I had a halifax personal loan which was then transferred to cabot. the initial loan was many years ago and i paid cabot for a about 8 months and then havent had any contact from 2011 then in 2016 optima legal said they have the account and i need to pay them. having read through the forums i wrote to them on 24/02/17 asking for, see the letter scrip i have added below. i have had no reply from Optima legal. where do i stand legally and should i continue to pay? thanks. template removed - dx

Hi all. I got into more than £50k of debt a few years ago and ended up in dire financial trouble. I read up on these debts using a site called ****** and used their three letters method to deal with the banks, credit card companies and DCAs. A couple of weeks ago I received a writ from my local Sheriff Court as seen in the photos: I'll be honest, I'm terrified now. I get limited legal cover through my work i spoke with a solicitor. He was decidedly unimpressed with the letters and advised me to do a trust deed. He says Cabot are a big company and will definitely have the assignment, they wouldn't have spent money on the legal costs to begin with if they didn't have them. He did help me with a skeletal defence for court: I have set a meeting for tomorrow to start to arrange the trust deed. My honest feeling is that Cabot have nothing, but I would be risking my house if i was wrong. And I have no real basis to believe they don't have what they need. I have never received any letters from Cabot before the writ. No notice of assignment or even a demand for payment. I have had other DCA's for this account but they stopped responding after the three letters. I immediately sent Cabot the three letters by recorded delivery but they have never responded. The last day for making adjustments to the writ or defences is 11th November. i have a bit of breathing space but I'm really worried. Any help will be much appreciated. Ps the letters are like this:

Received a court claim on the 17th April 2015. Claimant: MCE Portfolio Ltd Solicitor: Optima Legal Services Original Creditor: MBNA Claim Amount: £2600 Particulars of claim “The Claimant’s claim is in respect of a credit agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 whereby MBNA – CREDIT CARD ‘Original Creditor’ provided the defendant with a credit card. In return the defendant agreed to pay at least the minimum payment given in the statement. A default notice was served on the defendant which has expired and upon which the defendant has failed to comply with. A Notice of Assignment has been sent to the defendant notifying them that this debt has been assigned to the Claimant. The Claimant therefore claims the sum of £2600 plus costs. The claimant has complied with sections III and IV of the practice direction on Pre-Action Contuct.” AOS filed online on the 1st May CCA & CPR31.14 sent by recorded mail on the 5th May Received reply from Optima dated the 14th May “We refer to the above matter and your letter dated 05 May 2015, the contents of which have been noted. Please note we have requested the required documents from our client and will forward these to you in due course. We agree to an extension of 14 days from the date the documents are sent to you, to enable you to file your defence. We trust this is in order. Yours faithfully Optima Legal” Sent email to court office: “Re Claim No. XXXXXXXX. I wish to confirm that an agreement has been made between myself XXXXXXXX (The Defendant) and Optima Legal(The Claimants Representative) to extend the time for me to file my defence. Please refer to the attached documentation relating to this matter. Kind Regards XXXXXXX” Reply from Court Office “Good afternoon, Thank you for your email. This has been noted on the court file. I hope this assists you with your query, If you should require any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact us. Regards” I am not sure what I should do now, can anyone help me with this?

Hi All Would really appreciate some advice on this. History is that I had a car agreement debt 10 years ago that got passed to Optima. They wanted a CCJ but as I was in financial services at the time I managed to avoid this with some sort of charging order. The paperwork was drawn up in my name only despite the mortgage and property being in joint names of myself and wife and only consisted of a one or two page document, however, their charge does appear on a land reg search. I have been paying a monthly amount for the last 10 years for an original debt of around 10k. Every now and again they request an income/expenditure form with proof of income which I ignore. This time they have said unless I respond within 7 days they reserve the right to issue an order which will require me to attend court to give details of my financial situation. They have indicated that failure to attend such a hearing can result in imprisonment. My question is, can they enforce this and also is the charging order enforceable in my single name only. Many thanks in advance.

Hi Guys Over the weekend I received a letter from Marlin which I have attached to this post, as Cabot are the current Creditor will I send the SB letter to Cabot or Marlin? I have made absolutely no contact with Vanquis, Cabot or Marlin in the 5 years, the account went SB on the 31.07.2009 Marlin are very intimidating by their wording!

