Claim form for old catalogue debt prob SB'd***Claim Discontinued*** / Now letter from OC

[newhereplease help]

Hi all,

 

I was hoping some of you could possibly help me please.

 

I received a CCJ claim form from a very old debt (2004) that I am 99.99999% sure is SB.

The purchaser of this debt has been writing on and off now for almost 6 years. I have never called or written to them in all that time.

 

They purchased this debt coming up to maybe 6 years ago now and the account was well into default by that time, with no payments being made for well over a year. So by my reckoning there has been no payment or acknowledgement of the debt for almost 7 years.

 

I have done the acknowledge claim thing online and have ticked the box to instruct that I intend to defend the claim in full. By my maths and limited knowledge I have issue date + 5 days (serviced), then by acknowledging the claim I now have 14 days to get my defence in: does that seem correct?

 

I intend to defend on the basis that the debt is statute barred (no payment or acknowledgement within 6 years), is that the right course of action? Also I doubt very much that they have the CCA from 2004 either. Now should I defend on the SB basis alone or throw in the CCA issue to?

 

Now if they continue with the claim to court, will I have to attend the hearing? Also will the claimant have to prove to the court that they have verifiable evidence of either payment or acknowledgement? Can I demand that they provide this proof? I ask this because I have read that these people sometimes make so called 'phantom' payments to try and get away with making claims on SB debts.

 

Sorry for all the questions and ramblings, I just hope one of you kind people can help me.

 

Kind regards

Me x

[dx100uk]

can you fill this out please:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?419198-You-have-received-a-Claim-What-you-need-to-do.-**UPDATED-April-2014**

[AndyOrch]

Hi newhere and Welcome to CAG.

 

Its 19 days from the date on the claim form for acknowledgment and a further 14 days to submit your defence (33 days).

From your post its obvious that its Statute Barred but requesting a copy of the agreement will do no harm not that you will be relying on it for your defence.

 

 

I will post you the standard statute barred defence shortly.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[AndyOrch]

Here you go :-

 

Defence

 

1 The Claimant's claim was issued on (date).

 

2 The Claimant contends that the Claimant's claim so issued is a claim in contract and is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of section 5 of the limitation acticon 1980. If, which is denied, the claimant contends that the Defendant is in breach of the alleged contract, in excess of 6 years have elapsed since the date on which any cause of action for breach accrued for the benefit of the Claimant.

 

3 The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £x or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[newhereplease help]

Hi Andy and DX,

 

Thank-you so much for your help, I really appreciate it

 

DX, I will take a look at the link and fill it out.

Andy, you are a star, thanks for that, I would never have been able to write something so well, thank you

 

Kind regards

Me x

[newhereplease help]

Hi all,

 

Just a quick message to thank you all for all the help I received recently.

 

I received a CCJ claim in early May for a debt that I was 99.9999% sure was stat barred.

 

Thanks to the advice I received on here and a excellently worded defence I was able to defend the claim successfully.

 

I received a 75% discount letter about 10 days after I filed the defence and

 

on Saturday I received a letter stating the were discontinuing their claim due to 'commercial interests', whatever that means.

 

I just wanted to say a massive thankyou and to let you know that I am very grateful for the help I received, you guys truly are angels.

 

Kind regards

Me x

 

p.s donation incoming too.

[renegadeimp]

Discontinuing due to commercial interests basically means " Oh crap, we've been rumbled. They didnt even fall for out 75% discount trick either. lets write a quick letter and make it look like we are doing them a huge favour".

[BankFodder]

Very good. Please tell which company it was and a few more details. It will be helpful to others

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?424005-Claimform-for-old-catalogue-debt-prob-SB-d

 

Your original thread in the link above.

 

Pleased to hear that this has now been discontinued - Do keep your letter safe somewhere

[renegadeimp]

Might i suggest you also double check with the court to ensure the claim has been discontinued. Some DCA's will say its been discontinued then not stop the claim.

[newhereplease help]

Ok here are the details.

 

In 2004 I took out a credit card from the bank I banked with at the time.

The credit limit was quite low at 250 pounds and I ran the account well until Xmas 2006.

