Received notification from court to complete a directions questionnaire which I have done and indicated that I am happy to go to mediation. However I still have not received any of the informaton requested from BW Legal and Lowells. Should I contact them requesting this or wait until we get a court date. Must admit its a bit hard trying to defend a case that you have no evidence for!

I have received a letter back from BW Legal stating that Lowells will be defending the claim and they are notifying the Court. I still have not received any of the information that I originally requested so not able to submit an amended defence. Is there anything I should do or should I just wait for the Court to contact me.

Not sure whether to make my defence shorter or not but planning on sending the following. Any comments much appreciated. 1. I xxx, the defendant, in this action make the following statement as my defence to the claim made by Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd. 2. Except where otherwise mentioned in this defence I neither admit nor deny any allegation made in the claimants particulars of claim and put the claimant to strict proof thereof. 3. No documents supporting the claim in the particulars have been offered which the defendant needs to establish what agreement it is that this action is based upon and so the claimants claim appears without merit. 4. As a result the claim as pleaded does not contain sufficient particulars to permit the defendant to file a properly particularised and pleaded defence. The defendant has made a request for disclosure pursuant to Part 31 of the CPR to the claimants solicitor to allow me to properly respond to the claim. However the claimants solicitor does not have the information and has requested said information from the client. Would have liked to have put something about the fact that perhaps the solicitor should have had this information before progressing with this claim but thought it might cheese the judge off! 5. It is denied that the defendant has entered into an agreement with the claimant or with Equidebt. Original agreement was with A&L, who were taken over by MBNA and then given to Equidebt. Also account ref does not relate to my original account ref. 6. If which is not admitted, such an agreement exists the precise terms and date of any such agreement are not admitted. I do not have in my possession any such agreement and am not therefore able to comment thereon. The claimant is put to strict proof as to the date and terms of such agreement. 7. It is averred that if any agreement did exist that the aforesaid agreement would be a regulated agreement within the terms of the consumer credit act 1974. It is not admitted that any alleged agreement is enforceable within the terms of the Act. As the dependent does not have a copy of the said agreement the claimant is put to strict proof that the aforesaid agreement was properly executed and has been enforceable at all times since it's inception. 8. It is also averred that if the alleged agreement is subject to the Act before proceedings may be commenced the claimant must have served the defendant with a valid default notice. It is not admitted that any valid default notice was ever served upon me and the claimant is put to strict proof. 9. If, which is not admitted, an enforceable agreement is in existence, it is not admitted that any or all of the monies claimed are lawfully owing. The claimant is put to strict proof as to how the sum claimed had been calculated and as to how the sum claimed is lawfully owing. 10. Further it is denied that any alleged contractual account charges and any interest applied thereon which makes up any part of the sum claimed are lawfully owing in that it is averred that these sums would have been claimed pursuant to an unfair contract term and in addition are in breach of the general law. 11. It is averred that any account charges that are claimed are in breach of the common law in that they are a penalty and that they do not reflect any actual loss or the true extent of any costs incurred by the claimant and are therefore void. 12. Without admission that any cause of action is shown by the claimant it is denied that the dependent indebted to the claimant as alleged or at all and the dependent seeks an order that the claimants action is struck out or otherwise is dismissed on the grounds that any claim cannot succeed. Alternatively if the court decides not to strike out the claimants case it is requested that the court orders full disclosure of the requested documents pursuant to the CPR. The defendent respectfully asks the permission of the court to amend this defence if or when the claimant provides full disclosure of the requested documents and allows inspection of the original documents.

Just received a letter back from BW who have passed the information on to their client and who may have to refer back to the original creditor. They will seek to ensure that I get the information within 14 working days. Could someone please clarify when the 14 working days start - is it from the receipt of my original request or from the date on their letter? Either way the information will not be received in time before I have to put my defence in to the Court. They also state the following "In the meantime we await the completed income and expenditure form" and to call "if I have any questions." I thought that I only needed to complete the Income and Expenditure Form if I admitted the claim. Is this some sort of trick to get me to call them or to admit the claim?

Thank you for all your help. Only info I ever received regarding Equidebt was when MBNA informed me that they were passing the account on to them. No contact and no agreement ever set up with anyone. Letters all completed and sent and now await the outcome which I will keep you posted on.

CitizenB - Info as requested. Name of the Claimant ? Lowells Portfolio 1 Date of issue – top right hand corner of the claim form – this in order to establish the time line you need to adhere to. - 1 May 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? Non-payment of credit card What is the value of the claim? £5,100 Has the claimant included section 69 interest (8%)within the total claim or is it shown separate within the Particulars but not added to the debt? - Yes Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Credit Card When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? 1999 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. Debt purchaser Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Not sure - can't remember Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? - Again not sure. Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? - Not sure Why did you cease payments:- Financial difficulties Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? - No Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? - No communication whatsoever I will be sending off letters to Lowells, etc requesting copies of the original agreement, etc today but I am not holding my breath.

I had a credit card debt with Alliance and Leicester going back 6 years ago (at an old address and a different name). The debt has changed hands a number of times (although same group of companies). just received the following claim form from Northampton Bulk Centre on behalf of Lowell Portfolio 1 from BW Legal (are they part of the same Group??). ‘The Claimant’s Claim is for the sum of xxxxxx being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a Financial Services agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 between the Defendant and Equidebt under account reference xxxxx and assigned to the Claimant on 08/10/12 notice of which has been given to the Defendant. The Defendant failed to maintain the contractual payment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served and not complied with. The claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8.00% per annum (a daily rate of 0.94 from the date of assignment to the date of issue () being an amount of xxxxx’ My questions are as follows: I am 99% sure that the last payment I made was in February 2008 and therefore the debt is over 6 years old and statute barred. However, checking my credit report it states the account was defaulted on 16/08/2008. Which date should I be using? If it is when the account was defaulted by the Company then surely all companies would leave their default notices until later periods. I have never acknowledged the debt to anyone. The account with Alliance and Leicester (now trading as part of MBNA I think), was opened in 1999 and I do not have a copy of the original agreement. The account reference they have used differs from the account numbers I have received previously (although any letters I had received recently from Lowells went straight into the bin!) The name on the form is my married name (I have since reverted to my maiden name). Also I have never had any dealings with Equidebt apart from a letter from MBNA informing me that they have assigned my account to Equidebt (did they not go into administration some time last year?), who must have then sold the debt to Lowells, who moved it to Red and then Hamptons and then to Lowells Portfolio (so confusing!!!!). I am going to defend the case on the basis that the debt is statute barred but need to know what information I need to try and obtain for my defence (e.g. copies of the original agreement, etc) and who do I request this information from. I am quite sure that as the account was opened pre-2000 that they will not have a copy of any signed agreement. I also strongly believe that this is a last ditch attempt by Lowells to try and scare me into obtaining the money as I have completely ignored their letters and messages in the past and they know that if I do not defend it they will get a judgement against me which they can chase me for any money. Any help greatly appreciated.