Hi,

I have received a claim from northampton county court on 31st Jan 18.

I have done the acknowledgement online as per the document (and help here) acknowledged on the 31st.

I have read some posts about similar and sent a CCA to Lowell and CPR to Lowell Solicitors signed for.

I had a Vanquis Card back in 2012 and came out of work and couldn't pay, stuck my head in the sand and ignored everything. Received some letters from Vanquis I think but just binned them.

Got some letters from Lowell and they ended up in the bin too.

I know it is not far off from being Statute Barred which is why I guess they have decided to try this now.

I've now got a claim from Lowell via the court for £2660.50

The claim is broken down as;

Amount Claimed £2660.50

Court Fee £105.00

Legal Fee £80.00

Total £2845.50

The Claim particulars are

1 - The defendant entered into a Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulated agreement with Vanquis under account reference xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (the agreement)

2 - The defendant failed to maintain the required payments and arrears began to accrue.

3 - The agreement was later assigned to the claimant on 04/08/2013 and notice given to the defendant.

4 - Despite repeated requests for payment the sum of £2463.43 remains due and outstanding.

And the claimant claims

a - the said sum of £2463.43

b - interest pursuant to s69 county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.540, but limited to one year, being £197.07

c - costs

Since sending the CCA to lowell I have not heard anything from them at all (sent 1st Feb)

Lowell Solicitors have sent a copied version of the notice of assignment which introduces them as the "debt purchaser". It is not an assignment or transfer from the original creditor which is what was asked for in the CPR.

I have been working on my defence and this is what I have so far;

"The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR 16.5(3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made.

(1) The Defendant notes the opening sentence referring to an agreement between him and Vanquis. The Defendant has in the past had financial dealings with Vanquis. The Defendant is unaware of what alleged debt the Claimant refers, having failed to adequately particularise its claim. The Defendant has not entered into any contract with the Claimant.

(2) The Claimant alleges that the Defendant failed to make the required payments due. This is denied.

(3) The Claimant alleges the agreement was later assigned to them on 04/08/2013 and notice has been given to the Defendant. This is denied. The Defendant is unaware of any legal assignment or Notice of Assignment from assignor or assignee pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925 s136.

(4) The Claimant alleges “repeated requests for payment”. This is denied.

The Defendant is unaware of what account or contract the Claimant refers to, nor having received any default notice pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

The Claimant has not complied with paragraph 3 of the Pre Action Protocol. Failed to serve a letter of claim, pre claim pursuant to PAPDC changes of the 1st October 2017. It is respectfully requested that the court take this into consideration pursuant to 7.1 PAPDC.

The defendant denies owing any monies to the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strict proof to:

(a) Show how the Defendant has entered into a legal signed agreement with the Claimant; and

(b) Show absolute proof of how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for with the Claimant by way of statements showing all amounts levied by the Defendant; and

© Show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim;

(d) To provide an original assignment in writing signed by the assignor at time of alleged assignment pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925.

(e) On receipt of this claim the Defendant requested by way of CPR31.14 and a section 77 request for copies of any documents referred to within the Claimants particulars to establish what the claim is for. To date they have failed to comply to the section 77 request and remain in default with regards to the CPR31.14 request.

As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is expected the Claimant prove the allegation the money is owed.

On the alternative, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925 and Section 82a of the Consumer Credit Agreement Act 1974.

The Defendant feels that in the event the Claimant does not have a right to issue claim, pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925 it may be a contempt of court in that the Claimant brings a claim that is misleading by representing they have ownership by assignment and making that representation in their particulars of claim before the court.

By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief."

Any chance anyone can help me out with this?

I'm trying to get everything in the right order and such but it is a little daunting on my own.

1st thing 1st

when was your last payment?

My last payment to Vanquis will have been in 2012, around March time I think. I came out of work right after xmas. Never paid a penny to anyone else, Debt Companies or anyone.

well no harm in going and ringing vanquis and asking just incase it was before 31st jan

It was definitely after. I had enough when I finished work to pay until around end of March I know I kept paying for at least 2 months or so.

