Safeloans Ltd vs mike00 - Need to appeal against/set aside County Court Judgement

[mike00]

Hi,

 

I've been having the usual nightmare with Safeloans.

 

I've made numerous offers of repayment which have been ignored, they can't even be bothered to say 'no' to my offers.

 

It's now at the point where they've issued a Claim Form,

hoping I'll give in,

or they'll get a judgement against me if I don't turn up to court.

 

I've already acknowledged service online,

 

and plan to defend part of the claim.

 

Their Claim

Issue Date: 17 April 2013

Amount Claimed: 546.50

Court Fee: 55.00

Solicitor's costs: 0.00

Total amount: 601.50

Particulars of Claim:

 

The claimant agreed to lend to the Defendant under a fixed sum loan agreement dated 25 November 2013 the sum of 200.00.

 

The Defendant agreed to repay the loan upon pre-determined dates between 1 to 4 months.

 

On 24/12/2012 the Defendant failed to repay the Claimant's loan and is in default under the terms of the loan agreement. T

 

he Defendant has agreed to pay the Claimant's expenses and charges in the event of any default as set out in the terms and conditions of the loan agreement. .

 

...And the Claimant claims:..

 

1. The unpaid loan balance 200.00...

2.Interest and loan charges of 346.50..

5. The claimant claims statutory interest at 8% up until the date of settlement, under section 69 of the County Court Act 1984. ..

4. The Claimant total claim is 546.50..Date: 15 April 2013....

 

Note: The order of the Claimant's claims (1, 2, 5, 4) is exactly how it appears on the Claim Form.

They've done some really nasty cut and paste job.

Number 3 is missing.

 

My Defence

On 21st December 2012,

I attempted early repayment as this was the last working day before Christmas.

I made several attempts to pay from two debit cards, but their website refused to take the payment.

I contacted my bank who said the payments were authorised and plenty of funds were available, but the money just wasn't taken.

 

Safeloans allow early repayment at a discounted rate.

On the 21st December I should have been able to clear the loan with £250.

 

As I work in a rural location with a poor signal, I was unable to contact Safeloans by phone.

They close at 17:15 which is before I get in range of a signal.

I was able to discretely call my bank, but this took up my entire lunch break.

 

When I was finally able to talk to Safeloans on 27 December,

I told them about my payment problems and asked them to accept £250,

which is what I should have paid if the site took payment.

They refused and demanded I pay all the interest and charges they'd added too. I just hung up.

 

Since then I've sent them numerous written offers of repayment.

Most were £51.60 for five months to clear the original loan of £200 plus one month's interest of £58.

All of my offers have been ignored.

I made a payment of £51.60 last month, and will keep making them until I have paid £258.

I think the court would look favourably on this.

 

I intend to admit liability for £258 (minus £51.60 already paid), and then defend the rest of this ridiculous claim.

 

A Counterclaim?

I have spent hours writing long emails to Safeloans,

all of which would be unecessary if they'd just accepted one of my offers.

I freelance as a web developer and these hours could have been spent making money.

My hourly rate is £30.

 

Safeloans have also made at least five calls to my place of work.

This is embarassing, could result in the loss of my employment, is extremely stressful, and damages my professional image.

 

What costs and risks are there involved in filing a counterclaim?

 

Can I claim:

1. My freelance rate multiplied by the number of wasted hours spent emailing them

2. One month's wages for embarassment, damage to reputation, risk to employment, stress

3. One day's wages for taking time off to attend a court hearing, which was entirely avoidable if Safeloans had negotiated

 

Data Protection Act

Safeloans made a massive balls up. In Feburary, they sent me a letter with somebody else's details in the same envelope as my own letter. Can I use this to my advantage?

 

Thank you

[dx100uk]

moved to legal forum

 

dx

[mike00]

One more thing to add:

 

In early April,

they wrote to me with a letter titled

"NOTICE OF FAILED REPAYMENT PLAN".

 

It went on to say,

 

"Dear mike00,

 

Following your agreed REPAYMENT PLAN you have failed to make repayments to us in accordance with the terms and conditions of that arrangement.

 

We have always tried to mediate the settlement of this debt with you.

 

Unless payment is received within Seven days by the 12/04/2013

you will leave us no option but to proceed with legal action by trying to obtain a County Court Judgement against you..."

 

I never agreed to a repayment plan.

 

They never accepted any I offered.

 

And the fact they try and claim they've always tried to mediate settlement is absolutely hilarious.

