urgent help needed, court summons

[mp3_foci]

i'm in need of some advise.....fast.

 

i had a 5yr hp agreement that i took out in march 04, for 5yrs. ends march 09.

in aug last mth they sold the debt to link financial who demanded full payment or the car back there and then!!! having checked the best i could i may of been about 45-50 days in arrears.

i had no letter from ford stating that they were selling my debt, just a demand letter from link financial. i called ford and they refused to speak with me as they had sold the acc and they wouldn't say why, only that they could!! so i called link and they said they are not at liberty to say why neither only that they wanted the money within 7 days. then they sent me a letter demanding to call them to give them the car so i called them and asked what was going on as ford were and are still taking my payments and i'm up to date, they got all attitude on me and hung up.

this morning i have received a court summons and it says i was issued a default notice in may!!!!!!!!! i have never had a default notice from ford, only ever a letter to say i was a month behind which i paid.

ford still refuse to speak to me so i called link to get me a copy of the notice.

i have no idea where i stand or what to do, can anyone offer any idvise please.

[palomino]

You need to send the form back to the court disputing all of the claim and also counter-claiming your costs in defending the case.

 

At this point you do not need to send in your defence - you have a couple of weeks before that needs to be done.

 

Basically Link have shown no cause of action. There is no notice of assignment from Ford and your payments are up-to-date and are still being paid. Ensure you have proof of all your payments ready.

 

In the meantime spend a few hours browsing round here and you'll get a good feel for things. One good thread to start with is this one : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/159445-getting-them-reveal-their.html#post1707671

 

And cheer up! We've all been in the same sort of situation.

[surfaceagentx20]

By 'Form' Palomino means the acknowledgment of service form. complete the form and return it to the court indicating that you intend to contest the claim. Don't send the Claim Form back, keep it.

 

Then please post up here a copy of the Particulars of Claim you have received (after removing any information which may identify you) so that we can see what is being alleged against you and how best to defend your position. Often the form is quite short so you might just want to type in what is said rather than scanning it.

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

the particulars read:

 

 

BETWEEN: link financial ltd CLAIMANT

AND me DEFENDANT

 

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM (CONSUMER CREDIT ACT CLAIM)

 

1: the claimant claims the return of its goods and payment of the unpaid balance of the sums due and payable under an agreement and / or associated agreements made between the defendant(s) and FORD CREDIT in writting and assigned to the claimant. the defendants have failed to make payment as required by the agreements and to comply with notices served by the claimant and / assignor.

 

PARTICULARS

 

1: date of agreement: **/0*/04

2: parties to the agreement: ford credit and me

3: number of agreement ***********

4:the defantant signed agreement at: where it was done

5: the goods: my car:

6: total price of goods: £*****

7: paid up sum: *****

8: unpaid balance of the total price: £****

9: default notice served by first class post: 06/05/08

10:right to demand delivery of goods: 01/09/08

11: unpaid balance of the total price includes £100.00 admin fee

 

2: the agreement terminated upon the failure of the defantant to comply with the terms of the agreement. the claimant demands the return of the goods but the defandant failed to surrender the goods.

and the claimant claims:

1: an order for the delivery of the goods.

2: £2***.**

3: costs.

 

dated 12th sept 08.

 

statement of truth blah blah blah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now am i right in thinking these people want my car as well as the money?? i have never recieved any default notice nor have i ever had any letter from ford informing me that they were selling my acc to these idiots. i haven't even had a letter informing me that my acc is even terminated!!!!

Edited September 30, 2008 by mp3_foci

[surfaceagentx20]

OK, thanks for this. Is there one or more than one Defendant?

