Forgot to add ... having gone through tomterm8's excellent sticky thread on litigation, have also chucked a CPR 18 request at them as this asks for more than just the documents mentioned on the Claim Form - that should keep 'em busy ! P.S. Am I allowed to claim for printer ink ?

Morning all, Reply from Drydens to my CPR request: "We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 29 July 2010. We will refer the contents to our client and provide the required documents in due course. Please note the turnaround time from MBNA to supply copy documents could take approximately 6-8 weeks. We can confirm we will allow 14 days from the date we supply you with relevant documentation to submit your defence." So does this mean I have to submit an embarassed defence ( I think that's what it is called ... I've been through that many threads recently that I tend to lose track of what is where ! ) to the court as it does not seem likely that the documents will be with me by the time a defence has to be submitted ?

OK, gloves off. Acknowledgement of Service done online, and CPR request sent Recorded Delivery.

Notice of Assignment attached. Pardon my ignorance - this is all still very new and a bit of a whirl ... CPR31.14 request ? Also, having read many threads recently I do recall seeing mention of invalid Default Notices ... but I can't remember where or the repercussions of this. Would you mind enlightening me on this, please ? Once again - thank you for all your assistance and I do apologise for asking what may be dumb questions. Image053.pdf

Hi all again, Documents amended/added as requested. Thank you for all your comments - it is a great help to know that you are not alone when trying to fight these battles. The trouble is - much as I would like to get the gloves off and challenge these people, I think that it would be a case of "opening mouth without engaging gear" in that my argument is not that I owe money, but that these people are driving a coach and horses through the OFT's guidelines ... and it is almost with the blessing of the courts as they do not seem to want to stand up to these people. As deb has pointed out, although they may be wrong in what they are doing - and I think that we all agree that they are - the fact that they are likely to get away with it because the courts will allow them to is what I find most annoying. I could "respond to everything, challenge them" as deb suggests below, but I think that this would be a waste of time and effort, as the judge - from what I have read in various posts on here - is more likely to side with the Claimant and issue the judgement, and because I am not likely to be able to pay a large amount each month, he will again probably side with them and allow the Charging Order ball to start rolling - despite the fact this this is not supposed to happen unless I fail to comply with the CCJ ... and this is what I mean about driving coaches through guidelines with the approval of the courts. So I'm not quite sure how to proceed with this. I would like to at least try and put a spoke in the works, but as I have read in a few threads about judges taking a dim view of people doing this, I don't really want to prejudice my case any further by upsetting m'lud ! Image051.pdf Image052.pdf

As requested ... not sure if a pdf is the best attachment but it's the best I could do quickly ! The reason for asking about defending is that, as far as I am concerned, the Claimant has ignored the OFT guidelines in that the initial communication made no attempt an any sort of conciliation - it was a case of going straight for a Charging Order which, as we all know, can't be done unless a CCJ is in force and has not been complied with ... which is not the case. The specific OFT guideline is under the "False representation of authority and/or legal position" where they state that unfair practice is "falsely implying or stating that action can or will be taken when it legally cannot" ... now I appreciate that this is merely a guideline, but if people don't abide by them, then what is the point of having them ? I accept that I do owe money, and am perfectly willing to repay what I am able to afford, but as the Claimant will not have actually forked out 18k to buy the debt, then I would have thought that the argument of going down the legal route to obtain security for the debt again falls foul of the OFT guideline of "applying unreasonable charges, for example, charges not based on actual and necessary costs" ... the idea was to ask to Court to determine the "actual" cost of the debt and to make an order based on that - but I would imagine that this is an area similar to bank charges in that the DCA would probably rather not tell what they actually pay for a debt, so I'm not sure how much mileage I'd get out of it. Image050.pdf

Hi all, Well it looks like the ball has started rolling as the dreaded brown envelope from Northampton containing a Claim Form arrived this morning. I would therefore appreciate some advice/answers to the following: 1. Presumably the first thing to be done is to return the Acknowledgement of service bit - it this best done electronically or via post ? 2. As the stated aim of the Claimant is to obtain a Charging Order due to the size of the debt, are they actually allowed to ask for a CCJ based on the whole of the debt they bought from MBNA (some 18k), bearing in mind they won't have paid anything like this for it ? 3. Based on the answer to question 2 above, do I intend to defend all or part of this claim as this is one of the boxes I have to tick on the Acknowledgement form. I have to ask these questions as due to my JobSeeker's Allowance coming to an end next month - not enough Class 1 NI contributions apparently - things are going to get somewhat difficult as we are only just getting by on my Better Half's wages at the moment ... Regards, Peter

Thanks for the quick replies. Spoke to the Insolvency Helpline people and they said that Dryden's will apply for, and get, a CCJ against me, then push for the Charging Order, based on the fact that I've only offered a small amount - a tenner a month - towards the debt. Trouble is - what is a small amount to them is a large amount to me when my Jobseeker's runs out next month ... What I found rather chilling was that the chap I spoke to was able, with a few clicks of the keyboard, to get a rough idea of the value of our property based on the price the property next door went for a few years ago ... I didn't realise such information was in the public domain ... and said that as there was likely to be equity in the property, they would definitely go for the Order as it, in effect, acted as security for the debt. He also pointed out that with this in place, there was little likelihood of their accepting a full and final settlement of a smaller amount of the debt ... so it looks like I'm stuffed on that front unless a ten grand cheque falls through the letterbox sometime soon ! What is really annoying about the whole thing is that the original loan was supposedly covered by Payment Protection Insurance ... I did - eventually - get the money back that I'd paid but by then the downward spiral had started. Once again, thanks for the help and advice. Peter

Quick question (I hope !). I received a letter today from Dryden's who state that they "have been instructed to take legal action against you with a view to obtaining a charging order against your property". Having had a quick look around, my question is - can they do this without a CCJ against me being in place ? My research has shown that a CCJ has to exist before a Charging Order can be applied for ... and not having received any papers about one, I was just wondering if this is a standard scare tactic.

First post, so greetings to one and all ! The problem with a TV ad is when could it be shown ? From what little daytime TV I have seen, it is full of adverts exhorting people to take out loans, so the advertisers ain't gonna be too happy with something advising caution about that very thing ! And the cost at night would, I'd imagine, be quite prohibitive ... so my opinion is to use the most cost-effective form of advertising known to man ... word of mouth. Quite simply, tell anyone and everyone you know about this site, as we all probably have horror stories to tell and share, and hopefully the tide can begin to turn. And then maybe one day Moonhawk's world will be within reach of our children.