Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

[Ava-Lily1]

Hi all, I'm new to this so please bare with me.

About 2 weeks ago I received court papers (Northampton) from Bryan Carter on behalf of Lowell for a debt of £470 that includes all their costs.
I know nothing of this debt, it's not on my credit file and they don't even have my name spelt right! It's apparently a debt from capital one (I have a capital one card now btw and I am not in any debt with them!) that was assigned or purchased by Lowell in 2008.
I do not ever recall dealing with this debt or paying any money but to be honest my son died in 2008 and as you can imagine things went nuts so I'm not too sure of anything I may or may not have done.
anyway...
Once I got the papers I found some advice to defend based on the debt being statute barred so I did this through MCOL immediately.
I then wrote to Bryan Carter requesting a part 18 and sent this signed for Royal Mail.
Today I receive a letter from Mr Carter stating that the claimant (Lowell) wishes to proceed but is agreeable to mediation and that they would be grateful to hear from me by phone "in relation to 'without prejudice' negotiations any".
No information that I requested...nada...
What should I do? I freely admit to being ignorant to all this so I am very lost. :-(
Please help as this is driving me round the bend and I really do not need or want a ccj on my file!

[ncf355]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

If the debt is statute barred (so, you have not paid anything toward, or admitted the debt in the last 6 years) then it is statute barred and there is no case - the debt being statute barred is an absolute edefence to any claim

If however you are unsure, you need to get them to prove their case by way of a valid credit agreement for the debt they allege you owe

The details you have given above about their letter arent really enough, can you actually scan the letter (blanking out all personal information or any account number etc that could be linked to your case) so someone can properly advise?

[ncf355]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Just noticethe "By phone" bit - DO NOT call them, they will most likely get you to say something you would end up regretting!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Hi all, I'm new to this so please bare with me.

About 2 weeks ago I received court papers (Northampton) from Bryan Carter on behalf of Lowell for a debt of £470 that includes all their costs.
I know nothing of this debt, it's not on my credit file and they don't even have my name spelt right! It's apparently a debt from capital one (I have a capital one card now btw and I am not in any debt with them!) that was assigned or purchased by Lowell in 2008.
I do not ever recall dealing with this debt or paying any money but to be honest my son died in 2008 and as you can imagine things went nuts so I'm not too sure of anything I may or may not have done.
anyway...
Once I got the papers I found some advice to defend based on the debt being statute barred so I did this through MCOL immediately.
I then wrote to Bryan Carter requesting a part 18 and sent this signed for Royal Mail.
Today I receive a letter from Mr Carter stating that the claimant (Lowell) wishes to proceed but is agreeable to mediation and that they would be grateful to hear from me by phone "in relation to 'without prejudice' negotiations any".
No information that I requested...nada...
What should I do? I freely admit to being ignorant to all this so I am very lost. :-(
Please help as this is driving me round the bend and I really do not need or want a ccj on my file!

Hi and welcome to LB!

If the debt is Statute Barred, it's an absolute defence and there's no need for mediation or negotiations of any kind, with or without prejudice! :nono:

I'd say it's best to keep everything in writing :typing: rather than discussing it over the phone.

What sort of information did you request on your part 18 letter? What do the particulars of claim say? Did you request documents to prove the debt exists and is owned by Lowell in the first instance? :confused2:

[Ava-Lily1]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Thanks for replies! Just scanning the letter I received today plus letter I sent to them ;-)

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

If the debt is statute barred (so, you have not paid anything toward, or admitted the debt in the last 6 years) then it is statute barred and there is no case - the debt being statute barred is an absolute edefence to any claim

If however you are unsure, you need to get them to prove their case by way of a valid credit agreement for the debt they allege you owe

The details you have given above about their letter arent really enough, can you actually scan the letter (blanking out all personal information or any account number etc that could be linked to your case) so someone can properly advise?

They would need to prove that:

1. the debt exists in the first place AND is owed by the OP (credit agreement signed by OP)
2. the debt is now owned by Lowell (notice of assignment)
3. the debt is not statute barred (statements showing payments made in the past 6 years)

[ncf355]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Wow, you're on fire today FP!

:_thedoctor__by_GuyF

[Ava-Lily1]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Okay, so here are the 2 letter's I have from Bryan Carter.
The grey one is the one from this morning and the other I got just after the court summons.
Plus there is the letter that I sent to Bryan Carter. It was a template that I got from someone else.
To Bryan Carter (Lowell Financial Limited)
Please answer the following questions:
1. Upon what date was the last payment made on theaccount?
2. What wasthe source, method and amount of the payment?
3. Was a Default Notice issued pursuant to section87 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended) and if so:
a] Upon what date, for what amount and whatwas the date for remedy of the breach?
b] Was the issuance of the Default Notice noted in thecommunications log?
4. Does the amount claimed include any other chargesother than those stipulated on the court form, and if so what amount?

