I have been talking to the court advisor and she has advised me that the decree will automatically be recalled by the sheriff! Good news for me, but it has left me wondering why? So if the above is true, how would I then proceed? Just take off all the charges and pay them the balance?

Just re-read the application form. It says on it that a copy of the agreement would be sent with the card, presumably for me to sign? So they may have more to show. On the other hand I might not have signed anything at all. I would have thought that even if this is not regulated that I would still need to sign an agreed contract and not just an application form? All just speculation, I need to wait and see.

This is all great help, thanks. Would I be right in saying that the only people that would definitely know for sure are trained solicitors? If so I may just need to employ one. I will looking to delay the hearing for sure. I need to get these documents!

Yeah have had a good look through the Amex threads but most of them seem to find out that it is unregulated and then we don't hear back from them. Yeah it is strange, apparently unregulated but says you are bound by the cca1974. This application was done online but it was only to save them posting out an application form. I can't remember exactly if I applied for a supplementary card holder on the original application so there may be another application form or more pages- won't know until the SAR comes through. This was only sent to me by the solicitors acting on behalf of Amex. So In the mean time how do I go about delaying the hearing until I have the information I need from Amex?

Yes it was a charge card, it cost £95 a year just to have the account. I was worried about this being unregulated. What I don't understand though is if it is unregulated then why did they have the box with the cca 1974 spiel and why was it only the supplementary card holder that signed against this.

Here is the application form that was signed scan0001.pdf

I asked for this 1. The original signed, executed agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened. 2. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold. 3. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable). 4. Details of any collection charges added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers. 5. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied. 6. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998 7. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement. 8. Notice of termination (if applicable) Basically a slightly modified version of a template I found in this website. I'm really not sure about the adjourning thing.

I was trying to recall the decree because there was a charge for payment of money approved by the court and would have been enforcable within 14 days had I not taken action. As I said before the court papers for the decree were sent to an address that I had moved out of 11 months previously so I did not have the opportunity to pay the full amount within 28 days. Which I most certainly would have done.

Also forgot to mention that amex phoned to say that although they had received the court papers they are still determined that the full balance should be paid.

Got the court date - mid June, a lot quicker than I expected. I don't expect to have the SAR back from AMEX in time. Will this matter?

That's providing the sheriff doesn't decide to toy with me instead!! Thank you for the reassurance but if you don't mind me asking how do you know all of this- are you in this line of work?

I'm just so worried about court. AMEX are obviously going to make this as difficult as possible. The thoughts running through my head at the moment are- what if amex contest the recall? If I don't get the recall then I will almost certainly be paying the ridiculous amounts of interest. What if the recall is granted but then the judge then decides that the full amount should be paid? Do I then have to argue over the charges? I thought of a solicitor because I thought he/she may be able to broker a better deal than I ever could in court!!

Thank you. I have arranged to meet with a solicitor next week to get some advice. So if I were successful in getting the decree recalled would I then only have to pay the original decree amount within 28 days or would I still be responsible for the interest that has accrued ( 8% granted by the court from the date of the decree) as this has more than doubled the original amount.

Thank You!!

Here is what I ave decided to do. Any pointers or advice or anything you think that might need changed - please do comment! 1) Obtain SAR from American Express 2) Obtain all correspondence from Amex Solicitors (as most of it was sent to the address I had already moved out of, including the court papers) 3)Write a letter to Amex solicitors to confirm that the debt is indeed mine (and make an excuse as to why I didn't recognise the debt before) 4)At the hearing tell the judge I did not receive the court papers (I can prove the address I was living at was different to the address they were sent to) That's pretty much the plan. By the way is the 1st hearing to decide whether the decree should actually be recalled or not? Or does it mean that it has already been recalled and that it is time to provide evidence etc? Basically all I want is for the decree to be recalled on the grounds that I did not receive the court papers so that I may have the opportunity to pay the original amount as it is approx half of what they want now because of interest and charges!! I'm sure I read somewhere that if you genuinely did not receive the papers then the judge will recall it and you then have the original 28 days to clear the full balance and thus avoiding the decree/ccj - I hope it's the case in Scotland!! Cheers everyone

So do you think the best option would be to own up then? The only problem with that is that when I put in the form to recall the decree- I put down "never had an Amex account" as the reason for my defence. will the judge not just Think I'm a liar?

Yes I am in Scotland. Amex have BTO solicitors involved. I do not have a statement of accounts so I don't know when the last payment was made. But if i ask for a statement of account is that me admitting that the debt is mine?

Thanks bluedogx I will go to the hearing settlement or no settlement. If Amex have their money do you think they would even bother showing up to the hearing just to tell the judge it was settled? I'm really hoping they don't so I can kindly ask the judge not to reissue the decree, even if satisfied. I could just ask him to bin it altogether (don't know the legal term) after all I would have settled a debt that isn't mine! Please also correct me if i'm wrong but I understand the following to be true - I have recalled the decree so no action can be taken against me until a court date has been set and the judge has decided. If the account is not mine would I still be able to contest the debt on the grounds that it is unenforcable without admitting the debt is actually mine because they might have made a mistake in the paperwork.

Hey everyone I forgot to mention that I had moved out of address number 2 before the decree was even registered at that address - so I genuinely didn't receive it.

Hi I had a gold amex charge card back in 2006 and to cut a long story short - split up with my boyfriend, got into debt and stopped paying amex. Balance due was about grand and a half. Moved house but told nobody and tried to start fresh - got a basic bank account and after 6 months got a small overdraft. This led to a mobile phone contract and before i knew it I was able to get credit again. Then one day a letter dropped through the door from amex demanding the money from my last address. I ignored it and eventuallly a decree/ccj was issued at the new address. So then I closed all the new accounts at the new address ( all balances paid in full this time) and moved house again. I done the same again - started with a basic account and worked up but amex have caught up again. They are now threatening to enforce the decree. I have claimed that this is not my debt and that I had never lived at the original address - my credit reports show this and they also don't show the decree as it was at the second address. The situation at the moment is that I have recalled the decree to prevent the charge order being enforced. I am still claiming that this is not my debt. I asked for proof and all they sent me was the original signed application form . I asked if they could provide the 2 forms of ID from the application but they said they do not have this. ( I don't know if this is true or not) My question is can amex really win in court if all they have is an application form? Surely this is not proof that I opened the account? I know I have been a very dishonest person and I am not proud. But I just started to get on my feet again and this would be a definite blow as they now want over 3 and a half thousand because of all the interest and charges.