 

In any event, the Claimant is bringing proceedings under section 90 of The Consumer Credit Act 1974 for the recovery of 'protected goods', those are goods for which you have paid one third or more of the price. The procedure for bringing the claim is governed by the Civil Procedure rules (CPR), in particular CPR Part 7 and especially CPR Part 7 Practice Direction 7B. To comply, the proceedings will have been issued out of your local county court and the court wil have fixed a date and time when you should attend the court on the hearing of the application. The date for the hearing should be at least 28 days ahead of the date you recevied the claim form. What date is given for the hearing?

 

Ford Credit as such would not have been a party to the agreement. I suspect the legal identity of the creditor was and is FCE Bank PLC.

 

To begin to assess this claim, I recommend sending the below letter to Eversheds for disclosure of documents under CPR 31.14.

 

Dear Sir,

 

Re: (Claimant's name) v (Your name) Case No:

 

CPR 31.14 Request

 

On (date) I received the Claim Form in this case issued by you out of the (Name) County Court.

 

I confirm having returned my acknowledgement of service to the court in which I indicate my intention to contest all of your claim.

 

Please treat this letter as my request made under CPR 31.14 for the disclosure and the production of a verified and legible copy of each of the following documents mentioned in your Particulars of Claim:

 

1 (a) the agreement dated 18 March 2004 (b) agreements other than that dated 18 March 2004 and © the associated agreements other than those at (b). You will appreciate that in this case and by reason of the provisions of CPR PD 16 para 7.3, where a claim is based upon a written agreement, a copy of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the particulars of claim and the original(s) should be available at the hearing. Further, that any general conditions incorporated in the contract should also be attached.

2 the assignment and any notice of assignment

 

3 the default notice served by first class post on 6 May 2008

 

4 each of the notices served by (a) the Claimant and (b) the assignor mentioned in paragraph 1 of the Particulars of Claim.

 

5 the demand referred to in paragraph 2 of the Particulars of Claim

 

You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the document(s) I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter. Your CPR 31 duties extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for the originals of the documents I have requested, the better for you to be able to verify the document's authenticity and to provide me with a legible copy. Further, where I have requested a copy of a document, the original of which is now in the possession of another person, you will have a right to possession of that document if you have mentioned it in your case. You must take immediate steps to recover and preserve it for the purpose of this case.

 

Where I have mentioned a document and there is in your possession more than one version of that same document owing to a modification, obliteration or other marking or feature, each version will be a separate document and you must provide a copy of each version of it to me. Your obligations extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for any version(s) to include an obligation to recover and preserve such version(s) which are now in the possession of a third party.

 

In accordance with CPR 31.15© I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.

 

If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing. You must tell me before the time for compliance with this request has expired. In telling me you require more time you must tell me what steps you have taken and propose to take in order to comply with this request and also state a date by when you will comply with this request. In addition your statement must be accompanied with a statement that you agree to an extension of the time for me to file my defence. Your extension of time must be not less than 14 days from the date when you say you will have complied with my request and you must state the new date for filing my defence.

 

If you are unable to comply with this request and believe that you will never be able to comply with this request you must tell me in writing.

Please note that if you should fail to comply with this request and thereby or otherwise prejudice my ability to deliver a defence, I will make an application to the court on the hearing of your claim on (date) for an order that the proceedings be struck out or stayed for non-compliance and a summary costs order.

 

I do hope this will not be necessary and look forward to hearing from you.

 

yours faithfully

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

hi thanks for that, it's only me so 1 defendant.

the court date is 24th oct, and its not my local court!!! having checked the route planner its 148miles away:eek: can i ask for it to be a bit closer?

 

i'l be sending that off today along with the acknowledgment of service form. is there anything i need do at the moment???

[surfaceagentx20]

If you received the summons yesterday 30 September and the hearing is on 24 October at a venue 148 miles away, there has been non-compliance with the rules.

 

CPR PD 7B para 3.1(3) covers proceedings under section 90 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and therefore brings the proceedings within the governance of the 7B Practice Direction.

