Marlin/Mortimer Clarke Help

[Bubb]

Hello all,

 

I recently received my court papers from these fine people

 

It was for a bank overdraft with HSBC that I couldn't pay as I was made redundant back in 2001. I now have employment, and since then I have been paying a monthly amount to a DCA, until Marlin bought the debt November last year.

 

On the court papers, they are claiming £1,040.81 in interest on my debt which stands at £2,214.80, which, along with the court and solicitor fees comes out at a total of £3420.61

 

What I am worried about is the next part of the wording which states their intention to charge a daily rate of interest of 0.49 until Judgment or sooner payment.

 

Does this mean if I want to defend the interest charges (I admit the original debt), they are just going to keep mounting up?

 

I've read many threads on here regarding these guys, but haven't heard of any outcomes yet.

 

I don't really know what to do now. I haven't asked for anything from them as yet, simply because I didn't know I had that right as I have only just found out about these forums.

 

Please help

[42man]

ok you have to acknowledge the claim within 14 days on the date of the papers, then you have another 14 days to file the defence....

 

I'm not an expert on this but I would send the solicitors this in the first instance....send it by recorded / guaranteed delivery....have you attempted to reclaim any of the excessive charges on the account ?

 

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 *********.(AMEND TO THE COMPANY NAME)

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).

[B3rty]

Its worth SARing HSBC because if the amount contains unlawful charges it could make the default notice unlawful and you have case law Woodchester v Swain to back this p, plus the amount shown in the POC could be disputed

[Bubb]

Thanks for the replies both.

 

I've been reading through a few other threads since posting this and I am starting to gain a little confidence in what I need to do. However, I don't really know the order to do them in.

 

42man, I haven't done anything as of yet apart from write to them asking to pay monthly, as I was doing before the debt was sold to them.

 

B3rty, HSBC terminated the account more than 6 years ago, will the unlawful charges still apply in that case? I do know they made charges on my overdraft as I went over the agreed limit shortly after being made redundant.

 

How do I go about SARing HSBC? Any useful threads you could point me to would be a great help.

[42man]

Don't ignore the court papers, they will possibly ignore your letter and let a judge decide, they are hoping you won't defend and that they will get judgment by default.....you do not need to send a SAR as the letter I have copied in above is a CPR - Civil Procedure Request. They have to provide what you have asked as it is relevant to the defence....

[Bubb]

Thanks 42man

 

Ok, I will get that typed up and sent off tomorrow. As I said, they have provided me with no documents regarding this debt other than a letter back in November saying that they had taken over the debt from the 05/10/2007, although to be fair I didn't actually ask for anything as I was too scared!

[Bubb]

If they do produce the documents, do I have any argument regarding the amount of interest they intend to charge?

 

The way they have worded it considering it is a court document is ridiculous ;

 

2. Interest at the rate pursuant to the Agreement namely 1,040.81 & continuing until Judgment etc etc

 

It sounds like the rate of interest is 1,040.81% !!! (which obviously it is not)

[42man]

You should also dispute this on the excessive charges also and they have to have supplied you with a default...

[B3rty]

Theres an irony here on what assumptions they make for the charges

 

I bet they haven't seen an agreement simply because you never signed one other than for the account so its those T&Cs that are relevant here...

 

They always claim back to the default date but they purchased the account a few months back...

 

They work on the premise that you wont defend

 

BTW is this Marlin or Marlin behalf of Phoenix?

[Bubb]

Hi guys

 

42man, yes they sent me a default notice saying they would be handing the debt over to their solicitors and proceeding with court action.

 

B3rty, the company stated on the solicitor's letter is Phoenix Recoveries(UK) Ltd Sarl-Marlin Recoveries.

 

I've sent off the letter above (thanks 42man) today by special delivery.

 

Have also acknowledged the court forms on-line.

 

So I just play the waiting game now to see what Marlin send me?

 

Is it worth me asking HSBC for anything bearing in mind the account was terminated by them in 2001, after they had slapped a load of charges on it.

[B3rty]

Thats not a default notice as per the legal requirements this has to be issued by the creditor and would have come from HSBC

 

Marlin are Phoenix's servicing agents as Phoenix are based in Europe....

 

Mortimier Clarke are their legal entity known as solicitors but not a firm as you or I would know it, they have one registered solicitor who is also a co-director of companies in the Marlin group who are basically virtual trading styles to look make them look like they are bigger then they are

 

Just for your own amusement, put the Marlin postcode into google maps and look at their offices....

 

Dont be fooled by the Marlin Europe address this is a PO box in London.

 

What you have is a business set up just to litigate unsecured debt into secured debt as the money behind this is private equity and its all about profit...

[Bubb]

Ok....

 

Seems they all work in some sort of shed in a field

 

B3rty, I have heard nothing from HSBC since 2001 when they first handed the debt over to a DCA. Am I supposed to get a letter from them before Marlin can take me to court?

 

If it goes to a court hearing, how do they represent themselves at my defence if they only have 1 solicitor? Maybe they hire a local solicitor on their behalf or something.

