Ok thanks Andy - simple as that!

Hi all, I received a claim form from MIL Collections relating to a private land parking notice I was issued a few years back. I submitted my defence and had been assigned a hearing date for end of May. I needed to prepare my witness statements for this week to be delivered to the claimant and the court. However today I received a N279 Notice of Discontinuance from the claimant. Now I understand that this means that the claim is over (and I essentially won). But I also have read that I can claim my costs - however this is where I become a little unclear. I have read the Civil Procedure Rules and can see rule 38.6 which relates to this: Rule 38.6 (1) states “Unless the court orders otherwise, a claimant who discontinues is liable for the costs which a defendant against whom the claimant discontinues incurred on or before the date on which notice of discontinuance was served on the defendant” Rule 38.6(4) adds that the rule above does not apply to claims allocated to the small claims track. So from my understanding, because my claim had been assigned a track and had been given a hearing date, I cannot claim any costs? Any help clearing up my next steps would be great. Thanks!

Hi andy, Actually, the last 5 months nothing has really happened. Everything has been extremely slow. Yes, as far as I can tell. The vacated notice reads: 'As the hearing fee in this case has not been paid the hearing listed for XXXXXXX has been vacated.' Thanks!

Hi all, Just an update with this. I had applied for a strike out, which never got me anywhere. A court date was set with the amended particulars and my amended defence. However, the court fee was not paid and I have received a 'hearing has been vacated' noticed. Should I apply for a strike out now? I actually got a notice of change of solicitors last week too - Bryan Carter will no longer be overseeing the case, it will be Lowell Solicitors. Not sure if that means anything. Thanks!

Thanks for the advice andyorch - I sent the form end of last week. They however returned it today as I had not attached a £50 cheque with the N244. I presume I will have to pay this £50 fee to make my application. They only mention that they accept cheque, however I do not own a cheque book. Will a postal order suffice?

Thanks for your input andyorch - I have updated response 3 (What order are you asking the court to make and why?) to read the following: Pursuant to CPR 23, I wish to make an application to discharge the order on the grounds that the claimant has failed to provide me with the amended particulars. I believe sanctions should be imposed against the claimant, or strike out the claimant's claim for failing to comply with the courts directions.

Hi andyorch, I have attached the PDF here. Thanks!

Thanks for that andyorch. I cannot find within the CPR whether I should also send a copy of my discharge application to the claimant as well? Should I? Thanks,

Hi andyorch, Did you have chance to find the relevant CPR to my case? Thanks,

Thanks Andy!

Ok - that sounds fair. Would you have a template for either? If not, I'm presuming that it would be something like: "I wish to make an application discharge the order on the grounds that the claimant has failed to serve a copy of the amended particulars" Thanks!

I've not actually been sent a copy andyorch. The letter that was sent today only contained the General Form of Judgement or Order.

That's fair enough. I copied the process from someone else's thread who was going through similar circumstances. I know better now at least. So my next steps would be to compose a new defence? Would the defence I sent below not suffice? As stated before, I've not actually received anything from the claimant yet in terms of CCA, etc. I appreciate your help andyorch.

Hi, I have today received a letter from the court (15 months after sending off my draft order for directions which I have included below). To give you some more context, I have heard nothing from neither the courts nor the claimant since sending my draft order directions. The letter I received today is below: General Form of Judgement or Order Time-limits run from the date on which this order was drawn up by HM Courts & Tribunal Service. UPON READING the defence and amended particulars of claim: THE COURT DIRECTS of its own initiative that: 1. The particulars of claim stand amended in accordance with the draft attached; 2. The defendant deliver an amended defence to the court within 3 weeks; 3. Either party may apply by letter within 14 days for this order to be varied or discharged. The letter is dated 20th October. I'm not entirely sure what this means, or why it has suddenly been bought up again now. Any help on what I should do next be greatly appreciated, as I really don't understand what this latest letter is requesting. Draft Order for Directions The Claimant shall within 14 days of service of this order send to the Defendant and to the Court: o Copies of the Credit Agreement and any documents referred to within it which complies with the consumer credit Act 1974 and all subsequent regulations, which the claimant seeks to rely upon. o Default Notice compliant with s87 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Consumer Credit (Enforcement, Default and Termination Notices) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1561) as amended, o Document, contract or deed of assignment o Notice of assignment, with proof of service of the same compliant with s196 of the Law of Property Act 1925. o Copies of any statement or other document relied upon If the Claimant fails to comply with this order, the claim will be struck out without further order. The Defendant shall within 14 days thereafter file and serve the following o An amended defence sufficiently particularised in response to the documents supplied by the claimant. If the Defendant fails to comply with this order, the Defence will be struck out without further order. MY ORIGINAL DEFENCE: 1. The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature. The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made. 2.The claim is denied with regards to an amount due under an agreement.The Claimant/Solicitor has refused to disclose any agreement or statements on which its claim relies upon. 3. I am unaware of any legal assignment the claimant refers to within its particulars . I have no knowledge of who the claimant is nor ever been approached since the alleged assignment of over 3 years ago up until receipt if this claim. On receipt of this claim I requested information pertaining to this claim from Lowell's by way of a CPR 31.14 and a section 78 request. I have yet to receive response regarding either. Therefore with the courts permission the Claimant is put to strict proof to: (a) show and disclose how the Defendant has entered into an agreement, and (b) show and disclose how the Claimant has reached the amount claimed for, © show how the agreement was legally terminated to allow the claimant relief, (d) show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim. 4. As per Civil Procedureicon Rule 16.5, it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed. 5. On the alternative, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act and Section 82A of the consumer crediticon Act 1974. 6. By reasons of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief.

