Statutory demand from first credit

[Sindy]

Hi,
I’m looking for some advice please. Over the past few months I have been sent letters by first credit regarding a debt of £8000 for a Halifax credit card which is about 5 years old. I did originally pay Halifax a small amount each month but stopped paying them. I didn’t hear from anyone up until a few months ago when first credit wrote to me. I ignored the letters they sent and didn’t keep the letters. I have now been served a statutory demand threatening bankruptcy which was hand delivered on 18th November. I would like to ask the following:

1)i am going to apply to have the demand set aside stating that they haven’t provided me with an agreement. I understand that that I don’t have to request this myself, although I will be requesting this from them.

2) Could someone also clarify whether the notice of assignment should have been sent via recorded delivery? Can I use this as a reason to have the demand set aside?

3) someone suggested that along with requesting the demand to be set aside & sending a CCA request to the company, I should separately send them a cheque as a full & final settlement offer with a covering letter stating that if the cheque is cashed then they have accepted it as full & final settlement & not to pursue the debt further or sell it on. Apparently if I start the letter ‘without prejudice’ I’m not admitting that I owe the debt. They said this will work better than just sending an offer in writing without the cheque.

If if someone could provide me with this information, I would really appreciate any help!!

[nemesis45]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Hi,
I’m looking for some advice please. Over the past few months I have been sent letters by first credit regarding a debt of £8000 for a Halifax credit card which is about 5 years old. I did originally pay Halifax a small amount each month but stopped paying them. I didn’t hear from anyone up until a few months ago when first credit wrote to me. I ignored the letters they sent and didn’t keep the letters. I have now been served a statutory demand threatening bankruptcy which was hand delivered on 18th November. I would like to ask the following:

1)i am going to apply to have the demand set aside stating that they haven’t provided me with an agreement. I understand that that I don’t have to request this myself, although I will be requesting this from them.

2) Could someone also clarify whether the notice of assignment should have been sent via recorded delivery? Can I use this as a reason to have the demand set aside?

3) someone suggested that along with requesting the demand to be set aside & sending a CCA request to the company, I should separately send them a cheque as a full & final settlement offer with a covering letter stating that if the cheque is cashed then they have accepted it as full & final settlement & not to pursue the debt further or sell it on. Apparently if I start the letter ‘without prejudice’ I’m not admitting that I owe the debt. They said this will work better than just sending an offer in writing without the cheque.

If if someone could provide me with this information, I would really appreciate any help!!

Good morning,

1.Yes get this SD set aside.
2,No the NOA can be sent by 1st Class post.

3. Important! Do not send any payment in full and final settlement Until you have written acceptance of your offer, otherwise 1st Credit could just bank it and continue yo pursue the outstanding balance.

4.Get the CCA request off asap,.

What other correspondence have you had from first credit? Issuing a SD should be the last resort when all other collection methods have failed.

nem

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Good morning,

1.Yes get this SD set aside.
2,No the NOA can be sent by 1st Class post.

3. Important! Do not send any payment in full and final settlement Until you have written acceptance of your offer, otherwise 1st Credit could just bank it and continue yo pursue the outstanding balance.

4.Get the CCA request off asap,.

What other correspondence have you had from first credit? Issuing a SD should be the last resort when all other collection methods have failed.

nem

Thankyou.

ive received a few letters before the demand asking for contact & threatening bankruptcy. I was very stupid in ignoring them.
i have been told that if I send a cheque to them so long as my covering letter states clearly that if they bank the cheque they have accepted it a settelememt. Apparently you can accept by ‘action’ it doesn’t have to be written by them?
What are the chances of having the demand set aside?

[nemesis45]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Thankyou.

ive received a few letters before the demand asking for contact & threatening bankruptcy. I was very stupid in ignoring them.
i have been told that if I send a cheque to them so long as my covering letter states clearly that if they bank the cheque they have accepted it a settelememt. Apparently you can accept by ‘action’ it doesn’t have to be written by them?
What are the chances of having the demand set aside?

You really must not send a cheque this way you will lose out, 1st Credit has acted in the way I described, a letter as you describe will not cover you. This will be an admission of liability. Full and Final Settlement Offers need careful wording an written acceptance from 1st Credit.
I'm not sure if they are slipping back to their old habits and using SD's as a primary method of debt collection which it should no be.

Where did this advice come from??

If 1st Credit cannot produce the agreement for this account then they are unable to enforce the debt until they produce an compliant agreement or a compliant reconstituted one.
Do you own property and/or have sufficient assets to cover this debt?

nem

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Ok thanks. A friend suggested I might want to go about it that way to get get rid of the whole thing. I did question wether I would be admitting liability if I sent a cheque but was told so long as I state ‘without prejudice’ I’ll be ok. I don’t have the money anyway, I would have to borrow from family.

how does the set aside request work, I send the application to the court & have to attend a hearing? What are the timescales for when this happens? Are first credit likely to produce the agreement?

[warwick65]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Hi Sindy

Maybe you could talk to [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] who might be able to advise from a legal perspective.

Is there any chance there is already a ccj against you for this debt?

Do you have assets such as property or capital, or maybe a very high income?, If not it would seem foolish for 1st credit to make hi out BR

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

[QUOTE=warwick65;764818]Hi Sindy

Maybe you could talk to @Diana M who might be able to advise from a legal perspective.

Is there any chance there is already a ccj against you for this debt?

Do you have assets such as property or capital, or maybe a very high income?, If not it would seem foolish for 1st credit to make hi out BR[/QUOTE

no ccj at at the moment, the house doesn’t have much equity so they wouldn’t get what they want after costs etc as I have other debts too.

thanks for replying.

