Hello everyone, In 2009, I got a job in another country and moved away from the UK. I informed my bank of my relocation, but allowed them continue to send my post to my old address because I visited the address whenever I returned to London from time to time. In 2012, I requested that the bank begin sending all correspondence to a new UK address where my wife's family resided and where I would have more regular access to post. In late September this year, a resident at my former apartment (who happens to be a friend of mine) informed me that I had numerous letters there. Upon retrieving them, I found that Mortimer Clarke Solicitors had filed a CCJ application against me. MCS is acting on behalf of Cabot Financial (UK) Limited. CF had issued me a credit card through my bank Citibank (who was also my employer at the time). There was an outstanding debt on this card that I had neglected to pay whilst away. MCS had been attempting to reach me at my old address and had taken action since I had not responded. I took a few days to read through the various letters they had sent me and research the implications of a CCJ. I then contacted them by email to explain the circumstances above, but they informed me a default judgment had already been obtained on 15/09/2016 ordering me to pay £50 a month. I would like to pay this debt and have my record clean again. The total debt is £3308, so at this rate it would take 67 months to clear it. As £3308 is a rather large sum and I cannot afford to pay it all right away, I would like to offer them a lump sum payment of £2000 or maybe £2500 (if I can stretch that far), on the condition that they will consent to having the CCJ set aside. I have not made any proposal or payment to them yet and I realise that the one-month window for payment to clear the CCJ has already passed. I understand that I may be able to have the CCJ set aside whether or not they consent if I can prove my circumstances, but I do not want to have to deal with the court proceedings. From what I have read, if both parties consent to having the CCJ set aside and both parties are represented by legal counsel, the set-aside would be routinely carried out through an administrative procedure, not requiring the discretion of a judge. This sounds to me like the set-aside would more or less be automatic in such cases, so this is my preferred route. So, my question is how do I make this happen. More specifically: 1. If I make this proposal to MCS and they agree, they might ask me to pay the agreed sum before beginning the process. Could this affect the set-aside in any way? 2. Is it out of the ordinary to propose to pay after the set aside has been obtained? 3. If they consent to my proposal what legal paperwork needs to be filed? 4. Who is expected to file this paperwork — defendant or claimant? Can I request that they file the paperwork as part of our settlement agreement? 5. Is my understanding correct — that a set-aside by consent where both parties are represented by legal counsel is carried out routinely without the requirement of approval by a judge and therefore is automatically approved? I just want to get this matter resolved and have my file clean. I am still working and living abroad, so I will be unable to attend court appointments, hence my preference for an automatic route and for not filing paperwork myself. If you kind folks can answer the questions above and possibly provide any additional insight on the matter and process, I would be very grateful. I need to decide and act quickly — I would like to have this resolved by the end of the month. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I am looking for some advice on how to proceed with a claimform I have tried my best to complete the CAG template (below). Name of the Claimant ? Cabot Financial (UK) Limited Date of issue – . 13 Jan 2016 What is the claim for – 1. By an agreement between Capital One & the Defendant on or around 13/07/2004 (the Agreement) Capital One agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card. 2.The Defendant failed to make the minimum payments due & the Agreement was assigned to the Claimant. THE CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS 6000.00 What is the value of the claim? £6,000 Is the claim for a current account (Overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Credit Card When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Before (2004) 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. (Cabot). Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes, September 2010, giving me 28 days to clear arrears, I wrote back saying I couldn’t and sent I&E etc. Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? No, not to my knowledge. I tend to keep all financial documents sent to me and I can’t find anything from either Cap One (other than above) or any DCA. I’ve had a couple of cards with “Confirmed resident” stamped on them in 2012 and 2013. A few months ago, Experian showed the default dates as October 2010. Why did you cease payments? Feb2011 What was the date of your last payment? February 2011 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Yes, PPI claim of £1300 from 2004 to 2006. I got nowhere with Cap One, so went to the Ombudsman (FOS) in 2011. In July 2014, they rejected my claim and I registered with the FOS that I disputed their findings as I didn’t feel that they had fully addressed the points raised in my complaint. As their findings were final I have not done anything with it since. Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? I Wrote to Cap One in October 2010 into early 2011 chasing a response. They eventually wrote back saying that it had been passed to Friedrickson DCA and they were no longer dealing with it. I also wrote to Cap One about the PPI and they rejected it, hence the reason for going to the FOS. I wrote back to Friedrickson telling them I was disputing the amount with the FOS and have heard nothing from them since. Based on previous answers and advice on the forum, I will send the CCA request to Cabot tomorrow, presumably, I'll also need to send the CPR 31.14 request to Mortimer Clarke for further information as well. As far as the County Court forms are concerned, do I just complete the Acknowledgement of service form and leave the everything else blank? Do I tick 1. Intend to defend all of this claim as, depending on what comes back from Cabot/Mortimer Clarke, I don't know whether I have a defence or not? No doubt, I will have more questions further down the line, but I want to get the County Court form completed as soon as possible (certainly well before their deadline of 1 Feb?). I've never been in a court in my life, so this situation is somewhat worrying to say the least. Thank you.