I used the card for business at the time and payments came out of my business account, I can probably check old statements but definitely was paid until at least March or April

ok

you appear to have taken one of our defences and mixed in quite a bit of unnecessary twaddle and repetitiveness

like The Defendant has not entered into any contract with the Claimant.

it needs a tidy

or simply revert to CAG's original..less is more.

save the extra bits for your WS

Ok thanks.

I did read around a lot and took snippets. The account was opened 15/01/2011 with vanquis. Last payment was April 12th 2012

sounds familiar

was there any ROP on it?

What is rop?

Repayment Option Plan...

There was no repayment option plan.

thats a shame

There was an option to miss a month payment wise but that was all.

double check whether ROP (PPI) was on the account.

There was no PPI, I know this as I got a PpI payout about 2 years ago and Vanquis was checked.

ok.

seems statute bar is n/a

so, down to procedure/execution.

Date of service for the claim was 29th jan. not sure what date the defence needs to be in by. I’ve figured 3rd March?

by day 33

if you had the payment holiday bit ...THAT IS ROP!!

OK, so what does that mean for me then? That’s something I’ve not read about or come up against?

Date of service for the claim was 29th jan. not sure what date the defence needs to be in by. I’ve figured 3rd March?

defend by 4pm 2nd

as for rop

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?481732-GET-RECLAIMING-VANQUIS-CARD-ROP-NOW-EVERYONE..

but that's afterwards get this claim resolved first...

Date of service for the claim was 29th jan. not sure what date the defence needs to be in by. I’ve figured 3rd March?

Friday 2nd March by 4.00pm

That’s very interesting.

I’ll look into that further.

I’ve had a look at the link.

Is there any further reading that will help me to make a claim against them?

yes lots in that forum

but leave that until this debacle is over

Hi,

Just tried to tidy up the defence a little, just wondering if someone would give it a quick once over for me please?

The Claim particulars are

1 - The defendant entered into a consumer crediticon Act 1974 regulated agreement with Vanquis under account reference xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (the agreement)

2 - The defendant failed to maintain the required payments and arrears began to accrue.

3 - The agreement was later assigned to the claimant on 04/08/2013 and notice given to the defendant.

4 - Despite repeated requests for payment the sum of £2463.43 remains due and outstanding.

And the claimant claims

a - the said sum of £2463.43

b - interest pursuant to s69 county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.540, but limited to one year, being £197.07

c - costs

"The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR 16.5(3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made.

(1) The Defendant notes the opening sentence referring to an agreement between him and Vanquis. The Defendant has in the past had financial dealings with Vanquis. The Defendant is unaware of what alleged debt the Claimant refers, having failed to adequately particularise its claim.

(2) The Claimant alleges that the Defendant failed to make the required payments due. This is denied.

(3) The Claimant alleges the agreement was later assigned to them on 04/08/2013 and notice has been given to the Defendant. This is denied. The Defendant is unaware of any legal assignment or Notice of Assignment from assignor or assignee pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925 s136.

(4) The Claimant alleges “repeated requests for payment”. This is denied.

The Defendant is unaware of what account or contract the Claimant refers to, nor having received any default notice pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

The Claimant has not complied with paragraph 3 of the Pre Action Protocol. Failed to serve a letter of claim, pre-claim pursuant to PAPDC changes of the 1st October 2017. It is respectfully requested that the court take this into consideration pursuant to 7.1 PAPDC.

The defendant denies owing any monies to the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strict proof to:

(a) Show how the Defendant has entered into a legal signed agreement with the Claimant; and

(b) Show absolute proof of how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for with the Claimant by way of statements showing all amounts levied by the Defendant;

© Show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim;

(d) To provide an original assignment in writing signed by the assignor at time of alleged assignment pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925.

(e) On receipt of this claim the Defendant requested by way of CPR31.14 and a section 77 request for copies of any documents referred to within the Claimants particulars to establish what the claim is for. To date they have failed to comply to the section 77 request and remain in default with regards to the CPR31.14 request.

As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is expected the Claimant prove the allegation the money is owed.

On the alternative, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925 and Section 82a of the Consumer Credit Agreement Act 1974.

The Defendant feels that in the event the Claimant does not have a right to issue claim, pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925 it may be a contempt of court in that the Claimant brings a claim that is misleading by representing they have ownership by assignment and making that representation in their particulars of claim before the court.

By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief."

I refer you to post 6