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Hi,

can someone please look over the attached forms- are these the 2 I need to send to apply for the set aside?

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

Oh No!!!
I've just remembered, earlier this year I asked a claims company to check for PPI against this credit card. They wrote back saying there wasn't any PPI, will this go against me?
So worried!!

[Diana M]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

I have been sent letters by first credit regarding a debt of £8000 for a Halifax credit card which is about 5 years old. I did originally pay Halifax a small amount each month but stopped paying them. I didn’t hear from anyone up until a few months ago

. . . . I have now been served a statutory demand threatening bankruptcy which was hand delivered on 18th November.

When you say the Halifax credit card is "about five years old". Do you mean you opened the account in 2012 or do you mean you stopped making payments five years ago?

You have a maximum of 18 days from the date the Statutory Demand was served on you to file your Application to have it set aside. The creditor can file a Bankruptcy Petition after 21 days (from when the SD was served) if you don't.

Send a s 77-79 CCA Request to 1st Credit by Royal Mail Recorded Delivery on Monday morning. There's a link to a template here > https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...etter-example/

Was the SD served by 1st Credit legal department or have they instructed solicitors who arranged for a process server to serve it on you?

You can ask 1st Credit to withdraw the SD if you have a genuine dispute with the debt (non compliance with your CCA Request would likely be viewed as a dispute). Do you have any other reasons to dispute the debt such as no Default Notice (s 87) served on you or no annual Notice of Sums in Arrears (s 86) served on you?

If they don't immediately agree to withdraw it then you must file an Application for the SD to be set aside or they can go ahead with the BR petition. You may need legal help to do this.

Statutory Demands are not supposed to be used as a debt collecting tool where there is a bona fide dispute and this is made clear in Para 27 of Hammonds v Pro Fit USA Ltd here > http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2007/1998.html

In your case if you've ignored all correspondence from 1st Credit they will argue that they have only served the SD as a last resort since you have not engaged with them. They will say they're unaware of any dispute.

In February 2009 1st Credit was sanctioned by the OFT for overuse of SD to collect debts but they seem to have started the practice again recently. This is what the OFT said at the time when they imposed Requirements on them> https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/r...quirements.pdf

It's not possible to advise on how or whether you should make an offer to settle without more information on the debt in question.

You need to deal with this SD set aside fast as the clock has been ticking since the 18th November.

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

[QUOTE=Sindy;764822]

the house doesn’t have much equity so they wouldn’t get what they want after costs etc as I have other debts too.

Is the house in your sole name or held jointly with another person?

How much do your other debts total?

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

can someone please look over the attached forms- are these the 2 I need to send to apply for the set aside?

It's not as simple as filling in forms, you need to know what grounds you have (if any) to succeed with your Application for a set aside.

I strongly suggest you get formal help for this either from your local CAB, Law Centre or a solicitor who deals with personal insolvency.

I asked about your other debts because most/some of these would be included in any bankruptcy not just the 1st Credit debt.

This article about bankruptcy on [MENTION=48934]Debt Camel[/MENTION] 's website explains what BR means to an individual. It's written from the perspective of someone with a lot of debt considering BR as a way of dealing with it, but the information will be relevant to you if the BR goes ahead >

https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/bankruptcy/

Di

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

It's not as simple as filling in forms, you need to know what grounds you have (if any) to succeed with your Application for a set aside.

I strongly suggest you get formal help for this either from your local CAB, Law Centre or a solicitor who deals with personal insolvency.

I asked about your other debts because most/some of these would be included in any bankruptcy not just the 1st Credit debt.

This article about bankruptcy on @Debt Camel 's website explains what BR means to an individual. It's written from the perspective of someone with a lot of debt considering BR as a way of dealing with it, but the information will be relevant to you if the BR goes ahead >

https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/bankruptcy/

Di

Thank you. The house is sole name. I stopped making payments 5 years ago. I was going to make the application for setting aside based on the fact that they haven’t provided me with a credit agreement.

- - - Updated - - -

The other debts total approximately £15000, I have arrangements for some.

[Diana M]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

I stopped making payments 5 years ago.

So you need to be very careful about what you say/write (and how you do it) because if the Statutory Demand is successfully set aside, the debt could be close to becoming Statute Barred. A SD is not a court document for Cause of Action purposes.

What date was your last payment? Can you check your bank history? Could it have been six years ago?

Making an offer to the creditor may scupper that (SB date) unless headed Without Prejudice. And even that may not be enough to protect you.

If you haven't got grounds to get the SD set aside then you may need to enter into negotiations but no one can advise you to do that until the full facts are known.

Have you ever formally asked Halifax (original creditor) for a copy of the credit agreement? If there's already a s 77-79 CCA Request which hasn't been complied with then you may have an existing dispute. From what you say you may not have previously made a request for the credit agreement.

I would still send a new CCA Request tomorrow morning unless you have a letter from Halifax stating that they haven't got the credit agreement etc.

When (what year) did you open the account and how did you open it (online, in branch, response to a mailshot etc)?



Di

[Sindy]

Re: Statutory demand from first credit

It has been 6 years ago, last payment was made in 2012. I’m going to send request due the agreement tomorrow. I’ve not asked for one previously & Halifax have never given this to me. I can’t remember how I opened the card. So you’re saying that I can’t request for the demand to be set aside on the basis of not having been given a credit agreement?

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry, it hasn’t been 6 years ago, it was 2012.