Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

[eldster11]

Hi all. I am new to using these forums but received a claim form today and am desperate for some advice on how to deal with it. The claim form is from Welcome Finance, via Hegarty LLP. The particulars of claim are as follows. "The claimant claims for sums due under a/various Credit Agreement(s) regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 entered into between the claimant and the Defendant. The Defendant failed to pay the contractual instalments in compliance with the terms of the Agreement(s). The Claimant complied with section III and IV and Annex B of the PD Pre-Action Conduct. And the Claimant claims: Hire Purchase Account Number 3165022 balance of £8,929.48 as of 31/01/2010. Interest under S69 of the County Court Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 31/01/2010 to 23/05/2013 of £2,364.23 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of 1.96 AND costs. This stems from a hire purchase agreement taken on a car. The original price was £3,700 and I was to repay this at £185 per month for 48 Months. I made these payments for the first 2 years of the agreement. I fell into problems paying this at this time, and spoke to Welcome Finance about lowering my payments. They told me they could make the agreement payable over a longer period, and then lower my payments. I was in such a mess at this point I just agreed to get the payments down and ended up agreeing to repay the debt over 10 years. They simply took the total amount owed to them, with interest, and then re-wrote it as a loan over 10 years with further interest, which is why the amount is now so high. I really don't know where to go from here, I do owe a further 2 years of payment, which should total around £4,500 but because of the debt being re written etc they are now persuing me for £11,500. I need to respond, but have no idea on the legalities of this and fear that simply writing this as a defence will mean I end up losing as don't understand what I need to do legally. Please help. Thanks

[IanM]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Hello Eldster11.

The first thing you need to do is to obtain a copy of all your paperwork by sending a Subject Access Request to Welcome by recorded delivery.

Write to Hegarty and inform them that you cannot complete the claim form until such time that Welcome provide you with the paperwork requested under the SAR.

Do you have a copy of the original loan agreement and a copy of the new agreement?


IanM

[eldster11]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Hi Ian, thanks for your reply. I don't have copies of either of the agreements, and in all honesty don't know if there is any PPI on them either. It would surprise me if there wasn't any PPI though, as the agreement was taken out back around 2007 when PPI mis selling was rife. Is there a standard template I can use any where for a Subject Access Request?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Hi Ian, thanks for your reply. I don't have copies of either of the agreements, and in all honesty don't know if there is any PPI on them either. It would surprise me if there wasn't any PPI though, as the agreement was taken out back around 2007 when PPI mis selling was rife. Is there a standard template I can use any where for a Subject Access Request?

Yes, see this post for reference: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...662#post345662

[IanM]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Thank You FlamingParrot. I was just about to ask if anyone knew where to find a SAR for Welcome.

Eldster11, please submit a SAR as soon as possible and let us know when you have sent it.

[eldster11]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Yes, see this post for reference: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...662#post345662

Thank you. The template states they have 40 days to respond. The courts tell me I have less than this to enter a defence. Will this be a problem? Sorry to sound like such a noob but im determined to fight this even if I dont really know what im doing. Lol

[IanM]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Have you received a summons to appear at County Court in relation to the debt?

[eldster11]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Yes. Well its a claim firm from Northampton county court rather than a summons I think. But either way it gives me 14 days to submit a response

[IanM]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

When I went to County Court I just put in the box, "will be attending and presenting evidence on the day of the hearing", but not sure if you can still do that???

I would mention that you have submitted a SAR to Welcome and that until you have all the documents relating to the outstanding debt you cannot present a defence other than you are disputing the amount claimed and will be asking for an adjournment on the day until such time Welcome have complied fully with the SAR.

Can't see them wasting time and money going to court knowing it will be adjourned if Welcome haven't supplied you with the SAR documents and given you enough time to go through them properly before going to court.

Make sure you do go to court on the day though, even if Hegarty's say they will not be attending because if they know you are not going to turn up they turn up and get a ruling in your absence, (you are dealing with devious people), you will have to ask for an adjournment for the above reasons, also add that you believe there is PPI attached to the loan yet they are refusing to provide copies of the loan agreement and the previous loan agreement that this new one replaced so you can confirm it and reclaim it.

If there is PPI on the loans they will have to start with court action again based on your true debt minus the PPI and interest.

I would also be checking to see if either of the agreements are unenforceable or unfair contracts.

[eldster11]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

IanM thank you very much for all your help. I will send the necessary letter to welcome today and respond to the court claim asking for an adjourment. Im also fairly sure the agreement will be unenforceable as they charged interest on intetest and on the ppi. Thank you again. Will update post once I know more.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Yes. Well its a claim firm from Northampton county court rather than a summons I think. But either way it gives me 14 days to submit a response

Northampton is not really a county court as such, it's just the bulk processing centre for money claims. You have 14 days to acknowledge the claim, which you can do online on the MCOL website, using the details supplied on your claim form (claim number and password).