 

Even more interesting, they seem to process all their debts electronically using custom databases/algorithms - to filter out the likely payers I presume. It all seems far too automated to me, almost as if a handful of people could make you feel like you are dealing with some massive financial institution.

[B3rty]

The bank should have sent a default notice giving you 7 days ( Its now 14)to bring the account up to date , this needs to contain certain information and dates to make it legal...with out issuing this the debt can't be assigned.

 

I would definately SAR HSBC

 

They would appoint a solicitor to attend the local court hearing..

[Bubb]

Is this the letter I send to HSBC?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/516-1-data-protection-act.html

 

 

Sorry to sound a little dense - up until a few days ago I was truly clueless about any of this information (or even the existence of the CAG forums), I just let them shout & bully me into this situation. I'm in IT support, so I am used to getting shouted at by people

 

Will HSBC even have records back that far considering I opened the bank account in 1997?

[Bubb]

Ok small update. On the original letter I sent to Marlin, it's taken 8 days for them to send me a letter saying they want to charge me £10 for a SAR and they cannot process my request until that time.

 

I'm sure I read a thread on here stating that I wouldn't have to pay this because they are the ones taking me to court and I need this information for my defence, but I cannot find any topics now ..typical

 

If someone could let me know if I do indeed need to pay this £10 I would be grateful.

[Bubb]

Sorry to bump this, but could anyone give me a quick answer as to if I need to pay for a CPR when they are the ones filing for a CCJ?

 

They seem to think I am asking for a SAR in reply to 42man's letter I sent them.

 

Thanks

[B3rty]

No you dont.....look at CPR 16, 18 & 31

 

CPR - Parts and Practice Directions

 

However for Northampton they dont have to provide the agreement attached to the claim form.....

[Bubb]

Yay, b3rty

 

Thanks for the reply. I will get a letter off to them stating I am requesting a CPR not a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request).

 

Also, I was looking at the court claim form again, and I am worried about the POC, particularly this under section 2 ;

 

2. Interest at the rate pursuant to the Agreement namely 1,040.81 & continuing until Judgment or sooner payment at the daily rate of 0.49 or in the alternative interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984.

 

Does this mean that if they produce all the required documents, it goes to court and I lose, I am going to end up owing an even greater amount due to a daily rate of interest? Our debt has already increased from the original debt of £2,214.80 to £3420.61 due to the interest they have applied.

 

Sorry to keep asking all the questions, but my husband normally deals with everything financial, but he has recently become very ill and unable to help me with any of this, so I am kind of stuck not really knowing exactly what I am doing :(

[B3rty]

You are jumping ahead a bit here as they have to produce a copy of the overdraft agreement, default notice and notice of assignment....however the POC needs to check out so if they have assumed an incorrect rate of interest thats one more thing to add to the list....

[Bubb]

Thanks B3rty, you have put my mind at rest for now

 

Will get a letter off to them Monday for the CPR and take it from there.

[Bubb]

Hi all,

 

Ok update on my situation. After multiple requests for information, I finally had a letter from Mortimer/Clarke saying they have requested the info and will pass it on to me. However, that is the last thing I heard from them and my defence needs to be in by next Wednesday (4th June).

 

Do I need to start a separate thread to get help with my defence in the legal issues sub-forum? I know what I want to say but I really have no idea how to present it in a formal, legal manner.

 

Basically, I would like some proof as to Marlin actually owning my debt before I look at a settlement. So far, I have had nothing from them except a letter stating they had taken over my debt and then demands etc.

 

I have always wanted to pay the debt off, indeed I told them it would be repaid by the end of this year and now I am in the situation where I can repay the full amount, however I want to object to the amount of interest they have added, namely £1040.81 on a debt of £2214.80 that they purchased just last October. I think this is completely unreasonable.

 

Depending on what paperwork (if any) turns up before next Wednesday, I would like to be able to alter my defence in light of this information - is this also possible to say?

 

Any help in how I put all this down in writing would be so appreciated.

 

Thanks all

[Bubb]

Bump for me

 

Could anyone please help me on how to word my defence or point me to a suitable one for my situation. I think it's a fairly simple case. I'm objecting to the debt because I have received no proof Marlin own the debt. If they can provide all the correct paperwork, then I am willing to repay the debt in full (big thank you mum & dad), but want to object to the interest (which I cannot afford to pay off if I pay the debt off) they have applied as I believe it to be totally unreasonable. I do not mind paying the court fees/solicitors costs that they have stated on my court claim form.

 

If anyone can help that would be great as my deadline is fast approaching.

[mcuth]

If it's any help to you, I have a claim ongoing with MCE Portfolio, who are using Marlins to collect and Mortimer Clarke as solicitors:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/137898-mce-portfolio.html

 

It seems they're playing the same game with your docs & proof as in my case (though I haven't done the CPR18 request). Anyway, my defence is on the thread if you want to use any of it

 

Cheers

Michael

[Bubb]

Thanks mcuth, your thread makes interesting reading.

 

I posted my defence off today, deadline Wednesday.

 

So far I have heard nothing back from Marlin.

[mcuth]

So far I have heard nothing back from Marlin.

 

Ditto - I can't wait to see them in court

 

Cheers

Michael