TBI/PF claimform - HFC Loan

[spinningfish]

Hello there

 

I have received a court summons from Rippon, Patel & French solicitors, working on behalf of TBI Financial Services Ltd, for a loan agreement (unsecured personal loan plus) I took out with HFC Bank on 28th March 2000. It is for £2,868.77 + £120 court fees + £80 solicitors costs = £3,086.77!!! :o

 

I was 18 years old when I took out the agreement, and got ideas above my station and fell way behind, so I know some of that amount is charges.

 

They sold the debt to TBI Financial Services, who found me through the voters roll.

 

I was going to send them a letter requesting true copies of the agreements, plus copies of the deeds of assignment and DPA , but lost my job and couldn't scrape together the money to pay for these.

 

So now I've received these summons and I don't know what to do next. Can anyone help me please?

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[spinningfish]

Hello there

 

I have received a court summons from Rippon, Patel & French solicitors, working on behalf of TBI Financial Services Ltd, for a loan agreement (unsecured personal loan plus) I took out with HFC Bank on 28th March 2000. It is for £2,868.77 + £120 court fees + £80 solicitors costs = £3,086.77!!!

 

I was 18 years old when I took out the agreement, and got ideas above my station and fell way behind, so I know some of that amount is charges.

 

They sold the debt to TBI Financial Services, who found me through the voters roll.

 

I was going to send them a letter requesting true copies of the agreements, plus copies of the deeds of assignment and Data Protection Act , but lost my job and couldn't scrape together the money to pay for these.

 

So now I've received these summons and I don't know what to do next. Can anyone help me please?

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[Guest Alison82]

I think you are able to get these fee's for free if you earn under a certain amount, look this up and if it applies to you then you should issue an L.B.A then send off your summons if they don't comply.

 

How much of this is actualy penalty charges?

 

Ask aroound as people on here can give you some vaulable advice.

 

Good Luck

[spinningfish]

The problem is they're taking me to court, and I don't know whether I should file a defence, and I've got limited time in which to respond to the court....

[spinningfish]

The problem is they're taking me to court, and I don't know whether I should file a defence, and I've got limited time in which to respond to the court....

[spinningfish]

They last sent me a letter about six weeks ago. I last spoke to them in about May... Silly I know. I just buried my head in the sand.

 

There's no collection charge that I can see. They've added interest to the amount too.

 

Can I not file in my defence that I need to see original copies of the loan agreement, and that I dispute it? I don't know if HFC can provide this after all this time.

[Tinkerbelle]

The problem is they're taking me to court, and I don't know whether I should file a defence, and I've got limited time in which to respond to the court....

 

Go online and file a defence straightaway.

 

It will prevent them entering judgement after 14 days, and gives us an extra 14 days to sort out a plan of action.

[spinningfish]

I'm going to get the POC scanned this morning and will upload it onto this page.

 

The issue date on the document is the 25th October, but I did not receive it until the 2nd of November, which accoring to HM Courts Service website, would be the 'date of service' from which I have 14 days to respond.

[spinningfish]

OK. I have sent off the Acknowledgment of Service, which should arrive today.

 

I have also uploaded the Particulars of Claim. Please see below:

 

What is our next step??

 

Thanks!!

[pford]

Have you got the default notice they state was sent on the 25 April 2006?

 

Was it in the correct format?

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/758A497C-254B-4A23-AC96-9B97B8C978B1/0/oft020.pdf

[spinningfish]

I've never seen the default notice.

[Tinkerbelle]

How much was the original loan?

[peanuts]

I would advise you contact the Solicitors without delay and ask for a 2 -3 week deferrment of the action to give you time to take professional advice prepare a defence and assess your finacial circumstances etc. This will give you a short time to negotiate with them. They bought your debt for a % of the original amount and would probably be prepared to settle for a lot less if you can offer them a reasonable settlement or alternatively work out a sensible repayment program with them.

 

Be honest about your financial circumstances and don't agree to a unrealistic payment program.That will just put you in a worse situation.

 

Don't whatever you do ignore this and let the hearing go ahead. You will then have an undefended action with a determination of the full amount plus fees, interest etc . Plus a bad credit rating preventing you getting financial help in the future.

 

I have negotiated payment of dozens of debts that I inherited when my business went bust due to F & M I have repaid them all over the past 4 without a single court hearing or judgement.

 

I would recomend that you contact citizens advice right away and get some free legal advice.

 

You could consider taking out a personal loan for say £2000.00 over 3-4years and offering them an immediate full and final settlement of say £2000 They would probably accept that amount because they know its more than they are likely to recover if they take you to court.

 

This will allow you to get instant relief from the debt and give you much lower monthly repayments than you would be likely to get from the Solicitors. Typical repayment of a £2000 loan at A & L over 60 months is £49.00 a month!

[ecobabe]

have you actually returned the response yet? if not you can partially admit; admit to the debt but dispute the amount saying that it is partly made up of unlawful penalty charges which are irrecoverable also counterclaim that you were not served with a default notice so the action should not proceed since according to the consumer credit act a default notice should be served first(you'll need to check wording of act) and they have breached the data protection act(think it;s section 14) by passing incorrect data on to credit referenc agency. they will probably need to have a continuance to sort it out, cos these companies don't really expect people to turn up and defend themselves.

[Laiste]

Hi,

 

Personally, I would not pay the amount they are claiming until I had established that they have all of their paperwork in order. If they don't have in their possession certain paperwork, or some of it is wrong, a Judge will throw their case out.

 

It is unlikely that their Solicitors will put a halt on proceedings so that you can get the paperwork relating to the debt. They aren't interested in helping you, they just want the money. I would file a counterclaim not acknowledging the debt. I would state in the particulars that you have not been furnished with any of the paperwork relating to the debt, so until you receive said paperwork there is no way of establishing that the debt exists.

 

You need to do a CCA request, to see if there is a credit agreement. If they don't provide it, they cannot enforce the debt. It is very likely that penalty charges have been added to the account, that should form part of your counterclaim also. Additionally, if they provide you with a copy of the Default Notice and the amount claimed includes penalty charges you can get the case thrown out because D/N have to include the correct amount owing. Given that penalty charges are unlawful, they cannot include them in the D/N. I would do a DPA request as well, to get all the info relating to the account, statements etc, to build your case.

 

There is nothing wrong with you including a letter to the Judge in your counterclaim, explaining the info you haven't got, but that you will amend your counterclaim accordingly when you have received it. To amend your claim you need to use an N244 Application Notice form. Its pretty straightforward really.

 

HFC have to have their paperwork in order, the Judge will expect nothing less. In my experience because banks and credit card companies are so large, the possibility for mistakes is huge, which works in your favour. Scrutinise every bit of paperwork you get.

 

I wish you well and if I can be of any further help let me know.

 

Laiste.