NEW member, advice appreciated!

[Yeahyeahyeah]

Hi all, having some problems with Asset Collections regarding a claim I owe them £8000 and there's a court date on the 20th September!
Only received their "evidence" and witness statement today (10th Sept) which consists of an electronic credit agreement unsigned and a letter stating they won't be attending.
I sent CCA, SAR and info requests via email but they refused unless I sent 2 forms of ID (which i didn't). Also will have issues getting time off work as i recently lost my mother and had quite a bit of time of this year, but want to go to clear my name.

[Amethyst]

Morning,

I'm sorry to hear of your loss - last thing you need is this bunch hassling you.

Do you know what the original debt was? who it was with ?

Have you filed your own witnesss statement ? Do you know when WS's were ordered to be exchanged by?

Try not to worry, we're a bit late in the day and will need a fair bit of background to this to know what you need to do, but it will get sorted

[Yeahyeahyeah]

Many Thanks, ill try to get as much detail as possible whilst being brief!

So background wise I got one of those bulk court claims from Brian Carter claiming I owe £4000+ back in 2015.

No idea what it was, questioned it and action was ceased and I thought that was the end of it. They sent me nothing, not who it was from, why, proof etc nothing.

In May this year I received a claim from Asset Collections claiming I owe them £4000+. Alarm bells ring again so thinking it was the same thing, I did the same CCA request, SAR etc to find out info.

Heard nothing from them just got a follow up, "call today and agree to pay" etc (which I never did call them on phone or agree anything).

Early August I received another bulk court claim saying the total owed was £8000+ and to log in and do my defence. I could not log in to the claim online so still had no idea who what where so i had to fill in the claim on the paper form and send it back explaining that I did not know what this claim was. The court date was booked in for 20th September 2018.

Sent CCA request etc again but sent it recorded delivery this time.. Got a response from Asset Collections that I needed to send in 2 forms of ID in to receive any documents, 1 photo ID and 1 proof of address (which i didn't). I knew that they would need to send the documents to me 2 weeks before the court date so decided to wait.

Today (10th Sept) I received a non original credit agreement with an e signature for Avant credit! According to the witness statement I made no effort to contact them and that Asset would not be attending court. Receiving the documents jogged my memory so I rang the court and they confirmed Asset had paid the fees and they hearing was going ahead.

Rightly or wrongly on my part I have emailed the court to ask if the hearing can be put back a few weeks as I received the documents late and due to having a recent death in the family I need a bit of time to focus. I have not had a reply yet.

Now on to Avant. I took a loan with them i 2016. Due to my Mums sudden illness my circumstances changed. i emailed Avant to ask for some help and they agreed to a payment of £80 a month for the remaining few months.

Think the balance was £500 or so. i asked them for details to set up a standing order or pay BACS but they refused and said they would only do the auto pre authorised card payments (which is what they do for loan payments) in case they wanted to take more 1 month. I explained that wasn't an option as funds were more urgent elsewhere and that until they sent me BACS details i could not make payment.

Everything went quiet and then a few months later my credit file changed saying the account was closed and settled. With more urgent things on my mind i left it and assumed (naivety )they'd given up. Now this. has happened.

i have the emails from me to Avant and that's about it but i really cant afford to pay £8000 back and wondered if you guys could advise on the best course of action. i do know that when I did the Avant loan they sent me a letter asking for 2 forms of ID to be sent but then 48 hours later the money went in before i sent them. I will answer all questions truthfully. Thank you in advance for any help!

[Amethyst]

Okay so the original loan was with Avant - do you know how much you originally borrowed from them ? When you ran into difficulties the balance outstanding was about £500 - which scans with your arrangement to pay £80 a month for "the last few months".

SO how on earth did it get to £8000 is what I'm sure you're wanting to know.

