohen Solicitors at the same time. I included a Postal Order for £1 made out to HPH1 Ltd and wrote on the front that the PO was purely a statutory payment to obtain a true copy of the credit agreement and was in no way to be taken as any acknowledgment or payment towards any account.

    Both letters were obtained from your forum and had previously been provided by Tiggy via another post some time back. Both letters were amended accordingly to be relevant to me and sent as recorded, tracked and signed for. My next question is, should I just wait for a response, or should I also start the three standard letter approach which is advised on this website as an option to dealing with Debt Collectors? If I were to receive a notification from the courts, but no response from HPH1Ltd, Robinsons or Howard Cohen Sols, I understand from advice taken from other posts that I should, 1) apply to the court to 'Stay the Claim' until they do respond. 2) Raise a CPR18 to the claimants solicitors and 3) Acknowledge service with intention to defend using the online court system - Is my understanding correct and do all three things need to be carried out and in the order I have stated?

    Many thanks in advance
    Tags: None

  • #2
    The three letter 'standard approach' is Not recommended on here. That's elsewhere and we usually only see those letters when they failed and people ended up at court because of them ( so that's a no on that question )

    So you've sent a CCA request and a 'Pre Action Conduct - Request for Information' - do you mean by that you have completed the Reply Form that came with the letter before claim ? ( this one https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...-for-reference ) ? If you haven't completed that you should do. "I don't know if I owe this debt" " request more information inc agreement, terms, default notice, breakdown of balance, assignment "

    If you do receive a court claim, then you'd acknowledge the claim with intent to defend in full and then prepare your defence.

    First though while you have time to get organised, have a look at the debt.

    How much is it?
    When did it default ? ( does it show on your credit file ? )
    When was the account first opened ?
    Do you have any disputes on the debt at all ? ( if so, a Subject Access Request sent to Barclaycard should get any details of the background to the debt and worth doing anyway tbh as you can use that to cross check any details Hoist provide -Subject Access Request Letter)
    Are you in a position where you could make a reasonable installment offer of payment / or a full & final reduced settlement to keep this out of going to court ?
    ​​​​​​​
    #staysafestayhome

    Any support I provide is offered without liability, if you are unsure please seek professional legal guidance.

    Received a Court Claim? Read >>>>> First Steps

    Comment


    • #3
      Thank you for your above comments & advice. I had intended to send the letters today, but as a second thought I held back until I received a response. I realise that the whole point of this forum is to share advice & experiences etc, but wondered whether there is also the facility to discuss during a daytime call or private messaging? - all a bit convoluted & upsetting to explain via messaging and I'm worried sick to say the least. I appreciate this is only advice, but all appreciated prior to seeking any formal legal advice. Many thanks

      Comment


      • #4
        Completely understandable you are worried. Just remember that to the Claimant you are nothing more than a name and a debt figure, until you communicate with them they have absolutely no idea of any issues with the debt or about your circumstances. The letter of claim and on through court is just a process to encourage contact and, of course, payment, particularly where someone has not engaged at all with the debt owner for a long time.

        So firstly can you tell us a bit about the debt ... do you recognise it ? Was there a formal dispute/complaint about the debt before it defaulted ?
        When was it opened originally, and when did it default ? ( is it on your credit file for instance ? - Barclaycard and Hoist both report so if it was under 6 years ago that it defaulted it should show on your Experian, Equifax or Call Credit credit file - ( free access can be obtained via MSE credit club / Noddle / Clearscore )

        The CCA request is useful to have done, but you do need to complete the Reply Form from the Letter of Claim if that is indeed what you have. Asking them for the relevant documents and breakdown is a good idea.

        We're not debt advisors so can't really discuss the best option for you if you decide to look at settling, but if you need a hand going through your income and expenditure etc and working out an affordable long term pro rata amount to offer to keep it away from court you could speak with Stepchange or with Citizens Advice. If there are other things going on as well that are concerning you then Citizens Advice is probably your best bet - btu if it is anything about this court process then feel free to rant away here and we'll try help as much as we can xxxx
        #staysafestayhome

        Any support I provide is offered without liability, if you are unsure please seek professional legal guidance.

        Received a Court Claim? Read >>>>> First Steps

        Comment


        • #5
          Pre-Action Letters

          First Steps


          #staysafestayhome

          Any support I provide is offered without liability, if you are unsure please seek professional legal guidance.

          Received a Court Claim? Read >>>>> First Steps

          Comment


          • #6
            never use the 3 letter system, road to loosing as irrelevant/ & can cost you dearly - does not work in the real world

            Comment

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