Advice on court action by Santander Cards

[dcems]

Dear All.

 

I am new to this site so I hope I have posted in the right forum.

 

I have had a store card for many years with Monsoon. For the last 6 months I had struggled to pay my monthly committment. At this stage I am sure the creditor was GE Money-who did nothing but hound me via the phone every other day,sometimes as late as 9pm in the evening.

I then received a letter from Viking Debt Enforcement regarding the account.In September I wrote to them and offered to make a reduced payment for a short period of time. They wrote to me on the 8.9.09 but when I phoned them they would not accept my offer. (I owe £400)

I continued making token payments of £10pcm,and received my statement from Monsoon confirming this.

I then received a letter from Santander Cards about my Monsoon Card,so I assume they took over this line of store cards. I then had to write to Santander,repeat everything to them and awaited their response.They wrote to me on the 28.9.09 and asked me to complete a budget sheet,with evidence of my income and other debts,which was provided by myself. They were considering all evidence.

 

The next thing I know is that another company called CL Finance Ltd write to me demanding full payment on the 12.10.09. I then also receive a letter from Howard Cohen Soliciotrs demanding full payment,or they will issue a claim against me.

 

Two days later,another letter from the solicitors,saying I will be receiving the court papers.

Claim form arrives.They have added court costs,and want interest of 17.460% pa.I have no problem with paying this debt,but I dont want a CCJ. Why have so many different companies been involved as I am totally confused? Why didnt Santander get back to me,as they advised they would? Surely court action should be the last resort?

I wanted to admit part of the claim,but I dont want to pay court costs or interest? Is there any defence I could make as I feel communication has been limited and I dont feel fair procedures have been followed? Would the judge consider that and not put a CCJ agianst my name? Even know,CL Finance have written to me demanding the full payment or its 'see you in court'.

I am still within my time limit to complete the response pack

 

Your help would be appreciated

[palomino]

If you have received a claim you must respond to it. You appear to have grounds for contesting the claim but you must first send back the acknowledgment of the claim and indicate on it that you will be defending the claim.

 

If you do not defend the claim then judgment will be entered by default based solely on what the claimant states. There won't be a court hearing - the first you will know about it is when you receive a copy of the judgment.

 

That must be done first. Next up is getting your defence together. There are several points that immediately spring to mind - grossly inflated interest rate, no notice of assignment, currently making payments etc.

A good move at this point is to write Howard Cohen requesting copies of your credit agreement and statements. You can do this two ways - (a) as a request under the Consumer Credit Act for which you must enclose the prescribed fee of £1 (you must receive this within 12 days otherwise you can dispute the matter) or (b) since this matter is now before the court you are entitled to this information under Court Procedure Rules - specify that you are asking on this basis and you require the documents to be delivered to you within seven days of the date of your letter.

 

Option (b) is better in your circumstances.

 

 

When did you receive the claim form from the court? There some deadlines which you must adhere to.

[dcems]

thanks for your reply

 

I have 7 days left to respond. I was going to do it via the website. Should I send the acknowledgement of service and request 28 days to prepare a defense?

[diamondgirl]

I would suggest do it on line and remember to print a copy out for yourself.

 

I would do option (b) as above get it ready and then get it posted off to Cohens on Monday and I would also suggest you send it at least RD or SD guaranteed next day if you can afford the extra.

 

DG

[dcems]

ok,yes I will send it special delivery to be sure.

 

I cant see a defense form in my response pack.Is this then sent seperately to me?

 

it says on the claim form that I was notified of assignment on the 4.11.09,however I havent got this in my own paperwork.

How to I tackle my defense? I have never had to do this before as my creditors accepted reduced payments without court action.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks again x

[debbbbsy]

hi,

In order to file your defence you need to find fault with the claim made by HC.

Can you post up the Particulars of the Claim.

[dcems]

" The claimants claim is for the sum of 449.52 being monies due from the defendent to the claimant under a regulated credit agreement between the defendant and santander cards uk ltd under reference ############## and assigned to the claimant on the 4th November 2009,notice of which has been given to the defendant.

The defendant has failed tomake payment in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served upon the defendant pursant to Section 87(1) of the consumer credit act 1974.

Pursuant to clause 7 of the agreement,the claimant also claims contractual interest at a rate of 17.460% per annum,fromthe date of these proceedings to the date of judgement,or sooner payment,accruing at a daily rate of 0.25."

 

Thats pretty much it. I just need to do it today as my nan died last night unexpectedly and I am so distraught I need to go to Ireland for the funeral.

[diamondgirl]

Sorry to hear of your sad loss.

Try not to worry about this case you will get lots of help and advice from everyone. I know its easy to say that but rest assured that most of us have at sometime or another gone through this and come out on the other side with no lasting effects.

Once you have filed your AOS please do this asap you will receive an alllocation questionaire probably in about 2 weeks that is when you need to prepare your defence to respond to the AQ.

When you get your responses back, CCA etc., then if you can copy it up via photobucket or the like, also do you have a copy of the DN if so copy that up as well. It all helps so that you will get the right help in compiling your defence.

Start a file off with everything you have received and anything you can find that you have had previously to do with this matter.

 

DG

[debbbbsy]

hi,

sorry i did not get back to you sooner.Been working today.

 

The Particulars of claim are wrong.

You never entered into an agreement with Santander Cards.

I can also guarantee you 100%, that the agreement you did enter into with GE, does not have a "Clause 7". They have rendered this claim unenforceable by referring to a clause that does not exist.

 

You will do a CPR 31.14 request. You want copies of all the docs they refer to in their claim.

Importantly, you will specifically request a true signed copy of the agreement between you & Sandander, which includes "Clause 7", & their entitlement to add interest at 17.46 %. They rely upon this doc to enforce the claim.

I will tell you now, HC will refuse to comply with your CPR request. This will only strengthen your defence. No agreement, no CCJ.

Best wishes for your Nan's funeral.

Debs

[bcg]

Ignore all - go striaght for a Time to Pay Order through the courts - costs nothing if you are on benfits that qualify. It is not in the banks interest to admit anything - if they did the flood gates would open.

 

TTP under Consumer Credit Act 1974 s 129 - and Consumer Directive 2010 inforce 1 february 2011 - you are just in time.

 

Let me know if I can help further - Relax, go and be kind to yourself, Dont take it too seriously. Kindest Christian