Thanks CitizenB I haven't asked for a CCA before so I am using the template from the link and sending this to the Debt Collection agency today.

OK Thanks

Thanks theOldrouge:- In order for us to help you we require the following information:- Name of the Claimant ? Cabot Financial Date of issue – top right hand corner of the claim form – this in order to establish the time line you need to adhere to. 22nd July 2014 Date of issue XX + 19 days ( 5 day for service + 14 days to acknowledge) = XX + 14 days to submit defence = XX (33 days in total) What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? Please type out their particulars of claim (verbatim) less any identifiable data and round the amounts up/down. 'The Claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and Citifinancial dated on or about 17/01/2001 and assigned to the Claimant on the 30/05/2006 in the sum of £ 4,864.92' What is the value of the claim? In total £ 5,130 Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Credit Card Debt When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Yes Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. By a debt purchaser I assume. Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Yes in November 2006 Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes on 10th April 2006 under Section 87(1) CCA 1974 Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? In May 2014 I had a letter from Cabot headed "Notice of Arrears" but nothing headed "Notice of Default sums". Lots of notices of changes of collection agents. But As far as I can see nothing else referring to Default Sums. Why did you cease payments:- I have cancer and have been unable to work. I am on reduced income from insurance. Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Yes the allocation of payments, late payment charges and interest imposed by Cabot Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt managementicon plan? Yes with Payplan and I had significantly reduced the original debt before 2010.

Hi Brigadier The last payment made by the DMA was in November 2010. Not sure what the default date was. How can I find out?

Hi, this is my first post, so I hope I can explain the situation properly. I have a series of old credit card and bank overdraft/loan debts arising from previous financial problems, a divorce and health problems, all debts are unsecured. Some of the debts are joint with my ex. I was in a payment plan which stopped interest running but since November 2010, through ill health, I have not been able to make any further payments. Admittedly I have just left everything and apart from filing letters did not contact the creditors until March 2011 when I considering making myself voluntarily bankrupt. I wrote to some creditors to establish what they claimed was owing. I could not get the funds together to pay for a bankruptcy so decided to leave it to see whether the creditors would force it on me and pay for it themselves. I have no assets and don't own a house, although I do have a pension scheme in a SIPP which is not being drawn on. Nothing much happened until 22nd July 2014 when one of the creditors issued a claim form. The original creditor was CITI card who, apparently without my knowledge, transferred to debt to Cabot Financial in 2006. At the time I was in dispute with the amounts shown as outstanding by CITI as some payments made under the DMA had not been properly allocated. I then found that, despite the previous agreement with the DMA, Cabot were charging interest and had still not allocated the payments correctly. Several letters passed but the account was never adjusted, so the amount on the claim form is not correct in any event by £ 254.90. OK that is the background. So to the claim form. From reading other posts on this site I can give the following details to help with any advice you can give:- The claimant are Cabot Financial, Restons Solicitors Limited are dealing with the case. The POC are that 'The Claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and Citifinancial dated on or about 17/01/2001 and assigned to the Claimant on the 30/05/2006 in the sum of £ 4,864.92' the account number and give a date of 01/07/2014 default balance 4864.92 Post Refrl cr Nil. Total 4864.92. Added to this are court fee £ 185 and solicitors costs £ 80 making a total of £ 5,129.92 it seems to me from reading through the posts that I should 1. Acknowledge Service online with the Court but state that I intend to defend all of this claim. 2. Send a letter to Restons for a CPR 31.14 disclosure. 3. Should I refer in that letter to my original dispute over the incorrect allocation of payments and interest or leave this until I submit my defence? 4. Do I send a copy of the letter to the Court and Cabot? Someone suggested I should contact the Court to tell them what I am doing, is that correct? Once they receive the letter I understand they then have 28 days to respond. Unfortunately I will be away at the end of August, what happens if something arrives while I am away? Do I advise the Court or will a deadline fall into that period? I understand I have 14 plus 3 days to file the acknowledgement and then another 14 days to file a defence. But does that 14 days run from when they supply the details requested? If they don't respond within 14 days to my letter, can I delay my defence by some means? Sorry I am rambling, but this is getting complicated and my chemo brain cannot cope. The other issue, and one reason I haven't been able to address the issue is that, I understood, as I cannot pay all of the debts, I cannot prefer one creditor over another. The main debt is to a bank and that is joint with my ex who has continued to make small repayments. As it is First Direct, they are not prepared to make any concession on the amount they want whereas other creditors have offered reduced settlements in the past. Does this overall situation affect how I should proceed? Obviously the original creditors were aware of the position when we entered into the DMA. So how can I prefer one creditor to the others even if I could make a payment into court to avoid a CCJ? Any help you can give would be much appreciated.

Hi Padja, thanks for the quick reply. No PPI, I never fell into the trap of taking it out. There might have been some excessive Credit Card charges but the accounts are so old now, it would be difficult proving them.

I am new to this forum and hope that someone could guide me. I got into financial difficulties back in 2001 with credit cards and loans. Between my wife and I we had debts of £ 76k. In order to resolve matters we went into a DMA with Pay-plan and from 2001 until 2008 managed to reduce the debts to around £ 46k. We have never had any CCJ's against us and made no use of the cards since 2001. I have not had any credit since that time. In 2008 my wife and I separated and divorced in 2009. As we had no assets the Divorce Consent Order was that I would continue to repay debts at £ 638 per month and my ex-wife at £ 50 per month. I did this until falling ill with Stage 4 Advanced Bowel Cancer in early 2010 and I have been off work since June 2010. I stopped paying into the DMA in November 2010. I was contemplating bankruptcy but had difficulty getting the deposit together. In the process of preparing the Bankruptcy forms however, I found that at least two of the creditors no longer had any record of the debt. I am now only being actively chased by 4 of the original 8 creditors. Two of those creditors were joint with my ex-wife and she has continued to make small repayments throughout. I am now 60 and I do have a small pension fund which could release about a £ 20k lump sum. I am conscious that until I draw on the pension, the fund will not be taken into account in a bankruptcy. So I am reluctant to call on the money unless I really have to. I am contemplating moving the fund offshore to protect it from the UK creditors. My questions now are:- 1) Because I entered in the DMA I understand that the Statute of Limitation does not apply to the four creditors not pursuing the debts. Therefore they could at any time suddenly demand payment. Can I extract myself from the DMA to start the 6 year clock running and just deal with the four creditors pursuing me? 2) Alternatively can I negotiate outside of the DMA with the four Creditors who are chasing to try to reach a Full and Final Settlement with them and get them off my back using the £ 20k? Their share of the debts amounts to about £ 17k, all old credit card debts. 3) I have had a couple of Statutory Demands while I was ill and have done nothing about them. To be honest if they want to make me bankrupt at least it saves me £ 700. Should I be contesting the SDs? 4) Before my illness I was in a well paid job but I don't really want to return to it with the stress involved. I have now remarried and my new wife has no debts and is not involved in any of the arrangements. If she works, will her income have to be taken into account in the DMA even though she is not party to it? I also now have a 12 year old stepson that we need to support. 5) All of the debts have been passed to DCAs. Sometimes, it appears, more than once as I get letters from people I have never heard of. I am not at all sure if any of these transfers have been correctly completed. Is it worth using the CCA route to try to remove some of the debts or has entering into the DMA and paying off such a large portion of the debt already prevented me now challenging any of them? Given my age and health I am really reluctant to have to go back to a highly stressful job, just to pay back credit card debts which arose mainly though exorbitant interest rates and charges. Any help and advice you might be able to give, would be truly appreciated.