Erudio/Drydens claimform - old SLC Loans . ***Claim Dismissed***

[dx100uk]

pers i think any arguments about not supplying stuff are now worthless as they have supplied them. so each of your points regarding non compliance are now worthless.

i really think you need to fluffy out 

 

Quote

 

  On 30/07/2023 at 17:51, dx100uk said:

i would include somewhere that erudio did not from 2020 send out their deferment forms, thus you are now in this position, if they had, you would have deferred and that would have been the end of the claimant issue.  the FOS have several cases whereby the castigated erudio for not sending forms out (regardless to your phonecall. which to date erudio have not referred too..lets hope they dont)

 

 

 

 

 

[RC710]

dx100uk. 

Gosh. I really don't have much to defend this with, do I.....

I have removed the bits relating to not being sent the documents but felt that some reference needed to be included as to why my defence was as it was. 

IN THE ******* County Court 
Claim No. ***********

BETWEEN:
Claimant
***********

AND
Defendant
************

_________________________ ________

WITNESS STATEMENT OF **********

I ******, being the Defendant in this case state as follows;

 

1. Paragraph 5 is noted. I have had financial dealings with The Student Loans Company in the past. On receipt of this claim, I could not recall the precise details of the agreement or any debt and sought clarity by way of a section 77 CAA request. 

2. At the time of submitting my defence, the claimant was in default of this request, unable to comply with this request and was therefore unable to proceed and enforce the claim or request any relief. 

3. Paragraphs 34 and 35 are acknowleged.  The Claimant has provided copies of the agreements, albeit they are illegible, the Notice of Default and the Notice of Assignment in their Witness Statement supporting documents.

4. In accordance with CPR 31.15(c) I sent the claimant a £1 postal order to for their reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with my CPR 31.14 request.  The Claimant has assigned this sum towards the alleged debt without my consent and expressly against my direction.   The claimant, in their witness statement, fails to acknowledge the letter sent to me, dated 31/1/23 which evidences this action (see supporting documents).   

5. The claimant has not, since 2020, sent me deferment forms.  Had they done so, I would have deferred owing to receiving an income below the financial threshold, and this matter would have been resolved. Erudio been criticised by the Financial Ombudsman Service for this practice.

Stay of Proceedings

6. Paragraph 38 is noted but unfounded and misleading to the court.  The Claimant did not respond to my request for information pursuant to CPR 31.14. Given that the claimant readily issued a claim based on documentation referred to within their particulars one would assume that they would be more than happy to comply to prove that any claim is valid and therefore eradicating any need to defend or proceed to trial. Therefore the request to lift the stay should be denied as the above is not a true or accurate reason or occurrence of events.

Application to strike out/Summary Judgment

7. Paragraph 40 should be denied. I believe I have every opportunity in defending this claim successfully and it should be allowed to proceed to trial. The claimant is put to strict proof to respond as to why it presumes my defence has no reasonable grounds for defending given that all its exhibits are questionable or invalid with the current legislation.

8. Having regard to the above it is respectfully requested that the claimant’s application is denied and the application for strike out/summary judgment is dismissed. In the circumstances the court is invited to conclude that there are reasonable grounds to suppose that I will be able to successfully defend the Claimant’s claim at trial.

 

Is this anywhere near where it should be?

Thanks
 

[dx100uk]

you can email the court and drydens surely? due end of play thursday if case is 24th?

 

im very busy at present.

dx

[RC710]

Yes, of course. I didn't think of that.  I'm panicking, not really understanding what I'm doing. I'll try to do some more research this evening. 

Thank you

[dx100uk]

im working on a statement ...might help 

[RC710]

Thank you dx100uk

I am going to a funeral in another county today but will log back on later this evening. 

Were you able to look at all at my revised witness statement?

Do you have an example that might help me, when I have such little to draw on?

Thank you

[dx100uk]

we are all volunteers here...please we do have a life outside of CAG some days....

[dx100uk]

were the deferment forms that you returned prior to the last one done sent to you via royal mail or email and likewise how did you respond by what method?

[RC710]

dx100uk

I am so sorry. I did not mean to come across as being demanding or disrespectful. 

I have checked my email history. 

It looks like I deferred via the online portal in 2017, 2018 and 2019 online, after receiving emails inviting me to do so. 

It also looks like I registered for their online portal in June 2017. 

Erudio also sent me letter reminders - it was on one of these that I wrote my scribblings during the call I made to them.

