County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

[JanetC]

Hello everybody and thank you all for the well of knowledge I found here
I need a bit of advice as I`m a bit stuck now...

Short version: I had a credit card with Vanquis for a small sum, £300. At the end of 2011, I ended up in financial difficulties due to family tragedy and I struggled to pay the arrears, of course Vanquis kept adding fees on top of my loan until I couldn`t pay anymore.
Recently I started to receive letters from Lowell, demanding me to pay £640 for that credit card, wich I ignored.

1. On 16.09.2017 I received a Claim Form from County Court Northampton, dated 11.09.2017.

2. On 20.09.17 I filled the Acknowledgment of Service on MCOL website.

3. On 20.09.17 I`ve send the CPR 31.14 to Lowell solicitors and CCA Letter to Lowell Porfolio LTD., including the £1 postal order and asking for : a)Agreement /Account reference
b) Default Notice
c) The Agreement Assignment to the Claimant made on 15.02.2013 and the Notice given to the defendant


4. On 25.09.17 I received a letter from Lowell Solicitors, dated 22.09.17, confirming receipt of my letter dated 20.09.17 and informing me that they have asked the original creditor for a copy of the agreement, statement of account and Default notice.
Attached was a letter dated 01.03.2013 from Vanquis to Lowell, assigning my debt to Lowell.

5. On 13.10.2017 I have send a letter to the Court with my Defence (special delivery) and another letter to both Lowell Solicitors and Lowell Porfolio LTD, telling them that Time has run out to recover a debt.

6. On 20.10.17 I received a letter from the Court, dated 16.10.2017, acknowledging the receipt of my Defence.

7. On 28.10.17 I received from lowell a copy of Directions Questionnaire (Small Claims Track), undated. Until today I didn`t receive the DQ from the Court.

8. Today, 02.11.207 I received from Lowell a letter dated 31.10.207 and the following documents:
a) Agreement /Account reference (12 pages with very small writing and about 10 blank pages in between)
b) Notice of default from Vanquis, dated 11 May 2012.
c) A detailed Vanquis transaction history with the last payment made by me on 02.02.2012 (I do not remember that payment).

I`m attaching the letter I received today, according to Lowell my debt is not status barred, wich is what I claimed in my Defence sent to Court. Is that true?
According to Noddle, my debt`s Date of default was 28/09/2011.

If necessary, I can attach any of the documents listed above.

If anyone can advise me what to do next, I would be very grateful, thank you so much.

PS. I apologize for any errors, English is not my maternal language.

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

Anyone please?
What shall I do now?

[MIKE770]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

have you acknowledged the debt since the default issued etc

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

Hello, yes I did, stated at no.2 above.

On MCCOL website it says my Directions Questionnaire was sent yesterday, what do i do now as I have received the papers I asked for from Lowells?
Do I make them an offer, do I file and send the DQ and go to court, is my debt status barred or not?
Thank you for your time and help.

[charitynjw]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

Edited

Complete & file the DQ at court when you receive your copy.
A copy should be sent to the solicitor. (Get proof of service.)

You can always sort out offers, etc via mediation (the next step after DQs are filed.)

At the end of 2011, I ended up in financial difficulties due to family tragedy and I struggled to pay the arrears

Can you remember (& prove) when the last payment was made (diregarding the disputed one for now), or when you last acknowledged the account in writing?

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

Since I applied fr that credit card, I never aknowledged the debt in writing or replied to Lowell`s letters.
I don`t remember or have proof of the payments but as far as I can recall, I stopped paying at the end of 2011.
They send me 3 pages of transactions wich show 3 Girobank payments made in 2012, last one on 02.02.2012 but I don`t remember doing that.
Thank you.

[MIKE770]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

what were the payments amount??

[Worthington]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

If you paid at the end of 2011 then that would be seen as an acknowledgement of the debt. If the claim was issued on 11th September 2017 then it would only be S. Bared if your "End of 2011" was before 11th September 2017.

I suggest that if you doubt when you made your last payment that you don't immediately take the word of the claimant regarding when they received the last payment/acknowledgement from you. Some take time in crediting payments to accounts and so the acknowledgement date is they day the last payment left your account.
Also, It may be a good idea if you could post the Default Notice as some get this wrong.

[warwick65]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

Hi

I suppose I must ask, are you in England/wales or maybe Scotland as this would impact limitations

However, assuming you are in England/wales I think it is unlikely your defence is SB . A default on a credit file is not the same as a default notice by the way

Did you only plead SB in your defence?

If that was the case I think in order to stand a chance of winning you would need to amend your defence however that costs money unless you are on a low income and can get fee remission.

