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Newbie looking for help with Restons/Marlin/HSBC
Hi Everyone,
A few months ago I received a county court claim from Northampton CC which was Restons Solicitors on behalf of Marlin about a debt to HSBC.
To say the least it was a bit vague
Court Document dated 12th June 2013
The claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and HSBC Bank Plc dated on or about 06/03/2002 and assigned to the claimant on 20/02/2013 in the sum of 14331.37
Particulars a/c no: 345*****
Now the main Issue I had with that is that I don't have any trace of accounts with HSBC starting with a 3 let alone ones for 14k.
I logged on to moneyclaim online filled in the acknowledgment of service, and had a bit of a think
I posted my defence as follows
I have no knowledge or details about this claim.
I have received no notifications prior to the court documents about this claim.
I wrote a letter to the claimant on 26th June 2013 using the address for sending documents mentioned on the claim form asking for clarification as to what this claim related to so that I could submit a defence.
To date I have received no reply.
My defence is currently therefore based entirely on the simple denial of claim since there has been nothing provided to me in respect of its existence beyond their simple assertion that it exists.
With this in mind I would ask the court to direct the claimant to provide full details of the original contract mentioned in the claim along with full details proving the balance due at the 14331.37 mentioned in the claim and details of its assignment to the claimant and for that information to be full and complete and in line with all laws and statutes that apply to the claim.
I would ask the court to consider the fact that the claimant is using solicitors and as such they should be fully aware of what the full legal requirements are relating to proving validity of whatever contract this turns out to be, whereas I have no legal training nor have I the resources to employ a solicitor and am therefore disadvantaged by comparison.
I would ask the court to consider that without this information I am clearly unable to provide any defence beyond simple denial of the claim.
Should the claimant not be forthcoming with full and complete information in line with all laws and statutes relating to it within a time frame acceptable to the court, I would ask the court to strike out this claim since it has no basis in fact.
In the middle of July a letter came from the court dated 12th July.
I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimants’ solicitor). The claimant may contact you to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.
Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed, the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.
OK so I am thinking that allowing 5 days for an effective date of service (at least that’s what they allow for the original claim) then 12th July + 5 + 28 = 14th August is their deadline to do something.
They haven't contacted me when the 14th comes and goes, so a week later when there is no contact from the court then I am thinking the claim must be "Stayed" and the Defence must have at least confused them into inaction if nothing else!!
But today I get a letter from them dated 4th September with a bit of an explanation salient points being
1. Here's a few letters you should have had.
2. It all relates to a current account
3. We can't trace your letter
4. THE THREAT BELOW (Note: my experience of solicitors is that they are always making threats even when they are fully aware that their threat is complete legal ****** - insert you own expletive where the stars are)
Now that we have provided you with further clarification of what the outstanding relates to, we would be grateful if you could confirm that you are now prepared to withdraw your Defence. In order to do this please complete the enclosed form N9A and return it to this office. If we do not receive this form from you in the next 14 days, we are instructed to make an application to Strike Out the Defence and to seek an Order that you pay our clients costs associated with that application.
FINALLY the questions I would appreciate some help with.
Mainly and most obviously I am thinking how best to approach my reply.
The things that are occurring to me are,
1. Surely the claim is currently “Stayed”? And that is due to them not bothering for a timescale in excess of the 28 days. This surely has to count against them in some way.
2. I don't like bully boys saying "if you don't admit the lot we will bill you even more" and I especially don't like solicitors because they knowingly make threats that are without legal foundation.
3. WHAT ARE THEY CURRENTLY THINKING? Could it be "OOPS, we screwed up on that one and missed the deadline, let’s see if they are stupid enough to admit it anyway, especially if we worry them with threats of even more costs".
4. WHAT ARE THEY MOST LIKELY TO DO NEXT? Is this just a reversion to the normal run of Collection Agency solicitors letters along the standard lines of "Contact Us Now or we will do something nasty", although it seems to me that mostly they just send another similar letter the next month for a year or so and then sell it on to yet another collection agency who do the same in the vague hope that eventually you will get tired of it all, break down in tears and pay the lot regardless of whether you owe it or not.
5. What is the real legal position they now find themselves in having missed that deadline?
6. HSBC were never kind enough to give me a 14k+ overdraft (the last statement I can find on a HSBC current account said less than £200 OD in Feb 2009 and that account began with a 7 not a 3) so whatever they are referring to must include a whole bunch of other stuff that they have bundled together along with some charges for good measure and given a new number for some good old banking tidiness. If that is the case then they certainly didn't ask me about creating a new account and the account they created doesn't date back to 2002 which the claim says.
7. I certainly don't want to be admitting anything about anything at this point in time and restarting a clock on any old HSBC debts that are already over 3 years old doesn't seem a good idea.
(I did have a number of HSBC accounts including current accounts, and Credit Cards and bank loans, both in my name and company names that all defaulted in early 2009 and I certainly haven't spoken to them since they defaulted)
So that is about it. Any thoughts anyone?