I think prior to this I received the reminder to start paying or defer by post, and responded to these also by post, using royal mail. 

rc710

 

[dx100uk]

brilliant so you/we can use the fos stuff (see their example rulings on their site and

Erudio - stopped sending email deferment reminders - NOSIA + terminated loans **WON AT FOS** - Student loans/SLC - Consumer Action Group

)

then, as they've castigated erudio for failing from 2020/1 in not sending out email remainders to defer.

and as they've made no? ref to your phonecall saying im over the threshold etc in their n244 statement they cant now bring it up..

looking better then.

ill try and get this done laer,

 

dx

 

[RC710]

Thank you. 

I'll look at that link now and have a read. 

No, no reference to the call at all.

I have been in touch with the court and obtained an email address to send my witness statement through later on today. 

[dx100uk]

it will be later tonight sorry. but as long as its done LiP gives you leeway.

[RC710]

Thank you. 

 

[dx100uk]

brrr...working...brrr..

dx

[dx100uk]

sorry this is the best i can do for you.

........................

 In the XXXXXXX County Court 

Claim No. *********** 

BETWEEN: Claimant Erudio 

AND Defendant ************ 

WITNESS STATEMENT OF ********** 

I ******, being the Defendant in this case will state as follows; 

I make this Witness Statement in support of my defence filed 24/11/2022 in response to the claimants claim dated 26/10/2022 which was submitted through County Court Bulk Centre and remained stayed for 16 weeks as the claimant failed to further respond to the court and in response to the claimants witness statement dated 25/04/2023. I will respond and refer to each paragraph as numbered including any exhibits. 

1. The claimants witness statement opening paragraph confirms that it mostly relies on hearsay evidence as confirmed by the drafts person in the opening paragraph. It is my understanding that they must serve notice to any hearsay evidence pursuant to CPR 33.2(1)(B) (notice of intention to rely on hearsay evidence) and Section 2 (1) (A) of the Civil Evidence Act and also be in attendance at hearing to give evidence in support of the claimants witness statement. 

2.It is my understanding that the claimant is an Assignee, a buyer of defunct, disputed or bad debts, which are bought on mass portfolios at a much reduced cost to the amount claimed ...10p to 15p in the £1 and which the original creditors have already wrote off as a capital loss and claimed against taxable income. The claimant then issues on mass claims to circumvent and claim the full amount of debt to maximise profit. 

3. As an assignee or creditor as defined in section 189 of the CCA this applies to this new requirement on assignment of rights. This means that when an assignee purchases debts (or otherwise acquires rights under a credit agreement) it also acquires certain obligations to the borrower including the duty to comply with CCA requirements (such as the rules on statements and notices and other post-contractual information). The assignee becomes the creditor under the agreement. This ensures that essential consumer protections under the CCA cannot be circumvented by assigning the debt to a third party. 

Background
_________

4. Upon receipt of the claim form I could not recall the precise details of any agreements or any outstanding debt and sought clarity from the claimants solicitor via a CPR 31.14  request by Royal Mail signed for on 01/11/2022-  namely that I requested:

A copy of all the original agreement 
A copy of the terms and conditions as applicable at the time of each agreement (if different)
A copy of any Default Notice or termination notice 
A copy of the legal notice of assignment showing your right to take action 

At that stage the claim was trackless and not allocated,  the claimant solicitors were required to comply to validate and assist in verifying their clients claim. Although it is a civil request, the court expects parties to communicate to try to narrow any differences. The Claimant's solicitor did not respond to my request. 

By Royal Mail signed for post on 01/11/2022 i sent the Claimant a CCA request subject to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 requesting copies of all agreements concerning their claim.

Neither the Claimant nor their solicitors had replied to my requests by the time my defence was filed on 24/11/2022. 

5. copy of defence filed to the original Particulars of claim:

The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature.  The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR 16.5(3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made.

1.  Paragraph 2 is noted. I have had financial dealings with The Student Loans company in the past.  I do not recall the precise details or agreements, nor does it appear the claimant having failed to list the accounts numbers within its particulars. I have therefore sought verification from the claimant with regards to the account and have yet to comply with my requests for further information.
 
2.  Paragraph 3 is denied as The Defendant maintains that default notices were never received. The Claimant is put to strict proof that default notices were issued to and received by the Defendant.

3. Paragraphs1 & 4 are denied. The Defendant is unaware of any legal assignment or Notice of Assignment allegedly provided by the Claimant pursuant to the LoP Act 1925.

4. It is therefore denied with regards to the Defendant owing any monies to the Claimant; the Claimant has failed to provide any evidence of credit agreements/assignments/balances/breaches requested by CPR 31.14, and remains in default of my Section 77 CCA Request,

therefore the Claimant is put to strict proof to:

(a)   Show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement(s)

(b)  Show how the Defendant is in breach of agreement(s)

(c)   Show why the Claimant has terminated agreement(s) show the nature of breach and service of Default Notices and subsequent Notice of Sums in Arrears in accordance with the Consumer Credit Act

(d)  Show how the Claimant has reached the amount claimed for and

(e)   Show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under 
statute or equity to issue a claim.  

