Lowell Claimform - Old Vanquis Card Debt - poss SB, - now N244 for SJ

[gd47]

This MAY be relatively straightforward!

Had a Vanquis credit card and the last payment I made was July 2nd 2014.

County Court summons was issued 29th October 2020.

Could this be regarded as statute barred (have been suffering from serious health problems, which is why I haven’t dealt with it already).

Many thanks in advance.

[dx100uk]

moved to legals

please complete this:

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/357877-you-have-received-a-court-claim-issued-in-england-wales-what-you-need-to-do/

 

dx

 

[gd47]

Name of the Claimant ? Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd

 

Date of issue 29/10/2020

 

 

Particulars of Claim

 

What is the claim for –

 

1 The Defendant entered into a Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulated agreement with Vanquis under account reference (16 digits) (‘the Agreement’).

 

2 The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and arrears began to accrue.

 

3 The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 23/09/2019 and notice given to the Defendant.

 

4 Despite repeated requests for payment the sum of £519.00 remains due and outstanding.

 

And the Claimant claims 

a) The said sum of £519.00

b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.114, but limited to one year, being £41.52

c) Costs

 

What is the total value of the claim?£690.52
 

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ?Not sure, but probably.
 

Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred?No
 

Did you inform the claimant of your change of address?N/A

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account?Credit card.
 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ?After April 2007
 

Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ?Probably online.
 

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) ?Only showing as Lowell... no default mentioned (ClearScore site).
 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim.Debt purchaser.
 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment?Yes.
 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor?Not sure.
 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ?Not sure, but don’t think so.
 

Why did you cease payments? Ill health.
 

What was the date of your last payment?02/07/2014

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No
 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan?Yes...advised of long-term health problems 
 

 

[dx100uk]

that's interesting ...

so the debt shows on your credit file under lowells, which is correct as lowell name will replace that of vanquis upon sale, but, vanquis should have defaulted the debt before or upon sale, and you say there is no default date showing?

 

did you receive the notice of assignment letter 23/09/2019?

What was the date of your last payment?02/07/2014

 

so why did vanquis take 4yrs to sell it and never default around  oct 2014 when they should have...

 

but eitherway...the debt is statute barred IMHO ...so our SB defence is in order me thinks

that should kill the claim dead

 

dx

 

 

[gd47]

Thank you very much for your extremely quick reply...very much appreciated!

 

I’ll check out all I can about the SB defence and submit my reply here before sending it to the court.

 

Do Lowell’s usually continue regardless if a SB defence is submitted or do they cut their losses and give up?

 

Oh, and do I still ask for the CCA or would it be a waste of time in this case?

 

Once again, many thanks for your invaluable assistance.

[dx100uk]

how confident are you upon last payment date?

please don't do anything yet without checking here 2st....yet.

 

dx

 

[gd47]

Very confident of the last payment date...managed to download all bank statements which prove it.

I’ll just hold fire on anything unless I post it on here first.

 I presume I should acknowledge service or should I wait until nearer the deadline, which I think should be about another 15 days (but am prepared to be corrected!).

Very many thanks.

[AndyOrch]

You must acknowledge service by Monday 16th 4.00pm.

I would try checking Experian/Equifax /Etc see if they throw up a date.

 

Andy

[gd47]

That’s great, thanks for your advice Andy.

[gd47]

Many thanks for the replies so far...all extremely helpful.

Here’s an update...

Completed AOS online on 12/11/20.

Now here’s a question that I can’t find an answer to.

 I’ve received an email from the NHS stating that I’m classed as “extremely vulnerable “, etc. and I shouldn’t leave the house for any reason.

Under the circumstances, could I request the CPR 31 information via email (normally, I would ask via recorded delivery post, but I don’t have anyone who could visit the post office for me, as it’s quite far away). This has also prevented me from requesting a CCA.

 I believe my defence should be submitted by Thursday, but will welcome any further advice.

Very many thanks in advance.

[dx100uk]

it is never wise idea to give a DCA nor their dogs your email AD no.

they'll file important docs 1 min before any deadlines to trip you up.

 

dx

[gd47]

Would this be a suitable defence (many thanks dx100uk...found it in the Legal Success forum)...

 

....

 

1 The Claimant's claim was issued on 29/10/2020

 

2 The Defendant 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 act 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 £690.52p or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

 

When should I submit my defence (acknowledged service online on 12/11/2020)?

 

Many thanks.

 

Sorry, another thought has crossed my mind...

would it be a good idea to apply for summary judgment, as their claim has very little prospect of success?

Would it put pressure on them to discontinue?

[dx100uk]

no need for SJ no that costs you money too

the SB defence should kill it dead.

 

you don't need to file that until day 33 ...monday by 4pm

but there is no harm in filing now.

