Arrow Global - MBNA - Shoosmiths Claim Form arrived..

[autol]

Hi All,

 

Bit of a shock to start the day when a claim form arrived from Northampton County Court from Claimant Arrow Global Guernsey Limited, and solicitors Shoosmiths LLP, issue date 09 OCT 2012. I have spent the best part of today reading various forums and am totally confused now by all the different posts/topics/advice floating around the internet! But i have seen to find here has the best advice (hoping!), i don't have a scanner here so cant scan an post the particulars of claim, but i can retype it,

1.The claimants claim is for the sum of 6511.49 being monies due from the defendent to the claimant under a regulated agreement between the defendent and MBNA Europe bank limited (No.xxxx) and assigned to the claimant on 20/12/2011, notice of which has been provided to the defendent.

2.The defendent has failed to make payment i(sic) accordance with the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

3.The claimant claims the sum of 6511.49

4.C has complied, as far as necessary, wi(sic) the pre-action conduct practice direction.

Number

 

So thats that! It all relates to a fairly old cc debt but the last payment was around 5 yrs ago, the original sum was much higher but i slowly paid it off, but when got into a bit of dire straits few years back this was one of the things that didnt rank too high on my list of things (rent, food, kids etc came first!). In the meantime i had moved house and not heard anything from anybody for a couple of years, then out of the blue this arrived today!!! I have made a CPR 31.14 request, as this seems reading all the other posts that this is the first step (pasted below), i intend to mail these out in the morning to Arrow an Shoosmiths, if anybody feels i missed something please feel free to add it before i post! Thanks for taking the time to read

 

Dear Sir,

 

Re: Arrow Global Guernsey Limited v xxxxxxxxx Case No xxxxxxx

CPR 31.14 Request

 

On 15thOct 2012 I received the Claim Form in this case issued by you out of the Northampton County Court.

 

 

I confirm having returned my acknowledgement of service to the court in which I indicate my intention to contest all of your claim.

 

Please treat this letter as my request made under CPR 31.14 for the disclosure and the production of a verified and legible copy of the following documents mentioned in your Particulars of Claim:

 

1 the agreement. You will appreciate that in an ordinary case and by reason of the provisions of CPR PD 16 para 7.3, where a claim is based upon a written agreement, a copy of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the particulars of claim and the original should be available at the hearing. Further, that any general conditions incorporated in the contract should also be attached.

 

2 the assignment

 

3 any other documents mentioned in the Particulars of Claim

 

You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the documents I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter. Your CPR 31 duties extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for the originals of the documents I have requested, the better for you to be able to verify the document's authenticity and to provide me with a legible copy. Further, where I have requested a copy of a document, the original of which is now in the possession of another person, you will have a right to possession of that document if you have mentioned it in your case. You must take immediate steps to recover and preserve it for the purpose of this case.

 

Where I have mentioned a document and there is in your possession more than one version of that same document owing to a modification, obliteration or other marking or feature, each version will be a separate document and you must provide a copy of each version of it to me. Your obligations extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for any versions to include an obligation to recover and preserve such versions which are now in the possession of a third party.

 

In accordance with CPR 31.15© I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.

 

If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing. You must tell me before the time for compliance with this request has expired. In telling me you require more time you must tell me what steps you have taken and propose to take in order to comply with this request and also state a date by when you will comply with this request. In addition your statement must be accompanied with a statement that you agree to an extension of the time for me to file my defence. Your extension of time must be not less than 14 days from the date when you say you will have complied with my request and you must state the new date for filing my defence.

 

If you are unable to comply with this request and believe that you will never be able to comply with this request you must tell me in writing.

 

Please note that if you should fail to comply with this request, fail to request more time or fail to agree to an extension of time for the filing of my defence, I will make an application to the court for an order that the proceedings be struck out or stayed for non-compliance and a summary costs order.

 

I do hope this will not be necessary and look forward to hearing from you.

 

yours faithfully

 

 

x xxxxx

[AndyOrch]

Hi autol and a warm welcome to CAG.