Just had a lovely chat with someone at Mortimer Clark. I'll call him Matthew, for that was what he called himself. He declined to give me his mobile number, employment status or value of rent or mortgage - but I guess that's only fair since I declined the same information. He was very keen to discuss a loan that "their client" apparently bought from BlackHorse some time ago, but since I knew nothing about them and have had a dispute running on it for so long that I'd forgotten it ever existed, we didn't get very far. Hit stalemate regarding the dispute as I wasn't prepared to divulge any information not knowing who he was (I mean, not even giving me his mobile number - could be anyone!) and he had no information from "their client" or BlackHorse about it either. He did stop to share his concerns at one point though, and suggested I contacted the Police if I thought it was fraudulent, so I took his name and address down again (still no mobile number) so I could report his fraud, but apparently I misunderstood him and he was suggesting I report the initial alleged loan as fraud. Silly me! He very helpfully offered to get a copy of the loan agreement and associated information, and kindly confessed eventually that they were indeed threatening court action without sight of any agreement. All he could tell me was that the loan started in March 2005 and terminated in September 2010, with the last payment in August 2008. I left it that they would address all the previous concerns once they had the proper paperwork, at which time they'll also see how many other agencies have tried to pursue this alleged debt and swiftly passed it back when realising they had no right to. We almost parted on good terms, and I tried to save them a lot of unnecessary work and money by pointing out August 2008 was a long time ago now - more than 6 years I hasten to add. However, it seems for them the usual rules no longer apply and they can continue to do what the hell they like until 6 years after the formal termination/sale rather than 6 years after the last payment or acknowledgement of debt. If he'd given me his mobile number I could have text a link to the relevant laws! On a serious note though.... has the law changed here?

Hi I hope someone can help, going out of my mind with worry here. I received a claim from Mortimer Clarke (Marlin) all details below. Issue Date: 6 Mar 14 Reason: Non payment of unsecured loan Claim for £4K includes court fee and solicitors costs + interest of about £700 Original Agreement was made in 2006 and assigned to them in Oct 2013. I sent an Acknowledgement of Service (using the online moneyclaim website) on 17 Mar also sent by recorded delivery a letter asking them for 31.14 request: 1: the agreement. 2: the assignment 3: the default notice4: the termination notice 5: statement of account Not heard anything back yet. I also have a lot of other debts total cost about £35K although no individual one for more that £7K. Im sure more and more claims will come through in the coming months. My wife lost her job 5 years ago and we moved into a family members house for 2 years and carried on paying all the debts. We then had to move out and started renting and I just couldn’t afford all the bills so stopped paying 3 years ago. Been rather stupid and had my head buried in the sand since and just ignoring all the letters and phone calls, I dread getting home and seeing letters on the doormat or every time my phone rings not wanting to answer. Now the courts are involved I obviously can’t do this anymore. Just wonder what my options are, we have no assets to speak of rent a house, an old car worth less than £1K.

Hi all This is the first issue i have the courage to post on the forums. As most people here i think i have "bury my head in the sand" syndrome. But enough is enough and just as I am getting all my financial affairs back on track and sorted i get this and i really need some good advice. I received a blue claim form from the county court business centre, Northampton. It states the claimant is a marlin capital Europe and they are being represented by Mortimer Clarke solicitors. It relates to Egg credit card that I had a few years ago. I have not paid the debt on this card for over 6 years. I really do not know where to begin. You probably hear that all the time but I really don't. On the claim they state I took out the agreement on or around 05/01/2004. I cannot remember when the card was ended. There is no record of this on my credit report from Experian and there is no recent searches (past 12 months) according to Experian too. What can should I do next? I do remember asking for the CCA but never receiving it. Also the fact that there is nothing to do with EGG or BARCLAYCARD on my credit report I am assuming is a positive sign? thanks in advance GB

Hi Folks, I had an old Egg card debt (June 2009) sold on to Barclays and then to Marlin Capitol. Marlin used Weightmans Solicitors in June last year to issue a County Court Claim but Weightmans discontinued the claim (in writing to me) without any correspondence from myself at all. Now Marlin Capitol are using Mortimer Clarke to write to me and phone etc. I don't know what to do and where I stand if the original court claim was discontinued. Do I write sect 78 letter to Marlin etc? Can anyone please recommend a course of action to take please? Many Thanks and hope to hear a solution to my worries.