TAKE NOTICE THAT YOUARE REQUIRED TO ANSWER THE ABOVE REQUEST WITHIN 14 DAYS OF SERVICE THE SAMEUPON YOU.
Yours Sincerely

Like I said I do not have a clue what I am doing but I do have an okay brain so any advice will be quickly used lol

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Wow, you're on fire today FP!

:_thedoctor__by_GuyF

I'm not called Flaming Parrot for nothing! :flame::flame::flame:

:grin: :grin: :grin:

[Ava-Lily1]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

They would need to prove that:

1. the debt exists in the first place AND is owed by the OP (credit agreement signed by OP)
2. the debt is now owned by Lowell (notice of assignment)
3. the debt is not statute barred (statements showing payments made in the past 6 years)

So do I need to write to Bryan Carter and Lowell? Is there a certain template that I should follow or just put those points raised in writing and send recorded today?
What will happen now? Will the court write to me again? because I am guessing I will have to go to court.
Sorry for all the questions but I really don't wanna walk into court and look like a lemon haha:incourt:

[enquirer]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

You say you received the claim 2 weeks ago. Have you filed a defence yet?

[Ava-Lily1]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Yep I filed immediately through MCOL with a statute barred defence. Tbh I wasn't sure what to do but they had my name and address, the debt isn't on my credit file, I've not had any letters previous and I don't remember it so the advice I was given was to defend statute barred as more often than not Bryan Carter goes away once he's stood up to but in this case he seems to be continuing so I'm not sure what to do now (apart from fret lol)

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Yep I filed immediately through MCOL with a statute barred defence. Tbh I wasn't sure what to do but they had my name and address, the debt isn't on my credit file, I've not had any letters previous and I don't remember it so the advice I was given was to defend statute barred as more often than not Bryan Carter goes away once he's stood up to but in this case he seems to be continuing so I'm not sure what to do now (apart from fret lol)

If the debt was defaulted over 6 years ago, it wouldn't be on your credit file because defaults drop off after 6 years.

You have already submitted a SBd defence, which means you are not really waiting on documents or a response to your part 18 request to be able to file a defence, nor are you questioning that you are the debtor or that the debt is owned by Lowell. In view of the above, I'd be inclined to WRITE back saying that the debt IS SBd and it's up to them to prove otherwise. If they can't, I can't see what they could be saying in court if they went that far or how a judge could rule in their favour. :incourt:

[Ava-Lily1]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

If the debt was defaulted over 6 years ago, it wouldn't be on your credit file because defaults drop off after 6 years.

You have already submitted a SBd defence, which means you are not really waiting on documents or a response to your part 18 request to be able to file a defence, nor are you questioning that you are the debtor or that the debt is owned by Lowell. In view of the above, I'd be inclined to WRITE back saying that the debt IS SBd and it's up to them to prove otherwise. If they can't, I can't see what they could be saying in court if they went that far or how a judge could rule in their favour. :incourt:

Oh yes that makes sense (Doh) okay so I will write to BC and tell them that the debt is SB. Will they have to show me proof that its not SB before court or will we go straight to court? Only if it is my debt and its not SB I'd rather pay the bloody thing than get a CCJ!
I feel though that if it was SB (they've seen my defence) then they would have stopped the claim no? Or is it all a bluff do you think?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Bryan Carter/Lowell court papers

Oh yes that makes sense (Doh) okay so I will write to BC and tell them that the debt is SB. Will they have to show me proof that its not SB before court or will we go straight to court?

If they decide to go to court, they'll need to show a payment or written acknowledgment has been made in the past 6 years. My guess is, they'll probably discontinue in the end. ray:

Only if it is my debt and its not SB I'd rather pay the bloody thing than get a CCJ!

If you pay a CCJ within 28 days it will be removed: http://www.trustonline.org.uk/unders...stay-on-record :thumb:

I feel though that if it was SB (they've seen my defence) then they would have stopped the claim no? Or is it all a bluff do you think?

This is Lowell we're talking about. They would have bought the debt in bulk along with hundreds of others and probably have no clue whether it's SB or not themselves, they may be trying to obtain info from the original lender who sold it to them. Lowell are fond of bypassing the court process by issuing SDs, only in this case they couldn't do so, because the amount is below the threshold. :grin: