Court claim Lowell

[Podkin92]

Hello . Great to have found this site . I hope that you can help me .

I have received a County Court Claim issued on the 28th August .
I have been away and so only just opened the letter .
I haven’t yet acknowledged the claim but can do today on your advice .

The amount including costs is for £1192
The Claimant is Lowell
The solicitor is Lowell
The original Creditor was JD Williams
The original debt was for a bookcase costing around £60 in February 2004 .
I failed to make payments on time and the amount escalated quickly with crazy interest and I fell more behind do to illness .
The agreement was passed to Lowell in December 2012.

As I have moved since that time , I don’t have the original documents !
At the time I had several debts and with most offered a gradual payment option .
i had had no contact with Lowell in regards to this debt although in fact have a couple more debts I am paying off with them with payment plans .

I think at the time this debt escalated to such a ridiculous amount so quickly that it was no dealt with as it should have been .

Obviously I would be happy to pay the original payment but do not feel it fair to be forced to pay over £1000 for an item of under £100 although I appreciate I should have dealt with this properly in the first place .

I have read the court form quickly and will of course complete acknowledgement, and I think would want to admit only part of the claim ?

I have also received a letter from Lowell solicitor . It says I can register with them and respond to the court via their site ?
I would be prepared to offer a set payment , but not for the amount they are requesting .

At present I am caring for my dying mum and have given up work to do so . For that reason I don’t want a lot of stress with this ,and want to deal with as quickly and simply as possible but can’t pay the impossible !

Any advice greatly appreciated
many thanks

[Podkin92]

Thanks for the previous replies on this , which seem to have disappeared!
I responded to the claim admission online :
I disagreed with the claim .
i sent a CCA request and a CPR request .

i am now unsure of what to do .
I think I need to let the court know I am doing this and request extra time ?
But do I do this in the defence section ?

i have found a letter from Lowell from July requesting payment and threatening court action , which I didn’t even see .
Unfortunately I was and am not in a good state of mind with the on going deterioration of my mum . I am not sure I can deal with the complexities of this and feel sick at the process !

It does state the background to the debt from the original agreement from 2004 , which was assigned to them in £2012 .
it states I have paid a total of £88 ( which is around the cost of the item bought ) but the balance is now £965 and with court fees £1192.

Next steps please ?
i can’t really give in to this !

Many thanks