Hi, Just before Christmas I recieved a Notice of service from Northampton Court regarding an account I put in dispute with Capone some time ago. I got a little out of my depth a few years ago and despite trying to reason with Capone they started threating action against me at which point I sent them a CCA, they failed to comply properly and I so I sent them an Account in Dispute notice, over the time since they have placed it with various DCAs at one point they even doorstepped us however the chap went away with a flea in his ear. This time the latest DCA (Optima) seem intent on taking this further, I recieved the notice and have responded stating I will contest it in full but now need advice on the statement I need to make, can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I've been fighting a case with Optima Legal over the past 4-5 months. To quickly bring everyone up to speed, heres what has been happening. CPR 31.14 request sent 7/11/2013 Extension agreed until 01/01/2014 (as no paperwork arrived) Filed a "holding defence" with a N244 order on 01/01/2014. Order was accepted, Optima Legal given until 24/02/2014 to comply with CPR 31.14 request or the claim would be struck out. Documents turned up on 21st. I now have until 17/04/2014 to submit my defence. Basically, the documents they sent were the following: A reconstituted copy of the Credit Agreement This has NO signatures on it, I do not think I ever signed one (this is for a catalogue company shopping direct, perhaps why it took so long to arrive). A copy of the Notice of Assignment from Shop Direct Finance dated 02/11/2010 A copy of the Notice of Assignment from Capquest dated 2/11/2010 Account Summary of transactions A copy of Judgement HSBC Bank PLC V Carey (2009) EWHC 3417 (QB) and A copy of Judgement of Lombard Northern Central PLC v Power Hines (1995) There was NO default notice supplied. However I have been informed from another forum that the The Lombard v Power Hines case will be quoted to cover the lack of default notice and that my best chance would be through the reconstituted credit agreement? I really do not think I ever signed one. If I recall rightly they use to send the first lot of goods with the credit agreement in but I never returned it. I have uploaded the credit agreement if anybody could please take a look and advise me of a possible defence? Also, if anyone is wondering, the account was opened 19/09/2008 according to my credit file. Thanks, Mike

Hi, I have received help from these forums in the past and am looking for help once more if possible. I have an old credit card debt (card was taken out in 2001/02 and I have not made any payments since early 2008 and have been in default since late 2008) with Lloyds. It has done the rounds with various DCA's until last month when I received a notice that Capquest had bought the debt. I received 2 letters from Capquest - both last month - I ignored at usual (I know - bury your head in the sand syndrome), but today, I received a Claim Form from Northampton CCBC which completely took me by surprise! The date of the claim is 25 Oct 2013 - the claimant is Capquest (Hampshire) and the address for sending documents is Optima Legal Services in Bradford. The particulars of the Claim: The Claimant's claim is in respect of a credit agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 whereby LLOYDS BANKING GROUP Original Creditor provided the defendant with a credit card. In return the defendant agreed to pay at least a minimum payment given in the statement. A default notice was served on the defendant which has expired and upon which the defendant has failed to comply with. A Notice of Assignment has been sent to the defendant notifying them that this debt has been assigned to the Claimant. The Claimant therefore claims the sum of 11,537.60 plus costs. The Claimant has complied with Sections III and IV of the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct. The claim is for 11536.60 + Court fee of 190.00 + Solicitor's costs of 100.00 = 11827.60 Naturally I am very worried at this stage - I simply do not have the means to pay this (debt was run-up years ago, trying to save a failed business). I did send a CCA request to Lloyds a couple of years ago - but cannot find the proof of posting - so no use. What can I do now - if anything? I take it a CCA request to Capquest will not stop them? Do I enter a defence - is it worth it? If anyone can help at this stage, I would really appreciate it. Many thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I received a claim form from northampton CC yesterday (dated 1st Nov) and would be really grateful to get some advise on how to proceed. I had some financial issues a few years ago and debt spiralled out of control, loads of late charges and interest applied via various creditors when I was struggling to keep my head above water and I just buried my head in the sand. I've managed to sort out most of the debt over last few years but haven't had any dealings with capquest to date, I am trying to move things forward and really need to avoid getting a ccj from this after so many years. The claimant is Capquest for amount over 6k for an old cc (Bank of America assuming MBNA). SOLS are Optima legal. I've check the CRA and there is a default registered by Capquest (default date 4/09). I have no paper work at all for this so can't at this stage confirm last time any details/when last payment was made and amount in charges, although I do know that there were loads of charges/admin fees/interest etc applied to the account with took me over my credit limit and further and further into debt, I don't think I made a payment for some time maybe 5 years + and I haven't been in correspondence with them at all. The amount they are claiming doesn't seem right. I received a letter from Optima legal in mid Oct attached which was threatening legal action, it was worrying but didn't read like a last letter before action. Then received the court papers yesterday nothing else in between (I've attached both letters minus personal details for ref). I'm planning to do the AOS online and send a CPR 31.14 request to the SOLS giving them 7 days to respond to see what they come back with. In the CPR request I was going to ask for true copies of the following - Letter of credit agreement - NOA - Default notice - Full statement of account - itemising all interest & charges from the commencement of the alleged debt Any advise on the above would be gratefully received? Or anyone who has had experience with this lot would be good to hear. Supporting docs attached. Many thanks

I owed some money to QQ in 2009, as usual little at first then with rollovers it kept rising. I was made redundant and could not pay back. Motormile have now obtained a CCJ against me and I need to get it to be set aside. The judgement is linked to an address I have moved from. I have no paperwork related to my debt with QQ and no paperwork from Motormile about the court action, presumably this was send to my previous address. The landlord (council) knows our new address as we informed them. What are the available reasons I can use to as court to set aside. Judgement was entered on 2nd August 2013.

