Right, just phoned the court, spoke to a lovely helpful lady who informed me that as long as my defence is in before 4pm on the 31st then it will be ok (with 29th being a Saturday). Mind you, she also said that they have already received a defence from me!!! This was the letter that I sent in saying that I was UNABLE to construct a defence at the moment due to the lack of information being supplied to me by CL Finance. Anyway, she also reinforced the point that they are unable to use in court anything they have not submitted to me if I have asked for disclosure. Has there ever been a case that you guys know of where the claimant says that they DID send the docs etc and tried to use these in court? I would expect the judge to ask for proof of receipt at my end?

Cheers both of you. Paul, I will keep an eye out for your defence and FC, I will phone the court to double check their opening times over the festive period. Paul, will your defence be based (at this stage) purely on the fact that they have not supplied the necessary info? Even though their deadline passed ages ago I am still scared about the fact that a big fat envelope could be waiting for me when I get home today or turn up tomorrow...I would like to mention the fact that the amount (which now stands at not far away from a grand with their interest of £0.68 a day from 21st Nov) is made up of the penalty charges but I won't know how much until I receive the info I've asked for. I've been looking at lots of other people's cases like this and seen some dragging on for months!

Ok, so I phoned them up and got nowhere (after being on hold for AGES!). Miserable sounding Scottish woman fobbed me off with "we won't offer you any more than the difference between what we charged (£25) and the recommended £12". Now, am I right in thinking that if I keep going I can still get the whole amount back?

Guys, my defence needs to be in by 29th December, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. I have still not received anything from CL Finance with regards to the request I made for the documentation. I have informed the court of this and saying that I am unable to defend until I know what I am defending. What do I actually need to submit to the court by this date? If I do nothing then I assume CL will be awarded judgement. I was laying awake in bed last night thinking that the date is getting near, what with the Christmas period looming etc. Can someone please advise me on what I need to do in the light of nothing arriving from CL. Also, what happens if the docs DO turn up between, say, now and the 29th and I don't have ample time in which to construct a defence? I am intending on defending on numerous points, not least of which the fact that the amount they are requesting is made up of lots of unlawful penalty charges. Thanks

Yes, it does, FC.

So.......the assignment notice wasn't received in time by me or they didn't own the debt before they sent court papers? I also thought that I had to receive notice of assignment from the origincal creditor? (In this case, GE Capital?)

Yes, it was a UK Mail letter. Letter itself was dated 23rd November 2007. I just wanted Vulture Bank to explain what the significance of the dates for me. Assignment was passed on 21st November.

How will it be ok? Sorry, I've read your info on assignment and the dates etc but I didn't quite understand what you were getting at...can you put it into dumbass English for me, please?! lol

I imagine the son must be around my age, late twenties. I'm not sure of the income he's on, but he has received a request from the court (I think) asking about his incomings. I get the feeling he's either not on a lot or has a lot of outgoings as my mother and her friend often chat about who's in the most dire straights: me or this lad! Ha ha! I was surprised that something like this could end up in the courts? I spoke to my mother who reckons it is the Magistrates' court but I'm trying to get her friend to send me all the details.

Guys,I am going out on a limb here but wonder if anyone can help. I just got a phone call from a friend of my mother who wants some assistance with a court case looming for her son. Here is a basic breakdown of all I have at the moment:June 2007: Mum's friend's son writes off his car, his "pride and joy", apparently. He is perpetually broke and goes fishing to help deal with the feeling of losing his car etc. He uses 3 rods.Water bailiff comes along and cautions him for using 3. His licence is only for 2 maximum. Some time later, he received a court summons. He is dangerously skint and cannot afford any kind of fine. His mum contacts me as she has heard I am dealing with some court stuff at the mo asking if I can help. I've asked her to send me everything she has but can't see how I can help him if he has, in effect, broken the law by the using one more rod than he should.She basically wants the courts to be lenient on him given the trauma of smashing his car up and also the fact that he is so broke and can't afford any kind of fine.What can I do?? I guess he needs me to draw something up outlining ow skint he is? As I said at the start, out on a limb coming here with this, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!Thanks

