Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

[kikibells]

Hope this is ok to post, it's quite long but I'm a newbie and helping my husband and need some advice:
(I've bolded my questions so they are easy to see)

He received a court claim from the Northampton County Court Business Centre.
Drydens are acting as the solicitors with the claiment listed as Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd.
Cabot financial recently brough the alledged debt from Capital One.

My husband sent a CCA request (with postal order for £1 statutory fee.
He also sent a copy of this along with a CPR request to Drydens on.
He then filed his defence stating he believed the alledged bedt to be statute barred and that he has made the above requests. The court have responded the claiment has 28days to respond from receiving my defence or teh case will be stayed.

Hubby has since recieved a letter from Drydens offering to accept 50% as a settlement although this offer has now expired (he received the letter about 10days after it was dates and it had a 14 validity).

A week later he recieved a letter from Cabot saying at present it is unenforceable but they have requested the information from Capital One. They claim my husband made a payment in June 2010.

He was convinced his last payment was much longer ago but on checking old statements he did make a payment in June 2010. We are yet to see any actual evidence of a payment from Cabot or Drydens and from my understanding if they cannot provide evidence of this payment by June 2016 then it will then become statute barred? What would happen if they do find the required evidence?

Here is our other worry - my husband wants to improve his credit rating so we can buy a house and we dont want this hanging over us, therefore we want the defaults removed and this matter concluded.

On digging further we have now realised that Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd has lapsed status with the FCA and has done since 28th Feb 15, therefore I believe this court action to be unlawful?

On checking my husbands credit rating, he now has defaults on his file for each month from Oct 15 - February 16 however the defaults are under Cabot Financial (Europe) Ltd. He has found a letter from the end of last year saying that Cabot Credit Management was taking over the account.

How can Cabot Financial (Europe) Ltd put defaults on his account but Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd are claiment of court proceedings? How would the FCA view this? How do Cabot Credit Management fit into it?

I've just checked the register again and Cabot Financial (Europe) Ltd have now lapsed as of 31/03/16.
Now they are lapsed, am I right in understanding if they find the required evidence of the June 2010 payment, they could no-long enforse it as they have no permission by the FCA to debt collect? Am I also right in understanding that that cannot add further defaults to my husbands file while they are lapsed?

My husband has drafted a letter replying to Drydens pointing out he is yet to recieve the particulars listed in the CPR & CAA requests, and that Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd has lapsed status. He has again stated he does not admit liability but a family member has offered him 10% of the debt for a F&F settlement on the condition that his credit reference agancy file shows is account has been paid, settled and closed, the outstanding balence set to zero and the default removed.

If he send this will this re-start the 6yr time period for statute barred or should he just hold out until June? What is the best course of action for him to take to clean up his credit file so we can apply for a mortage in the future, but also conclude this matter so it doesnt rear it's head again in the future?

Thanks in advance for any advice or help!

Kiki

[Amethyst]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

Unfortunately the clock on statute barring stops when they bring a court claim, so if it wasn't stat barred at the date the claim was issued, it won't go statute barred during the court process.

The licence status of Cabot doesn't seem to be of interest to the FCA - it's complex but they are covered via other companies in their group.

They cannot add a new default to your husbands credit file - so the original default if that was in June/July 2010 ish should fall off the file by end of summer this year. The account may have been taken over by Cabot so be being marked by them, but the start date of the default should stay as it was originally and still fall off at the 6 year point. So check the credit file that this debt doesn't appear twice.

However IF he got a CCJ that would burger things back up for 6 years longer.

If no CCA has arrived yet it could be worth negotiating - if your defence was based on no CCA as well as the stat barred issue then you still have the upper hand if you wanted to negotiate a low settlement figure while the ball is in your court and you really don't want to gamble that they won't find the agreement and will discontinue the court claim before judgment.

[kikibells]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

Thanks for your quick response Amethyst,
Will the court write to hubby once they declare the case stayed (assuming Cabot/Drydens don't find the agreement etc before the 28days they have to respond by)? If so, does the clock on the statue barred continue once this happens?
His credit file shows defalts from Oct 2015 (but nothing before even though this account hasnt been paid since June 2010. How would we check this is still the original default? The debt doesnt appear twice on Noddle.
If he does open up a negotiation to settle will this re-start the 6yr time period for statute barred or will it still be classed as from June 2010?
Kiki

[Amethyst]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

If the case is stayed it will just stay on hold until they either discontinue, find the documents and proceed, or you apply to have them struck out for failing to provide documents. In your position it might be wisest, if it is left stayed, to leave it that way until after the default falls off your file ( if you stopped paying June 2010 then potentially August/Sept would be default - on some credit reports it does state when the record is due to fall off your credit file ? - Noddle I think does - so worth checking that ) If Cabot have put a new one on ( ie the fall off date isn't till 2021 or something daft) you might have to take action.

If he opens up negotiation he would need to do it by saying he doesn't acknowledge the debt or accept any liability but he would rather just get it out of the way etc. Then statute barred should be safe in the event negotiation fails and the claim continues. HOWEVER statute barring won't come back into play at all unless the claimant discontinues ( when it picks up where it left off) so I wouldn't be too worried about it. It won't affect the credit file if you negotiate now - and while you are in a strong position ( ie no CCA etc ) then you might get agreement for them to discontinue for a 30/40% settlement paid either in a lump sum or by a reasonable number of installments under a TOMLIN order ( http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...-credit-claims ) which would prevent a CCJ being registered while you keep up payments - and use that to negotiate that Default on your credit file being sorted out.

[kikibells]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

Thank you, will show this to Hubby when I get home from work and look at the TOMLIN order.
Kiki

[kikibells]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

Hi Amethyst,

Do you think the following wording to Dryden's is suitable to open up negotiation without bring the statute barred back into play:

I refer to the above matter and your letter dated xxxxx
I point out I am yet to receive the particulars listed in my CPR 31.14 request (to you), nor my CCA request (to your client), both dated 22^nd February 2016 and I believe the matter to be statute barred.
I also point out that your client, Cabot Financial ( UK ) Limited has no authority to undertake consumer credit business given lapsed status with the Financial Conduct Authority, thus the issue of court proceedings is unlawful as your client’s permission to debt collect has ended.
Please inform your client that while I do not acknowledge or admit liability for this alleged debt, I too would like to resolve this matter swiftly as these proceedings have caused me much stress and anxiety, I am therefore prepared to settle this matter with a 10% full and final settlement.
A family member has offered me the money to make this payment on the condition that it is a F&F settlement and the account will be marked as settled and closed, the outstanding balance set to zero and the default removed from my credit reference agency file.
I am making this offer on the clear understanding that, if your client accepts it, neither your client nor any associate company will take any other action to collect or enforce this alleged debt in any way and that I will be released from any alleged liability.
If your client accepts this offer, please confirm they will mark my credit reference agency file to show my account has been paid, settled and closed, the outstanding balance set to zero and the default removed from my credit reference.
I can pay the amount I have offered within 3 days of receiving written agreement of this offer and the conditions attached, along with details of how I can pay from your client.


Many Thanks
Kiki

[kikibells]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

Can anyone help and review the above draft please? Many thanks KikI

[Kati]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

:bump: for [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] xx

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

PLease clarify when this agreement started, as I don't think you've said that.

[kikibells]

Re: Cabot/Drydens Court Claim dispute - F&F settlement/FCA permissions lapsed

What do you mean by agreement?