 

I would also advocate making a separate request for the agreement by way of a section 78 request..£1.00 PO send recorded.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[AndyOrch]

Duplicate site running on gas tonight:-)

[42man]

You need to edit this "3 any other documents mentioned in the Particulars of Claim" to read 3 - The default notice

 

and for good measure

 

4 - Statements for the duration of the account

[autol]

Hi andyorch, thx for welcome! CPR edited as per 42man, just done the s77/78 letter an will be heading to the PO today to send them, next stage i guess is wait for replies to make a defence?

[AndyOrch]

Absolutely but not to make a defence ( I would hope you have a defence without relying on none disclosure as a reason).Keep your eye on the time line you have 33 days (5 deemed served so 28(14 to AoS and a further 14 to submit a defence..should you decide to defend the matter).

 

Regards

 

Andy

[autol]

Oh, one more thing i forgot to mention, the acc nr on the claim form is one digit short (15 instead of 16 digits), do i need to quote that acc nr or the correct one?

[AndyOrch]

Just stick to the claim number for now...your lucky they have even quoted an account number with their P.o.C.

 

Andy

[autol]

Thanks, letters sent to Arrow, also copy of CPR to shoosmiths, i'm hopefully going to base my defence on no agreement existing (it was a very long time ago this card was taken out, and i can't ever remember signing one, but my memory is not what it was!), also if i wait until say 12 days before notifying the court of my acknowledgement, do i have 28 days from that date, or from the date of notice served? If so then there is no point delaying acknowledgement i guess

[AndyOrch]

33 days (5 deemed served so 28) 14 days to acknowledge service and if you defend then another 14 days to submit your defence.I advocate not to AoS too soon as this allows time for you to consider your options and also await any response to documentation requested.

But you can AoS anytime upto 14 days if you prefer.

 

Andy

[autol]

Ok, i will wait until a couple of days before deadline to AoS, will keep you guys posted of any developements.

[Chipmeister]

Can you base a defence on an agreement not exisiting if you've used the card anyway?? Just a thought!

[autol]

Just a short update, nothing heard yet from anyone, only a letter from shoesmiths advising me to contact Arrow for a possible reduced settlement. The original letter from the CC was dated 09th Oct, the last date to file my defence would be 12th Nov? Would it also be advised to write to Arrow again asking for a at least a reply? Thanks all!

[AndyOrch]

I make it the 9th autol.One request is enough they know their duties.

 

Andy

[autol]

Thanks Andy, i will try and draft a defence tonight an get it sent off so its with them on the 9th. basicly, my argument will be that no agreement existed between mbna and myself (the card is around 10yrs old), the last payment was probaly around 3yrs ago but that was paying off an agreed sum each month, which barely cleared the interest charged. I don't disgree i owe them money, but i worked it out roughly at about 500 before all the interest! Theres no way at the moment i can afford what they are claiming I saw in another post a defence somebody had drafted, can i plagurise this for use in my case you think? Thanks for all help

[AndyOrch]

Of course use whatever is of use in your case.

 

Andy

[autol]

Here is my first draft, mostly taken from one of Andys excellent posts! If you can have a quick scan over it to just check if it all applies or doesn't apply to my claim, i haven't mentioned paragraph 3 or 4 but is it worth mentioning that that the claimant hasn't complied like they stated in para4 as regards to disclosure? Cheers

 

DEFENCE

 

1. Paragraph 1 is neither admitted or denied with regards to the Defendant entering in to an Agreement referred to in the Particulars of Claim ('the Agreement') the Claimant has yet to disclose any Agreement. Furthermore any claim for partial monies is averred Contrary to s35 of the County Court Act 1984 s35 Division of causes of action.

 

2. Paragraph 2 is noted with regards to termination of the alleged contractual Agreement , the Defendant has no knowledge, therefore the Claimant is placed to strict proof there of.

 

3. Paragraph 1 is denied with regards to the Defendant owing any monies to the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strict proof to:

 

(a) show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement with the Claimant; and

(b) show how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for; and

© show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim;

 

4. As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed.

 

5. On the alternative, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act and Section 82A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

6. By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief.

Edited November 7, 2012 by autol
forgot defence!

