Halifax Loan/Bryan Carter arguing not statute barred.***Discontinued***

[minicpi]

Hi,

I would appreciate some advice please.

 

My wife received a Court Summons from Northampton last week from Bryan Carter acting for Arrow Global. The amount claimed is £553.55. The POC stated that they were claiming a balance due under an agreement which is now all due an payable. The defendant agreed to pay monthly instalments under account number ******** but has failed to do so. And the claimant claims the sum of 473.55. The claimant also claims interest thereon persuant to S.69 County Court act 1984 limited to one year to the date hereof at the rate of 8% per annum amounting to 0.00

 

We new this was for a joint unsecured loan my wife and I had taken out in 2001 and had defaulted on in 2004. We have received several letters over the years from different companies about this but had replied to none of them and made no payments. The default was removed from my Credit history over 12 months ago.

 

After reading on this site my wife entered a defence of statute barred using the template on this site. Today she received a letter from Bryan Carter stating - We refer to the above matter and note the contents of your Defence. We confirm this debt relates to an outstanding Halifax Loan taken out on the xxth November 2001. Your last payment in relation to this account was in the sum of £151.74 received on the 15 July 2009 therefore the account is not statute barred. They go on to say that the would like to settle this matter before hearing and in order to avoid further costs they are prepared to accept £505.10 as long as she pays within 28 days. They will also accept monthly payments. If we don't accept they will apply to the court to strike out the defence at hearing which will if successful result in further costs.

 

How should we proceed?

Can they only persue my wife and not me?

We are positive we did not make any payment in 2009. (In 2004 we had a Halifax bank account and they regularly took money from it without permission and then charged us for being overdrawn so that account was closed.)

How do we request the information we need to defend this, especially the information about the 2009 payment.

 

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your help.

 

Apologies to admin for posting this twice in the Bryan Carter Forum and the legal one, please delete one as necessary.

[spamheed]

If you are 100% positive that no payments were made within the last 6 years then make them prove that such a payment was actually made and was made by either of you, the burden of proof is with them, not you

 

"phantom payments" are not unheard of and have a habit of appearing just as the SB deadline is within sight.

 

If the loan was taken out jointly then either or both of you are equally liable, ie they can go after either of you, but if it's SB then it's SB and they will have to prove that the payment was made by you either way

[DonkeyB]

Can you check your bank accounts around that date? Is there any way that such a payment could have been made? It seems an odd amount.

 

Carter is well known for his misappropriation of the exactitude, and abuses the court system in ways that even his own company has now acknowledged are ‘unethical’.

 

If you did not make the payment, say so – deny it – and tell them you will see them in court and will show their letter to the judge.

[DonkeyB]

And don’t forget to complain to the OFT and the SRA. If he is deliberately misleading you in an attempt to get you to pay an SB debt, he will be in trouble.

[minicpi]

Thank you for the replies. We have checked our bank statements and nothing went out of our accounts for that amount at that time. These people make you doubt yourself as we were 100% sure we had not paid a penny but we checked anyway.

 

How should I reply? Should I use the CPR 31.14 Request template or can I not use this as they did not mention much in the original POC and as we have already entered a defence? Is the CPR Part 18 request the way to go? Or should I simply write a letter asking for proof of the payment?

[DonkeyB]

You can use CPR 18 as he has made an assertion of fact. You can ask direct questions about the payment, and the answers must be accompanied by a statement of truth. Make it clear that you will be seeking wasted costs when they discontinue.

 

In such cases, Carter likes to go past the AQ stage and then discontinue when a track is assigned, so he avoids costs in small claims. Pressure now will force an early discontinuation. Don’t let it lie (that’s Carter’s job!). You could also claim costs for his unreasonable behaviour.

 

You might even want to engage a solicitor to really stick it to the idiot.

[minicpi]

Will the following amended template be ok? Should I also be asking be asking for the full file and original paperwork as CPR 31.14 seems to do?

 

PART 18 REQUEST FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

To: Arrow Global Ltd

　

Please answer the following questions:

1. Upon what date was the last payment made on the account?

2. What was the source, method and amount of the payment?

3. Was a Default Notice issued pursuant to section 87 of the Consumer CreditAct 1974 (as amended) and if so:

a] Upon what date, for what amount and what was the date for remedy of thebreach?

b] Was the issuance of the Default Notice noted in the communications log?

4. Does the amount claimed include charges, and if so what amount?

[DonkeyB]

You can only ask for things they have mentioned. They have not mentioned a DN.

 

That would be a separate CPR request.

 

Have a read up on how to properly issue a CPR 18 request.

[minicpi]

Thanks again, I have had a read and a Part 18 request is on its way asking for details of the last payment including source, method and amount of payment.

 

Is there any use in sending a 31.14 request as they only mention an account number in the POC? I am not sure what I would request.

[DonkeyB]

Normally you would issue a part 18 request and then follow up with a part 18 request depending on what comes back.

 

I think a CPR 31 request would add pressure anyway, so do it.

 

The agreement is mentioned.

 

You would be entitled to statements of account – you should have had an annual statement since it defaulted. Have you? Has Carter ever corresponded before about this?

[minicpi]

We have had no statements of account since around 2004 if memory serves correctly. The letter notifying us that we would receive a summons within 24 hours was the 1st we had heard from them although various companies had sent letters (never replied to) over the years.

[DonkeyB]

have you ever received a notice of assignment from Arrow?

[minicpi]

Again, not that I am aware of although I can't be 100% sure.

[DonkeyB]

If you still have the begging letters you did receive, it’s worth trawling through them to see.

[minicpi]

I am sure that we did not keep them but I will check.

 

I have now done a section 18 to send off asking about the last payment and a 31.14 asking for copies of the agreement, the assignment and the default notice. Is this ok? Should I give 7 or 14 days to reply?

[DonkeyB]

Seven.

 

Have you acknowledged service to get the extra 14 days?

[minicpi]

We have already entered a defence of Statute Barred.

[DonkeyB]

D’oh... sorry!

[minicpi]

2 seperate CPR requests are now on their way. Thanks again, I will let you know how things develop.

[minicpi]

We have just had a reply from Bryan Carter stating that they do not have a record of where and how the payment was made as they only took over the debt in 2010. They also state that this does not effect their claim or our defence and we should look in our own records. Our records show no payment was made. Surely they have to prove a payment was made? This is starting to smell to me. How should we proceed?

 

 

 

As for the 31.14 request they say that they do not have to honour it as the claim will go to the Small Claims route but they have requested the info adn will forward it. They also mention how egg worked at the time, even though our account was with the Halifax.

[citizenB]

Yes, they do have to prove that a payment was made, when and how. It is after all their claim and it is they who are claiming it is not statute barred and that a payment has been made.

 

If you can prove from your statements that no payment of this amount has been made and that your normal practice was to pay by a certain method then I rather suspect BC is on a hiding to nothing.

[minicpi]

Should I write to them telling them that no payment was made? How can I get them to drop this?

[citizenB]

I would wait and see what andyorch advises.

 

I am not sure if continuing to engage with BC is wise.. or whether it would be best to just write one more letter confirming that you have indeed checked your records and this is why you can be so certain that NO payment was made and are now insisting that they prove their claim.

[minicpi]

Thanks, hopefully andyorch will pop in to the thread.

[citizenB]

Have you got a copy of your credit reference files ? If a payment HAD been made to the account it would be recorded on there.