On your DQ make sure you agree to mediation as this might be a time to use their lack of legible documents to negotiate a settlement that would then not show as a CCJ

Of course you could equally try and fight it based on potentially non compliance with a CCA request, non proof of ownership and maybe a bad DN

If you want to post up suitably edited copies of what they have sent you by way of the CCA request and the DN maybe others could suggest a way forwards

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

I didn`t pay Lowell, I paid into my vanquis account through Direct Debit, through HSBC.
According with their copies, my last direct debit payment was on 30.09.2011, after that I have payments registered as GYROBANK payments. I don`t remember paying them, I might have or not

I am attaching the vanquis payments list I received yesterday from Lowell and The Default Notice dated 12.05.2012 (According to Noddle, my debt`s Date of default was 28/09/2011)
Thank you again.

https://s1.postimg.org/1rk2fkt4en/va...ts_2.11.17.jpg

https://s1.postimg.org/3d0m57dw73/de...ce_2.11.17.jpg

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

Hi Warwick, I`m in England, this is the defence I`ve send to court and Lowell on 13.10.17 (at that date I didn`t had received anything from Lowell):

1. I received the claim no.D5H---- from the Northampton County Court Business Centre on 14.09.2017.
2. Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.
3. This claim is for a Credit Card agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
4. It is denied that the Defendant has [previously] entered into an agreement/ with Claimant for provision of credit.
5. The Claimants statement of case fails to give adequate information to enable me to properly assess my position with regards the claim.
6. The Claimant’s Particulars of Claim fail to state when the agreement was entered into.
7. The Defendant contends the alleged debt is statute barred by virtue of Section 5 of the Limitations Act 1980 in that no payment or acknowledgment has been made for over 6 years.
8. The Claimants statement of case states that the account was assigned from Vanquis to Lowell Solicitors Limited on 15.02.2013. The Defendant does not recall receiving notice of this assignment.
9. It is denied that Vanquis served any Default notice on the Defendant pursuant to s87 Consumer Credit Act 1974. The Claimant is required to prove that a compliant Default Notice was served upon the Defendant.
10. On the 20.09.2017 I sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Lowell Solicitors Limited, I requested the Claimant to provide copies of the [Agreement, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment].
11. Lowell Solicitors Limited has not sent any of these documents to me.
12. On the 20.09.2017 I sent a formal request for a copy of the original agreement to Lowell Portfolio LTD pursuant to section [77 or 78] of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 along with the statutory £1 fee.
13. The Claimant has failed to comply with [s77 (1) / s 78 (1)] Consumer Credit Act 1974 and by virtue of [s77 (4) / s 78 (6)] Consumer Credit Act 1974 cannot enforce the agreement.
14. Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant, Lowell Portfolio LTD be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.
15. I request the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for me to fully plead my case else the Claim should stand struck out.
16. In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimants I will then be in a position to amend my defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.
17. It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth
The Defendant believes that the facts stated in this Defence are true.


I am attaching the Lowell cca response letter I received on 22.09 .

https://s1.postimg.org/87hjpb77hr/lo...9_modified.jpg

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

On your DQ make sure you agree to mediation as this might be a time to use their lack of legible documents to negotiate a settlement that would then not show as a CCJ

Of course you could equally try and fight it based on potentially non compliance with a CCA request, non proof of ownership and maybe a bad DN

I don`t understand these phrases very well, if they have send me the documents I asked, how can I claim the lack of eligible documents?

What means non proof of ownership and maybe a bad DN?

[Amethyst]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

I didn`t pay Lowell, I paid into my vanquis account through Direct Debit, through HSBC.
According with their copies, my last direct debit payment was on 30.09.2011, after that I have payments registered as GYROBANK payments. I don`t remember paying them, I might have or not

I am attaching the vanquis payments list I received yesterday from Lowell and The Default Notice dated 12.05.2012 (According to Noddle, my debt`s Date of default was 28/09/2011)
Thank you again.

https://s1.postimg.org/1rk2fkt4en/va...ts_2.11.17.jpg

https://s1.postimg.org/3d0m57dw73/de...ce_2.11.17.jpg

I can't get to that postimg site to view the docs you have posted links to - could you upload them direct to here, or maybe email copies to admin@legalbeagles.info.

[JanetC]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

I can`t find how to post images directly on here, I`m going to post the links to the pictures again, hopefully they will work, if not I`ll use the email above.
The links work for me.
Thank you again.

https://s1.postimg.org/87hjpb77hr/lo...9_modified.jpg

https://s1.postimg.org/1rk2fkt4en/va...ts_2.11.17.jpg

https://s1.postimg.org/3d0m57dw73/de...ce_2.11.17.jpg

[warwick65]

Re: County Court claim: Lowell (vanquis) vs me: is it status barred or not?

I don`t understand these phrases very well, if they have send me the documents I asked, how can I claim the lack of eligible documents?

What means non proof of ownership and maybe a bad DN?

Hi
Well a DN or default notice has to be set out in a certain way and include certain terms, without it they can not enforce so that is what I mean by a bad DN

You have said that the documents they sent you are in tiny print - if they are in response to your CCA request then they should be easily legible and if not then you can argue they haven’t complied.

Proof of ownership, well you have asked for the notice of assignment but that is juts a letter saying they have bought it- what you need to ask for in your WS is the deed of assignment. Now that document wold likely tell you , when they bought it if they did, what the terms were and do they actually own it .

I am glad you have sent a moire detailed defence that just SB, so many people just rely on that and when they find it isn’t have nothing to fall back on, you do have something to fall back on.

I am not saying it will be easy and you have the judges lottery - depends on how much the judge knows about consumer credit and to be honest what they think of us, are we filthy debt avoiders or are we just using the law to assert our rights

- - - Updated - - -

My browser is saying the site for the links is a phishing site so I cant see them , maybe email them to amethyst