Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

[lexis200]

Hi

I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advice regarding this.

OH has just received a Claim Form from the BOS regarding a Halifax account.

We found out recently that about 6 months of payments (on a payment plan) were missed. This was due to the standing order having an end date, which OH was unaware of. Unfortunately we 'forgot' to give BOS a new address when we moved and the redirect finished last year, so we only got a reminder letter after it had already been missed for months after updating details for another BOS account. This letter (sent beginning of Dec if memory serves) was saying court action would be started immediately if the full amount wasn't paid, and was from Blair Oliver Scott but using halifax headed paper, which straight away made me think it was just a threat as they've done this before and never gone anywhere with it.

As we've had several of these court letters before which have never amounted to anything, we decided on that basis that it was another bluff and OH just paid the overdue amount.

He then received another letter two weeks ago thanking him for the payment but stating that they required the full amount or they would start court proceedings. Again, as we've had this before, and as the previous letter stated that court action would be started if full payment wasn't received, we figured it was another bluster as why would they send another warning when they've already stated they'd be starting court action, which by rights should have happened a good month ago.

I did have a letter to send back to them ready to go, but unfortunately my father has been very ill and then my uncle died, and the letter has sat on my laptop rather than being posted. Consequently, we now have a claim form.

I realise the whole 'we had stuff on' is not going to cut any mustard in a court, that's just there fyi to explain why I didn't get on it immediately.

First off, is there any point in my husband phoning them to try and work this out? We have Truecall so it would all be recorded. The payment plan payments were re-started as soon as he realised what had happened (before the second letter arrived), and as I said the missed payments were also paid. Could this be stopped with a phone call, or has it gone too far?

This account has a proper CCA and default, however there are a couple of thousand pounds of charges and approx £10k of PPI on the balance of 6k or so.

There are problems with this too though. I put in a claim for the full amount of charges about 18 months ago, and immediately my husband recieved £400 odd into his account as payment. This was not enough and he didn't formally accept it, but also didn't tell them it was only accepted as part payment. The PPI has been started, and the letter sent to Halifax. They have refused it, again this was about 18 months ago. As I am/was very unsure of how to deal with PPI/Charges, I have not sent it on to the fos. Have I missed the boat on that?

He is willing to carry on paying them as it's kosher, and I see on the form it says 'if you agree with the claim and are asking for time to pay'. Would this be the same as a payment plan to them, and would we still be able to tell them what he can afford (we are not in a situation to up the amount, and really should reduce it as money is very tight!)? Also, if we did this, would it completely veto any chance of him going further with the charges/PPI (assuming he's not lost the opportunity already)?

It's really important to us that he does not end up with a CCJ. We've been battling debt for 12 years now after he lost his job due to me being ill, and we are just at the point where several defaults are about to drop off his file in the next 6 months or so. If we end up starting another 6 years but with a CCJ I'll be devastated, and it may well impact his job which would put our home at risk again.

We've had numerous court threats before (again, they've all been used as a threatening tactic rather than with any intention of following through) but never an actual claim, so I'd really appreciate any guidance.

Does it make any difference that Blair Oliver Scott (who were the ones that said they would start proceedings) are one of the companies that has threatened court many times but not followed it through? We've had NIP's 3 or 4 times, and probably a dozen identical letters to the ones received recently, none of which have gone any further. I've gone as far as asking for documents under the CPR but they simply gave up then, not even responding, just dropping it. This was not for this specific account, but I wondered if it gives me any grounds to say that they routinely use the threat of court as a means to extort money even when they have no intention of carrying on with it, have ignored legal requests for documents, and therefore OH could not have known that this was a genuine course of action they were intent on taking?

Sorry for the massive post, just trying to give all the info I can as I'm really worried.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

[dippydoo]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

hi there, so sorry to but in on your thread, how do i start my own, cant find, begin new thread anywhere. thank you.

