Help Needed With LLoyds Court Case

[mrman2007]

Hello All,

 

really hope you can help and also that i am posting my thread in the right forum.

 

I had a LLoyds black horse car loan about 3.5 years ago. the original agreement was for about £30,000 i have paid off about £18,000 so have a balance of about 12k remaining. after the 3 years i was due to hand the car back or pay the balloon. to cut a long story short i have done neither. this morning i had a letter from the courts saying I am in court on monday 28th jan! the letter has been at my house for a few weeks but i have been away on holiday until today so obviously had no idea i was due to be in court. the fees have mounted up and even if i hand the car back i will still owe them in excess of 5k.

 

Can anyone tell me if i am within my rights to ask the judge for some more time while i prepare my case and perhaps do a SAR request or data protection request to get a copy of agreement and breakdown of charges etc to make sure they are correct and that it is all enforceable. if so how long should i ask for? am i right in saying it can take them 60 days to respond to a SAR?

 

help would me much apreciated as my court hearing is not far away.

 

Thanks

[Blossomandebony]

Hi, Mrman,

 

What sort of hearing is it? What did the court forms say?

 

If you post more details someone can give you the right advice.

 

BAE

[mrman2007]

Details of claim = RETURN OF GOODS AFTER TERMINATION OF AGREEMENT

 

I hope i have a leg to stand on with this.

 

thanks for your help

[mrman2007]

sorry found a bit more......

 

Following default under a hire purchase agreement the claimant is entitled to the return of the goods, payment of the arrears, and half the total price and further sums due thereunder....

 

i asked for time to prepare my defense but the court receptionist told me to come to court on monday and ask the judge for time????

 

not sure what other info you need if any? can you make sense of this?

[Blossomandebony]

Hi again.

 

My thinking was actually whether this was an 'Allocation Hearing' - these are usually, (but not always) held before the main hearing to decide issues like which 'track' the case is allocated to, whether the defendant / claimant needs to produce documents, and by which date, etc. Basically the District Judge will use this hearing to clarify these matters with the both parties and issue directions on how the case is to proceed.

 

Alternatively, the claimant may have asked for a summary judgement at a hearing, where they will ask the judge to make a decision against you.

 

If the court form does not indicate either of these hearings, I would get on the phone asap to the court to clarify at which stage this case is and what type of hearing it is.

 

Once we know that, I am sure you will get the advice you need - if not, I will send a message to someone with experience in these matters to help you out.

 

Hope that makes sense!

 

BAE

[mrman2007]

Thankyou you have been most helpful. I am pretty sure they are taking me to court to take the car off me. i dont want this to happen as they will send it to public auction where it will sell for a lot less than it is worth. i will then be responisble for paying the balance between what it gets at auction and what i owe them. from your experience will they give me more time to compile my case based on the fact i only saw the summons today and the hearing is on monday?

 

i'd like to do a S.A.R to make sure it is all above board and also to get a copy of the original agreement. surely i am entitled to these before the case can be heard and decided on?

[Blossomandebony]

Hi, MrMan

 

Now that the dispute is at the court stage, there is no need to do a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request). They have to send you any information you require under CPR (Civil Procedure Rules).

 

Below is a template letter you need to send to LLoyds asap, by recorded delivery - not forgetting to edit it for your own purposes.

 

 

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 XXXXXXXXXX

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).

 

You will also need to Write a Witness Statement detailing your situation and why you have not replied to the claim, (holidays etc), and any other relevant details as to why you need more time. Only you can do this as only you know the situation exactly. For example, the DJ will want to know that you have legitimate grounds for defending the case, and why you have let it get to this stage. Plus if you get it all down in a statement you will feel less pressure in court as you can refer to it. If you get to the court early on Monday you can get an affadavit, which is basically a sworn statement that what you've written is true, signed by the court staff for free. I would if it was me.

 

By the way, the template letter is letter 3 in this excellent thread by Tomterm.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/108467-basic-introduction-consumer-credit.html

I would give it a good read because it will at the very least reassure you that the 'courtroom' is not as scary as it sounds!

 

 

And most of all, read this!! http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/guidance-notes/64911-got-court-date-guide-new-post.html

 

BAE:)

[mrman2007]

Thanks again for your help, i will follow your advice and make my statement for the judge, i would say that my ability to pay is the reson it has got this far, is it a good enough reason for him to give me more time to prepare? also i think the relationship with black horse broke down after i missed a few payments.

[Blossomandebony]

mrman,

 

How did you get on at court?

 

BAE