 

CPR PD 7B para 4.1 directs where the case may be issued, thus:

 

Where the claim includes a claim to recover goods to which a regulated hire purchase agreement or conditional sale agreement relates, it may only be started in the county court for the district in which the debtor, or one of the debtors:

(1) resides or carries on business, or

(2) resided or carried on business at the date when the defendant last made a payment under the agreement.

 

In other words, if the case was not started at your local county court, the only other county court it might start in was the county court which was your local county court at the time you last made a payment under the agreement. Whether or not that is so only you can answer and it would be helpful if you did in order to decide how best to proceed.

 

CPR PD 7B para 5.6 states:

Each party must be given at least 28 days’ notice of the hearing date.

 

Thus if as you say, you received the sumons yesterday and the hearing is fixed for 24 October, para 5.6 has not been observed, though this would be an error on the court's part not the Claimant's solicitor.

 

I dare say you have no wish to make a 300 mile round trip on 24 October and it sems to me therefore that the proper thing to do is to get the hearing vacated, the case moved to your local county court and a new date for hearing fixed once it ha been moved to your local county court.

 

If you could answer the question asked in reference to para 4.1 I will be ale to assist further.

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

i have lived in the same area for the last 6 and a half yrs, and the last payment was made friday last week. the claim form has an issue date of the 16/09/08 but it only came yesderday!!! and the post mark on the envelope has the 29th........

 

i've never lived anywhere near where this court is by the way, just incase its thought i may of in the past. i live in linc's and prior to that in wales. the court is in aldershot.

Edited October 1, 2008 by mp3_foci

[surfaceagentx20]

OK then, here are two letters. The first is for delivery to the Claimant's solicitor or Claimant if not acting by solicitor by which the CPR 31.14 request is made and in addition their cooperation is sought in the making of an order encompassing disclosure as well as the transfer of the case to your local county court.

 

The second letter is a letter to the court in which you return your acknowledgement of service and seek the court's swift assistance in the matter of disclosure and so on, regardless of whether the Claimant co-operates.

 

First Letter:

 

Dear Sir,

Re: (Claimant's name) v (Your name) Case No:

CPR 31.14 Request

 

On 30 September 2008 I received the Claim Form in this case issued by you out of the Aldershot County Court.

 

I confirm having returned my acknowledgement of service to the court in which I indicate my intention to contest all of your claim.

 

Please treat this letter as my request made under CPR 31.14 for the disclosure and the production of a verified and legible copy of each of the following documents mentioned in your Particulars of Claim:

 

1 (a) the agreement dated 18 March 2004 (b) the agreements and © the associated agreements if different to (b). You will appreciate that in an ordinary case and by reason of the provisions of CPR PD 16 para 7.3, where a claim is based upon a written agreement, a copy of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the particulars of claim and the original(s) should be available at the hearing. Further, that any general conditions incorporated in the contract should also be attached.

 

2 the assignment and any notice of assignment

 

3 the default notice served by first class post on 6 May 2008

 

4 each of the notices mentioned in paragraph 1 of the Particulars of Claim.

 

5 the demand referred to in paragraph 2 of the Particulars of Claim

 

You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the document(s) I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter. Your CPR 31 duties extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for the originals of the documents I have requested, the better for you to be able to verify the document's authenticity and to provide me with a legible copy. Further, where I have requested a copy of a document, the original of which is now in the possession of another person, you will have a right to possession of that document if you have mentioned it in your case. You must take immediate steps to recover and preserve it for the purpose of this case.

 

Where I have mentioned a document and there is in your possession more than one version of that same document owing to a modification, obliteration or other marking or feature, each version will be a separate document and you must provide a copy of each version of it to me. Your obligations extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for any version(s) to include an obligation to recover and preserve such version(s) which are now in the possession of a third party.

 

In accordance with CPR 31.15© I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.

