Dear Caggers,

I live in Indonesia, and have done so since 2006.

I had an Egg card taken out in 2000, which fell into arrears in 2008, and despite CCA 78 request the documentation received did not appear to satisfy the four corners rule.

I have made no payments since late 2008,but would have to try and check when this was exactly.

I have written to Egg many times to explain the account is in dispute, but as per many fellow unfortunates, it seems the account has simply been passed to Barclaycard and Marlin Capital, and finally Mortimer Clarke.

On a brief holiday to the UK, I found mail piling up at my flat( rented out) including letters from Mortimer Clarke.

I emailed them on 19th June to explain I do not live in the UK, and the account was in dispute.

I have now received a County Court claim form dated 20th June, asking for 12k credit card arrears and nearly 5k interest.

I intend to acknowledge the service initially, but my questions are:

Should I mount a defence based on the fact that I do not live here, and will be unable to attend court to speak in my defence.

Was Mortimer Clarke able to lodge this claim knowing this..?Unless timing was purely coincidental..

Should I apply for another CCA 78 or SAR, and to whom..EGG or MC..?

What is the current feeling regarding pre 2007 CC agreements-are they unenforceable, as was thought a couple of years ago, when I was last in the UK..

Any advice kindly received, and I will buy a scanner in order to load any copy documents required..

Thread moved to the Legal forum where the guys will be along to help as soon as they are available.

Many thanks,

I have received an email with a scanned letter today from Mortimer Clarke stating they will hold action, whilst they revert to their client....

Dear Caggers,

Is there anyone out there with any advice for me, as above please?

Regards

Dear Caggers,

I have emailed and sent a CPR letter to Mortimer Clarke with the following response:

' We are currently taking instructions from our client regarding your document request and will come back to you as soon as we can. We can confirm that your account will remain on hold until we are able to respond.

We confirm that our client is willing to agree to an extension of 28 days, for you to file your defence. Pursuant to CPR 15.5(2) please notify the court of the agreement.

We have received the copy letter from Egg dated 22/06/09. We do not believe that this confirms the agreement is unavailable. The letter states that 'enquiries are continuing'.

If you have any further correspondence, please provide us with documentary evidence of this within the next 7 days.

Further, you advise that you are currently residing in Indonesia. Please provide us with documentary evidence of your current residence. We will then refer to our client for further instructions in relation to this matter.'

A couple of questions:

Should I send in my defence regardless of the above...

I believe the agreement does not follow the 'four corners' rule and when I raised a CCA letter to egg in 2009, they raised a DN and a termination whilst also writing to me to say they were still looking for my agreement, and I could report my case to the Ombudsman due to this breach..

I do have a reasonable amount of correspondence from Egg, but am I obliged to show all to MC at this stage?

Am I also required to give my address in Indonesia to MC when they haven't even shown they have a legal right to this information yet?

Please help me, since this is a huge amount of money we are talking of...

Regards

Give your address to the court ...give them an email address..and yes submit your defence on time irrespective of the above nonsense.

Thanks Andy,

Should my defence be that the agreement was terminated by Egg whilst they were searching for my agreement, or that the agreement does not comply with the four corners rule, or that the claimant has not shown they have a legal right to pursue me...or all of the above..?

Regards

Impossible to comment on your defence not knowing anything of the debt or the claim...if you could read and complete the following posting your responses here...then we can take a look.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?419198-You-have-received-a-Claim-What-you-need-to-do.-**UPDATED-April-2014**

Regards

Andy

Thanks Andy,

Date of issue: 20th June

What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? Please type out their particulars of claim(verbatim) less any identifiable data and round the amounts up/down. I don’t have the document to hand, but willfind it and add the info.

What is the value of the claim? Around 12,000 GBP plus 5k interest

Has the claimant included section 69 interest(8%)within the total claim or is it shown separate within theParticulars but not added to the debt? Believe separate

Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phoneaccount? Credit card

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Oct 2000

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assignedand it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. I guess debt assigned to Marlin,since they are applying for judgement.

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice ofAssignment? Possibly fromEgg to Barclaycard but do not remember from Barclaycard to Marlin

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes, but I had raised a CCA requestfor a copy of my agreement, and at the same time Egg both defaulted andterminated my agreement.

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Defaultsums” – at least once a year ? No

Why did you cease payments:- unable to pay at the time, in (Jan ?) 2009

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Egg failed to provide a copy of any agreement forat least a year. The copy I was eventually sent does not comply with the ‘fourcorners’ rule.

