Letter from Howard Cohen & Co.

[shane247]

Just got a letter from them acting on behalf of Santander, to which i owe £662.14.

 

'A claim has today been submitted to the County Court for issue. You should respond to the Claim immediately upon receipt.

 

Payment in full including costs will prevent judgment being entered against you.'

 

I've CCA'd Santander in the past and they provided me with what the majority of people on here believe to be a true CCA, so therefore I would happily set up a monthly payment agreement with Santander but they refuse it and tell me to deal with one of their DCA's. I'd rather eat nails than give money to a DCA.

 

What can i do? I'm not a fan of going to court.

[alfwithhair]

Is this the first letter you have received from Cohens?

It is more than likely the usual hot air to convince you to ring them.

Payment in full will prevent judgement being entered against you, so too would them losing the case.

Is there a DCA involved? Cohens say they are acting for the OC. Doubtful.

A few more details about the debt would be useful

Is it credit card, loan, overdraft, ect.

How old is the debt?

When did you last acknowledge or make a payment towards the debt.

Have you received a default noice or termination letter?

[shane247]

Yes, this is the first i've heard from Howard & Cohen. Santander gave my account to Viking, but i refused to pay Viking so they've not been in touch with me for quite a while and then i got this letter today. Howard & Cohen say they are acting on behalf of CL Finance Limited in the letter.

 

The debt is for a laptop i bought on credit, a pay monthly deal. Fell behind on payments after losing job. The debt is about three years old. I can't remember the last time i made a payement, it was a long time ago though.

[zazen.warrior]

I think you may find this is genuine, Cohens are habitual vexatious litigants, when (if) you get the claim from the court you will need to send a request for disclosure to Cohens as a starting point.

 

Come back here for advice.

[shane247]

Is there nothing i can do to avoid court?

[zazen.warrior]

Yes, pay up - not being nasty but it is the only way once it's started.

 

It's really not that bad. I was in court with them myself just today, you need to fight them, you'll get all the help you need here.

[shane247]

I'd happily pay Santander monthly, i just cant afford to pay the lump sum.

[creditcardmug]

Suggest you contact CCCS, type it into google, they will help you with a Income/Expenditure summary to send to the creditor, if this is rejected it will go against them in court

[shane247]

What's the first thing i can do? If i don't get in touch with them over the next couple of days they'll think i'm ignoring them. Is there no way of reasoning with these people?

[zazen.warrior]

You will find Cohens always do things at the last minute to try and take you by surprise. It won't hurt them to wait a while whilst you get your bearings.

 

The court will drag on for months so just relax and go with the flow.

[shane247]

Well, i've been reading some threads about HC and court cases etc. Have i read correctly that Santander should of sent me a notice of default or a letter to let me know that Howard Cohen would be in touch?

[UnmoderatetheNet]

Stand up to the feckers, you'd be surprised how easy it really is and how much help and advice is available on here.

 

Post your CCA minus, any personal details and BARCODE (some people forget).

 

The chances are they have messed up somewhere they usually do.

 

You defend they run off like the Cohens they really are. In the unlikley event it gets to court, the court will only ask you pay what you can afford, which is what you would do anyway.

 

What have you lost?

 

Look you have nothing to lose apart from a bit of effort and a real chance to send then into the swamp they came from.

 

Your choice but the more we stand up to this pond life the more things will change.

[shane247]

Thanks for your encouraging post, UnmoderatetheNet. I got the claim form from Northampton court today hmph. I'm gonna mull things over and think about what i do next. Never thought it would come to this! Santander are cretins. I will post the CCA up again soon once i find my scanner haha.

[PGH7447]

you still have to acknowldge the claim on line at MCOl, or cohen will get the judgement by default, this will result in a ccj against you.

 

what have you got to lose, extra monies to pay cohens fees and court costs, defend it

[zazen.warrior]

Yes acknowledge receipt and state you intend to defend the full amount.

 

Then send the disclosure request special delivery if you can afford it ... and then where on our way!

[shane247]

Disclosure request?

[zazen.warrior]

CPR 18 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 (14) 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 Debenhams.

 

c. True copies of any notice of assignment and 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.

 

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 (14) 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

[shane247]

Oh, okay. Thanks. So the plan would be, acknowledge the claim form online, then send them the above letter, then wait around for their reply?

[zazen.warrior]

Essentially yes, but we already know what their response will be - they will tell you they don't have to comply.

 

They will be lying.

[shane247]

Okay then, that's what i'll do. If the matter does go to court, do you think the court date will be before the end of this year? Or does the procedure take longer than that? Sorry for all the questions, some of them random, but i'm only 21 and new to the whole court thing.

[zazen.warrior]

I wouldn't think it would be this year, and we have other work to do when he fails to comply... the embarrassed defence, but lets not get ahead of ourselves, give him 14 days to respond and then come back here whether he has responded or not.

[shane247]

Okay, fair enough. Cheers for being patient with us. Their address is a PO Box, will someone sign for the letter? Or is there an alternative address for the berk?

[zazen.warrior]

They'll sign - and you need to print that out from the Royal Mail web site!

[shane247]

What are the odds of me really winning this if the CCA they provided me with is legit?

 

Also, when filling out the acknowledge of service do i intend to defend all of the claim, or part of the claim?

Edited November 28, 2009 by shane247

[shane247]

bump.