Claim Form hagerty/robbersway old, CAP1 card statute barred?

[od0s]

Hi all,

 

I have received a county court claim form for an old debt.

 

The claim form says I need to respond directly - you can even do it online at moneyclaim.gov.uk

 

The debt is on my credit file for £3500 and the default date is 04/2006.

 

However, I have looked through my bank statements and I made NO PAYMENTS at all to this account. I was 18 at the time, and simply ran up a debt I could not afford with no income. I told Capital One and they passed it to Robinson Way collection agency.

 

If I made no payments, will it be statute barred? The credit card was opened in August 2005, and I have no payments recorded.

 

Please can someone help me with what to do next? I have seeked advice everywhere but am confused. I am guessing i MUST respond to the county court claim directly? Others have said send the DCA a letter saying you think it is statute barred.

 

Any help and advice will be massively appreciated!

 

Thank you.

[od0s]

By the way, they have now claimed for £5164 as they have added interest and court fees.

[od0s]

One other thing I have noted is that they sent the CLAIM FORM to an address I never really lived at....

 

By this I mean, I lived at my parents' address for 15 years and nearly ALL my correspondence, including my bank account statements etc all still go to this address.

 

I briefly lived at my girlfriend's old place for about 2 months, and there is one record of this on my credit file - THIS IS WHERE THEY SENT THE LETTER.

 

I have been at a new address (rented) for about 6 months. They did not sent it to this address or my parent's address.

 

 

Could it be that they were hoping I would not receive the claim form? Would this have been to their advantage???

[Jasper1965]

You must do the following:

 

Acknowledge the claim - you can do this online.

Contact the claimant under CPR 31.14 and ask them for copies of all documents refferred to in the "particulars of claim" eg. agreement, assignment notice etc.

Contact the claimant under CPR part 18 and ask them the following:

On what date was the last payment made on this account by yourself?

On what date was the last acknowledgment in writing made by yourself?

On what date did the first monthly payment become due?

On what date did the second monthly payment become due?

 

Explanation:

 

acknowledging th claim extends the time available to file a defence to 28 days.

making cpr requests will likely involve them ignoring you to begin with at which point you get on their case and demand the docs and an extension for filing the defence.

When they fail to provide disclosure or they provide disclosure that states it to be SB'ed you hit them with an SB defence and wasted costs order.

 

Oh and yes they probably were looking for a default judgment, it does open up the possibility of the court papers being "invalidly served" but you shouldn't need to muddy the case with this.

Edited December 5, 2011 by Jasper1965

[DonkeyB]

You say you never made a payment, but when did you last use the card? How on earth did they let you run up such a balance without your making a single payment?

[od0s]

Card was last used in 2005... August or September.

 

I was 18 and had a gambling addiction, which I am now over. I believe I lost the £3000 in about a week.

[od0s]

Hi all.... this is still dragging on...

 

I am sure this debt is statute barred. After following advice from

this forum and others, I sent a letter directly to the claimant stating

that the debt was statute barred.

 

This was sent firstly to Robinson Way, and then to Hegarty LLP (the

solicitors) after I had no response.

 

It has been over 4 weeks since the letter was sent and I have had no

response whatsoever. I have spoken to 'moneyclaimdotgov' and they have

questioned why I have not filed a defence with them.

 

They told me to file a defence. I spoke to Hegarty and they told me I

should now just wait to see if their client, Robinson Way, will

respond.

 

I just wondered if there is anything I should be doing now. It is

really hanging over me and I am constantly worrying about the claim.

 

Any quick advice you may be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you all

[DonkeyB]

You MUST file a defence or they will win by default. Your defence is that the account is statute barred. Have you double checked your dates?

[DonkeyB]

Get online and do it now, if the system will let you. In future, come back here and check the processes - did you do the CPR as Jasper outlined above?

[od0s]

Hi,

 

I called the moneyclaim helpline.

 

Basically they said I needed to file a defence. At the moment there has been no action from them either.... does this mean I will be OK?

 

I have filed a defence now, stating the debt is statute barred and that I have contacted the claimant directly.

 

Oh god... I feel like I am not going to sleep for weeks now worrying about this.

 

 

Does anyone know... if they have not made any move or filed for a default judgement, now that I have put my defence in will it be ok?

 

Or am I just completely ****ed because I filed my defence late anyway?

 

[DonkeyB]

No - fingers crossed.

[DonkeyB]

Hopefully you will soon get a letter from the court acknowledging your defence.

[od0s]

I just got an email from the court saying:

 

Good afternoon,

Thank You for your email. Your response has been passed to the relevant section to be processed.

Regards,

[od0s]

I just wondered if anyone knows if there are any cut and dry rules to this. Like, because I filed late does that put me in a bad situation, or will it be OK because they claimant has not yet made any further actions...?

[Ganymede]

I just wondered if anyone knows if there are any cut and dry rules to this. Like, because I filed late does that put me in a bad situation, or will it be OK because they claimant has not yet made any further actions...?

 

 

 

Being a bit late will be fine, provided the Claimant hasn't already applied for judgment.

[DonkeyB]

Did MCOL still let you file a defence? Or did you send your defence via email?

[od0s]

I sent my defence via email, after speaking to a telephone representative.

 

I have never been able to use the MCOL service, I have never been able to login again after originally signing up. It is not the most straightforward of systems... in fact it is really annoying!

[od0s]

Hello again all,

 

Here is an update:

 

Today I received a letter from the court 'acknowledging receipt of my defence'.

 

It now says a copy is being served to the claimant and the claimant my contact me directly to resolve any dispute. If unresolved informally, the claimant will inform the court they wish to proceed and the court will then inform me of what will happen.

 

Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days of my defence or after that period the claim will be 'stayed'. The only action they could then take is applying for a judge to lift the order of stay.

 

 

 

 

 

OK...!! So I guess I now just wait to see what the claimant comes up with against my defence that the debt is statute barred. Got a month of worry ahead, but am I really safe in the knowledge that the debt is definitely statute barred?

 

Argh... once this is over I can move on with my life.... :/

[DonkeyB]

You did that by the skin of your teeth... more by luck than judgment!

 

Well, if the take it forward there will be the AQ stage at which they will have to pay a fee for a hearing. Can’t imagine they would be so daft, but you never know...

 

If they discontinue now, claim wasted costs.

[od0s]

Hi all,

 

So, the court acknowledged my defence on the 28th February.

 

Is there a date upcoming where, if I do not hear anything, they claim cannot be continued?

 

I have not heard anything at all about this claim yet. I mean, I wrote to the claimant AND the claimant's solicitor almost 3 months ago, and heard nothing. I have now filed my defence to the court and still heard nothing....

[DonkeyB]

Time to sit and wait to see if they respond. They have 28 days then the case is automatically stayed, at which point you could apply for strike out.

 

You could resend your CPR requests.