PRA Group case discontinued

[BigC550]

Hello, I recently had a PRA Group/Shoosmiths case discontinued on arrival at court. I did this with the help of this website although I was not registered at the time. I would like to thank everyone for their help, the experiences of others gave me confidence to continue.
I would like to ask the question if there are any financial industry or office of fair trading rules or regulations that should prevent DCAs from applying to court if they cannot win a case, I requested my Credit Card Agreement among other documents, 2 months prior to the small claims court case here in Northern Ireland. I still have not received any of the requested documents this site recommended, and the case continued until I appeared at court. On arrival at court, I was approached by a solicitor representing PRA Group and was told he was instructed to discontinue.
PRA Group seem take people to court only to discontinue at the last minute quite a lot.
Thanks again for all your help.

[warwick65]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Hi
They do this a lot but when you consider the number of default judgements they obtain you can understand why. I have heard various figures between 75 and 95% go undefended.

There are new rules coming into force in October which I hope will help to end this practice although the last set had teeth to start with and were watered down.

There is a huge amount that a LiP is less able to do and the changes in CFA rules a few years ago only aided the debt purchasers

[BigC550]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Hi
They do this a lot but when you consider the number of default judgements they obtain you can understand why. I have heard various figures between 75 and 95% go undefended.

There are new rules coming into force in October which I hope will help to end this practice although the last set had teeth to start with and were watered down.

There is a huge amount that a LiP is less able to do and the changes in CFA rules a few years ago only aided the debt purchasers

Is there any point in complaining about this to PRA Group or FOS?

[warwick65]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Maybe but maybe not. These FCA forms are so long winded

[jack89]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

I would love to see these sort of Companies being closed down.

[Diana M]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Had the solicitors lodged a Certificate of Readiness before the hearing ?

Di

[BigC550]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Had the solicitors lodged a Certificate of Readiness before the hearing ?

Di

I'm not sure, the judge questioned the solicitor on the finality of discontinuing but the solicitor could not answer any of the Judge's questions.

[Diana M]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

the judge questioned the solicitor on the finality of discontinuing but the solicitor could not answer any of the Judge's questions.

I expect the judge questioned the solicitor on whether his client (PRA) had any intention of re-issuing a claim once the documentation was found (if ever). And perhaps he was considering the costs issue if you weren't informed in writing of the Discontinuance before the hearing.

I'm glad a s 77-79 CCA Request worked in your favour but if you used this forum's CPR 31.14 Request template letter that wouldn't have helped you since Civil Procedure Rules don't apply in Northern Ireland which is a different jurisdiction using different rules.

Order 21 may have been applicable in your case >

http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/Pub...Dec%202016.pdf

A complaint to PRA may not help you since they were the Plaintiff, however did you send them your CCA Request before they issued proceedings?

I don't see the basis of any complaint to the FOS but I don't know the full story.

However PRA are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority so you can make a complaint about them but it's a one-way street - the FCA may investigate for their own purposes only.

Did you have PPI on the account and have you considered whether you may be able to make a claim if it was mis-sold?

Di

[Diana M]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

I recently had a PRA Group/Shoosmiths case discontinued on arrival at court.

Out of curiosity who was the original creditor before the account was assigned to PRA? And was it assigned to another debt purchaser before that?

Although a Plaintiff/Claimant rarely (if ever) tells you the reason that they discontinue a claim, do you have any reason to suspect there may have been assignment issues as well as the lack of documentation?

I recently defeated PRA in court after a three day trial (I was the Defendant as well as part of my own legal team ) where PRA were unable to persuade the court that they actually owned the debt.

PRA GROUP (UK) LIMITED v DIANA MAYHEW – WIN

‘“RECONSTITUTED AGREEMENT” – "IRREDEEMABLY UNENFORCEABLE”
“UNREDACTED DEEDS OF ASSIGNMENT – NO ASSIGMENT PROVED”

So, held Recorder Bellamy in PRA Group (UK) Limited v Mayhew at Central London County Court on 22nd March 2017, at the end of a 3 day multi track trial, when dismissing PRA’s claim against our client.