 

just copy and paste that to MCOL.

 

 

[gd47]

Defence submitted!

Now it’s just a matter of waiting.

Thanks to all so far....

[gd47]

An update...

Firstly, season’s greetings to all...let’s hope 2021 is far better for everyone than 2020!

 

Received acknowledgment of receipt of my defence from the Court saying that it was being served on Lowells (letter dated 24/11/20).

 

Today I have received a copy of the directions questionnaire from Lowells and also a letter saying that they have agreed to mediation and suggested that I should agree (and also asked me to put forward an “affordable settlement” arrangement, which may avoid me having to pay more costs being added to my “debt”).

 

 I really can’t understand why they are pursuing a statute-barred debt.

 

What should I do now..

.is there any point in referring them to the FCA or any other body, now they have been informed that the debt is statute-barred?

 

Should I phone them and explain to them in no uncertain terms what the situation is?

 

Many thanks to all.

[AndyOrch]

Submit your DQ when you get it and state no to mediation because its statue barred and nothing to mediate over.

Nothing else dont contact anyone.

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

Unredacted

hidden

[AndyOrch]

Okay...so

 

What was the date of your last payment?02/07/2014

 

Default Notice issued was sent 11th June 2015 allowing until 30th June 2015 to rectify arrears

Cause of Action 1st July 2015

 

Claim Issued 29th Oct 2020

 

Period of breach to DN issue 11 months

Period of time from last payment to court claim issue ...6 years 3 months.

Period of time from DN issue to court claim issue ....5 years  10 months

[gd47]

Still wondering what to do!

 

Here’s a quick summary of the facts so far...

This refers to a Vanquis credit card with a £250 limit.

Due to illness, I stopped paying on 1/7/2014 (which I informed Vanquis).

 

Evidently, a default notice was issued on 11/6/201, very nearly a year later.

 

Lowells have dismissed my “statute barred” defence, stating that the six year period runs from the expiry date of the default notice, which would be six years after 1/7/2015.

 

Having read the statement of account which Lowells provided, at the time of my last payment the outstanding balance was £245.

 

During the period from my last payment to issuing a default notice, a total of approximately £212 in late payment, over limit, billed finance and repayment option plan charges were applied.

After the issuing of the default notice, a further £217 of charges were added.

 

My questions are:

1.Even though I have submitted my defence to the court, do I have any grounds to dispute the charges applied?

2.Are Lowells correct in their statement that the six year statute barred time limit starts from the date of accrued action (1/7/2015)?

 

Any advice very gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[dx100uk]

1.only with the OC..and it's not ONLY penalty fees following the default, any fixed sum fees are unlawful whenever they were charged and can be worthy of note and the interest at the card rate they caused.

could be mentioned in your WS but thats IF it gets that far.

 

2.as andyorch pointed too the OC took 11mths to register the default, again we've seen lowells run away and discontinue days before it's due in court.

 

what is the status of the claim on MCOL?

[gd47]

Thank you very much for your quick reply dx100uk... much appreciated.

As requested, this is the state of proceedings from the MCOL site...

 

A claim was issued against you on 29/10/2020

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 12/11/2020 at 12:54:51

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 12/11/2020 at 14:05:17

Your defence was submitted on 24/11/2020 at 04:35:00

Your defence was received on 24/11/2020 at 08:05:38

 

That’s all!

Hope this helps...I must say I feel a little out of my depth at the moment!

Once again, very many thanks.

 

 

[dx100uk]

On 30/12/2020 at 11:33, gd47 said:

Today I have received a copy of the directions questionnaire from Lowells 

 

it might well be that the courts are still delayed due to xmas/covid etc, but going by the status above

it LOOKS like the claim is stayed so tough luck lowells... it will cost them £255 to raise an N244 and lift the stay now.

 

we've seem this from lowells time and time again before now, they send stuff our early to intimidate and harass, with all this huff n puff on how powerful they are, with offers of settlement cause a defendants defence in their eyes is soooo weak...but actually they do not send it to the court themselves or discontinue just before any hearing to avoid costs.

 

 

[BankFodder]

open

[dx100uk]

can you use PDFmerge listed in our upload guide and put all those in one mass multipage PDF

else we'll be here all day downloading single pages

 

you also must redact claim numbers and pers info.

 

posts hidden

 

 

[gd47]

Thanks for your advice dx100.

Hopefully everything will work properly now you’ve pointed me in the right direction!

This is what I received in the post this morning…

don’t know if it’s actually from the Court or Lowells ( no return address or indication of sender…I thought the Court correspondence had some information on the envelope).

any advice as to how to proceed would be very gratefully received (and acted on!).

Lowells seem to be very persistent with this!

N244 Granted+N180.pdf