So I decided to go down a different route with this lot... It turns out I had 18+ loans total, paying around £4,000 total in interest. So 10 weeks ago I contacted Wonga regarding irresponsible lending. This week I received a response back saying they are offering me around £1500 for 7 of the loans total interest, and if I accept this it will be a full and final settlement to resolve the complaint. I have now forwarded this case to the FOS as I believe I should push for the full amount of interest owed, plus 8% and compensation, as well as the removal of any CRA entries. Am I being stupid pushing on with this? I have yet to hear from the FOS but they say it can take up to 2 weeks. Any thoughts would be great!

So this morning the letter arrived from the court. Find my responses below: Name of the Claimant ? LOWELL PORTFOLIO I LTD Date of issue – 09/05/2014 09/05/2015 + 19 days ( 5 day for service + 14 days to acknowledge) = 28/05/2014 + 14 days to submit defence = 11/6/2014 (33 days in total) What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? THIS CLAIM IS FOR 240 THE AMOUNT DUE UNDER AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR AND THE DEFENDANT TO PROVIDE FINANCE AND / OR SERVICES AND / OR GOODS. THIS DEBT WAS ASSIGNED TO / PURCHASED BY Lowell Portfolio I Ltd ON XX/01/2009 AND NOTICE SERVED PURSUANT TO THE LAW OF PROPERTY ACT 1925 PARTICULARS Re:Littlewoods A/C No XXXXXXXX AND THE CLAIMANT ALSO CLAIMS INTEREST PURSUANT TO S69 COUNTY COURT ACT 1984 FROM XX/01/2009 TO DATE AT 8% PER ANNUM AMOUNTING TO 100.00 What is the value of the claim? Amount Claimed: 340.00 Court fee: 35 Solicitor's costs: 50 Total amount: 425 Has the claimant included section 69 interesticon (8%)within the total claim or is it shown separate within the Particulars but not added to the debt? Interest is included in total claim, but also listed in particulars as shown above. Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? NO When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? After - 01/2007 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 has issued the claim Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Not that I can recall Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Not that I can recall Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? Not that I can recall Why did you cease payments:- I originally stopped paying Shop Direct in the middle of 2008. I then paid Lowell two payments of £30 towards the end of 2009 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No

Ok - that's great, thanks Andy. I will update this once I receive that. Obviously I am worried about getting a CCJ, and just to put my mind at rest could you possibly answer the following. If I was to put forward a defence, would I later be able to pay off the full balance without having a CCJ against me or is it once I post a decence, its either all or nothing? Thanks,

Hi all, I will try to be as clear as I can with my story. Took out a shop direct account back in 01/2007. After running up a debt of around £290, I could no longer afford repaying the account and in around 10/2008 they eventually placed a default against my name. This default is obviously due to drop off in the next few months now. In late 2009 I made a couple of £30 payments to bring the debt to around £238 however I could no longer afford to repay them. I actually heard nothing further from Shop Direct / Littlewoods after this. A few months ago (around late 2013) I get a letter from a company called Lowell claiming I now owed them the debt. I (maybe stupidly) decided to ignore them and today I got a letter from a company called Bryan Carters who have told me that they have started a CCJ application against me for around £420 (balance increased due to £100 interest and other associated costs). I've spoken with BC this morning and they have insisted that any action now must go through the courts and they cannot accept any part / full payment against the original balance of £238. I have yet to receive the 'Claim Form' however I'd imagine it will arrive with me any day now (if they for once are telling the truth). I've read around the forums' and most people at this stage are suggesting to raise a defence which I am happy to do. I guess my next stage is to CCA / SAR Lowell? I am just really after a couple of things; a) Obviously I've had this default hanging over my name now for the past 6 years, but now I could get CCJ'd and this will affect me for another 6 years (atleast). I want to know that if I file a defence I can still at a later stage offer to make a payment over this balance to ensure I don't get a CCJ. Will this option still be open for me further down the line? b) If there is anything else I should be doing which will help my case. I obviously don't doubt that I owe this debt, however I just want to make sure the correct process is followed by both them and I, and I don't particularly think I should have to have 12 years worth of ruined credit file for a debt so small. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will further update this thread once/if I get the claim form. Other information to note: - I've lived at the same address since account opening - I can't recall receiving any notice of assignment but this may not be the case - The default is placed by Lowell. I dont recall receiving a notice of default from them but again, this may not be the case - The default amount is for £288 however the current balance is for £238. Thanks!