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

No problem, you just go to the main forum page you want (ie DCA's Bailiffs and Enforcement) and at the bottom of the page should be a 'Post new Thread' button, much the same as the 'Reply to Thread' one on here.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi

I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advice regarding this.

OH has just received a Claim Form from the BOS regarding a Halifax account.

We found out recently that about 6 months of payments (on a payment plan) were missed. This was due to the standing order having an end date, which OH was unaware of. Unfortunately we 'forgot' to give BOS a new address when we moved and the redirect finished last year, so we only got a reminder letter after it had already been missed for months after updating details for another BOS account. This letter (sent beginning of Dec if memory serves) was saying court action would be started immediately if the full amount wasn't paid, and was from Blair Oliver Scott but using halifax headed paper, which straight away made me think it was just a threat as they've done this before and never gone anywhere with it.

As we've had several of these court letters before which have never amounted to anything, we decided on that basis that it was another bluff and OH just paid the overdue amount.

He then received another letter two weeks ago thanking him for the payment but stating that they required the full amount or they would start court proceedings. Again, as we've had this before, and as the previous letter stated that court action would be started if full payment wasn't received, we figured it was another bluster as why would they send another warning when they've already stated they'd be starting court action, which by rights should have happened a good month ago.

I did have a letter to send back to them ready to go, but unfortunately my father has been very ill and then my uncle died, and the letter has sat on my laptop rather than being posted. Consequently, we now have a claim form.

I realise the whole 'we had stuff on' is not going to cut any mustard in a court, that's just there fyi to explain why I didn't get on it immediately.

First off, is there any point in my husband phoning them to try and work this out? We have Truecall so it would all be recorded. The payment plan payments were re-started as soon as he realised what had happened (before the second letter arrived), and as I said the missed payments were also paid. Could this be stopped with a phone call, or has it gone too far?

This account has a proper CCA and default, however there are a couple of thousand pounds of charges and approx £10k of PPI on the balance of 6k or so.

There are problems with this too though. I put in a claim for the full amount of charges about 18 months ago, and immediately my husband recieved £400 odd into his account as payment. This was not enough and he didn't formally accept it, but also didn't tell them it was only accepted as part payment. The PPI has been started, and the letter sent to Halifax. They have refused it, again this was about 18 months ago. As I am/was very unsure of how to deal with PPI/Charges, I have not sent it on to the fos. Have I missed the boat on that?

He is willing to carry on paying them as it's kosher, and I see on the form it says 'if you agree with the claim and are asking for time to pay'. Would this be the same as a payment plan to them, and would we still be able to tell them what he can afford (we are not in a situation to up the amount, and really should reduce it as money is very tight!)? Also, if we did this, would it completely veto any chance of him going further with the charges/PPI (assuming he's not lost the opportunity already)?

It's really important to us that he does not end up with a CCJ. We've been battling debt for 12 years now after he lost his job due to me being ill, and we are just at the point where several defaults are about to drop off his file in the next 6 months or so. If we end up starting another 6 years but with a CCJ I'll be devastated, and it may well impact his job which would put our home at risk again.

We've had numerous court threats before (again, they've all been used as a threatening tactic rather than with any intention of following through) but never an actual claim, so I'd really appreciate any guidance.

Does it make any difference that Blair Oliver Scott (who were the ones that said they would start proceedings) are one of the companies that has threatened court many times but not followed it through? We've had NIP's 3 or 4 times, and probably a dozen identical letters to the ones received recently, none of which have gone any further. I've gone as far as asking for documents under the CPR but they simply gave up then, not even responding, just dropping it. This was not for this specific account, but I wondered if it gives me any grounds to say that they routinely use the threat of court as a means to extort money even when they have no intention of carrying on with it, have ignored legal requests for documents, and therefore OH could not have known that this was a genuine course of action they were intent on taking?

Sorry for the massive post, just trying to give all the info I can as I'm really worried.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Re-quoting post above so it doesn't get missed!