[denmark786]

moved to legal forum

 

dx

 

Hi DX

 

I'd like to follow this case, but can't find where it's moved to, could you provide link to where in 'Legal' it is please

[denmark786]

One more thing to add:

 

In early April,

they wrote to me with a letter titled

"NOTICE OF FAILED REPAYMENT PLAN".

 

It went on to say,

 

"Dear mike00,

 

Following your agreed REPAYMENT PLAN you have failed to make repayments to us in accordance with the terms and conditions of that arrangement.

 

We have always tried to mediate the settlement of this debt with you.

 

Unless payment is received within Seven days by the 12/04/2013

you will leave us no option but to proceed with legal action by trying to obtain a County Court Judgement against you..."

 

I never agreed to a repayment plan.

 

They never accepted any I offered.

 

And the fact they try and claim they've always tried to mediate settlement is absolutely hilarious.

 

Hi Mike,

Personally am concerned having read your story as I've got multiple collectors harassing me daily with one (Speed credit) a similar story where I couldn't settle payment online or get through to anyone on phone, although I mailed they passed it through 3 companies within 5-6 weeks and now have Northern Debt Recovery and Marshall Hoare threatening legal, have you actually received a court date written from the courts ?

 

I'm afraid because the collectors have applied 400% interest and continue to refuse coming to an agreement

 

Be interested in your case progression if you don't mind sharing

 

J'

[renegadeimp]

If you defend part of.the dlaim, then a ccj agwinst you is guaranteed.

[mike00]

If you defend part of.the dlaim, then a ccj agwinst you is guaranteed.

 

How do I argue against the whole claim?

 

Also is it too late to change the setting on MCOL so I defend the full claim?

 

have you actually received a court date written from the courts ?

 

No, this won't happen until after my defence is filed.

[mike00]

Hi,

 

Sorry to bump my own thread but I have about a week until the defence needs to be filed. I'm not sure how to put the details above into a solid defence, and I don't know how to argue against the whole amount of the claim. I also need to know if there are any costs/risks involved in filing a counterclaim as outlined above?

 

Thank you

[renegadeimp]

Post up what you think your defence is, and we can help break it down into a format suitable for the courts.

[mike00]

Hi renegadeimp,

 

The details of my defence are in my opening post. I've tried to draft it into a more formal defence:

 

The claimant promised to make available an Internet-based facility ("Safepay") that enables management, including repayment, of the loan account. This feature is prominently advertised on the claimant's website.

 

The claimant allows its customers to make reduced, early, repayments of loans.

 

On 21st December 2012, the defendant, aware that this was the last working day before the Christmas period, elected to make such an early repayment using the Safepay facility. The facility quoted the amount due as £250. The defendant made several attempts to pay on two debit cards, but in all instances the facility declined payment.

 

The defendant had previously made the claimant aware of this technical problem on 25 October 2012. The claimant appears to have not acted on this warning.

 

The defendant made contact with his bank, NatWest, who confirmed the transactions had been authorised and funds were available, but the money had not been taken.

 

The defendant was not able to make any further contact with the claimant until a telephone call on 27th December 2012. During this call, the defendant offered to pay £250, the amount due on 21st December. The claimant refused this offer and demanded the full amount of £258 plus all interest and charges that had been levied since 24th December 2012. The defendant chose not to pay this as he felt the claimant was acting unreasonably by not acknowledging the technical error and accepting £250.

 

The defendant was dependent on the claimant's service to meet his day-to-day living costs. As the defendant's account was now in arrears, he felt that he could no longer rely on the service to approve future loan requests. Consequently, a complaint was made using the claimant's complaints procedure, and the offer of £250 was withdrawn. An affordable six month repayment plan was offered instead. The claimant responded quickly to the complaint, but wanted £250 despite this offer previously being withdrawn.

 

The defendant has proposed numerous fair and reasonable repayment arrangements to the claimant, but they have all been ignored. On 26 April 2013 the defendant made a goodwill payment of £51.60 in an attempt to express his seriousness to enter into one of the proposed arrangements, but even after receiving this the claimant is ignoring the defendant's offers and is expecting to receive far in excess of the original £200 capital and £58 interest.

[citizenB]

How did you make them aware of the problem of you not being able to make the payment early.. by email ? If so, do you have a copy

 

Your bank appears to have supported your statement that the money was available, but they weren't taken.

 

IMHO, your Defence is sound.