Hi there, 18 months or so ago I was going through some hard times and stupidly relied upon Payday loans to keep me afloat. Most of the loans (had around 10 in total, all with Wonga) were around 500 pounds and all were paid off before the due date. 5 years before all of this I had had some trouble with credit and unfortunately got a default from a lender meaning I was struggling to get credit anywhere else. At the time of signing up to Wonga they were running their 'Wonga will do wonders for your Credit File' campaign (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2237712/Wonga-sorry-sending-emails-implying-loans-wonders-peoples-credit-ratings.html) and saw them as a kind of win/win for me, enhancing my credit file as well as tiding me over. Now 18 months on, having a perfect credit file (old default had dropped off and been running a credit card perfectly for the last year as well as various utilities) I am in a position to obtain a mortgage. So I've looked at my credit file and lo and behold there are 10 SETTLED Wonga accounts listed on there. Having read through the forums, from what I can gather this will not help me out at all with any sort of application. I've approached Wonga about the removal of these entries as I believe they will hinder any chance of me obtaining credit, which was totally against their advertising campaign at the time of me signing up but they have basically fobbed me off with a blanket 'We have to keep an entirely accurate CRA log'. I would like to however take this further, what would my next steps here be? Would it be a solicitors job from here on in or should I contact the CRA's directly? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

*bump*

Hello again, Thanks for all your help so far. Here is where we are at. The SAR documents all turned up the other day. Quite a lot of reading there, but still no CCA. The account has been passed on to a debt recovery company called Mercers. They have been sending out letters saying that they are going to persue their legal options etc etc.. I spoke to a person from Mercers asking for the signed CCA and she basically said that because of the way credit cards work that they didn't actually have to provide me one and that by me using the credit card that was me agreeing to their terms and conditions as people can sign up over the phone / internet and don't have a chance to sign things. Is this correct? The woman on the phone said that they only had documents on my account going back to 2003 as this was when Littlewoods was apparently bought out by Barclaycard and that there was no CCA with the account. What is my next step? Should I deal with Mercers at all? Or should I get on to Littlewoods (Barclays) about the lack of CCA. Can they still affect my credit score? Mercers have said that they will be sending 'Door Collection Officers' round. What should I do about that? It is all getting a little bit worrying for me now! Just need one of you CAG'ers to put my mind at rest Below is the copy of the CCA request I sent Littlewoods. Kind Regards, -------------- LPF Customer Services PO BOX 5592 Northampton, NN4 1ZY Dear Sir/Madam Re: Account Number xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide. I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77(6) will apply. If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties. Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR). I enclose a postal order in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose. If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee. We look forward to hearing from you Yours faithfully,

Hi again, Ok - so here is where I am currently at... Sent off a Full SAR on the 16/10/2009 along with a £10.00 postal order. I also sent off a CCA with a £1.00 postal order. Both of these were delivered on the 19/10/2009. I still have the receipts and have checked the Royal Mail Tracker to confirm. Since then I have heard NOTHING. I believe they have now exceeded their time limit? What is my next port of call? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there, I have had a Littlewoods [barclaycard] credit card since (I think) 1999 and have always had PPI because I was under the impression it was a requirement when I signed up. About 6 months ago I cancelled this PPI having never made a single claim. Now reading this forum has led me to believe that there is some way I can recouporate this money. I no longer have the credit agreement nor any other documentation from when I signed up to this card. Having read through this section of the forum for quite some time, I am still not much the wiser with where I have to begin? Am I correct that I now have to send a Subject Access Request to Littlewoods? If so, where can I obtain this template. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks people, you've put my mind at rest I certainly will send them an S.A.R to see what exactly has been charged. Your abvice is very welcome and I shall keep you posted. Thanks, Joe

erm ok?