5. On receipt of this claim I requested (Royal Mail signed for) on 01/11/2022 a CPR 31.14 from the Claimant's solicitor and section 77 CCA's from the Claimant for copies of the documents referred to within the Claimant’s particulars to establish what the claim is for. To date the Claimant has failed to comply to my section 77 request and their solicitors, Drydens Limited, have failed to comply with my CPR 31.14 request. 

6. As per Rule 16.5(4), it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed.   On the alternative, as 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 82 A of the consumer credit Act 1974. 

7. By reasons of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief 
Save insofar of any admittance it is accepted that a contractual relationship did once exist between myself and (original Creditor). 

.......................End Of Defence

6. On or about 25/11/22 i received a letter from the claimants solicitor stating documention was available via an online portal. i could not make the portal link operate.

7. The Claimant failed to further communicate with the court nor the defendant and following the std time limit after my defence filing their claim became autostayed. I can only assume the claim was raised  to prevent my impending natural age-related cancellation clause under the Gov't SLC Loan scheme T&C's at time of Sign up or in hope of an undefended default judgment or a knee jerk admittance and payment.

8. on or about the 25/03/2023 i received a letter from the claimants solicitor enclosing documentation and a request for income details should i wish to enter into any payment agreement via a tomlim order at cost to me to avoid further court action.

N244 issuance
------------------

8. on 25/04/2023 the claimant raised an N244 request to lift the 4 months stay on proceedings seeking to strike out my defence and attain a summary judgement as they now had attained all the information i requested.

9. in ref claimants WS para 6 -  The defendant did not admit in their defence nor has at any time admitted entering into any agreements with the original creditors. 

10. in ref claimants WS paragraphs 8 + 34 - the claimant claims to have sent original copies of all agreements with the original creditor but agrees they are mostly unintelligible, even including additional 'blank agreement' pages of which the nature of their source is not clear and questioned. Where have these pages originated from. They state these have been sent for 'ease of reference'  but fail to indicate their source - be that from the original creditor 'SLC' or from the claimants own internal sources, of which does not comply to the consumer credit act request criteria.

11. at para 16 ref is made to the issuance of their default notice issued 29/09/2020 due to a failure to pay some £826.79 arrears. 

Since the 2013 assignment via the Gov't of these old SLC Loans to Erudio, Erudio have always written every year including their deferment forms to fill out and return. In 2017 their reminders changed to Email only referencing a log-in to an online portal. 
i deferred via this portal each years when a reminder email was sent. 

i did not receive any reminder in 2020 to defer, this resulted in the arrears and the subsequent default notice. 

i make ref to the FOS website and their relevant decisions about this period of change by Erudio in exhibits xx - xx attached, whereby numerous people suffered this issue around the same period and the rulings by the FOS that erudio should rollback arrears and accept post deferment.

i have never earned over the payment threshold and have always deferred when asked too.

i believe the claimants claim to be in error because i never received a 2020 deferment request.
.......................

thats all ive time for 
you'll have to select/find and INCLUDE the relevant FOS decision numbers and attach the PDF files as exhibits to your WS.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions/search?Keyword=erudio&Sort=relevance

[AndyOrch]

There is a specific style of statement when responding to this type of application for Summary Judgment /Strike Out. Its not like a normal statement in response to allocation. The above is really unsuitable unfortunately.

Statement in response to this application must be filed and served on the claimant not less than 7 days hearing date.

 

Andy

[RC710]

Andyorch, 

I was so grateful for dx100uk's help and was just tidying up the statement, trying to find the relevant supporting FOS outcomes. 

My WS was due yesterday but I had no idea what I was doing and was reliant on support. 

What should I do? Am I too late? 

[AndyOrch]

What date is the application hearing ?

[RC710]

Thurs 24th Aug at 3pm. 

[AndyOrch]

Okay Ill post you a draft example by later today.

[RC710]

Thank you.  Grateful to you both for the time you put in to support. 

 

[AndyOrch]

The following is in the style for this response to an application SJ>SO use the main body and layout and insert the points you wish to add or remove that yourself and DX feel important but remember the statement main purpose is to pinpoint the errors of the claimants statement not necessarily to support and bolster your defence.

 

Witness Statement

 

1.I, xxxxxxx being the Defendant in this case will state as follows; I make this Witness Statement to oppose the claimant application dated (insert date) to lift the stay and Strike Out Defence/Summary Judgment pursuant to CPR 24.5 (1) a&b in view of my defence submitted to the claim dated 3^rd June 2019. .The claimant confirms that this claim issued through Northampton CCBC on (insert date) and remained stayed since.

