County Court Claim issued by 1st Credit/LCS

[MrSooty]

After months of 'threats' and a Statutory Demand, 1st Credit have finally gone for a Court Claim!

I would appreciate any advice on how to respond to this 'escalation' - particularly as despite sending them a CCA last year, I have NOT received an adequate response....

[Dispirited]

Hi MrSooty, my daughter is in a very similar situation, have a look at my thread:

Help!

[Hopeful1]

Originally Posted by MrSooty

After months of 'threats' and a Statutory Demand, 1st Credit have finally gone for a Court Claim!

I would appreciate any advice on how to respond to this 'escalation' - particularly as despite sending them a CCA last year, I have NOT received an adequate response....

Have you actually received an official claim pack from the court?

If so, you need to acknowledge it. On the basis of no agreement, you can defend the claim.

[MrSooty]

I have received a 'Court pack' - from the County Court 'Bulk Centre' in Northampton....???

So I just need to complete the 'Acknowledgement of service' section and send it back - ticking the 'I intend to defend all of this claim' box - on the basis that they have not complied with my CCA request...?

Anything else that should be done at this stage?

Thanks guys - this is a first for me, so nervous, but excited as it will be a chance to 'front up' this DCA and let the Court have a look at them!!

[zazen.warrior]

Send a CPR request and don't forget to put in an embarrased defence if they fail to comply or they will win by default.

CPR Request:

Dear Sirs,

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 Evans

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,

[PGH7447]

Subbing

[nicklea]

At the moment you just need to acknowledge service of the claim and say that you will be defending the full amount. You don't need to give reasons why.

Send the cpr letter above to the address given on the blue court form for sending documents, it will probably be theri solicitors.

It would also help if you could type up what it says in the particulars of claim box. It will say something like the Defendant had a credit card with the Claimant etc

[MrSooty]

Particulars of Claim box - "Defendant was indebted to MBNA for credit advanced. The debt was assigned to the claimant. Notice of assignment was given to the defendant. The claimant claims the debt due from the defendant of xxx together with interest at the rate of 8%pa etc amounting to xxx and claims further interest until judgement or sooner at the daily rate of xxx"

Signed on behalf of claimant by their solicitors - LCS Solicitors!!!

[nicklea]

OK,

So send the cpr letter off to LCS solicitors. Until they produce a aigned agreement then there is nothing they can do. Also, unless they sent you the notice of assignment by recorded delivery then they have no right of action so I'm sure there'll be plenty of things to defend this with.

If it's getting near the time when you have to submit a defence and you haven't had a reply to the cpr letter then just come back and shout and you can put in a holding defence. This basically says that they haven't replied to your cpr letter and that you can't do a full defence until such time as they do reply

[42man]

You have 14 days from the date of the claim to acknowledge receipt, then a further 14 days to submit your defence...

[MrSooty]

Thanks to you all - just a small point, 'CPR' stands for what....

[zazen.warrior]

Civil Procedures Request I think.

[Hopeful1]

You're making a request under the Civil Procedures Rule.

Have a look at this link here.

The link is a sticky in the legal issues forum. It would be worth looking at some of the threads there as you will find many similiar situations.

[MrSooty]

Many thanks for the thread by TomTom8 - I have read through it and found it very reassuringly helpful!

One question I have is regarding the issuing of a default notice - who would do this and when?

I was sent a letter by MBNA shortly after the account was overdue and I had written to them explaining our circumstances and also received a further letter confirming their acceptance of my offer to pay an amount each month, which I did for about a year before the debt was 'sold to 1st Credit, to whom I continued paying for another two and a half years...

However, I have no record of ever receiving a 'default notice', so unless one turns up following the CPR letter I will be sending later today, this is potentially 'good news'....?

[babybear39]

Subscribing...

[MrSooty]

Looking at the Court pack - what does the 'contest jurisdiction' bit mean....?