All, Has anybody had success in an offer for voluntary payment. I have received an order after missing 2 monthly payments, on £5598.61 debt. My order monthly payments were agreed at £39.50 via CCJ order. I can make this payments but in all honesty forget to re set up standing order on-line after they were accidentally deleted. I'm in a very sensitive work siltation and an attachment request via the courts would put my job in major jeopardy, I really cannot let this go via my employer. I have contact Optima to request that I pay arrears and continue to pay monthly payments without fail via direct debit. However I haven't heard back from them, I need to reply to the court by this Wednesday. I have a feeling Optima legal will state I need to go direct via the court process of sending in voluntarily request. If a voluntary request is rejected do the courts go ahead with earnings order via employer?

I've recently received a claim form for a debt originally with Quick Quid and then assigned to Motormile Finance, MMF is the Claimant and it's been issued by Optima Legal. I've heard about enforcability issues with Quick Quid in the past, is that still the case? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi Everyone I have an MBNA Credit Card taken out in 2002. Due to circumstances - my wife and I have run up a debt of £17,000+. We now are in a position of being unable to pay. The thing is this has happened becuase everytime we neared the limit - MBNA simply increased it with no investigations into our circumstances or reference to us. Now we have started to default the charges and interest are racking up. I have come across the Sect 78 business. I do not understand it totally - but I am aware you can make the debt unenforcable but not "right it off". Using the letter on this site I made a Section 78 request. This elicited a response about 4 days after they received the letter. They rang, and first of all denied having the letter, until I told them I had the recorded delivery sig, then they spent the next hour trying every trick in the book. They told me they had never lost a Sect 78 case (is this true - probably not?) that my card was legit - that they would comply with the sect 78, that a court had deemed that they had a month to do so and not twelve days (as the law says I believe), that then turned into six weeks in the conversation then back to 21 days! When I go on the attack - with things like this I am accused of being rude! They tried co-ercing me into paying, then bullying by threatening my house (but a second charge cannot force you to sell as I understand?), then using tactics to assualt my "guilt" - like "Do you think it is fair that you spent 17k of our money but refuse to pay it back". I simply replied that banks are greedy and the real debt minus charges and interest was probably about 5k. The other issue is that they have threatened me with both UK and USA Law stating that they are an American Bank! I continually try to get them to confirm this in writing but they won't, nor will they supply me with recordings or transcripts of calls. I see a Subject Access request coming here. I did make an offer of 10% to settle the debt, they turned it down by telephone but refuse to do so in writing, and refuse to come back wiht a coutner offer as asked. The upshot is I received a response to the Sect 78. It is a photocopy of my original tear off slip from the bottom of the app form (I think). It has my sig but no box for theirs - however across the small writing is a signature from them with a date stamp. My suspicion is this has been added recently. There are two tick boxes for PPI, there is a tick in the "not wanted" but it is not mine, as I use left handed ticks and this is right handed. However I have not paid PPI. There is also a photocopy of the back of the tear off slip which seems to be some sort of rudimentary but not full T&C with an interest rate table. The interest rate here is considerably lower than the present one. There is also a copy of the current 2010 conditions, but not as far as I can tell the 2002 ones. I ahve now had a letter from Optima Legal, stating that they have been "instructed" by MBNA but encouraging me to contact MBNA. I rang the number given for Optima but the phone line was on a loop stating the lines are busy. By using my wife's contacts (she is a legal sec) we got a number and got hold of them. At first they denied they had been intructed but simply had been asked to send the letters. I said that "instruction" means something specific and that now I would only deal with them as this would be reasonable. They did not like that, and I asked that their client sent all their requests etc via Optima so lines did not get crossed. In the end, the guy sort of admitted that the letter was confusing and offered to do just that. I am guessing the instruction doesn't exist in law terms (Optima do not have a file on me) and that this is simply scare tactics? If so it has backfired a bit. If MBNA wanted to say that they were thinking of putting the file across to OPtima, then they should have written to me, not Optima stating that they had been instructed when they hadn't. I continue to get letters from MBNA, one saying they are dealing with my complaint (I whinged about Aegis being useless) and I assume they are dealing with UK and USA law question. I also keep receiving various notices by post email and telephone. I keep asking them to send it via Optima since they are "instructed". Yesterday I spent an hour on the telephone with a lady at MBNA who again claimed they had never lost a case, was unclear about the UK USA thing, accused me of being rude everytime I attacked them, would not answer my questions, and when she made comments refused to put them in writing (until the end - but we'll see what transpires) stating that they are a "Telephone Bank" - pah! When I suggested that if they were to take Legal Action they needed a paper trail she dismissed this. My point is I won't be bullied on the phone, and it seems that I am unusual in that respect, as soon as I attack and catch them out (lots of times) I am accused of being rude or wasting time thier time - charming. Sorry about the long post but I need some help with what to do next. I cannot afford the upfront fees for someone to look at what MBNA claim is compliance with the Sect 78 request, nor do I understand this myself. Can someone take a quick look, and am I even in the correct section of the forum? Please, what should I do next? Cheers Chirpy