When I went to County Court I just put in the box, "will be attending and presenting evidence on the day of the hearing", but not sure if you can still do that???

When responding to a Northampton bulk centre claim, you have to tick the box saying you intend to defend in full, otherwise you'll end up with a CCJ!

I would strongly suggest seeking legal assistance with this matter, as the amount claimed is above the £10k small claims threshold, you could even get a CFA (Conditional Fee Agreement). Both Celestine :yo: (the site owner) and PT2537 :yo: work for this firm of consumer credit specialists: http://www.watsonssolicitors.co.uk/contact.html They have successfully won a number of cases for the consumer, :first: including this one, where the defendant is also active on Legal Beagles: http://www.watsonssolicitors.co.uk/santander.html Or PM Cel or PT2537 with a link to this thread. :thumb:

[eldster11]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Thank you Flaming Paret. I will contact them now for some advice. Once again thank you.

[pt2537]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Good lord.

I need to clarify if this is a Hire purchase agreement or a fixed sum loan?

If its a hire purchase agreement then why arent they seeking delivery of goods, and more over, if you have paid 50% why haven't you Voluntary terminated the agreement. As that would have released you from liability, although i refer back to my very first question, we need to know for certain what the agreement was.

Since there is now a claim in this matter, you need to make further requests for information. I would say go ahead and ask for the documents from Welcome under a DSAR. However, you can also ask for documents under CPR 31.14.

You can ask for copies of the various agreements mentioned in their claim form.
it may also need a part 18 request for further information to clarify what their case is on when the agreement terminated etc. but that isnt something to worry about at this point.

You can also ask for an extension of time per CPR Rule 15.5, and i would suggest you should ask for the maximum time of an additional 28 days

[pt2537]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

When I went to County Court I just put in the box, "will be attending and presenting evidence on the day of the hearing", but not sure if you can still do that???

.

no that doesnt happen, if you turn up and try to rely on evidence not disclosed previously, then the Court will throw you out, and if the Court doesnt it would be an appeal point for the opponent

[eldster11]

Re: Claim form received from Welcome Financial and Hegarty LLP - PLEASE HELP!!

Hi pt2537, many thanks for your reply. This was initially a Hire Purchase agreement with Welcome, and they mention a hire purchase agreement in the particulars of claim. However, when the loan was re-written to lower the payments, I believe they gave me a cash loan which repaid the initial hire purchase agreement. (not 100% sure on this though as will need to see the paperwork). In hindsight, I should have just returned the vehicle at the point I re-loaned, but being young and naïve at this point I thought I was doing the right thing. What clearly wasn't the right thing though was ignoring this and hoping it would go away. Clearly not the case. I have found the below template on line in relation to a CPR 31.14 to send direct to their solicitors, Hegarty, does this look about right to you? Dear Sir,

CPR 31.14 Request*

On (date)I received the Claim Form in this case issued by you out of the (Name) county court. Case No.

I confirm having returned my acknowledgement of service to the court in which I indicate my intention to contest all of your claim.

Please treat this letter as my request made under CPR 31.14 for the disclosure and the production of a verified and legible copy of each of the following document(s) mentioned in your Particulars of Claim:

1. The agreement. You will appreciate that in an ordinary case and by reason of the provisions of CPR PD 16 para 7.3, where a claim is based upon a written agreement, a copy of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the particulars of claim and the original(s) should be available at the hearing. Further, that any general conditions incorporated in the contract should also be attached.

2. A full statement of account - itemising all interest & charges from the commencement of the alleged agreement to date

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. Your CPR 31 duties extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for the originals of the documents I have requested, the better for you to be able to verify the documents' authenticity and to provide me with a legible copy. Further, where I have requested a copy of a document, the original of which is now in the possession of another person, you will have a right to possession of that document if you have mentioned it in your case. You must take immediate steps to recover and preserve it for the purpose of this case.

Where I have mentioned a document and there is in your possession more than one version of that same document owing to a modification, obliteration or other marking or feature, each version will be a separate document and you must provide a copy of each version of it to me. Your obligations extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for any version(s) to include an obligation to recover and preserve such version(s) which are now in the possession of a third party.

In accordance with CPR 31.15(c) I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.
If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing. You must tell me before the time for compliance with this request has expired. In telling me you require more time you must tell me what steps you have taken and propose to take in order to comply with this request and also state a date by when you will comply with this request. In addition your statement must be accompanied with a statement that you agree to an extension of the time for me to file my defence. Your extension of time must be not less than 14 days from the date when you say you will have complied with my request and you must state the new date for filing my defence.

If you are unable to comply with this request and believe that you will never be able to comply with this request you must tell me in writing.

Please note that if you should fail to comply with this request, fail to request more time or fail to agree to an extension of time for the filing of my defence, I will make an application to the court for an order that the proceedings be struck out or stayed for non-compliance and a summary costs order.

I do hope this will not be necessary and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,