Thanks.
A few months ago I received a county court claim from Northampton CC which was Restons Solicitors on behalf of Marlin about a debt to HSBC.
To say the least it was a bit vague
Court Document dated 12th June 2013
The claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and HSBC Bank Plc dated on or about 06/03/2002 and assigned to the claimant on 20/02/2013 in the sum of 14331.37
Particulars a/c no: 345*****
Now the main Issue I had with that is that I don't have any trace of accounts with HSBC starting with a 3 let alone ones for 14k.
I logged on to moneyclaim online filled in the acknowledgment of service, and had a bit of a think
I posted my defence as follows
I have no knowledge or details about this claim.
I have received no notifications prior to the court documents about this claim.
I wrote a letter to the claimant on 26th June 2013 using the address for sending documents mentioned on the claim form asking for clarification as to what this claim related to so that I could submit a defence.
To date I have received no reply.
My defence is currently therefore based entirely on the simple denial of claim since there has been nothing provided to me in respect of its existence beyond their simple assertion that it exists.
With this in mind I would ask the court to direct the claimant to provide full details of the original contract mentioned in the claim along with full details proving the balance due at the 14331.37 mentioned in the claim and details of its assignment to the claimant and for that information to be full and complete and in line with all laws and statutes that apply to the claim.
I would ask the court to consider the fact that the claimant is using solicitors and as such they should be fully aware of what the full legal requirements are relating to proving validity of whatever contract this turns out to be, whereas I have no legal training nor have I the resources to employ a solicitor and am therefore disadvantaged by comparison.
I would ask the court to consider that without this information I am clearly unable to provide any defence beyond simple denial of the claim.
Should the claimant not be forthcoming with full and complete information in line with all laws and statutes relating to it within a time frame acceptable to the court, I would ask the court to strike out this claim since it has no basis in fact.
In the middle of July a letter came from the court dated 12th July.
I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimants’ solicitor). The claimant may contact you to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.
Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed, the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.
OK so I am thinking that allowing 5 days for an effective date of service (at least that’s what they allow for the original claim) then 12th July + 5 + 28 = 14th August is their deadline to do something.
They haven't contacted me when the 14th comes and goes, so a week later when there is no contact from the court then I am thinking the claim must be "Stayed" and the Defence must have at least confused them into inaction if nothing else!!
But today I get a letter from them dated 4th September with a bit of an explanation salient points being
1. Here's a few letters you should have had.
2. It all relates to a current account
3. We can't trace your letter
4. THE THREAT BELOW (Note: my experience of solicitors is that they are always making threats even when they are fully aware that their threat is complete legal ****** - insert you own expletive where the stars are)
Now that we have provided you with further clarification of what the outstanding relates to, we would be grateful if you could confirm that you are now prepared to withdraw your Defence. In order to do this please complete the enclosed form N9A and return it to this office. If we do not receive this form from you in the next 14 days, we are instructed to make an application to Strike Out the Defence and to seek an Order that you pay our clients costs associated with that application.
FINALLY the questions I would appreciate some help with.
Mainly and most obviously I am thinking how best to approach my reply.
The things that are occurring to me are,
1. Surely the claim is currently “Stayed”? And that is due to them not bothering for a timescale in excess of the 28 days. This surely has to count against them in some way.
2. I don't like bully boys saying "if you don't admit the lot we will bill you even more" and I especially don't like solicitors because they knowingly make threats that are without legal foundation.
3. WHAT ARE THEY CURRENTLY THINKING? Could it be "OOPS, we screwed up on that one and missed the deadline, let’s see if they are stupid enough to admit it anyway, especially if we worry them with threats of even more costs".
4. WHAT ARE THEY MOST LIKELY TO DO NEXT? Is this just a reversion to the normal run of Collection Agency solicitors letters along the standard lines of "Contact Us Now or we will do something nasty", although it seems to me that mostly they just send another similar letter the next month for a year or so and then sell it on to yet another collection agency who do the same in the vague hope that eventually you will get tired of it all, break down in tears and pay the lot regardless of whether you owe it or not.
5. What is the real legal position they now find themselves in having missed that deadline?
6. HSBC were never kind enough to give me a 14k+ overdraft (the last statement I can find on a HSBC current account said less than £200 OD in Feb 2009 and that account began with a 7 not a 3) so whatever they are referring to must include a whole bunch of other stuff that they have bundled together along with some charges for good measure and given a new number for some good old banking tidiness. If that is the case then they certainly didn't ask me about creating a new account and the account they created doesn't date back to 2002 which the claim says.
7. I certainly don't want to be admitting anything about anything at this point in time and restarting a clock on any old HSBC debts that are already over 3 years old doesn't seem a good idea.
(I did have a number of HSBC accounts including current accounts, and Credit Cards and bank loans, both in my name and company names that all defaulted in early 2009 and I certainly haven't spoken to them since they defaulted)
So that is about it. Any thoughts anyone?
Thanks.
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