Get a SAR off to Avant now... Subject Access Request Letter

It's unlikely to come back in time for the hearing but you will be able to say you have sent one and waiting on a response.

i do know that when I did the Avant loan they sent me a letter asking for 2 forms of ID to be sent but then 48 hours later the money went in before i sent them.

Do you have the request, your reply with the ID forms on email ? Also do you have the bank statement showing the money going into your account. Those would be useful.

Do you have a copy of what you actually entered as your defence pls.

i had to fill in the claim on the paper form and send it back explaining that I did not know what this claim was.

or remember most of what you wrote?

What date was your witness statement due in ? Did you do one? I'm guessing it was 14 days before the hearing so around 6th Sept ?

When you say non-original credit agreement. It will be a tick box online agreement one assumes. Are the details in the agreement recon they have sent you correct - right address, interest rate, amount etc ? Are all the terms present ?

, I did the same CCA request, SAR etc to find out info.

presumably that was to Asset ? Did you follow up on either request ?

[Amethyst]

Address for Avant SAR

Data controller: Avantcredit of UK LLC

Address: Liberty House
222 Regent Street
London
W1B 5TR

[Yeahyeahyeah]

Okay so the original loan was with Avant - do you know how much you originally borrowed from them ? When you ran into difficulties the balance outstanding was about £500 - which scans with your arrangement to pay £80 a month for "the last few months".

It was £1500, had been paying it ok. Think it worked out at 8 months at £80 at the end opposed to £213 over 3 months.

SO how on earth did it get to £8000 is what I'm sure you're wanting to know.

The first letters asset sent said pence under £4000. The witness statement I received yesterday claims the claimant is after £8021.

Get a SAR off to Avant now... Subject Access Request Letter

It's unlikely to come back in time for the hearing but you will be able to say you have sent one and waiting on a response.

I sent one SAR signed for which was ignored, the second request I attached a POD for the first request. Asset then replied stating they didn't have anyone working there with the name on the POD and no SAR would be sent without 2 forms of ID which I did not send as I didn't really know who these guys were and didn't want to let them have my ID.


Do you have the request, your reply with the ID forms on email ? Also do you have the bank statement showing the money going into your account. Those would be useful.

Should be able to get a bank statement for those dates on online banking

Do you have a copy of what you actually entered as your defence pls.
or remember most of what you wrote?

As I couldn't log in I rang the moneyclaim (if that's what its called) and explained I couldn't log in. They said the passwords are generated so can't be changed.
All i put on the paper form was that I defend the entire claim as although I have requested the information, I still do not know who, what, why because nothing had been sent.

What date was your witness statement due in ? Did you do one? I'm guessing it was 14 days before the hearing so around 6th Sept ?

I heard nothing from Asset or the Courts until the documents arrived from Asset yesterday so there was no witness statement done by me because I wasn't sure what I was defending.

When you say non-original credit agreement. It will be a tick box online agreement one assumes. Are the details in the agreement recon they have sent you correct - right address, interest rate, amount etc ? Are all the terms present ?

The details are correct, it's an 8 page credit agreement. The person on the witness statement isn't the same as the name on the credit agreement for their end.

presumably that was to Asset ? Did you follow up on either request ?

All requests have gone to Asset as until yesterday I didn't know this was Avant

[Amethyst]

Yip that's fine, but still send a SAR to Avant now. Asset have bought the debt so the rest of the requests ( CCA request ? and CPR request ? ) were right to go to Asset.

Any chance you can do pics of the witness statement redacted pls.

On your hearing letter, on page two usually, does it give a date by which to do the witness statement - you should get one in, even if it was just to say ' still heard nothing and don't know what this is '.... you might be okay getting one in in the next couple days so it's at least 7 days before hearing but check the letter - will help you with it as you need to account for the info you now have and defend your position, but need to see the docs.

Also do pics of the credit agreement. You can email me if it's quicker/easier - admin@legalbeagles.info .

So if you can, do pic of claim form, witness statement, agreement and the court hearing letter ( all pages ) .