Sorry Andyorch.

I was in the county court at the end of April for initial hearing. The defendant is my wife who unfortunately is ill at the moment and was unable to attend. I attended on her behalf today and the District Judge gave directions. The Claimant is CL Finance who is being represented by Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors. CL finance are claiming £9284.38 in respect of a Debenhams Store Card Agreement (First Personal Bank Limited) dated 30 September 1995. On 28 July 1997 The First Personal Bank Limited changed their name to GE Capital Bank Limited. On 13 December 2006 by Deed of Assignment, GE Capital Bank assigned the account to CL Finance Limited. My wife received debt collection letters from various DCA's around the beginning of 2007. Foolishly she agreed to pay £1.00 per month and she did so from January 2007 to March 2011. In total she has paid £51.00 towards the account. In March 2011 I decided to review my households expenses which included this payment my wife was making. We asked CL Finance to provide a copy of the original credit agreement for the account in question. Upon receiving this it was evident that the handwriting and signature on the agreement was certainly not that of my wifes! Someone had taken out an account in my wifes name, defaulted on it and now my wife was paying for it! We called the Police to report this apparent identity fraud but my wife was told that she would not receive a crime reference number because it is the lender who is the victim of any crime and it is they that should report the incident to the police. So my wife stopped the payments from March last year and she was served a Default Notice in September 2011 and in April was the first court hearing. We explained the facts to Howard Cohen who requested a copy of my wifes passport but she declined to provide this to them after finding out that they are known to manipulate documents. I took her passport in to the court today but the DJ said she should submit it with her defence. The DJ also advised Howard Cohen that they should intruct Handwriting Experts with regards to the signature. It is a clear forgery as far as we are concerned. Aalso the DJ moved this case from the small claims to the fast track. The case has been adjourned until July 20th but I need to submit a defence. We have now submitted the particularised defence to H Cohen and the Court. We have just received this response from H Cohen: H Cohen have included a part 18 Request for further information, most of which we are unable to provide as it dates back to 1995. Why don't they just go ahead and instruct the Handwriting Expert as told to do so by the DJ at the last court hearing? HC state that the cost of the handwriting expert will be £3000 and my wife will be liable for this cost! Frankly I couldn't care if it was £10,000 because if the Handwriting Expert is genuine then it will be proven that the signature is a forgery. Also they mention that the burden of proof lies with my wife! Surely this is untrue as she is the victim of identity fraud and it is H Cohen who need to prove that she owes the debt?

** Update ** As instructed by the DJ at the last hearing I submitted the particularised defence to the court and also sent a copy to Howard Cohen. Here is the reply we received on 11 May 2012: H Cohen have included a part 18 Request for further information, most of which we are unable to provide as it dates back to 1995. Why don't they just go ahead and instruct the Handwriting Expert as told to do so by the DJ at the last court hearing? HC state that the cost of the handwriting expert will be £3000 and my wife will be liable for this cost! Frankly I couldn't care if it was £10,000 because if the Handwriting Expert is genuine then it will be proven that the signature is a forgery. Also they mention that the burden of proof lies with my wife! Surely this is untrue as she is the victim of identity fraud and it is H Cohen who need to prove that she owes the debt?

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** Update ** As instructed by the DJ at the last hearing I submitted the particularised defence to the court and also sent a copy to Howard Cohen. Here is the reply we received on 11 May 2012: H Cohen have included a part 18 Request for further information, most of which we are unable to provide as it dates back to 1995. Why don't they just go ahead and instruct the Handwriting Expert as told to do so by the DJ at the last court hearing? HC state that the cost of the handwriting expert will be £3000 and my wife will be liable for this cost! Frankly I couldn't care if it was £10,000 because if the Handwriting Expert is genuine then it will be proven that the signature is a forgery. Also they mention that the burden of proof lies with my wife! Surely this is untrue as she is the victim of identity fraud and it is H Cohen who need to prove that she owes the debt?

I have some questions relating to court proceedings regarding an unacknowledged debt. I will post in the relevant forum.

Just want to say Hello!

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** Update ** As instructed by the DJ at the last hearing I submitted the particularised defence to the court and also sent a copy to Howard Cohen. Here is the reply we received on 11 May 2012: I am currently unable to post images as my post count is only 6 and it needs to be 10 or greater. H Cohen have included a Part 18 Request for further information, most of which we are unable to provide as it dates back to 1995. Why don't they just go ahead and instruct the Handwriting Expert as told to do so by the DJ at the last court hearing? HC state that the cost of the handwriting expert will be £3000 and my wife will be liable for this cost! Frankly I couldn't care if it was £10,000 because if the Handwriting Expert is genuine then it will be proven that the signature is a forgery. Also they mention that the burden of proof lies with my wife! Surely this is untrue as she is the victim of identity fraud and it is H Cohen who need to prove that she owes the debt?