Hi, I have recieved a letter today from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors, stating that they are solicitors instructed by Cabot Financial and are instructed to start Court proceedings against me over a debt. I have not seen anything from Cabot Financial at all, didn't even know they existed before today, and now i get a letter saying that they are taking me to court? The letter states that i owe Lloyds TSB 931.39 pounds. From what information i have, the only money i have ever taken from Lloyds was a 50£ overdraft back in 2007, as i had left the country in 09/2007 (and returned in 2009) - this is the first ever communication I have recieved since then in my name. The credit reports in my name state that the debt was defaulted in September 2008, so, technically, it will become statute barred only in September. Is there anything I can do about this apart from coughing up? As over 900 pounds seems unreasonable seeing that no payments or acknowledgements have been made since 09/2007. Thank you for any advice.

Hi, A couple of months ago I received a letter from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors acting on behalf of MCE Portfolio Limited. They asked me for just under £2000 but other than the usual threats there was no information as to what this was all about. I put this letter to one side and to be honest forgot all about it. Today I have received a claim form for the Northampton Bulk centre court. The claimant are MCE Portfolio limited and in the particular of claims they refer to a current account with HSBC from 1998. They have added on another £2000 in interest. This account is surely statute barred as I have had no contact with HSBC for over ten years. I am unsure of how to proceed. I feel like just writing in the defence section of the claim form " This debt is statute barred and unenforceable" but that will probably not suffice. Any suggestions on how I should proceed? Cheers. Blim

I need some guidance on what to do about a problem of my own making.... Due to naivity/stupidity I advised Clydesdale Bank in 2003 that my Credit Card that due to being made redundant I couldn't meet my monthly repayments and could an agreement be reached, well it got passed to Jeremy Sutcliffe and I ended up on 16th August 2006 with a Final Charging Order against my property. On 17th April 2008 I received a Notice of Assignment from Clydesdale Bank to Pheonix Recoveries (UK) Ltd S.a.r.l which would be serviced through Marlin Financial Services. This letter was on Clydesdale Bank headed paper but I noticed recently that it was signed by Marlin Financial Services! On 12th May 2008 I receieved a NoA from Marlin stating that the amount outstanding as at the date of sale 25th March 2008 the debt was £8122.21. It then took a further 6 months to negotiate an agreement with them and when I thought I had an agreement the file was passed to Mortimer Clarke. In June 2008 we finally agreed a concessionary arrangement. On 2nd July 2010 I received a letter from Mortimer Clarke saying that the concessionary arrangement had now expired and the balance was now £7022.21, I phoned then and agreed another 12 months arrangement at £65 p.m. against £50 p.m. which I could now afford. On 24th August 2010 I received another letter from Mortimer Clarke offering me a fantastic opportunity to clear the debt at a substantal discount. They also stated that the amount owed was now £9122.06 due to the 8% interest. This was the first time anyone had mentioned interest. I called Mortimer Clarke and spoke to Matt who in response to my question on the balance came back with the figure of £6907.06 which was in line with my records. I asked hime why was this different from the letter to which he put me on hold and came back 5 minutes later saying that that figure was wrong because it didn't include interest and the fugure was £9513.54 which was accurate that morning. I asked why it had gone up £391.48 in 7 days ....he hung up. I called back and spoke to Holly who gave me the same figures and put the figure in the letter down as an error. I requested a breakdown of my account but suprise suprise I have received ZILCH. I know I have the debt, but I have a couple of points which are raising red flags: Is a charging order tranferable along with the debt? Can interest be charged by Marlin despite no credit agreement being in place with Marlin/Mortimer Clarke? How do I get a breakdown from Mortimer Clarke? If anyone can help me ask for the right things I would be very grateful, likewise if anyone can show me a way forward with these schiesters.