Hi all I have been a reader of this site for some time. The wife and I found this site after we had paid for one of those solicitor’s as a one off payment as we had the money at the time but not the time or know how of how to deal with the paper work. We both had cards but only I am being chased at the moment. I had an MBNA card (formally Abbey CC) let’s say with £8,000 owed on it. At first like everyone else we were getting a lot of harassment on the phone by MBNA then received the letters from experto credite then Varde investments (Ireland) then Credit Management Consultants of Reading. I have now received a County Court Claim form details below.

Claimant

Varde Investments (Ireland) LT

Suite 316

77 Sir John Rogersons Quay

Dublin 2

Ireland

Address for sending documents and payments (if different)

Hegarty LLP

Defendant

Me

Particulars of claim.

The claimant claims for the sum due under a/various credit agreements(s) entered into between MBNA Europe Bank Ltd and the defendant. The rights of MBNA Europe Bank Ltd passed to the claimant pursuant to an assignment 2010 between MBNA Europe Bank Ltd and the claimant

The agreement(s) was/were terminated upon the defendant failure to comply with the terms of the agreement(s) and or the statutory notice of default served by MBNA Europe Bank Ltd the claimant complied with section III and IV and annex B of the PD Pre-Action conduct. And the claimant claims: Credit card accout xxxxxxxxxx balance say £8,000 as of 2009intrest under s69of the county court act 1984 at a rate of 8% a year from the default date(s) 2011 of £xxxx and also at the same rate up to the date of judgment or the earlier payment at a daily rate of 1.91 and cost.

Signed

Hegarty LLP

I received a letter from our solicitors on 18th October 2010 stating that they had received a letter from MBNA confirming that they cannot provide a copy of the original executed agreement and consequently cannot comply with section 78 request. They state that they will not try to legally enforce this agreement against me while their position remains the same.

Solicitor’s words: This means the agreement is unenforceable until such time as MBNA does comply with our request.

Where do I go from here? I cannot afford a solicitor to deal with this. Do I dispute the full amount on the ground of MBNA not complying with the section 78 request. Claim form issued on the 3rd Aug I have only got 14 days to reply.

If anyone can help Thanks in advance.

Did you receive a default notice and Notice of Assignment ?

Have you still got the letter that your solicitor received from MBNA ?

What is the issue date on the claim form ?

The time line is :

Date of issue + 5 days for service + 14 days to acknowledge + 14 days extra to submit defence if that is your intention.

You might want to have a read of the following if it is your intention to defend.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29416[/ATTACH]

Have a look here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?243110-Varde-Investments-Experto-Credite-amp-Overseas-Companies

moved to legal forum

Just wanted to add that if the debt has been assigned offshore, then I think they cannot enforce under UK law.....this might be of interest too - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?120057-Cabot-Test-Case!

Are you also sure its a legit county court form?, seems to be a little vague with the a/ various and the was/ were terminated bits.

If it is legit, then a CPR requesting the various agreements would be in order,

Have they supplied a copy of your credit agreement, because in my experience, when MBNA took over Abbey CC, the agreements got mislaid.

If you haven't already done so, send off a s78 request enclosing your£1 to the claimant via recorded delivery.

Alan

Thanks for the all your prompt replies. Just reading as much as I can (heads spinning) should have some time at the weekend to regain my thoughts.

CitizanB

Did you receive a default notice and Notice of Assignment? Not that I know of

Have you still got the letter that your solicitor received from Mbna ? Yes

What is the issue date on the claim form ? 3Aug

Bazaar

The claim form gives me a county court, claim number, and an issue date, four pages, numbers on the bottom right hand side 15321,15322,15323,15324, numbers on the first page left hand corner N1CPC claim form (04.06)

Again thanks for your help

This is your timeline with the claim form being dated 3 August

Date of issue 03 August + 5 days for service = 08 August + 14 days to acknowledge receipt + 14 days to submit a defence if you are going to defend.

If you are going to defend, you need to determine on what grounds.

You need to obtain information by way of CPR31.14 and obtain extra time by way of CPR15.5 if the claimant refuses to provide it.

You will find details of the above in the link I gave you earlier.

If s78 is your only defence, you may not find it adequate for a good defence.

Did the solicitor send you a copy of the letter from MBNA saying they wouldn't be pursuing it? If not I'd be inclined to ask them for it.

I have posted on another thread about these. Remind them no agreement, no default notice, no notice of assignment = no money

Thanks again for your replies and the reading I have done on the site is very useful.

I went back to the solicitors to get a copy of the letter from MBNA stating that they cannot provide a copy of the original executed agreement as I couldn’t find my copy.

The solicitor drafted a defence for me that I sent off.

Received an acknowledgement from the court dated 17/08/2011 stating that they had received my defence.

A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimant’s solicitors) the claimant may contact me direct to resolve any dispute.

If the dispute cannot be resolved informally the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed.

The court will then inform you of what will happen.

Where the claimant wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28days after receiving a copy of your defence; after that period has elapsed the claim will be stayed.

The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.

My question is am I still within the 28days, No one has contacted me and I wondered what if anything I should do.

Thanks again for your replies and the reading I have done on the site is very useful.

I went back to the solicitors to get a copy of the letter from MBNA stating that they cannot provide a copy of the original executed agreement as I couldn’t find my copy. The solicitor drafted a defence for me that I sent off. Received an acknowledgement from the court dated 17/08/2011 stating that they had received my defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimant’s solicitors) the claimant may contact me direct to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.

Where the claimant wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28days after receiving a copy of your defence; after that period has elapsed the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.

My question is am I still within the 28days, No one has contacted me and I wondered what if anything I should do.

What do you man.. "Am I stll within the 28 days".. ?

Your timeline would have been...

Date of issue on claim form + 5 days for service + 14 days to acknowledge claim form + 14 days to enter a defence .. that is 33 days from the date of issue of the claim form to the time when you submit your defence.

If the court has acknowledged and advised that your defence has been copied to the other side then I would say you were in time.

If you want to know what is going on.. you can telephone the issuing court and ask "what is the status of the claim please".

The other side have 28 days in which to confirm if they want to proceed. If they dont do this, then the claim will be stayed.

Spoke to the court today and they have told me the case is stayed. If they now wish to take any action they will have to pay a fee to the court.

I would suggest you still continue to read round the forums and make sure that you are able and ready to defend properly should they have a bad hair day and decide to proceed