[autol]

Been a while, but a bit of an update! Defence was filed in time and a letter back from the courts confirming filed etc. Anyway, along with the xmas post two letters have arrived. The first letter is from Arrow global, stating, my defence is noted, and a notice of change of solicitor (they will now act themselves after ditching shoesmiths), and we have requested the requisite documents from the original creditor and will get back to you etc. The second letter and the more worrying is from Northampton CC, headed 'Notice that defence has been filed', it says an allocation questionnaire is enclosed and must be completed by 31 Dec 2012 (short notice over holiday period!), and that fee of £220 is payable by the claimant on the filing of their allocation questionnaire. Is this normal that i have to pay this fee to the court just to defend a claim? Can i have this fee deferred at all? It's not a huge amount of money but it's come at exactly the wrong time (xmas!) Any advice gratefully received!!

[havinastella]

Claimant has to pay the £220, not the defendant (you)

 

What date is on the AQ?

[autol]

The aq is dated 13 Dec 2012 (post marked second class 14 Dec 2012), and only arrived on the 21st! So with the holidays i have to post tomorrow for it to get there in time!

[autol]

Another update, had a letter back from the court at the begining of the month (an it wasn't happy new year!), stating they had received the aq and now all correspondence would be from my local court, with regards to dates etc. Next letters i got today were from Arrow. The first (dated 20-12-2012 but post marked 10-01-2013) was with another copy of the aq they had filed with the court (nothing out of the ordinary on it) and an accompanying letter 'We write further to the above (debt owed etc) and are dissapointed to note you have no (sic) responded to our letter dated12 Dec 2012. Accordingly, we now enlcose a copy of the aq filed in this matter by way of service on you. We urge you to make contact with us directly in a bid to resolve the issues and save further recourse to court proceedings blah blah. Ok, the last letter i received from Arrow (dated 12-12-2012) was a letter informing me of a change of solicitor to themselves and telling me they have requested the docs i asked for from the originating creditor (you would think they would have these already!!), and nothing else indicating they would like a reply to the letter!.

 

Second letter from them the same day dated 09-01-2013, which they state enlcosed, is copies of my agreement, terms an conditions and a final statement. The agreement has my name on it, but is devoid of any signature or date, the terms an conditions are just your usual blurb, again without any monica or date. And the final statement is just what i owe plus another hundred odd quid interest for the month its dated. My question about this is: Do i request another copy of my credit agreement (as this without a signature is useless?) or do i just wait for the court date and bring it up in court then? Thanks for taking the time to read this!

[AndyOrch]

All standard procedure and usual excuses from the Claimants autol....how did you file your AQ and did you make any directions?

 

Regards

 

Andy

[autol]

I filled out the aq an posted it back to the issuing court, who then sent me confirmation and that i will next hear from my local court (i asked on the aq for it to be moved here). What do you mean by 'make any directions'? (sorry if sounding thick!). Thanks

[AndyOrch]

What did you state and request within your AQ?...you have not posted a copy here.

[autol]

Sorry, i see what you mean now. The copy i kept seems to be lost at the moment under a mountain of paperwork: But basicly I answered as;

A-No

B-Yes (Court Local to myself as travelling at the moment for me would be very diffacult)

C-Yes

D-No witnesses

E-No

F-No

G-(taken from another thread) The Particulars of Claim provided by the Claimant are inadequate in order to fully appreciate the case I have to meet, in particular the agreement relied upon, the date on which it was made, the terms thereof and whether regulated and if so by what statutory provision, the means by which it was terminated, the manner by which the claim is calculated, its alleged assignment and the Claimant's entitlement to interest.

 

Unless the Claimant have by (date) filed and served upon the Defendant fully particularised Particulars of Claim comprising but not limited to particulars of the agreement relied upon, the date on which it was made, the terms thereof and whether regulated and if so by what statutory provision, the means by which it was terminated, the manner by which the claim is calculated, its alleged assignment and the Claimant's entitlement to interest,I will make application for the claim to be struck out and the Defendant shall be at liberty without further order to apply to this court for judgment and for costs on the standard basis to be subject to detailed assessment proceedings if not agreed.

H-No

I-Signed an Dated.