First of all, when did you get the claim form? If they have actually issued a County Court claim (as opposed to a threat), it matters very little whether they have threatened and not followed through before, this has to be dealt with promptly.

If the claim is above £5k it will be above the small claims threshold and you could get legal representation on a conditional fee (no-win-no-fee) basis. I would suggest contacting these guys ---> http://www.watsonssolicitors.co.uk/contact.html who are well known for winning consumer cases, and may be able to help. One of them (Paul) is a LB member, you could also try PMing pt2537 which is his user name on here.

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi, thanks for replying!

Claim form received yesterday, dated 1st Feb so by my reckoning I have until the 20th to work out and apply whatever I need to do.

Unfortunately it is just under £6k so no SC court.

I'll get my hubby to try the sols when I've been in the loft and got all the paperwork down. I'd like to have all info to hand as I'm questioning whether the default was ok or not. I think it was but it's worth a double check through the SAR bundle. I'll pm pt and see if he'll have a look at this, I'd forgotten he'd moved here so that's a bonus.

Thanks again

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi, thanks for replying!

Claim form received yesterday, dated 1st Feb so by my reckoning I have until the 20th to work out and apply whatever I need to do.

Unfortunately it is just under £6k so no SC court.

Shouldn't this read FORTUNATELY? Because if it's over £5k and not small claims, you can get help on a conditional-fee basis.

I'll get my hubby to try the sols when I've been in the loft and got all the paperwork down. I'd like to have all info to hand as I'm questioning whether the default was ok or not. I think it was but it's worth a double check through the SAR bundle. I'll pm pt and see if he'll have a look at this, I'd forgotten he'd moved here so that's a bonus.

Thanks again

Good idea to have everything at hand. If you can find the DN even better, a 'bad' DN can certainly help your case. PT has been here since 2007!

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Yes I suppose it should be seen from the other angle - I'm at the 'glass half empty' stage at the moment though, but it will change if I can gain a bit of confidence with what I'm doing Give me a dodgy CCA or default to bark at them about and I'm away 'cos I know the in's and out's of that reasonably well, but this is too far out of my comfort zone!

I'll find the paperwork when hubby gets home (I can't get into the loft! ) and see about the default.

[Celestine]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi there

Is this a LOAN account?

Where have the 2k of Charges come from?

If you're husband lost his job due to your ill health....why wasn't the PPI claimed...especially as it seems to have cost you 10k????

Sounds potentially miss sold to me.

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi Celestine

Thanks very much for your input.

It's a credit card, and the charges have come from late payments etc. No excuses, my OH was just not on the ball and was late on some payments, then towards the end when money became a real issue some were missed. As it's from such a long time ago the interest added on (using a spreadsheet to work out charges) was significant. Equally though, as they were a long time ago, and as they did make a part payment which we stupidly did not contact them about (didn't accept as full payment but didn't query it either), I would guess the boat has sailed on that one.

The PPI is a bit complicated - I think I started explaining it to PT a couple of years ago but due to a lot of trouble in my personal life it was left, and I never got beyond an initial letter which was rejected by the bank.

Essentially my husband was a director of a company when he took the PPI out, but was not told that in order to claim he would have to fold his company. Obviously that's just not feasible as if you closed your business just because you were having a hard time every self employed person would go under. He was only told this when he phoned to claim as he had not had work for some months and we were about to get into serious arrears. Checking through the terms it seemed that he should be covered under the 'employed' section due to him legally being classed as employed even though he was a one man band so to speak. Turns out that was not the case. He would not have taken the PPI if he had been made aware of this rather major piece of information as it was next to useless for him.

In addition, although legally speaking he was employed as he was the director of his company, as the company was him he was employing himself. I've always questioned whether or not that should have been queried by Halifax, as if they had questioned it all of this detail would have come out and either they would have refused the PPI or he would not have taken it. Although in the letter of the law he was employed, in practise he was not, if that makes any sense. At around the same time as this card was taken out he was refused PPI by another bank, I believe for this reason, as he would not have qualified. I feel Halifax should have taken the same precaution.