I missed the payment date and didn't realise until after Xmas when I received my next statement. The problem was because the payment was late, I was charged a late fee and admin fee. I was then charged an account over limit fee. The problem was when my next payment was due they wanted me to pay all the fees plus 2 months minimum payment and I just didn't have it. This started a nightmare, I was then constantly, each month being charged fees because I couldn't pay all the charges and minimum payments at once. And if those charges were not paid I was still classed as being in arrears and over the account limit. This went on for 6 months and I was not getting anywhere and the bank were so unhelpful, all they kept telling me was the account was in arrears and the charges would continue. By June 2007 the account had risen from 250 pounds to just under 500, all charges and fees and interest on their charges and fees. I stopped paying because I wasn't getting anywhere and the bill was just getting bigger.

 

After the last payment I can remember making I was hounded firstly by the bank and then by every DCA going. I soon realised that the threatening letters went in like a cycle and I could almost predict when I would received another.

Eventually the bank must have sold the account (even though they never informed me). I can't even remember getting a default notice. I started getting letters from Cabot but now the amount they alleged I owed was nearly 700 pounds. This credit card had a credit limit of 250 pounds at the time I missed that first payment in Dec 2006, so somehow 450 pounds of charges and fees had been added.

 

At first they were almost friendly, which was odd. That soon changed and I was receiving letters constantly demanding that I call them and make arrangements to pay. The tone of the letters worried me and I eventually stopped opening the letters from them. Then I started getting letters from FIRE, who at the time I did not realize were just Cabot. This letter assault continued from middle 2008 till May this year, with a few letters from Cabot, then a few from FIRE. I admit I ignored them, the tone of their letters do not encourage you to try and engage with them. The end of March I received a letter from Wright Hassall solicitors with the usual threats. TBH I was shocked when I received the claim form the first week in May 2014, I even had to use my inhaler which I have not had to use for nearly 18 months. I think I was shocked because this had been going on for 8 years, since the original missed payment.

 

I found you guys and read lots of posts and soon realised that the debt was stat barred but had no idea what to do with the claim form. I posted a thread and I received excellent advice and was even given a defence to write. Thankyou so much to you all. I was so worried about this and you helped me fight back.

 

The silly thing is if they had not added all those charges at the beginning and let me just pay the 2 minimum payments then none of this 8 year nightmare would have happened. It's greed pure and simple by the financial industry and once they taste blood and have you in arrears you are done for. I'm now teaching my children about the dangers of getting into debt and trying to make them as informed as possible so hopefully they understand later in life that credit is not something to get willy nilly.

 

Kind regards

Me x

[newhereplease help]

I will defo check with the court renegadeimp

[renegadeimp]

Also to note, all those charges could be reclaimed

[dx100uk]

threads merged so andy see the good news

 

dx

[AndyOrch]

Excellent news... newhere...delighted that this has been resolved for you.

 

Well done.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[citizenB]

Also to note, all those charges could be reclaimed

 

 

There will be little point in doing this, they will be offset against the outstanding balance, despite it being statute barred.

[newhereplease help]

Hi all,

 

This is a continuation of a previous post.

 

With the help of the people on this site I was able to successfully defend a claim by Cabot for a very old credit card debt that had become statute barred.

 

I defended and then

 

last week I received a letter from Cabot's solicitor informing me that they were discontinuing with the claim.

 

this morning a received a letter from the original creditor of this debt (Cabot purchased this debt in 2008/9),

 

saying that they were responding to my request for the CCA agreement,

problem is I have not requested the CCA agreement from them or Cabot.

 

It goes on to say that even though they understand that the debt is unenforceable that they still deem the debt payable etc.

 

.they also say that they can still report to CRA's without telling them that the account is unenforceable

and that they can continue to instruct 3rd parties to harass me.

 

I really don't understand because this debt has not been with the original creditor since 2008/9 when Cabot purchased it.

 

How can they still report to CRA's and to instruct anyone to badger me for payment when they debt is no longer theirs?

 

My concern now is that the original creditor will purchase the debt back from Cabot

and then deduct the money from my current account which is still with the original creditor.

 

Can they do this, even though it is statute barred and unenforceable because they have no CCA?

 

I am going to stop any payments going into this account and pay the overdraft and close the account,

that way the only way they can get any payments is through the courts, which they have admitted they can't do.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Kind regards

Me x

[The GodMother]

So they are responding to a cca request you have not made.

