Next/cohen claimform - hearing despite no signed cca **VACATED**

[nas2211]

Hi all,

 

I sent a CCA request to Next Directory on 23 June 2007.

 

I received a letter back from a Ms M Singer stating the following:

 

"I can advise you that we do not hold a signed credit agreement, however the absence of this does not mean that the outstanding balance on your account does not exist.

 

Whilst Next will not seek to use litigation to enforce any monies owing if payments are not maintained, we will write to you and the monies will still be owed, as goods that have been charged for have been ordered by, and delivered, until the balance has been paid in full."

 

I had previously been paying my monthly minimum statement amount on a balance of around £275. However when i received this letter from Next I stopped paying as I was not prepared to pay when they could not produce a CCA.

 

I started receiving many telephone calls every day and letters threatening debt collection agencies.

 

I wrote back to Next Debt collection dept requesting that the repetitive calls cease and that as they were unable to produce a signed CCA I did not acknowledge the debt. I also quoted Ms Singer's letter re not using litigation.

 

I heard nothing more until yesterday when a County Court Claim form came through my door filed by Next for an amount of £312.57 plus £40.00 court fee plus £50.00 solicitors costs. Total £402.57.

 

I really need some advice as to how I respond to this as I have in writing from Next that they do not have a signed CCA so doesn't that mean the debt is unenforceable???? If it is, why have they claimed against me! I really don't want a CCJ against my name...

 

Any advice very gratefully received,

 

A very anxious Nas :?

[Curlyben]

For starters call the court to ensure this is indeed correct.

After that send this to next asking for full disclosure of information.

Edit as needed.

I have received the Court claim filed by your Company. To enable me to file a defence and counter-claim, I require specific information regarding the account to be provided forthwith. 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. This letter supersedes the Data Protection request made to on the 24th April. The information must be furnished by the 22nd May 2007, which gives you ten days to provide what has been requested. 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. A transcript of all transactions, including charges, fees, interest, repayments and payments and both the original amount of the loan and any repayments made to it the account.

b. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations

c. 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 Barclaycard.

d. 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.

e. 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).

f. 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.

g. 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.

h. A genuine copy of any deed of assignment, or proof that you have a legal right to this money.

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

j. 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.

 

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

4. A copy of your complaints procedure, as required by the Consumer Credit Act 2006.

5. Clarification of the date you acquired the debt, what organisation you acquired it from, their registered office, their company number (if any) and what legal title they had to this debt, and what credit license number they had at the time that the debt was purchased or entered into.

 

I will require this information within the next ten 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.

[NitrousOxide]

Curley Bean,

There's a bit missing from the begining.

Who is the solicitor on the court form?

You need to aknowledge the claim. This can be done online.

[nas2211]

Thanks for you swift response!

 

Curlyben - when you say call the court is this to inform them Next have no CCA in my name or is it to confirm the claim should have been issued against me in the first place? I'm sorry if it sounds like a daft question it's just receiving the claim out of the blue has really thrown me.

 

For it to jump from Next debt collection dept to a court claim with no letters from Debt collection agency or solicitors in between seems quite strange to me.

 

NitrousOxide - It's been filed via Moneyclaim by Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors. I wasn't sure if i should acknowledge the claim immediately or seek advice before doing so. I have until 29th September to acknowldege and I didn't want to make any move without getting some advice first.

 

Huge thanks, Nas

[Curlyben]

The reasoning for calling the court is to ensure this claim is genuine and also to acknowledge service. That's it for the moment.

You then have 28 days from the date of service to file a defence, hence the letter for info.

[malaga1]

Next have done the same to me.Issued through Howard Cohen.Next have said they have no agreement.They sent me a blank form! I issued defence online. It has now been transferred to my local court.I have returned my AQ but heard nothing from Next at all.

[groovychickmum]

howard cohen with next.....omg.......i have letter stating no agreement, closed file thats it............

 

didnt the act change slightly this year or last about online agreements though?

but i think it meant online agreements after the act came in, i might be wrong(i usually am)...... i would like a bit more info about this regarding the 'new' inclusion about online agreements and from which date they can go to court without a signed credit agreement.

[The Phantom]

I think the amendments are not retrospective, i.e. apply only to agreements made after April this year (after the date the amendment came into force)

That's what has been posted here on the CAG site previously

[NitrousOxide]

I think the amendments are not retrospective, i.e. apply only to agreements made after April this year (after the date the amendment came into force)

That's what has been posted here on the CAG site previously

I agree.

Otherwise my egg card I applied for in 1999 that they can't find the agreement to would now become enforcable.

[NitrousOxide]

By the way,

I'm begining to see a similarity here between Howard Cohen and Brian Carter.

Suing as a means to collect. You have a letter from Next saying they won't litigate and have no agreement. You should quite bullet proof.

Yet strangely a court document turns up!

[nas2211]

Next have done the same to me.Issued through Howard Cohen.Next have said they have no agreement.They sent me a blank form! I issued defence online. It has now been transferred to my local court.I have returned my AQ but heard nothing from Next at all.

 

malaga1 - how did you word your defence? Did you use a legally sounding one or simply write in your own words about how they have no cca, have put that in writing etc? Or is there a defence you followed from on here? If so would you be kind enough to point me in the direction of it please so i could use it to guide me.

[nas2211]

Nitrousoxide, that sounds spot on to, asif next are using these solicitors to pressure people into admitting liability without them providing a cca...sneaky.

