Hamptons Legal pre litigation

[Xperion]

What I want to know is what action I should take, we stillcurrently have no confirmation of what the debt relates to apart from the nameof the original creditor. We have some inkling as to what it maybe from and yesit would be a debt that should have been settled but is from many years ago, wehave no problem settling the debt, but having a young family and pinchedfinances would obviously like many other prefer to avoid this debt. We believethe debt to be 5yrs and 11months old and due to expire end of June 2014, basedon last payment and no contact being made between any parties within thatperiod, are address is also not confirmed as its from a prior address but notsure what info has been obtained from the credit report. So I guess my questionis should we hold out for the debt to become statute barredor request a copy of the original credit agreement and pay the debt before morepressing legal action. If so some delicate wording and procedure on writing theletter would be very gratefully received.

23/12/2013 – First letter of contact from Lowell Portfolio I
09/01/2014 – Letter from original Creditor notifying of debtassignment to Lowell
24/02/2014 – Offered Reduction from Lowell of 25% for full balance settlement
10/03/2014 – Follow up letter
24/03/2014 – Notification of potential escalation to RedDebt Collection Services and potential court action (issuing a statutory demand&/or petitioning the court for bankruptcy)
08/04/2014 – Letter from Red Debt CS. Notifying potentialCCJ action.
23/04/2014 – Red Debt CS Notification of escalation toHamptons Legal pre litigation department and obtaining of our credit file. Also30% discount offered on full settlement.
23/05/2014 – First letter from Hamptons Legal – Imageto follow
[IMG][/IMG]

[Celestine]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

As this count is SO close to becoming statute barred, I would advise sitting tight and not responding.
IF they issue a court claim before end of June 2014, you will be unable to use Limitation as a defence.

But, Debt Companies go through many rounds of letters usually before issuing the claim, so it seems worth to hold tight and see if the litigate.

Personally, I wouldn't send a CCA or anything just yet, as this may just provoke them into action quicker.

[Xperion]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

As this count is SO close to becoming statute barred, I would advise sitting tight and not responding.
IF they issue a court claim before end of June 2014, you will be unable to use Limitation as a defence.

But, Debt Companies go through many rounds of letters usually before issuing the claim, so it seems worth to hold tight and see if the litigate.

Personally, I wouldn't send a CCA or anything just yet, as this may just provoke them into action quicker.

Thank you for a speedy reply! Firstly could you elaborate the meaning of using limitation as a defence!? Also when would/should I Send a CCA? Is there anyway of confirming the period start of statute barred/ing other than personal recollection?

[Xperion]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

One last thing what should I do when I believe the debt has become statute barred is there a procedure for closing the case? thanks

[Celestine]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

OK, so if you are CERTAIN the last payment was end of June 2008, then on a 'simple contract' it should expire 6 years after last payment or acknowledgment of debt. There are some conflicting interpretations about when you are formally defaulted being the point of 6yrs commencement.

If they issue a claim after June, you can use the Limitation Act 1980 as a complete defence to any claim.

If they issue a claim before then you will not be statute barred so you would not be able to rely on the 6yr rule as a defence. You will need to send a CCA request as well as requests to their legal team for disclosure of all documents they intend to rely on.

Even when the debt becomes stat barred, it doesn't stop them chasing you, but they won't be able to enforce the debt via a CCJ or Bankruptcy and you would need to proactively defend such a situation because it is far from rare sadly.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

One last thing what should I do when I believe the debt has become statute barred is there a procedure for closing the case? thanks

If they contact you after that, you can send them a letter telling them the account is SBd and they shouldn't pursue you any longer. :thumb:

Thank you for a speedy reply! Firstly could you elaborate the meaning of using limitation as a defence!? Also when would/should I Send a CCA?

As Cel posted above, you should only send a CCA request *if* they were to issue proceedings BEFORE it becomes SBd, otherwise it's best not to open a fresh can of worms by sending one at this stage.:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

Is there anyway of confirming the period start of statute barred/ing other than personal recollection?

That would be statements showing when the last payment was made. You seem to have a pretty accurate recollection of the exact month.

[teaboy2]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

Would it not be worth sending a CCA request as a stalling tactic? As chances are with it being such an old debt, they won't have the CCA and would be in default of the CCA request if they fail to provide one with in 12+2 days and would remain in default until they do provide one. And by the time they do get a copy, they will likely be to late and the debt statute barred

[Xperion]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

Thank you all for your thoughts and wisdom. What do you think about teaboy2's idea of requesting CCA now, or is it really better to wait until they enter litigation??

[Celestine]

Re: Hamptons Legal pre litigation

I wouldn't. I've seen a lot of clients who've sent CCA's only to receive a court claim three weeks later. They definitely view CCA requests as provocative.