Stale debts sued for on the back of 2 ‘reconstituted’ MBNA credit card agreements (May 1999 and October 2000) were held irredeemably unenforceable under CCA 1974. The evidence of an honest witness was preferred to that of so called “reconstituted agreements”.

After 3 days of close forensic examination of, and legal argument about, evidence and documents from both PRA and MBNA stating that our client’s specific debt had been assigned, the court held that no assignment had been proved.

Efforts, over many months, in earlier cases to force PRA into disclosure of un-redacted deeds and deep and sustained forensic challenge to the provenance of documents needed to prove regulatory compliance, finally drew back the veil. The reality behind bulk debt purchasing was revealed.

This decision shows that just saying an agreement is enforceable and producing a “reconstituted” copy does not prove that it is enforceable. Just saying an agreement has been assigned and producing a notice saying it has been assigned does not prove legal assignment.

Debt purchasers need to provide proof. If that means the pitifully few pence in the pound they pay for stale debts will increase because banks will now have to start keeping original evidence complying with regulatory consumer protection measures, it is hard to imagine many tears being shed, outside the City of London.

I have full knowledge of this case since I was the Defendant (Diana M is short for Diana Mayhew).

I was also the "Client" of Joanna Connolly Solicitors where I currently work. How ironical.

I have no shame in being taken to court for a debt which arose with MBNA when I was in "financial chaos" at the start of the Credit Crunch which was caused by the banks not me or any of you other debtors out there.

But I didn't personally owe PRA any money (as agreed by Recorder Bellamy) and that was the reason I decided to fight this case.

I wasn't only doing it for me, I was doing it for all the other debtors who've been served with claims for a MBNA debt which travelled the same assignment route as mine.

I was also doing it because the documents produced by the Claimant needed forensic examination. As Jo has said the court found them irredeemably unenforceable. There were two claims for two accounts and both credit agreements failed the test in court.

It was a win for the consumer not just me.

PRA have said that they will not be appealing the judgment.

Di (aka Diana Mayhew)

Thread link > http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...304#post723304

Di

[jon34]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Had the solicitors lodged a Certificate of Readiness before the hearing ?

Di

Hello Di,

What is a Certificate of Readiness ?. Is it applicable to the small claims track ?. I must admit that I have never heard of this before as i am sure most L.i.p's.

Thanks.

[Diana M]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Hello Di,

What is a Certificate of Readiness ?. Is it applicable to the small claims track ?. I must admit that I have never heard of this before as i am sure most L.i.p's.

You probably haven't heard of a COR before because it's not applicable to claims brought in England and Wales.

As I explained in my previous post, Northern Ireland (where the OP lives) is a completely different legal jurisdiction where the Small Claims Track doesn't exist in the same way.

You'll find the Certificate of Readiness information in my post # 8. Hopefully any LIPs living in Northern Ireland will find this information helpful.

Di

[BigC550]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Out of curiosity who was the original creditor before the account was assigned to PRA? And was it assigned to another debt purchaser before that?

Although a Plaintiff/Claimant rarely (if ever) tells you the reason that they discontinue a claim, do you have any reason to suspect there may have been assignment issues as well as the lack of documentation?

I recently defeated PRA in court after a three day trial (I was the Defendant as well as part of my own legal team ) where PRA were unable to persuade the court that they actually owned the debt.







Thread link > http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...304#post723304

Di

Hello Diana, I did use the CPR letter to request information, Shoosmiths responded with it is not applicable in my jurisdiction and the papers would be served on me in the usual way. I thought they would have had to serve any papers 14 days before the hearing but received nothing. I requested my credit card agreement from PRA, They apparently bought the debt from MBNA. In their response document they stated they were searching for the agreement, but without and agreement they could not take me to court as the debt was unenforcable, but I ended up in court anyway. I was thinking that if PRA Group could not produce the documents for the FOS, they would be in breach of FCA rules by attempting to mislead me that the debt was enforcable. Also if PRA Group were to bring further proceedings here in Northern Ireland, do they need permission from the court to reopen the case?

[BigC550]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Diana, I meant to include congratulations on your achievements in court.

[BigC550]

Re: PRA Group case discontinued

Diana, I meant to include congratulations on your achievements in court.

also the debt was assigned to Ativ Kapital then PRA Group