Hi Caggers

Could you assist me with a problem.

Yesterday I received a letter from the above company demanding I pay in full £164.00 within 7 days other wise I will commence legal proceedings for the principal sum,, and court costs.

Will they take me small claims court i.e I have to physically attend?

I have approached the company I owe to pay via instalments but they have refused.

I am unable to walk at present due to compressed nerve in lower back so attending court would be out of the question.

Any help appreciated. Thank you.

Can you tell us what the debt relates to please...

It sounds as if this is nothing more than debt collector, there are ways of avoiding any further action depending on the circumstances of the debt.

The Thomas Higgins Partnership are a company that small business' use when they have an outstanding debt.

They write LBA's for the business for a fee,

and if so required they do instigate small claims court proceedings.

If court proceedings are instigated,

then you do not have to attend,

but you will receive judgement against you whether you owe the money or not.

Once you have a judgement against you,

you then have the option of applying to the court to be able to pay in instalments.

You will have to fill out an income and expenditure form,

and the judge will then decide how much you must pay each month.

whats the debt all about THP are pretty toothless dca really.

'they' cant do court without the companies permission.

and I doubt that

how old

and

how MUCH is the debt

dx

TH are a huge player in the debt recovery and enforcement market.

And whilst this particular debt is under £600, it's worth noting that TH are the largest provider of writs to the High Court enforcement industry.

Whilst I am aware they are what you state in your post they are.

I am looking for any advice as to what my options are in the absence of company acceptance of reasonable offers of instalments offered to the company.

Will I be able to offer instalments to county court?

In a word, yes.

If they issue a claim (I'm not sure they will given that they know you can't afford to pay in one go and their Client will incur the initial costs) then the response pack to the Claim will facilitate this.

When a Claim Form is received it should contain several forms N9A, B, C & D. (if it doesn't have these you can download them from the MOJ website for free)

You can admit the whole claim, admit part and defend some of the claim, or defend the whole claim. If you admit any part of the Claim the N9A has spaces for you to put your income/expenditure details and propose an offer of repayment to the Claimant.

Remember only do that if you're admitting you owe the money. If you don't owe the money look into defending the claim. Either way you have to respond to the claim form one way another other in the specified time or they will just get Default Judgment against you.

But I think maybe you're getting ahead of yourself as the claim hasn't been issued. If Thomas Higgins are ignoring your instalment offer have you considered putting it to the creditor directly?

you need to tell us all about this debt please

its pointless trying to help without the background.

dx

Hi DX.

By the fact I mentioned in my previous post I had offered to pay by instalments and this was refused, I am admitting I owe the debt.

I really do not want to expand on as to who I owe this money to as this would not add to the query.

The debt is only seven months old.

pers I'd get on and pay the debt how/when you want.

that way for only £160ish they can really complain.

dx