County Court Summons - Amex**WON IN COURT**

[Padders]

Hello, please can anyone help?

 

I received a County Court Summons for an old Amex card debt of £5537.27 - the debt has been assigned to Capquest Investments Ltd and they are named as the claimant. I did default on this a very long time ago, probably 5 years, and it had not been pursued until earlier this year.

 

I haven't a clue if the amount is correct, it seems to go up by a fortune each time they write to me.

 

I think I probably signed with Amex 7 or 8 years ago. Could you help me with any tactics, I understand I will have to pay, but don't want to get ripped off or a CCJ.

Do I ask for a copy of the original agreement and also a breakdown of the figure including how the balance was incurred?

 

I would very much appreciate any advice.

 

Many thanks

[pt2537]

Hi

 

Welcome to the CAG,

 

Firstly, i note that you have been issued a summons. have you acknowledged service and your intention to defend the claim with the court

 

secondly you need to obtain all the information to allow you to defend this claim

 

send this letter to crapquest, they have to supply the info under the CPR

 

 

 

In the XXXX County Court

Claimant -v- (YOUR NAME)

Claim Number: (CLAIM NUMBER)

 

 

Dear XXX

 

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

 

I have received a recent court claim from your organisation. In order to file a defence and counter claim I require some information. Given that this matter is now the subject of legal proceedings, you are obliged to disclose under the Civil Procedure Rules, the information and documents detailed below.

 

The information must be furnished within fourteen days of the receipt of this letter. If you fail to comply, this will be reported to the Court, a copy of this letter will be provided as evidence to the same and an Order enforcing your compliance will be sought.

 

1. A true copy of the executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.

2. All records you hold on me relevant to this case, including but not limited to:

 

a. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations by your company, or by any previous creditor

b. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with XXXXXXXXXXX

c. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

d.Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).

e. Details of any collection charge added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.

f. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.

g. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998

h. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

i. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

 

3. Any other documents you seek to rely on in court.

 

 

I will require this information within the next fourteen days. I must advise you that if the information is not forthcoming, it will be reported to the Court that you are trying to frustrate proceedings and denying me the opportunity to file a defence and counter claim.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

XXXX (type, don't sign).

 

 

Edit to suit

 

thats the first thing you need to do in my opinion

 

 

regards

paul

[Padders]

Wow, thanks Paul. The Issue date of the Summons is 16 October 2007, so I submitted the form saying that I intended to defend the Summons, so clearly I do need to submit a defence by the end of this week; what should I do?

 

Many thanks

[pt2537]

just want to check one thing if i may, i could have posted a little prematurely

 

the amex card, was it a credit card or a charge card

 

very very important

 

Regards

paul

[Padders]

Definately a credit card

[pt2537]

Also, as time is of the esssence, can you post up the particluars of claim that they have put on the form

 

Regards

paul

[Padders]

ok wont be a mo

[pt2537]

Good, a credit card would fall under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 a charge card wouldnt.

 

if they dont have a copy of your credit agreement they are in trouble as they are not able to enforce the debt in court under s127(3) Consumer Credit Act 1974

[Padders]

Monies due under regulated Credit Agreement number 374605378071059 between American Express Services Europe Ltd and the Defendant which was assigned to the Claimant. The Agreement terminated upon the Defendant(s) failure to comply with the terms of the Agreement and/or the statutory Notice of Default served by American Express Services Europe Ltd The Claimant seeks interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Court Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of issue continuing at the daily rate of £1.15 Any payments or queries should be directed to the claimant on: 0870 0843533 (Phone) or 0870 084 2570 (Fax) or Email: [email protected]

[pt2537]

Padders,

 

sorry i forgot to say, you should remove the agreement number from the post. its personal info

 

Regards

 

paul

[Padders]

Oops thanks, sorry.

 

Should I send the letter to HL Legal & Collections who are acting for Capquest?

[pt2537]

ok, we have something to work with

 

bear with me, im going to ask somone who is very experienced with defence writing to take a look

 

Regards

paul

[pt2537]

Oops thanks, sorry.

 

Should I send the letter to HL Legal & Collections who are acting for Capquest?

 

 

Send it to the people who are named on the summons, there should be a contact address for service of documents

 

also, send it next day special delivery

 

regards

paul

[Padders]

Thanks Paul. I will. I really am grateful to you for your help.

 

Peter

[Curlyben]

Send it to CapQuest as HL Legal are simply "Solicitors For Hire".

[Padders]

ok

[tomterm8]

Do you know when you last made a payment / wrote admitting you owed the claimant money?

[Padders]

The last payment would have been probably 4 years ago; I do not recall writing admitting I owed them money

[tomterm8]

do you know exactly what date you need to submit your defencce by?

[Padders]

its dated 16 October. 5 days for Service, then 28 days later, would make it due in 18 November

[tomterm8]

Have you sent them a credit agreement request, with £1 postal order yet?

 

did they write to you before the court case?

[Padders]

Paul, what should I detail in my defence?

Thanks

Peter

[Padders]

Hi, yes they have written to me, in March this year. I havent sent a letter other than the one recommended in this thread

[tomterm8]

Hm... it's a bit awkward, then. Normally, if we get a case pretty soon after the court case starts, the process is to send them a letter asking for all information (i.e. the letter CB posted) including the credit agreement letter.

 

The routine is that if they can't provide you with a credit agreement, or they made a mistake in the assignment or default notice, or they have added unlawful charges, these are all areas where you can file a defence.

 

In your case, there's no way they are going to get back to you in time.

 

What you are going to have to do is produce some kind of holding defence saying you've never heared from them, and don't know very much at all - you don't know how they've made up their figures, you've asked them for a copy of the credit agreement etc.

 

The inevitable fact is once you get the required information, you will need to submit an amended defence changing what you are saying, to something more legally accurate. that will cost you money (£75) but there isn't much choice because of the lack of time.

 

I'll have a pm or two with paul (pt2537) about what we can do, and get back to you.

[Padders]

Excellent, thanks. Should I send a £1 with the letter also? I only completed the acknowledgment; my father died a fortnight ago and have been side tracked with that.

 

I look forward to your advice and really am grateful for it

 

Peter