Help! Received Court Claim Form**WON**

[MR2Phil]

Hi guys,

I've just received an MCOL completely out of the blue from CL Finance/Howard Cohen for an outstanding amount on an old Dorothy Perkins card. I had offered to pay £80 a month towards the £800 debt but then got into trouble and got myself into a situation where my outgoings were more than my incomings resulting in me selling just about anything I own of any worth. When I tried making a payment one day (shifting debt around), they told me the account was in the hands of Viking Financial. The ONLY (and I mean this) letter I received from Viking was one saying that I had made no effort to contact them etc and that the debt was being passed back.

Then I received the MCOL for £985.11 which includes £125 of fees/costs. I panicked a bit and started filling out the agreement form hoping that I could pay it back monthly but then I read a bit saying that a judgement may be made against me if this is the case???

PLEASE someone tell me how I go about dealing with this? I am literally JUST about breaking even each month (and that's with NO spending on luxuries). I am not contesting the amount (apart from the high fees) but need advice on the correct steps here.

Thanks all,

Phil

[pt2537]

In the XXXX County Court
Claimant -v- (YOUR NAME)
Claim Number: (CLAIM NUMBER)


Dear XXX

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

I have received a recent court claim from your organisation. In order to file a defence and counter claim I require some information. 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 within fourteen days of the receipt of this letter. 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. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations by your company, or by any previous creditor
b. 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 *********.
c. 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.
d.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).
e. 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.
f. 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.
g. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998
h. 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.
i. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

3. Any other documents you seek to rely on in court.


I will require this information within the next fourteen 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.

Yours sincerely,

XXXX (type, don't sign).

ok firstly via special delivery send this letter to CL Finance/Howard Cohen as a matter of urgency, edit as required

[pt2537]

Also have a read of this thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...er-credit.html

i will be back a little later to help further,

just a question when do you have to file the acknowledgement of service by ?

i would suggest that at this stage you consider defending all of the claim until such time as they disclose all the documents requested in the above letter

as i said i will be back a little later to offer more extensive advice

Regards

Paul

[pt2537]

Also it would be very helpful if you could post their particulars of claim up on here so we can see what they are claiming, obviously dont post any personal details but the text of what they are claiming would help

regards
paul

[MR2Phil]

Ok, thanks for your speedy replies. I have 14 days from date of issue which was 26th November. I literally received the notice yesterday. What happens if I defend the whole amount and then lose? Will I have a CCJ recorded against me? I assume I already have a default now.

I will get the particulars and so on up here in the next half hour or so...

Thanks again

[MR2Phil]

Ok, particulars:

"The Claimant's claim is for the sum of £860.11 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a regulated credit agreement between the Defendant and GE Capital Bank Limited under reference ************* and assigned to the Claimant on the 21st November, 2007 notice of which has been given to the Defendant.

The Defendant has failed to make payment in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served upon Defendant persuant to Section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Pursuant to clause 7 of the agreement, the Claimant also claims contractual interest at a rate of 26.478% per annum from the date of these proceedings to the date of judgment, or sooner payment, accruing at a daily rate of £0.68"

Now, I'm a reasonable chap. I don't want to not pay this, but the fact I was TRYING and they still have resorted to this is what has left the bitterest taste.

[pt2537]

Hi

Right then, what happens if you admit you owe the money and dont defend?

they win on their terms!!!!!

by sending the CPR request letter above, you are asking for them to produce the documents they are relying upon for this claim

you have a right to disclosure, now then, there is a possibility that they do not have the documents they NEED to take this to court.
if this is the case GAME OVER you have a damn good chance of getting their case thrown out

even if they do supply you with the required documents it doesnt mean that they are correct and comply with the consumer credit act 1974

as i said bear with me and i will come back this evening when i have a litttle more time and go through everything

regards
paul

[MR2Phil]

Thanks, Paul. The CPR letter is typed and ready to go, Special Delivery tonight.

Thanks so much for the help already.

EDIT: Forgot to ask. Do I need to do anything with this claim form? ie, do I need to go the MCOL thing and say that I'm defending or does just sending the CPR letter suffice for now?

[pt2537]

Hi Phil

Right, you need to acknowledge service of the court claim forms and also you will need to state your intention to defend all of the claim

at this stage since you have not been supplied the copies of the notice of assignment,Default Notice and Credit Agreement (which is fully compliant with the Consumer Credit Act 1974) you cannot file any sort of defence to their claims, so that is why we are sending the Disclosure Request under the CPR.

i think until they prove they have a legal right to this action we should treat it as Defend until they prove the documents are correct and exsist then if they do provuide the stuff and its in order we can go from there )if that makes sense)

dont forget the old saying innocent until proven guilty, its for them to prove their case against you

ive just got back from shopping so once ive got the kids sorted and had something to eat i will be back to help

Regards
paul

[tomterm8]

Hm... have they actually sent you a default notice yet? If so, can you post it (minus your name, address, account no etc, but including your balance)

I noticed you stated the value of the debt was £800, and their claim is £880.

[MR2Phil]

Thanks again Paul, so I need to send back my part of the blue claim form saying I'm defending it? I've already sent them the letter, Special Delivery arriving tomorrow at 1pm, asking for details etc.

Tom, sorry, claim is for £880 in total, £800 popped into my head when I first wrote the post (stressed!) I have not received a default notice as such. All I got was my standard bill saying that legal action was starting. This is AFTER I had tried to make a payment of £80 so they could see I was at least trying. Once before they got all snotty on the phone saying "If you can afford £80 then surely you can afford £120?" How do they work that out?!

[pt2537]

Originally Posted by MR2Phil

Thanks again Paul, so I need to send back my part of the blue claim form saying I'm defending it? DOES IT HAVE A MONEY CLAIM PASSWORD WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO FILE IT ONLINE AS OPPOSED SENDING THE PAPER FORM? YOU NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE CLAIM THATS FOR SURE, IF YOU CAN DO IT ONLINE IT MAKES LIFE EASIER THE BLUE N1 FORM SHOULD HAVE THE PASSWORD ON IT I've already sent them the letter, Special Delivery arriving tomorrow at 1pm, asking for details etc.

Tom, sorry, claim is for £880 in total, £800 popped into my head when I first wrote the post (stressed!) I have not received a default notice as such. OH DEAR.THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS WITHOUT A DEFAULT NOTICE All I got was my standard bill saying that legal action was starting. This is AFTER I had tried to make a payment of £80 so they could see I was at least trying. Once before they got all snotty on the phone saying "If you can afford £80 then surely you can afford £120?" How do they work that out?!A TYPICAL DCA TACTIC TO GET YOU TO PAY MORE THAN YOU CAN AFFORD

[MR2Phil]

I take it I'd know if I'd received a default notice?! What I'm saying is, it wouldn't just be part of their normal monthly statement? I've had warning letters about missing payments meaning a default would be applied but nothing saying one actually had been.

I'm about to go to the MCOL thing to say that I intend to defend...but what are the reasons for my defence? Do I need anything more concrete than "I don't believe they are the owners of this debt" or something? Do I even need to submit a reason yet? I only ask as I don't want to end up in court with no plausible reason for defence.

If they come back with every single thing I've asked for and everything is perfectly in order...will I end up with a CCJ as a result of defending? I really don't know how this stuff works. I've checked the link out you supplied but still am none the wiser (ok, slightly!)

Cheers

Phil