The PPI issues actually came some time after my husband lost his job, that was just the starting point. We'd been surviving for about 6 years, having lost our home etc but still trying to keep up with payments. It was at this point, when he had had no work come in for some months that he tried to use the PPI. I don't know if I'm grasping at straws with the insurance, but it seems very unfair to me. Oh, and the conversation where he asked and was told he'd have to fold the company was not recorded in their notes. It simply says 'customer cancelled insurance' or words to that effect; there's no mention of why he cancelled.

I dug out the paperwork yesterday and very annoyingly can not find the default notice. I have them for the other two BOS accounts and they are both incorrect, but there is nothing for this one. This is a bit strange as two of the accounts (including this one) were defaulted around the same time, but I only have one of the notices. There wasn't one included in the SAR either, but then I think that's quite usual. Irritating but usual.

I'm not sure if any of that helps or not?

Thanks

Lexis

[Celestine]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi Lex

Definite Miss selling of the PPI! Did you get my PM?

Cel x

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Hi again

Yes, I've just replied - I would have sooner but I had to pick the kids up from school and can't really do this while they're around. Too nosy by half

[pt2537]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

This account has a proper CCA and default, however there are a couple of thousand pounds of charges and approx £10k of PPI on the balance of 6k or so.

I find the above very difficult to believe, only this morning was i looking at a Default notice from this lame lot and it was shockingly bad.

Just because you think its good, dont take it that it is.

[MIKE770]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

I find the above very difficult to believe, only this morning was i looking at a Default notice from this lame lot and it was shockingly bad.

Just because you think its good, dont take it that it is.

Certainly get some eye openers from some DCAs etc?

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

I find the above very difficult to believe, only this morning was i looking at a Default notice from this lame lot and it was shockingly bad.

Just because you think its good, dont take it that it is.

Hi pt

You may well be right about the default. I had it in my head that it was ok, but actually, having looked through all the documents I can find there is no default notice within them. I must have been thinking of another account as I couldn't possibly have checked this one. There also doesn't appear to be a mention of a notice being sent in the SAR notes. I know they don't generally include a copy notice within a request, but I thought it had to be noted on the account as sent out, otherwise there's no proof.

OH does have two other BOS accounts, and I've just checked them both. Annoyingly again (doubly so as I was sure I had both) I can't find one of them (I suspect as OH was not great at keeping docs at that time, though it's also possible it's in a different file in the loft and we've just not found it yet), but the later one was dated 16th June, sent 2nd class, arrived on the 20th and had a remedy date of the 17th.

With regards the CCA though, despite the two BOS ones being useful only as wallpaper, the HBOS one does look correct.

I don't suppose there is any way to get a genuine copy of a default notice is there?

[lexis200]

Re: Been sent a Claim Form by Halifax, please help

Certainly get some eye openers from some DCAs etc?

My favourite one is from Lloyds. 14 days dead from date on letter to remedy so already not good, but the arrears I had to pay was £0.00. I duly did that, however even though I'd complied fully with paying the arrears, SCaM sent me a legal threat letter 7 days after the date on the default (not the remedy date, the date it was printed) demanding full payment within 7 days. This was in 2007.

When I phoned about it (I was worried as had not found any consumer help sites at this point), I was told to ignore it as they send out 'official looking letters' like that as standard. In various letters and recorded calls after that they have denied that any default was sent. Apparently I was mistaken and it was just a normal letter, not a default. I guess it must have been the 'Default Notice' heading and the fact that it's a default notice that had me fooled.

I have since had a letter confirming a notice was sent some two years later, which it was. They still will not acknowledge the initial one, and again, it's not mentioned in the SAR. No amount of me being right though will get them to budge.