 

As you know this case comes before the court for hearing on 24 October 2008 at Aldershot and is a claim to which CPR PD 7B is applicable. Given that, as the Claim Form indicates, I live in Lincolnshire and have done so since prior to the making of the agreement the subject of this claim, by reason of CPR PD 7B para 4.1, Aldershot was not a permitted county court out of which you may have begun these proceedings.

 

Furthermore, the Claim Form was posted to me on 29 September 2008. A hearing fixed to take place on 24 October does not provide to me the minium notice period of 28 days prescribed by CPR PD 7B para 5.6.

 

In the circumstances in addition to providing to me the documents identified above, you must, within the same period of time, provide me with a copy of your letter to the court at Aldershot in which you confirm that you issued these proceedings out of Aldershot in error and consent to the court making directions as follows:

 

[1] the claimant shall not later than 4:00pm on (date) (being a date not later than 7 days following the date of the order) provide to the Claimant each of the following documents menioned in the Particulars of Claim:

1 (a) the agreement dated 18 March 2004 (b) the agreements and © the associated agreements if different to (b).

2 the assignment and any notice of assignment

3 the default notice served by first class post on 6 May 2008

4 each of the notices mentioned in paragraph 1 of the Particulars of Claim.

5 the demand referred to in paragraph 2 of the Particulars of Claim

 

[2] the hearing fixed to take place at Aldershot County Court on 24 Ocober 2008 shall be vacated.

 

[3] the case shall be transferred to the court for the disrtict in which the Defendant resides.

 

Please note that if you should fail to comply with any part of this request, I will make an application to Aldershot for an order that the proceedings be struck out or stayed for non-compliance with CPR 31.14 and/or CPR 7 and a summary costs order.

 

A copy of this letter has been delivered to Aldershot County Court and a copy of my letter to the court is also attached for your information.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

yours faithfully

 

Second Letter

 

The Court Manager

County Court

78-82 Victoria Road

Aldershot GU11 1SS

 

Dear Sir

Re: (Claimant's name) v (Your name) Case No:

 

I am the Defendant in this case and enclose my Acknowledgement of Service Form indicating I intend to contest all of the claim.

 

In addition I attach a copy of my letter to the Claimant in which I seek the Claimant's compliance with a request

 

[1] made under CPR 31.14 for disclosure of documents mentioned in the Particulars of Claim and

[2] for the vacating of the hearing fixed for 24 October 2008 and transfer of this case out of Aldershot to my local county court.

 

You will see that in my letter I have asked the Claimant to confirm to the court that it consents to the terms of an order dealing with items [1] and [2] above.

 

Whether or not the Claimant will indicate its consent remains to be seen but in light of the difficult position the Claimant has caused by reason of the issue of the proceedings out of Aldershot, not least the prospect of a 300 mile round journey later this month, I should be most grateful if the court would make an order in such terms as it considers fit for the provision of the documents, transfer and so forth as soon as possible.

A copy of this letter has been delivered to the claimant.

 

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

 

yours faithfully

 

Any queries, just yell.

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

 

[1] the claimant shall not later than 4:00pm on (date) (being a date not later than 7 days following the date of the order) provide to the Claimant each of the following documents menioned in the Particulars of Claim:

1 (a) the agreement dated 18 March 2004 (b) the agreements and © the associated agreements if different to (b).

 

sorry if i'm being dumb...but what date do i put where you got (date)

 

x20, i can't thank you enough for the help and assistance you have given me. it is so refreshing to know that there are people out there who can and do help others. so thank you.

[surfaceagentx20]

No you're not being dumb because '(date)' should be left as it is, ie '(date)', because we can't presently beter identify it because '(date)' is a date fixed by reference to the date on which the court makes its order and we don't know when that might be.

 

Have I made things any clearer?

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

yep, thanks for that. i'l get these out first thing and will update as and when i get any replies. many thanks

[mp3_foci]

right then,

link sent me a copy of my credit agreement and the signatures are not mine!!! close but NOT mine and the sig from ford is not the same neither...infact none of the hand writting matches my copy!! its not even that readable to be honest.

they also sent me a copy of the default notice that i never had!!

where do i go now?

