Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

[IceAgeIce]

Hi everyone,

I will try to keep this brief as I am sure you get a thousand messages like this a day, but I am very confused and quite frightened and would really appreciate some help of what to do next.

Over the weekend I received a court claim, it's on a debt I have with Lowell ltd on a debt from an unpaid catalogue. The debt is £217.

I have until November 6th to respond but I don't even know how to do that, or what to say? I am terrified of the thought of going to court, I will do anything to avoid that.

The only issue is I am on an extremely small budget, my income is minimal, I could offer a token payment per month, would they accept that?

Also, at this stage could I simply contact Lowell directly and discuss with them, or has it gone beyond that?

I need to avoid going to court, but have a payment plan that is very small per month, as I just don't have the money, any help would be fantastic,

Thank you :-)

[ostell]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

When was the last time you made a payment on the catalogue debt?

Are you sure it's a court claim? Is the form from Northampton?

Avoid talking to lowell for the time being.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hiya, I don't remember ever making a payment on it :-(

I am pretty sure it really is a court claim,, it's from the county court business centre and has a number of confusing looking forms with it.

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hiya, I don't remember ever making a payment on it :-(

I am pretty sure it really is a court claim,, it's from the county court business centre and has a number of confusing looking forms with it.

Hi, when was the account opened? Have you checked your credit reference files for this account?

It will at least give you some idea about the debt. You can check Noddle Free Online.

nem

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hi nem,

I have just looked on my Noddle credit account and can see it on there, the catalogue account was opened on 09/06/2012.

Having looked through my credit file I have so so many unpaid debts it honestly terrifying I feel so foolish. I really need to know what to do about this situation I am scared silly over it at the moment.

Thank you for helping me I really appreciate it.

[Stu]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

So the debt won't be statute barred as is a fairly new account, did you order goods and then get into difficulty and make no payment or might it be fraudulent? And for now do NOT contact Lowell at all get the advice here first for your next move so as to be assured it is the right move for you...

Try not to stress over it, as easy for me to say but it's not the end of the world

[ostell]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Does Noddle say the account was opened in 2012 or did your own records say that.

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hi nem,

I have just looked on my Noddle credit account and can see it on there, the catalogue account was opened on 09/06/2012.

Having looked through my credit file I have so so many unpaid debts it honestly terrifying I feel so foolish. I really need to know what to do about this situation I am scared silly over it at the moment.

Thank you for helping me I really appreciate it.

You need to send a CCA request by signed for post to Lowell, for a copy of the credit agreement (there's a template in the green box at the top of the "court claim" forum. There is a £1 statutory fee to pay use a postal order for this and mark it "for statutory fee only". Lowell has 12 + 2 working days to comply.

Please post a copy of the claim form (N1) after removing your name and address and the claim number.

nem

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Have you filed an acknowledgement of the court claim?
If not, do so asap.
For now, defend in full.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

So the debt won't be statute barred as is a fairly new account, did you order goods and then get into difficulty and make no payment or might it be fraudulent? And for now do NOT contact Lowell at all get the advice here first for your next move so as to be assured it is the right move for you...

Try not to stress over it, as easy for me to say but it's not the end of the world

Hi Stu :-)

The debt is because I did not pay any of the due payments, I am so worried that this could escalate in to me being in a lot of trouble as I had a lot of debts around that time unpaid payday loans, catalogues......I was an idiot to tell you the truth taking out things I couldn't afford, I am really worried but I am trying not to completely panic, although it's hard.

Does Noddle say the account was opened in 2012 or did your own records say that.

That is what it says on the credit account, under defaults. (Of which I have many)

You need to send a CCA request by signed for post to Lowell, for a copy of the credit agreement (there's a template in the green box at the top of the "court claim" forum. There is a £1 statutory fee to pay use a postal order for this and mark it "for statutory fee only". Lowell has 12 + 2 working days to comply.

Please post a copy of the claim form (N1) after removing your name and address and the claim number.

nem

I will send that CCA off tomorrow, I need to convince my printer to work first :-O Is there a time limit to get that CCA to them out of interest?

I haven't got a scanner, so I will make another message and type up what it says.

Have you filed an acknowledgement of the court claim?
If not, do so asap.
For now, defend in full.

Hiya, I have't acknowledged it just yet, I think I can do that online, So I will look into doing that right now.

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hi Stu :-)

The debt is because I did not pay any of the due payments, I am so worried that this could escalate in to me being in a lot of trouble as I had a lot of debts around that time unpaid payday loans, catalogues......I was an idiot to tell you the truth taking out things I couldn't afford, I am really worried but I am trying not to completely panic, although it's hard.



That is what it says on the credit account, under defaults. (Of which I have many)



I will send that CCA off tomorrow, I need to convince my printer to work first :-O Is there a time limit to get that CCA to them out of interest?

I haven't got a scanner, so I will make another message and type up what it says.



Hiya, I have't acknowledged it just yet, I think I can do that online, So I will look into doing that right now.

Do not enter anything in defence at this point just defend in full.

nem

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

This is how the claim form reads, I will type it out the best I can:

Claim Form

Claimaint

LOWELL PORTFOLIO I LTD
ELLINGTON HOUSE
9 SAVANNAH WAY
LEEDS VALLEY PARK
LEEDS
LS10 1AB

Address for sending documents and payments (if different)

COHEN CRAMER SOLICITORS
1B JOSEPHS WELL, HANOVER WALK
LEEDS
LS3 1AB

(then there is some numbers)

Then my name and address.

Defendant

Particulars of the claim
The claim is for the sum of £217.63
due by the defendant under a non-regulated
JD Williams account with an account reference of (account ref)
The Defendant failed to maintain contractual payments required under the terms
of the account agreement.
The debt was legally assigned to the claimant on 31/Mar/2014, notice of which
has been given to the defendant.
The claim includes statutory interest under S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984
at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date
of issue of these proceedings in the sum of £17.41.
The Claimant claims the sum of £235.04.

The claimant believes that the facts stated in this claim form are true and I am duly authorised by the claimant to sign this statement.

Signed M J McDonnell.

.................................................. .......................

On the other side of the page it has COUNTY COURT BUSINESS CENTRE (then the claim number) issue date October 18th.

It has the County Court business centre address:
COUNTY COURT BUSINESS CENTRE
4TH FLOOR ST KATHARINES HOUSE
21-27 ST KATHARINES STREET
NORTHHAMPTON
NN1 2LH

(Sorry ostell you asked earlier if it was from Northhampton, I didn't notice the address at first)

It then goes on to tell me I have a limited time, and how to respond to the claim online, then there is another breakdown:

Amount Claimed: £235.04
Court Fee: £25
Legal representatives costs: £50
total amount: £310.04

I hope that all makes sense, I just want to say thank you to everyone helping me here I have got to feeling completely overwhelmed to feeling that I am not alone in this, thank you it means more than you know.

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

OK.

JD Williams accounts are regulated by CCA 1974 (this has been checked. So CCA request is appropriate. ( see template in the green box at the top of the Court Claim Forum. Use a postal order for the £1 statutory fee, mark it " for statutory fee only" send by signed for post to Lowell.

Also a request to Cohen for the documents mentioned in the particulars of claim i.e. Notice of assignment and terms of the account. There's no fee, Template in green box, Use signed for post.



nem

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Fantastic thank you :-)

I've just had a peek at the template, I see it's only a few lines so would it be acceptable to hand write it rather than print?

[MIKE770]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

use it