Me v 1st Credit (Stat Demand)

[nicklea]

Well done Gary Gary could you give some info on what costs you asked for and how you went about asking for costs. I know some people have not been successful in getting costs awarded and obviously if everyone could successfully get costs then that might start to act as a slight deterant to these DCA money grabbers.

 

 

 

Thanks Gary. I think some people may not have asked for costs until the actual hearing so that's probably where the problem has arose in them being awarded.

 

 

Rory,

 

If it's of any help, I was in a similar situation and only asked for costs at the actual hearing. However, I had prepared my costs prior to this and it was just a case of handing the sheet of paper to the district judge.

 

This is what I requested and got:-

 

Costs For Set Aside Application Case No xxx

xx Court xxx April 2008

Rate Claimed Litigant in Person rate of £9.25 / hour

Travelling Costs HMRC Approved Mileage Rate of 40p / mile

1) Time spent identifying and understanding relevant legislation.

Time spent identifying and understanding relevant case law.

Time spent preparing affidavit and skeleton argument.

18 hours £166.50

2) Time spent communicating with Respondant and swearing affadavit

2 hours £ 18.50

3) Loss of day’s wages for attending court on xxx April 2008 £ 80.00

4) Travelling costs for return journey to court 2 x 20 miles £ 16.00

Total £281.00

Notes

Before undertaking this myself I approached a solicitor to handle this. I was given an estimate of 3 to 6 hours at £170/hour to prepare the Application (£510-£1020) plus extra for attending the court.

I respectfully request that the court give consideration to awarding these costs on the indemnity basis or, in the alternative, on the standard basis as I believe, in any case, that they have been proportionately and reasonably incurred and/or are of a proportionate and reasonable amount.

In support of this request, I would also like to refer the court’s attention to the authority of the High Court in the case of:-

Hammonds (a firm) v Pro-Fit USA Ltd [2007] EWHC 1998 (Ch)

In this case, Mr Justice Warren confirmed that it was usual for an indemnity award to be made:-

27 So far as disputed debts are concerned, the practice of the court is not to allow the insolvency regime to be used as a method of debt collection where there is a bona fide and substantial dispute as to the debt. Save in exceptional cases, the court will dismiss a petition based on such a debt (usually with an indemnity costs order against the petitioner).

[bolshy]

welldone GaryH...restores our faith in the great british justice system....thanks for the info....I intend to set a side a demand...I'm hoping mine to as successful as yours.....great news

[Vampyra]

subscribing and well done!

[nightwalker]

hi there

i have read the threads regarding 1 st credit not sure how to deal with this. havej ust been served a sd on 28-6 2008

so have until 16.to file the forms 6.5 6.4 .it doesnt say which court they use . the debt came froom a credit card which i have agreed with others to pay a reduced amount each month.can i argue that bankcruptcy will mean no one gets payed .

 

 

hellp going mad

[rory32]

Hi nightwalker. You need to start your own thread on this.

 

The forms are filed at your local court (if they do bankruptcy - most do but some of the smaller courts don't) as this is where the set aside hearing will be heard.

[GaryH]

They paid, btw. On time as well!

[Having_A_Knightmare]

What a great thread.

 

Well done Gary

 

HAK

[thewardrobe]

GaryH - wonder if you'd mind taking a look at my thread -

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/152479-help-needed-stat-demand.html

 

I'm about to fill in the set aside papers and I'm not sure what to write on the affidavit? Have you any suggestions?

Everyone's help with this is fantastic - I can't say how gratefull I am for stumbling across this site!

[tiokim]

Has Gary heard anything from 1st credit since the SD fiasco??Have they gonne away??

[Having_A_Knightmare]

Just subbing up as I am doing my defence tommorow for my SD.

 

HAK

[blipvert]

an excellent thread.

[overdone]

Just subbing up as I am doing my defence tommorow for my SD.

 

HAK

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/149110-1st-credit-stat-demand.html#post1576826

Hope my thread, above can help.

[GaryH]

Has Gary heard anything from 1st credit since the SD fiasco??

Not a sausage! Doubt I will either, although I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually flog it on to another bunch of bottom feeders.

[liz01]

Hi Canbrilla,

 

Depends on how efficiant the court is really - if the court is busy then you may end up waiting ages to be called in (bit like at the doctors:D) but assuming they don't turn up then you should only actually be in front of the judge for 10 minutes or less.

 

You may wish to write to 1st and re-iterate that the debt is quite clearly subject to a genuine legal dispute. There is clearly a triable issue. They are put to proof on existance, enforcability, assignment, etc, etc.. Their statutory demand must, therefore, be set-aside and to run the application to a hearing would be a waste of expense and court resources. Invite them to formally withdraw the statutory demand - and warn that if they decline to do so you will rely on the letter on the issue of costs and conduct generally. Enclose a costs schedule. They would then have to be incredibly stupid not to withdraw it. And if they don't then show it to the judge and hammer them for costs.

 

Have you got a thread?

Hi i have been posting some threads about my husbands dealings with 1st credit (cititcards originally) was reading yours today as we have a hearing on the 30th october, we have disputed the debt due to charges etc, the debt is for £959, we are extremely anxious about this and wondered if you could give any advice further to what we have been given as to what to do and say on the day, do you think they will turn up? and do we let 1st credit know about the hearing or will the court let them know, how will we know if they are going to withdraw and what happens with the hearing if they do withdraw, thanks for you time

[iamnotgoingtopay]

I would like to add my 2 penny worth to this thread. I noted the solicitor is stated as being "R Marr" . I checked the law society website and see he is stated as being "employed by 1st Credit" which brings me to question of COSTS being claimed by 1st Credit. I would look VERY closely at the costs being claimed by them both for Court work and for simple paperwork as they MAY have hard time claiming them. If he is employed by them they are NOT his client and thus will be hard to claim that they are paying him say £150 per hour. I bet they have been milking system, although that is just a guess NOT a statement. Regards Debtor

[babybear39]

Interesting as I seriously doubt 1st crud are paying him £150 per hour

[citizenB]

Hi i have been posting some threads about my husbands dealings with 1st credit (cititcards originally) was reading yours today as we have a hearing on the 30th october, we have disputed the debt due to charges etc, the debt is for £959, we are extremely anxious about this and wondered if you could give any advice further to what we have been given as to what to do and say on the day, do you think they will turn up? and do we let 1st credit know about the hearing or will the court let them know, how will we know if they are going to withdraw and what happens with the hearing if they do withdraw, thanks for you time

 

Liz, the court will advise 1st credit of the hearing and if they are going to withdraw they will either write to you saying they are discontinuing or you will get to the court on the day and they just wont have turned up.

 

If you do get a notice of discontinuance from 1st Credit, then do please check with the court that this is so.

 

Let us know here also, because I think if they do discontinue you can apply for costs.

[GaryH]

Hope the hearing went well liz01. Let us know how you got on.

 

By way of an update - 1st Credit have defaulted my credit file, so because they are unable to prove the existance of the supposed 'debt' I will shortly be filing a claim to remove the default. I'll update the thread as and when.

[GaryH]

Default now removed from all the CRA's files.

[babybear39]

YAY!!! Congrats