[surfaceagentx20]

Dodgy signatures is a good start. Can you scan and post up the DN?

 

What do they say about moving the court venue and hearing?

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

no answer so far, and no notice of assignment, surely without it they can't own this debt?

[mp3_foci]

i'l scan and put up the dn this afternoon.

[mp3_foci]

well the court date has been moved to my local court and it went to the wire!!! i didn't get a reply until the day before the hearing so i called and after speaking to a nice woman she sorted it all out for me there and then.

my new date is 1st dec,

i have again had a pack from link containing:

cca,

default notice (which i still claim i never received),

a notice of termination from link just after i beleive they took over the acc.

 

NO notice of assignment, no proof of delivery for default.

 

where can i go from here?

so with no notice of assignment, do they or do they not own this debt?

[surfaceagentx20]

The 1 December 2008 is still not 28 days notice!

 

Anyway, you were going to scan some documents about six weeks ago. How are they coming along?

 

Finmally, can I introduce you to this thread? You and Colin appear to be in the same boat.

 

x20

[patrickq1]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/168913-help-turnbull-rutherford-scary.html#post1820860

 

morning seems all the help needed on here is superb i have entered a address thread above sorry for jumpin in i need suffaceagents help on this thread if poss,,

due to my illness i am only allowed on here for an hour or so and dont have the brain capacity of a gnat to be able to give help at the mo..another story lol

if you can help suff it will be most appreciated

patrickq1

[mp3_foci]

this is all they sent me.

[mp3_foci]

sorry it took so long to scan the docs, its been hectic. along with trouble trying to get hold of a driver that worked for my scanner!

those docs above were stapled together so am i right in thinking that this is all they have???

they are new documents that arrived this morning for the new hearing date.

what can i do about not being given 28days notice to prepare?

i got simple letter from the local court just saying i have a hearing against link with them......no other papers were issued etc.

 

also not that the termination doc was issued by link.....ford have sent me nothing. never have, only what i stated previously. they have never at any time informed me my acc was closed, passed or nothing and they still refuse to speak to me.

after reading other threads, my understanding is that link have no legal stand here?

[surfaceagentx20]

No can read mp3. Any chance of seeing life size versions?

 

x20

[mp3_foci]

not really sure on how to do this, but this should work....maybe too well!

 

 

[mp3_foci]

on the last page of papers i have which i haven't scanned is a statement of account for the last 4mts, it has 2 charges on there that have been added to the acc:

litigation charge ROG £100

ROG summons fee £150

 

can they do this without informing?

[surfaceagentx20]

That witness statement is a statement in support of an application for judgment at the next hearing, 1 December, for an order for the return of the car.

 

The supporting documentation is:

[1] notice of termination issued by Link dated 1 September 2008

[2] a Default Notice issued by FCE Bank plc dated 6 May 2008 requiring payment of £852.60 before 27 May 2008, and

[3] the HP Agreement.

 

There is nothing I have seen demonstrating Link have acquired any interest in the car or the money since 27 May and in consequence, nothing demonstrating they have a right to sue. A right to sue will be entirely dependent upon Link showing they acquired title to the car from FCE Bank plc, presumably by a deed of assignment, and that notice of assignment was given to you.

 

The facts of this case look identical to Aspirante's which I linked you to earlier. Have a good read from the thread page I linked you to onwards.

 

Also, did you receive the DN dated 6 May 2008? Does it correctly state the arrears of HP instalments at that time? Have you paid any money to FCE since 6 May 2008?

 

Depending on how you answer, I'll consider whether it would be wise to try and get the 1 December hearing shifted.

 

Link can not add costs and fees to the money claim as a debt whilst at the same time claiming them as costs and fees of the litigaion. To allow both would be to allow double recovery.

 

x20