Hi Debbie, The store card reference number on the copy agreement is exactly the same as the one on the claim form.

Consisely put, Thank you Debbie, that is exactly the situation. All I can thik to do now is just put together a few paragraphs highlighting that my wife does not acknowledge this debt and although did pay instalments towards it, this was due to being pressurised by CL Finance. Hopefully the truth will be revealed by the Handwriting Experts report.

I have no idea if this storecard was upgraded to a credit card. How could I find out?

The Application form has correct personal details including date of birth. At that time in 1995 we were living in a houseshare with other tenants so it may be likely that my wife's personal details were stolen within the household.

Thanks for responding. Yes, I agree the Judge was not happy that my wife did not provide a copy of her passport to H Cohen. I took her passport along to the hearing to show the judge but she just made an order that my wife include a copy of it in her defence. The handwriting on the agreement may well have been completed by the store assistant but the signature is a clear forgery and are confident that if HC intruct a handwriting expert, as they have been ordered to do so by the judge, to file and serve the Handwriting Experts report by 20 July 2012, it will be proven that the signature is not my wife's. Am I right in thinking that the handwriting experts report should be definitive and will be in my wife's favour as she really honestly did not sign this agreement? The judge asked me why my wife agreed to pay the £1.00 per month for a debt which was not hers and I said that my wife was intimidated and bullied, which she was, but the judge just replied 'I do not accept that, do you have evidence of the intimidation and bullying? We do not unfortunately because at the time around 2007 my wife used to receive phone calls at home and letters persuading her to pay. And she did agree then to pay the £1.00 per month. Does this fact go against her even though it's not her agreement? H Cohen have provided in their Application for Summary Judgement the following: A copy of the executed agreement signed and dated 30 September 1995. A Deed of Assignment from GE Capital Bank to CL Finance Limited dated 13 December 2006. A Default Notice to my wife dated 20 September 2011 A copy of a Statement showing all the payments my wife made, £1.00 per month form Jan 2007 to March 2011 A copy of a letter from H Cohen to my wife requesting a copy of signature from her passport or driving licence and a police issued crime reference number. A copy of my wife's response to that letter telling H Cohen that she will not be sending a copy of signature due to being worried that H Cohen will reconstruct documents. Also advising HC that after having spoken to Police no crime reference number is available and it is CL Finance who should go and get a Crime Reference number. As I have mentioned before, yesterday the Judge ordered that my wife file and serve a fully particularised defence by 1st May 2012 otherwise she will be banned from defending the case and summary judgement will be granted to the claimant. Could someone please help us with a particularised defence?

I was in the County Court today for first hearing. The defendant is my wife who unfortunately is ill at the moment and was unable to attend. I attended on her behalf today and the District Judge gave directions. The Claimant is CL Finance who is being represented by Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors. CL finance are claiming £9284.38 in respect of a Debenhams Store Card Agreement (First Personal Bank Limited) dated 30 September 1995. On 28 July 1997 The First Personal Bank Limited changed their name to GE Capital Bank Limited. On 13 December 2006 by Deed of Assignment, GE Capital Bank assigned the account to CL Finance Limited. My wife received debt collection letters from various DCA's around the beginning of 2007. Foolishly she agreed to pay £1.00 per month and she did so from January 2007 to March 2011. In total she has paid £51.00 towards the account. In March 2011 I decided to review my households expenses which included this payment my wife was making. We asked CL Finance to provide a copy of the original credit agreement for the account in question. Upon receiving this it was evident that the handwriting and signature on the agreement was certainly not that of my wifes! Someone had taken out an account in my wifes name, defaulted on it and now my wife was paying for it! We called the Police to report this apparent identity fraud but my wife was told that she would not receive a crime reference number because it is the lender who is the victim of any crime and it is they that should report the incident to the police. So my wife stopped the payments from March last year and she was served a Default Notice in September 2011 and today was the first court hearing. We explained the facts to Howard Cohen who requested a copy of my wifes passport but she declined to provide this to them after finding out that they are known to manipulate documents. I took her passport in to the court today but the DJ said she should submit it with her defence. The DJ also advised Howard Cohen that they should intruct Handwriting Experts with regards to the signature. It is a clear forgery as far as we are concerned. Aalso the DJ moved this case from the small claims to the fast track. The case has been adjourned until July 20th but I need to submit a defence by next Tuesday. Any help would be most appreciated!