threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

[harry1]

I had a burton storecard(issued by GE)which got passed to viking collection services after i coulndnt keep up with payments , i paid viking £50 per month for about six months , again couldnt keep up payments ,since i been contacted by Howard cohen solicitors acting for CL finance , I also got a claim form from northampton county court dated 7th April 2008 , my debt was £1097 but this had been bumped up to £1242 with court fees , I really didnt want a CCJ on my record so i called Howard COHEN to see if they would accept an arrangement , they offerd £414 split over three months , i agreed , now i managed to pay the first instalment(just) but i havent got the money for the next which was due at the end of May.
Can anyone advise me what i should do next cos it sounded like they were going to get the CCJ if i dont keep up with it .

[ByTheWay]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

Hi Harry1, welcome to Beagles
Howard Cohen are well known for jumping straight into court action. Did you enter any acknowledgement and/or defence to their claim? Was your payment agreement in writing or only verbally via the telephone? Do you know if there were any late payment fees added to your account? Did you have a letter before action from Howard Cohen before your court papers?
I had a similar situation to yours this year, you may find reading my thread helpful towards reducing your debt by taking off their court fee's and unlawful charges that may have been added by Burton?GE. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...ead.php?t=4494

YOu will find plenty of help here, don't worry

[harry1]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

thanks for the welcome , and well done with resolving your situation . unfortunately i havent untill now tried to look at the internet for sites such as this , I didnt acknowledge or enter a defence to their claim as i thought i would make the payments and that would be the end of it . Now it looks its too late to enter a defence as the claim form is from April .
My payment agreement was done verbally and not in writing.
I did get a letter from Cohen & co stating that the debt had been assigned to CL finance and also to expect the court papers in the post .
Basically i want to pay this debt off but at a more realistic monthly payment and to avaoid getting a CCJ.

[haggis]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

Hi, you need to contact Northampton County Court and find out what happened with the claim, unfortunately you may find that a ccj was given by default as cohens may not have withdrawn it.

[Amethyst]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

Indeed - give them a call with your claim reference from your court docs and ask the status - you may be able to still defend or enter an admission with a time to pay request. The court wouldnt order more than you can afford. Find that bit out first, then you can consider depending on the situation, whether to talk to cohens/CL for a lower arrangement (backed up by an income expenditure sheet to suit you not them). I'd also say a CCA request and list of transactions would be in order too - but check the court status first.

[ByTheWay]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

On your claim form you would have had, on the right hand side, halfway down, a white box which says IMPORTANT NOTE. In there it gives you the address of moneyclaim and a unique password, which you can use to log into moneyclaim, along with the claim number which is at the top of the page. It might be worth a try to see what the situation is with the claim at the moment. If you can't get any info that way it would be worth ringing the court, just to see if Howard Cohen have been in contact with the court.

(I just spent ages writing a post, just for it to disappear as I got bumped out lol) seems we are all agreed tho

[setmefree]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

I came along this bit of info for you on the hope that they haven't already got a judgement against you, Admin please remove if it is not suitable..



REQUEST FOR INFORMATION UNDER THE CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have received the Court claim filed by your Company. To enable me to file a defence and counter-claim, I require specific information regarding the account to be provided forthwith. Given that this matter is now the subject of legal proceedings, you are obliged to disclose under the Civil Procedure Rules, the information and documents detailed below. The information must be furnished by the **DATE**, which gives you ten days to provide what has been requested. If you fail to comply, this will be reported to the Court, a copy of this letter will be provided as evidence to the same and an Order enforcing your compliance will be sought.

1. A true copy of the executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.
2. All records you hold on me relevant to this case, including but not limited to:
a. A transcript of all transactions, including charges, fees, interest, repayments and payments and both the original amount of the loan and any repayments made to it the account.
b. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations
c. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with **CREDITOR**.
d. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.
e. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).
f. Details of any collection charge added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.
g. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.
h. A genuine copy of any deed of assignment, or proof that you have a legal right to this money.
i. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998
j. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

3. Any other documents you seek to rely on in court.
4. A copy of your complaints procedure, as required by the Consumer Credit Act 2006.
5. Clarification of the date you acquired the debt, what organisation you acquired it from, their registered office, their company number (if any) and what legal title they had to this debt, and what credit license number they had at the time that the debt was purchased or entered into.