 

First thing tomorrow I'll contact the court to confirm the claim is genuine, then I need to think about my defence...

[MikeSplicer]

Subscribing

[groovychickmum]

i thought i was right, just needed someone to clarify.

so, prior to april2007 no agreement....bye bye dca

o i'm so glad.....and this is my oath(witnessed by u all)

 

IF I EVER WANT SOMETHING....I WILL SAVE (HOW DO U DO THAT WITH KIDS)

[linz2011]

No case here - nothing to worry about - hope you kept the letter from next in a lovely file;) - oh how silly they can be

 

I just got 2 x claims from Howard Cohen - did not even know they had it no letter nothing - i put in a defence (what a lovely chap from cag wrote for me) one they have defended and AQ has gone off the other nothing as yet just waiting

 

Good luck and do not worry alone

[GaryH]

Acknowledge it straight away.

 

Can you also post the POC please, and any other relevant information - details of any default notice, does the debt contain charges, etc..

 

PM if you'd rather not post it up here.

[Curlyben]

This will be extremely helpful: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/96228-urgent-please-help.html#post890299

[NitrousOxide]

Curly,

You still need to edit post 2.

[malaga1]

Nas, the link above from Curlyben is to Monopolys thread she is going through the same thing with Next.Laiste wrote her a great defence. I had already entered mine online by then basically saying I didnt acknoledge any debt to Next.They had no agreement etc. You will get lots of help here from someone with more experience than me! Good Luck with this!

[nas2211]

Okay, so I've just ackowledged the claim and indicated that I will be defending all of the claim.

 

The POCs are as follows:

 

"The Claimant's claim is for the sum of £312.57 being the balance outstanding on the Defendant's account in respect of the price of goods supplied and delivered by the Claimant to the order of the Defendant through it's mail order catalogue service together with any charges applied to the account in accordance with the terms and conditions of use.

 

Full details of the cost of all purchases made and details of agreed payment arrangements have been given to the Defendant. The Defendant has defaulted in payment.

 

The Claimant claims £312.57 "

 

Amount Claimed £312.57

Court Fee £ 40.00

Solicitor's costs £ 50.00

Total amount £402.57

 

The last statement I received from next was dated 20th July 2007 and indicated my balance was £302.73 and they had applied the £1.00 cca request fee to my balance.

 

The only charges on the statement were the usual monthly service charge which was included in the balance amount of £302.73.

 

I didn't pay the monthly payment as they had failed to provide a signed cca and had put in writing to me they did not have one. I have this letter safely filed for future use.

 

They sent me a payment reminder also dated 20th July 2007 saying I must pay £55.60 to my outstanding balance of £302.73 by 10th August 2007 to prevent my account being passed to a DCA, additional costs being added, default would be registered, collector call at my home, summons being issued etc.

 

I have had nothing further from Next or any DCA on their behalf since that letter. I have had no Default Notice or any other documents relating to this account until I received the court claim which was issued on 10th September 2007.

 

I'm pretty amazed that only 1 month after their payment deadline a claim has been issued. Very fast work.

 

I didn't receive an August statement which would have been due dated 20th August 2007.

 

Monopoly's thread looks incredibly useful and I'll certainly be using it as a guide for me. Thanks Curlyben for the link.

[nas2211]

Should I start preparing a defence along the lines of the one laiste prepared for Monopoly or should I write a letter to the solicitors stating Next have comfirmed in writing they hold no signed cca and therefore the debt is not enforcable?

 

Also, in the poc's there is no mention of an account number and they state I have defaulted on the account when they have never sent me a notice of default, only a letter saying it might occur if I failed to pay x amount.

 

Any advice gratefully received as always

[nas2211]

Can anyone help?? I'm getting very anxious that I need to file a defence soon.....

[nas2211]

I've drafted a letter to send to Next and to copy to the solicitors as per Monopoly's thread:

 

Claim number: xxxxxxxxxx

Account number: xxxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Sir/Madam

I have received the Court claim filed by your company. To enable me to file a defence and counter-claim, I require specific information regarding the account to be provided forthwith. 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 by the 6th October 2007, which gives you ten days to provide what has been requested. 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.

The following information is required: -

A true copy of the original signed agreement between Next and myself.

A true copy of any Default Notice issued in respect of this account, with some form of proof of postage that it was served with proper notice before this claim was filed.

All data that Next hold on me from all relevant filing systems, to include a complete list of all transactions and charges on the account held with Next. I also require a transcript of all recorded telephone calls pertinent to this account and all notes made in relation to those calls.

Additionally, where there has been any event in the account history which has required manual intervention by any member of Next, or any other 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 this account.

If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

Details of any collection charges 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.

I look forward to your co-operation in this matter and receiving the documentation by the 6th October 2007.

Additionally, as the information requested contains sensitive personal details, I expect it to sent by guaranteed next day delivery, to ensure its safe arrival.

Yours faithfully,

 

As, following my original cca request on 23 June, I received a letter from Next stating they do not hold a signed credit agreement, I'm unsure as to whether I should amend the letter to state I am in receipt of such a letter or just send the above letter as it is?

 

Can anyone advise please??

[rory32]

Just send the letter as is. Send it next day special delivery (cost £4.30). Remember not to phone the solicitors, everything needs to be in writing.

[tezviper]

As far as I am aware the failure to provide a true copy of the CCA is a complete defence in itself.

 

TezViper