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and makeany attempt to enter into a plan? Originally wrote and explained I was unable tomake payments but Egg went ahead and defaulted me anyway.

Regards

I hope you have completed your acknowledgement of service? Defence is due 22nd JUly.

Andy

I hope you have completed your acknowledgement of service? Defence is due 22nd July.

Andy

Yes...already sent back some time ago through the Govt Portal..

Defence ready to go 22nd then ?

Hi Andy and Caggers

Particulars of claim shown below:

By an agreement between Egg Banking Plc and the Defendant on or around 31.10.2000 "the agreement" Egg agreed to issue the defendant with a credit card upon the terms and conditions set out therein. In breach of the agreement the Defendant failed to make the minimum payments due and the agreement was terminated. the agreement was assigned to the Claimant on 31.01.2013.

The Claimant therefore claims :

1. 12k

2. Interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 namely 5k and continuing until judgement or sooner payment at the rate of 2.73

Just drafting my defence now and will post it on CAG before submitting on the Govt portal.

Cheers

Dear All

1. Itis admitted that I the defendant have held an account with Egg. It isdenied that an account was held with Egg under Account NumberXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX which is referredto in a letter from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors dated 19.05.14

2. Thedefendant requested information pertaining to this claim by way of a CPR 31.14request on 02.07.14. The claimanthas failed to respond within the deadline set.

3. Without clarification of the claimants claim, the defendant is extremelydisadvantaged and the claimants claim appears to be without merit. Thedefendant asks to be allowed to submit a complete defence should the claimantprovide copies of the original documents he will rely on.

4. The particulars of claim are vague and unsubstantiated with regards to theDefendant owing any monies to the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strictproof to:

(a) show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement or contract with theClaimant; and

(b) show how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for; and

© show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equityto issue a claim.

5. As per CivilProcedureRule 16.5(4), it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that themoney is owed.

6. Furthermore, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that theClaimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136and 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925 and Section 82 (a) of the ConsumerCreditAct 1974.

7. The claimant has failed to comply with sections 111 AND 1V of the pre actionconduct "practice directions". And the defendant has no knowledge ofthe Claimants assertion that they have complied.

8. For avoidance of doubt,the defendant is unable to plead effectively, or at all, to the particulars ofclaim without furtherclarification/disclosure.

9. By reason of thefacts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled tothe relief claimed or any relief.

Hopefully this is enough for now,

Not sure why this post has loaded badly on the Site...looks fine on my Windows document...

Will double check for grammar etc when loading on MCOL..

Dear All,

A brief update...have received a letter from the Court acknowledging my defence,and stating that the claimant has 28 days or the case will be stayed..

I have also CCAd Marlin and will wait to see if they respond within the 12 plus 2...

Cheers all

Well done wellington...now see if they wish to proceed.

Andy

Thanks Andy...

Appreciate all the good advice on CAG...

Dear All,I received a letter from the Court acknowledging receipt of my defence dated 22 July.The Court also stated Claimant has 28 days to respond before the case is stayed. I guess with postage time we are now upon that, and I have heard nothing.Mortimer Clarke however have sent a letter to my old address, which fortunately my neighbour found and called me. They also claimed this had been emailed to me, but when I asked for evidence of this, all has gone quiet again.They also claim they are still asking their Client for further instructions, which is hilarious since they are in the same building...Having checked the Govt Portal there is no further action shown, so do I need to:1. Request the stay?2. Will this stop the clock on the 6 year statute barred, since I am getting closer and closer to this, and by March next year it will be statute barred?3. Should I instead insist they put up or shut up, and ask the Court to throw the case out..?As ever, any advice kindly received...Thanks

Hi.

The claim will be automatically stayed. You just have to wait and see, but you can no longer use MCOL.

The statue barred clock already stopped on the day the claim was issued so it matters not about next March creeping ever closer. It is no longer SB.

Thanks Ganymede,I believe the advice is normally to leave sleeping dogs lie, and not request set aside due to some risks involved..do you think this is true in my case?I have also sent a CCA request to Marlin, and expect that to be unanswered as well. Are there any other actions I should be taking at this time, do you think?Many thanks

Hi, I think you mean "strike out" and not "set aside". That's up to you but probably safer to leave it.

It's only just at the 28 days so the Claimant might still be continuing, I'd call the Court to see if they have anything yet.

Thanks Ganymede,I will send an email to the Court and see how we are doing..Cheers