I will require this information within the next ten days. I must advise you that if the information is not forthcoming, it will be reported to the Court that you are trying to frustrate proceedings and denying me the opportunity to file a defence and counter claim.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I await your rapid response.

Yours Faithfully,

[harry1]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

i have spoken to the court , they havent entered judgement , neither ha sthe claim been withdrawn , the court said i still have time to submit a defence , i f i request the cca do i enter this as a defence on the claim form ?

[Amethyst]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

ooo lovely.

well you have a couple steps

you want to pay the debt, you dont want a ccj

so step one contact Cohens in writing with your income expenditure sheet making a monthly offer to pay, and copy this to the court to be added to your file.

Once Cohens have agreed then tell them to withdraw the claim.

If they don't THEN go in with CCA requests and defend the claim (well admit it but ask time to pay and defend costs etc cause you made arrangements - we'll sort that after step one if needed)


Hold fire on setmefrees letter for a bit. i would be tempted to send a CCA request but not quite such a strong part 18y type. Just a standard I'm entitled to this doc can you supply it, without getting their backs up while u are in negotiation - if they dont play ball then get hard.


Does that sound like a plan?

[harry1]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

just to clarify then , the income expenditure form i send is NOT the the N9A form sent from the court - as i am then admitting the debt therfore not allowing me to defend it later , sorry for asking silly questions (this is the first time i have actually tried to take on these DCA'S , normally just accept whatever they say .

thanks for all the replies so far - greatly appreciated

[Paule]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

this is the first time i have actually tried to take on these DCA'S , normally just accept whatever they say .

Well believe me it may seem alien and overwhelming at the moment, but with our help you will gain the knowledge and determination to stand up against the DCAs.

And what may have looked like a mountain to climb at the beginning will seem like a mole hill if you take it step by step.

And when you come out at the end the self belief you will gain is amazing and will make you feel empowered.

why let these DCAs get away with what they want and allege, when with a little planning and knowledge you can ascertain your rights and be in a better position to negotiate and defend if necessary.

Good luck with your case, nit that you shoudl need it with the help you will get.

Also if you dont understand something that someone has posted dont be afraid to ask them to clarify it, everyone writes things in different ways and what may be clear to some may not to others.

PKea

[Paule]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

This is the Income Expenditure sheet mentioned by Ame

Legal Beagles

That is the Microsoft Office version
if you scroll furhter down the thread there is an Open Office version as well

PKea

[Amethyst]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

just to clarify then , the income expenditure form i send is NOT the the N9A form sent from the court - as i am then admitting the debt therfore not allowing me to defend it later , sorry for asking silly questions (this is the first time i have actually tried to take on these DCA'S , normally just accept whatever they say .

thanks for all the replies so far - greatly appreciated

Okay

Fill out this form - Legal Beagles - and send it to cohens with a letter - saying i cant afford the amount agreed as was under pressure to agree to more than i could afford, here is my current I/E and I would like to make an offer to pay £xxx a month until the debt is paid off. have copied this to the court and ask that on your acceptance of offer u withdraw claim from court. The first payment is enclosed (if you can manage it). Then send a copy to the court just ask for it to be added to the claim file.




Then if they agree sorted, if not then enter an defence and a part 18 request such as SMF has posted above. And don't worry about it we're here.

The CCA request I'm pondering whens best to do it - i think the immediate situ is to get the payment rate sorted and the claim withdrawn - so leave the CCA till we know how reasonable or obtuse they are.

[Amethyst]

Re: threatened with ccj by howard cohen/cl finance/ge capital

oooo cheers peeks :kiss:


oh and harry if you do a letter and want us to look it over stick it up on here. if you want some help or someone to look over your I/E feel free to email it to me ( amethyst@legalbeagles.info )

While we're here too - have you any other debts and whatnot that are worrying you etc. Make sure everythings on your I/E.

Think this is where you STOP just accepting everything they say and struggling to pay unreasonable demands and start fighting back a bit.