I will respond to the same numbered paragraphs as the claimant’s statement as follows:-

2. The claimants witness statement opening paragraph confirms that it mostly relies on hearsay evidence as confirmed by the drafts person in the opening paragraph. It is my understanding that they must serve notice to any hearsay evidence pursuant to CPR 33.2(1)(B) (notice of intention to rely on hearsay evidence) and Section 2 (1) (A) of the Civil Evidence Act and also be in attendance at hearing to give evidence in support of the claimants witness statement.

Background

3. It is admitted that I have in the past entered into Student Loan Finance agreements with the Student Loans Company (SLC) Mortgage Style. The loans were dated 23^rd April 1998, 20^th April 1999, 3^rd April 2000 and lastly 16^th Nov 2000.

4. The loans were regularly deferred as part of the process. On the 27^th March 2014 the debts were assigned pursuant to sec136 of Law of Property Act 1925.The claimant confirms the last payment/acknowledgement made was October 2008. Please see exhibit A2 claimant’s letter stating last deferment being October 2008.

5. The claimant refused to accept my next deferment/s (insert date)refusing to acknowledge the standard deferment form used by SLC and passed the debt to Capquest a Debt Collector on or around (insert date) and the claimant issued a Default Notice dated 13^th October 2016 and placed default markers on my credit files and latterly issuing a Termination Notice dated 11^th November 2016.

6. (You will have to insert here how you did eventually sign their forms and what dates submitted and deferred dates etc..etc. and how the default markers were removed after contacting them.)

7. On or around January 2018 the claimant informed me the accounts had now been passed to Allied International Credit, a Debt Collector having ignored my previous letters dated xxxx and my attempts at deferment.

Defendants Response to claimants claim/ Application

8. In response to paragraph 13 a claim form was received through Northampton CCBC on 3^rd June 2019.On receipt of this claim I requested information pursuant to CPR 31.14 dated 12th December 2018.  The claimants claim to have received this on the 24^th June 2019 some 6 months later. 9. The claimant fails to refer to a previous request pursuant to section 77 of the CCA1974 and therefore subject to above and being unable to comply with that request still remains in default.

 

10.In response to paragraph 6 the agreement/s referred to at pages 1-10 SR1 as per their own admittance within its statement are illegible due to their age and which reconstituted versions are inappropriate for the age of the agreements are therefore unenforceable pursuant to sec 61/ 65 of the Credit Consumer Act 1974 :-

 

sec61 Signing of agreement.

(1)A regulated agreement is not properly executed unless—

(a)a document in the prescribed form itself containing all the prescribed terms and conforming to regulations under section 60(1) is signed in the prescribed manner both by the debtor or hirer and by or on behalf of the creditor or owner, and

(b) the document embodies all the terms of the agreement, other than implied terms, and

(c) the document is, when presented or sent to the debtor or hirer for signature, in such a state that all its terms are readily legible.

 

sec65  Consequences of improper execution.

(1)An improperly-executed regulated agreement is enforceable against the debtor or hirer on an order of the court only.

And therefore pursuant to sec 127(3) The court shall not make an enforcement order under section 65(1) if section 61(1)(a)(signing of agreements) was not complied with unless a document (whether or not in the prescribed form and complying with regulations under section 60(1)) itself containing all the prescribed terms of the agreement was signed by the debtor or hirer (whether or not in the prescribed manner).

Conclusion

11. In view of the information set out above I respectfully submit to the court that the claimants application be denied. The claim remains stayed until such time the claimant can comply with section 77 of the CCA1974 or in the absence of that compliance strike out the claimant claim and dismiss the claim in its entirety.

 

Statement of truth

 

I, XXXXXXX defendant, believe the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of Court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

 

Signed: 

Print Name:

Dated: 

 

 

 

.

[AndyOrch]

Finalise it and get it away by Monday at the latest, copy to court, copy to claimants sols. The whole point of this exercise is to stop their application and get the claim to remain either stayed or back on track to allocation. 

 

.

[RC710]

Thank you Andyorch

I will adapt using that template, and some of the pertinent points that DX100uk raised. 

I'll then post here in the hope that DX100uk will not mind looking over for a final check. 

I'll email to both solicitors and court, and follow up with hard copies via royal mail. 

[AndyOrch]

3 minutes ago, RC710 said:

I will adapt using that template, and some of the pertinent points that DX100uk raised. 

Very good but dont go off tangent adding waffle that will lose the judges attention ,pertinent constrictive points only.