Cabot have admitted/accepted the debt is SB and withdrawn the claim.

 

1. Have you had any confirmation from the courts the claim has been withdrawn. DO NOT accept there word for it. Some companys have been known to say one thing but do another.

2. This may have crossed in the post between cabots and the OC and OC and you so give it a few days.

3. Contact the courts and ask if they have had anything in writing from the courts.

[newhereplease help]

Hi GodMother,

 

Yep, not heard from the original creditor on this account since 2008 when they sold it to Cabot.

The only thing I can think is that Cabot requested it from them and they have written to me by mistake.

 

No confirmation from the courts as yet but I only received the discontinuance letter from Cabot's solicitor on Saturday just gone.

The letter I had from the courts about my defence being submitted took a couple of weeks to get to me, they aren't the quickest.

 

Cabot did not admit that the account was stat barred as I stated in my defence,

the solicitor just said that the client (Cabot) was not pursuing the claim further due to 'commercial interests'.

 

And now I have the original creditor saying we don't have the CCA and therefore its unenforceable

but we can still report to CRA's and instruct 3rd parties to harass you, even though they sold the debt 6 years ago.

 

I will give the courts a ring and see if they can help.

If Cabot do not inform the courts that they are not continuing,

what will happen?

 

Many thanks

Me x

[spamheed]

If this debt is with the people you are still banking with, then it may be worth considering making alternative banking arrangements.

 

 

Whilst the debt may well be SB, it is quite possible that some kind of admin error may result in them offsetting the balance of your account against the outstanding SB debt. I know that they are not allowed to do this and ultimately you would most likely be successful in whatever action you undertook to resolve the issue, but in order to avoid the months of difficulty such an action would cause whilst you rectified the issue, I would possible consider moving your current account elsewhere asap.

[newhereplease help]

Hi GodMother,

 

Yep, not heard from the original creditor on this account since 2008 when they sold it to Cabot.

The only thing I can think is that Cabot requested it from them and they have written to me by mistake.

 

No confirmation from the courts as yet but I only received the discontinuance letter from Cabot's solicitor on Saturday just gone. The letter I had from the courts about my defence being submitted took a couple of weeks to get to me, they aren't the quickest.

Cabot did not admit that the account was stat barred as I stated in my defence, the solicitor just said that the client (Cabot) was not pursuing the claim further due to 'commercial interests'. And now I have the original creditor saying we don't have the CCA and therefore its unenforceable but we can still report to CRA's and instruct 3rd parties to harass you, even though they sold the debt 6 years ago.

 

I will give the courts a ring and see if they can help. If Cabot do not inform the courts that they are not continuing, what will happen?

 

Many thanks

Me x

[renegadeimp]

Its called a desperation letter. Basocally they know they cant do anything to you to get money. But they're still going to threaten you anyway.

 

Its pretty much cabots standard procedure

[newhereplease help]

Sorry about the duplicate post, not sure what happened there

[newhereplease help]

Hi renegadeimp,

 

Its not Cabot who have written to me about the lack of unenforceable CCA but the original creditor Barclays.

I've not heard from Barclay since 2008 when they sold the debt to Cabot.

 

Just seems odd that they write to me 3 days after Cabot discontinue a debt that was originally theirs.

 

I was concerned that they would buy the debt back and then take the money from my current account which is with Barclay.

 

I'm just going to close the account so they have to take me to court again if they want to try and enforce the unenforceable.

 

Is it worth sending the stat barred letter to Barclay and Cabot regarding this debt?

 

Many thanks for your help

Me x

[newhereplease help]

Hi renegadeimp,

 

Its not Cabot who have written to me about the lack of unenforceable CCA but the original creditor Barclays. I've not heard from Barclay since 2008 when they sold the debt to Cabot.

Just seems odd that they write to me 3 days after Cabot discontinue a debt that was originally theirs.

I was concerned that they would buy the debt back and then take the money from my current account which is with Barclay. I'm just going to close the account so they have to take me to court again if they want to try and enforce the unenforceable.

 

Is it worth sending the stat barred letter to Barclay and Cabot regarding this debt?

 

Many thanks for your help

Me x