Help please!! LOWELL County court claim?

[mattty]

Hi, im hoping somone can help me,}
I have received a county court claim from lowell dated 8/10/19 as follows...

particulars of the claim
1)The claim comprises the following agreemants the defendant entered into:
a)shop direct with reference xxxxxx with current balance 699.97
b)shop direct with reference xxxx with current balance 603.76
c)Grattan plc with referece xxxxx with balance of 109.75

The agreements were terminated as payments were not maintained and subsequently assigned to the claimant.
and the claimant claims:
a)the total of the said sum being 1413.48
b)interest pursuant to s69 county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue,but limited to one year,being 108.58
c)costs

have i done the right thing?? I can't even remember what these debts were for and when they were from. i have been trying to clear debts slowly and already cleared 3x with lowell and one with Restons when they made me reduced offers to pay.
starting to panic that i should just offer to pay it?


following posts ive read on here I have wrote to them with the cpr/cca requests,posted yesterday, and by looking on notes on here i need to get ready to make a defence statement which im struggling with? is it 28 days i have to submit?
also to add i received a letter today from Lucas credit service to say they have been assigned the debts (but i wrote to lowell as it was lowell on the county court claim)
Would be grateful for any advice, thankyou

[MasterCoder]

Been through this whole process with Lowell myself.

You've done the right thing requesting the documents, let's see what they come back with.

Do you remember when these defaulted? Do they show on your credit file?

[mattty]

Thankyou MasterCoder IT would of been probably getting on to 6 years ago roughly as thats when i moved and ive tried my best not to get in any debt ever since.. i quickly looked using noddle search and they wernt on there so im guessing need to look at something like Experian for a more detailed credit file.

[MasterCoder]

You can get a free report from MoneySupermarket. You can also get it free from Equifax. Worth checking.

[mattty]

Thankyou had look on equifax and can see debt now says account opened april 2013 and debt defaulted july 2018 but i wasnt' making any payments on it last year? its says shop direct on the county court letter so guessing catalouge which i havent had in years. Also says lowell on credit file but had letter today to say that Lucas credit service now own the debt?
shall i just wait to see what lowell come back to say? thankyou

[MasterCoder]

So if Lowell have two accounts with Shop Direct there should be two entries.

Lucas are debt chasers, they're acting on behalf of Lowell. One of the many companies they farm collection out to.

The problem here is that they're saying it defaulted in July 2018 but you seem to think you haven't paid anything on it for years. Did you open the account in 2013?

[mattty]

Yes im pretty sure it was a "Very" catalogue and " littlewoods" catalouge and the year opened seems about right, and yes i fell behind with payments years ago,certainly wasnt last year as i was ill from early 2017 (had a brain tumour which was removed august 2017 so was before then at least).

Am i best here trying to negioate to pay the debts or carrying on trying to defend? so confused with it all.
Thankyou again for your help

[mattty]

If anyone could help it would be much appreciated??
should i try and contact them to offer a amount to pay the debts? Thankyou

[mattty]

Hi, i have emailed lowell to ask if there offer of reducing the debt by 60% still stands, not sure if that was right thing to do but felt pressurised by the letters they have been sending. Thanks for any help??

[MasterCoder]

They're just letters and they've already started proceedings. My concern with making an offer at this point is you've accepted the debt. They haven't sent any of the documents and that should be the the basis of your initial defence. Have you started your defence yet? What's the date on the claim form?

[MasterCoder]

I've just double checked your first post, claim is dated 8th October. Have you acknowledged the claim online? You need to do that now!

[mattty]

MasterCoder sorry sent quickly on phone on my way to work. I meant to say im going to email them,i havent actually sent email yet just wrote it out ready.
yes i have already acknowledged the claim on the 12th October. No havent started a defence yet thats the but im struggling with. Thankyou

[MasterCoder]

Right, well don't send it. You need to know the facts before you attempt to make an offer to them.

Have they sent you the documents requested via CCA/CPR? Have they acknowledged your request?

Also, did they send you a letter before claim? One with all the tickboxes and usually accompanied by an income and expenditure form.

[mattty]

MasterCoder i haven't received or heard anything,only a letter from lucas credit services to say they have now taken over the debt .
(I stupidly didnt send the request letter by recorded delivery so i cant check if they have received them but sent first class on 17th october)

[MasterCoder]

Did you at least get a receipt for postage? I'd resend it recorded delivery. Lowell like to deny receiving requests that they know you can't prove delivery of. When I've been sending CCA's, i've sent them recorded and taken a photograph of the document, the postal order and the recorded delivery receipt so I can get my hands on them quickly if need be.