Claim form arrived, what do I do?

[smokejumper]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have been lurking and reading a lot of the posts with interest.

 

Now I need to ask for your help sorting out my mess.

 

Due to mental health reasons, I have not been able to work at my second job and things have snowballed.

 

I owe approx £80000 and the first court claim has arrived.

 

What do I have to do, just fill it in, or do I send the prove it letters etc.

 

This debt is for a bank credit card ( £8000)and they are doing this them selves. The amount will include penalty charges ( has it been determined if theese are legal?)

 

card was done online and don't rember signing anything, although I will search my papers as I keep everything.

 

Also have a £15000 loan debt with the same bank, so expecting another county court claim for that one as well.

 

Is there anything I should do apart from filling in the form received and sending to the court.

 

Is there any point asking to prove the debt, I know I owe it and the amount is correct, although it includes a few penalty charges.

 

I understand if I agree. then I send my proposal for payments on the form back to the bank, only goes to the court if I dispute the claim.

 

The form has "DATE OF SERVICE 20 Jul 2012 " stamped on it, do I get the 14 days from this date?

 

Only had the card a year and it was applied via internet, so I guess it would be easy for them to prove it?

 

 

I will only be able to offer a very small monthly payment, , about £15 which I don't expect them to accept. Or should I offer £10? this has been worked out pro rata with the other debts, when they surface.

 

What action will/can they take, charging order would be ok as there is no benefical interest in the property, will they force a sale(cannot see the point as no equity).

 

Do I have to still make monthly payments even with a charge on property?

 

Hope this makes sense

 

thanks for any help/advice.

[unclebulgaria67]

There was an amendment to the CCA in 2004 dealing with online electronic credit applications, which basically means that you provided your electronic signature, agreeing to be bound to the CCA. Therefore there is no way of getting out it that way.

 

You would acknowledge and defend on the basis that you would want to challenge the amount of the debt, as you believe that unlawful charges have been applied to the account.

 

Can you post up the particulars of the claim, removing any identifiers. This will help people to suggest that relevant CPR letter you should send to the claimant for information.

 

Think with that amount of debt and potential claims, that you need to look at bankruptcy or other form of debt relief. I would suggest you contact CCCS or another debt registered charity ASAP.

[smokejumper]

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, below is particulars of claim.

 

Amount claimed £7500 + court fee

 

" Particulars of claim continuation sheet

The claim is for money due from the Defendant under an agreement(the agreement) regulated by the consumer credit act made between the claimant and defendant. Under the terms of the agreement, the claimant opened a credit card account by identifcation number ####### on date a year ago.

 

By failing to repay the sums due under the terms of the agreement, the defendant is in breach of the terms of the agreement and a balance of £7500 is outstanding.

 

The defendant was served with notice of default under section87(1)of the consumer credit act on date few months back. The defendant has failed to comply with the default notice and the claimant claims the full amount outstanding under the agreement from the defendant.

 

The claimant confirms that they have complied with sections 111 and 1V of the pre-action conduct practise direction".

[unclebulgaria67]

Write back asking how the amount of £7500 has been arrived at. Ask for copies of all statements, with full details of any charges, interest calculations, copies of letters informing of any changes to interest rate changes, copies of letters advising of any charges applied and a copy of the default notice.

 

Think this can be done under a part 18 request, but hopefully others more informed will confirm whether this is the case.

 

Hopefully with all the information, you can challenge the amount that they are seeking, but you will probably still end up with a CCJ, meaning that you will have to come to arrangement to make affordable repayments.

 

Altenatively, you could try to make an offer of afforable monthly payments to this company and make a first payment showing you are looking to resolve. Ask them whether they can accept this as a basis to withdraw their claim. If they agreed to do this there is nothing to stop you then reviewing the charges on the account, making a complaint about these and going to the FOS, if you could not resolve. This may be a better way of proceeding, rather than challenging the court claim. They probably won't accept but it is worth the try, as at least in court you could show that you have tried to come to an agreement.