Sorry, that was a bit ambiguos of me. What I meant was that they want to pay it onto my card and I wanted them to pay it into my bank account. I'm concerned that if they DO put it on the card, reducing my amount I owe to £150, they will then turn around and reduced my credit limit to £200 (as Barclaycard did!!). I really need the cash with Christmas etc... The reason I said I wasn't TOO bothered if they do this is that it will be nice to wipe out a large proportion of what I owe on the card so its not the end of the world.

Thanks, Paul. One more thing I wanted to ask: they are saying that any money returned will be as a lowering of the amount on my card. I'm not TOO bothered by this, but I wondered if I could just have it paid into my Halifax account (as I'm wary of them paying the money in then just lowering my limit). Thanks

Cheers, Sea-Side! Is there a template lurking around here somewhere?

Whats happening with this??

Received a letter today from Halifax CC offering me half the charges back. They said that this was the difference between the £12 and what I'd been charged. We're talking £156...I want the full £390. Can I get it by pressing on?

Thanks Andy. Right, notice that I have requested the documents has gone off to the court. Had two letters waiting for me when I got home this afternoon: 1. Letter from Halifax offering half my credit card charges back. Nice, but I want all of them! 2. Letter from CL Finance threatening me that I should pay up NOW. Which was not so nice! Anyway, its weird because I could SWEAR that I am waiting for them to do as they've been asked and send me the documentation! I have taken this to (possibly) mean that they can't get my docs together so are resorting to bully-boy scare tactics? So far, against them, I have: No recollection of receiving default notice in the first place No time from them to reasonably sort this, despite my repeated attempts to pay GE Capital while the debt was with them No sign of any documents, despite being well past 14 days now Some dubiousness surrounding date of assignment of debt Threatening letter One BAD thing though...I was asked to check the date on the envelope of the Notice of Assignment...I don't have it. I have the letter but not the envelope.

Can someone just confirm for me that the address to use for correspondence with the court is the one in the top right of the claim form? In my case: County Court Bulk Centre 4th Floor St Katerines House 21-27 St Katherines Street Northampton NN1 2LH Thanks

Thanks for that...I will have a look at the date on my Notice of Assignment letter etc and have a proper read of the links you have supplied tonight.

Does anyone have any names and direct lines for people that deal with CC claims that have proved helpful in the past? Using this info with the current a/c meant that I was able to speak to someone directly who was able to authorise my re-payment there and then. Would be great to be able to do this again.

Phew! Cheers, Andy!! Ok, I'll get that sent off then. Thanks for the continued help.

I didn't send a pound with my letter???? I just sent it off as advised on page 1 of this thread. Someone please tell me I haven't ballsed it up already!!

I've just got this feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach that it'll all show up early next week some time... Public speaking, pah, no problem! Ha ha! Its trying to convince a judge that all I want is time to pay my debt that scares me! Got called in to see my headteacher and been told a job is being created in my department that I should be a shoe in for...could be on an extra £3000 a year by the time we go back in January. That'd be nice!

Thanks Andy, I was just ahead of you! Its the 29th. I had horrible visions of me having meant to have done something other than just submit AoS by now! Not a nice Christmas present from our pals at CL Finance, but oh well...at least I have two weeks off to get things together...one bonus of being a teacher! Speaking of which, I can stand in front of a bunch of unruly kids no problem, yet was shaking like a leaf just phoning the court!! What's that all about!?

I don't know, Paul??? The court received and processed my AoS on 7/12/07. How do I know when the defence should be in by? I've heard nothing. Bit nervous now, don't want to go missing dates etc...

Hey guys, So their deadline has passed and nothing received. What do I do now? Do I need to inform the court that I've asked for these documents and not received them or do I keep that to myself if and when I need to submit a defence? Cheers