[mike00]

Apart from the phonecall on 27th December, all of my communication with them has been by email, including when I alerted them to the problem Following on from advice from dx100uk in another thread, I've sent an SAR to NatWest to request transcripts, recordings, notes, logs, etc, that relate to the two times I've called them about Safeloans' website not taking payments.

 

Obviously I did take out a loan for £200, so I do owe them £206.40 (£258 - £51.60). Does my defence cover me for this? I was advised above not to admit to part of the claim.

[citizenB]

Yes, apparently if you admit to part of the claim, then you are likely to receive a Judgment against you.

 

What you are actually doing is rejecting the claim they have made.. which is obviously incorrect.

 

I think you should wait at least 24 hours for the input of the more legally aware to confirm. A message has been left for andyorch on the site team and I will send out an S.O.S to another cagger who might be able to advise.

[mike00]

Awesome, thank you

 

When filling in my acknowledgement on MCOL, I said I intended to defend part of the claim - does this matter or can it be changed to a full defence?

[AndyOrch]

Subbed to thread....... mike00 we can firm your up your defence this week. Dont worry about the partial for now.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[mike00]

Awesome, thank you to everyone so far

 

Also if anybody could advise about the counterclaim, that would be great, and also Safeloans' mistake in sending me somebody else's letter (DPA). I have let the intended recipient know, and pointed them in the direction of CAG, so hopefully if they're being treated badly by these companies they have a nice weapon to use.

Edited June 30, 2013 by citizenB

[mike00]

Hi,

 

Sorry to be a pain but the deadline is soon

 

Claim was issued 17 April, and as far as I know I have 28 + 5 days to submit my defence? 28 days is next Wednesday, 15 May, so I ideally need to submit this by the end of next week.

 

Any help will be very appreciated

[citizenB]

Oh heck.. I will alert andyorch for you.

[mike00]

Hi,

 

It's been four weeks since the claim form was issued, so I now only have a few days to sort this out.

 

I think I have a stronger than usual defence, and I know CAG likes people sticking it to these companies who take advantage of the vulnerable, so please, can anybody help me strengthen my defence?

[AndyOrch]

You have until Sunday 14/05 to submit mike....

[dx100uk]

hope not andy...

 

dx

[mike00]

Hi again,

 

I need some more advice. I submitted my defence and counterclaim. Obviously there's a fee to be paid for the counterclaim (£60 in my case). Last week I unexpectedly lost my job and can not afford to pay this fee. I'm not receiving JSA yet as my employer hasn't sent me my P45, so I'm not receiving any of the benefits that qualify you for exemption. What can I do?

 

Also, form N180 (and presumably the £60) is due on 6th June. The letter I received says I must "serve copies on all other parties" - does this mean I need to send a copy to Safeloans? Will they have received the same form and are therefore required to send me their copy?

[mike00]

Hi,

 

My local court recently held a hearing between myself and a payday loan company. Neither party attended and the Judge ruled in favour of the Claimant and dismissed my Counterclaim.

 

Five days before the hearing I sent form N244 to the Court to ask for an adjournment on medical grounds. I explained my reasons and sent some supporting evidence (although this was not a letter from my GP). The Court returned my N244 stating that a court hearing can only be adjourned in one of two ways:

 

1. By written consent of all parties

2. By order of the court

 

It was my intention, by applying, to gain a Court order for adjournment as I was unable to get consent of the Claimant. Why would the Court return the form to me? It should have been obvious what I wanted to do!

 

The letter stated: "Your current email/letter will be placed on the court file without any further action. If the court does not receive any application, as above, then the hearing will go ahead as planned. At the hearing the Judge will consider your email/letter and make an appropriate order which may include continuing with the hearing in your absence".

 

The hearing of course went ahead. In the letter I received with the Judge's decision, no mention was made to my application for adjournment. Is there any way I can check this was even taken into account by the Judge? Surely with neither party attending, but one party declaring they are medically unfit to attend, the Judge would give benefit of the doubt and adjourn?

 

What are my options now? How do I appeal? Can I get it set aside? There is no way I owe anywhere near the amount claimed by the Claimant. I do not feel justice has been carried out.

[AndyOrch]

Is this in connection with this Mike?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?390362-Safeloans-Ltd-vs-mike00-Claim-Form-need-help-writing-a-defence

 

Regards

 

Andy

[mike00]

Hi Andy,

 

Yes it's the same case.