HFC taking me to court (papers received)

[kotum45]

I have just been served with county court action by HFC. I had a loan agreement with them and for over 2 years I have been paying properly. Then I realised they were charging me £4 more than the agreement. So I phoned a few time and spoke to a few people but they were sure that the monthly payment I was paying is correct (agreement says otherwise). So under the credit act I asked for the agreement. This was in November and I haven't yet received the agreement. So I stopped paying and told them that I am not paying until they proved that the amounf I have been paying was correct.

Now they are taking me to court and I have to file defence...

Anyone know how to go about it...

There are also charges on the account and somehow the amount they filed for in the court has an added amount of £1700 which is the collection charge..

This is a joke, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[kotum45]

Thanks Karen,

They are using restons solicitors and the loan was for 10,000.

So should I tick "I intend to defend all of this claim"...?

I will read your other threads, thanks for your help.

[kotum45]

Karen, thank you so much for the interest you have shown to my thread. I am sorry I was away and couldn't reply before.

I took out this loan on April 2004 and I have been paying the amount requested on direct debit monthly (this is different amount to what is on the agreement). However, didn't realise the difference in amount deducted from my account and the agreement up until 4 months ago. I called them to notify them of the mistake and asked for a statement and the copy of the agreement.

They didn't send it.

So I asked it in writing and enclosed a postal order and told them I am not paying any longer until they send me the agreement stating that the amount they have been charging me is correct. Until now they haven't sent the agreement. Instead they sent a default notice which I replied informing that what they were doing was unlawful.

Now I am faced with a CC claim.

Particulars of claims simply says I owe them 10229 plus 1700 collection charge. It quotes the account number and the date it was taken out.

So far I acknowledged the claim with intend to defend in full. I e-mailed the solicitors asking for the agreement and the account statement and they replied saying "they don't hold that kind of information so I should contact HFC directly".

 

I don't dispute I owe them money but they have been charging me wrongly and there are charges on this account but they are not sending me any info.

[kotum45]

I have now acknowledged the claim but I haven't put in the defence. I hope I still have time as the claim was filed on 19th Jan.

 

This is the defence I am thinking of writing:

1. This Defence is filed and served without prejudice to the right of the Defendant to

apply for summary judgment in respect of and/or to strike out the Particulars of Claim.

2. The defendant querried the the monthly charge being taken out of her account on or around 5th August 2006 as this amount didn't match the agreed amount.

3. Further investigation revealed that since May 2004 the claimant has been collecting the wrong amount from the defendant's account.

4. The defendant wrote to the claimant to request a signed copy of the agreement on 30th August 2006 (Please find enclosed)

5. This request was not fulfilled.

6. The defendant wrote to the claimant once again on 13th September 2006 enclosing a statutory £1 fee to request a signed copy of the agreement.

7. This request has not been fulfilled.

8. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Sections 77−79) state clearly that the

claimant has 12 days to supply this, after which the claimant is in default. After 30 days the agreement becomes unenforceable.

9. By failing to comply the claimant has committed a criminal offence.

10. The Defendant invites the Claimant to remedy the above by supplying a copy of the original credit agreement. In the event that the Claimant fails to do so within 14 days of the service of the Defence then the Defendant will apply to the Court for an Order striking out the Particulars of Claim.

12. The Defendant reserves the right to plead further to the Particulars of Claim once and if the Claimant produces the ornaginal agreement. In the meantime, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief whether as pleaded or at all.

 

Do you think it is okay?

[e28bigalbexley]

Hi

In your defence point 8.

the time limit is 12 working days they default and cannot enforce the agreement and after a further month they commit an offence.

Only little things but might as well file your defence correctly:) .

 

Good Luck

 

AL;)

[Scooby_Doo2]

If this was a loan taken through the branch network, there is a high probability the original, signed agreement has been lost.

 

HFC can only take the payments as described exactly in your agreement. If they vary the amounts outside the terms of the contract, they are then considered to be in breach of that contract.

 

The most like reason for the difference in repayment is probably down to a change in the balance of any other accounts you held with them being consolidated. I used to work there and that was a common mistake. They would often "hold" the completion of loans over the weekends to make their figures look better on Mondays - but if a loan signed up on Saturday was to pay off an account with daily interest, the settlement balance would change meaning they would sometimes need to increase the amount borrowed to cover it. All highly irregular.

 

I agree strongly with karnevil - you will be fine. When the case is found in your favour, I'd suggest you make an official complaint to HFC Bank using their internal complaints procedure for compensation. The worry and stress of this mess must be immense (not being sarcastic either). You should not have to suffer due to their incompetence.

 

This is a classic example of how not to treat your customer fairly and I'm sorry to say, is typical of HFC Bank.

[roboraver]

Hi people, I am about to pursue HFC bank for my mum who took out a loan years ago and has been paying it off. They just sent her a letter before action for 11,200 !! when the original load was for 6,000 (she has paid 7,000 so far) so the numbers are not adding up. I have just sent a request for original loan documents and a break down of costs, so will see what they reply with !!

[kotum45]

It has been a while sorry. For a while I hadn't heard anything from the court or Restons on behalf of HFC.

Recently the court asked them to provide the account details and contracts and all other paperwork.

They have supplied the contract to the court and to myself.

My original loan is £171.86 per month however they have been taking £175.80 from the account. Apperantly the reason for this is I allegedly signed an insurance contract with Hamilton Insurance which adds that bit of extra a month. The thing I remember very clearly that I said NO to insurance and ppi. Now I have two contracts one says £171.86 and and it clearly says on that contract that I said NO to PPI and sickness cover. The other contract is with Hamilton Insurance for 330.96 paid monthly which is an illness cover. This looks very strange because I never saw this insurance cover before. It has my signature but I am very suspicious of my signature being copied there. There are also no dates.

 

Restons sent me a letter and to the court (application notice) saying I have no gorunds of defence and the case should go to their favour without hearing. On there they claim that their client (HFC) are not in default as they sent me the contract. I know for a fact they never sent me a contract. Neither Restons nor HFC.

 

I received another letter from Restons which is from the court titled Notice of Hearing of Application. It says the claimants application for hearing will take place on 20 August.

 

 

Any ideas on what to do.

[e28bigalbexley]

Hi Kotum

So you have had a court date 20th August right?

It is normal practice that the defendant will inform the court that you have no case to answer (scare tactics), but you have your original agreement

so someone is wrong, and you have to remember they are a bank (they believe they are god).

I shall have ask about for you

 

AL

[kotum45]

Hi,

I have the original document but the money they were taking out of my account didn't match with the agreement. So I enquired about it. But they never sent the documents that explained why they were taking more than they should. So I stopped paying after waiting 30 days.

Now they sent the documents but they are saying there is £1700 collection charge plus late fees of £225.

[tamadus]

Have they sent the actual credit agreement and is it in order?

 

The late fees are clearly penalties so a counterclaim for those could be submitted. Have they explained how the collection fee is calculated?

 

More importantly have you done an SAR yet ? If not then do one NOW and make sure you ask for everything not just statements.

[kotum45]

Yes they sent the credit agreement and another agreement which is for insurance.

On my first defence I wrote 'I reserve the right to change my defense if HFC submits the credit agreement'. Can I change my defence now? Does anyone know how would I do that?

[hellhasnofury]

Hello Kotum,

 

Have read your thread with interest, they are doing the same with me taking me to court for a cc balance, I cca them and got an application form signed by me. So I am going to have a bash at that one for my first defence and then got for a second defence to stop the collection charge and the daily £5.19 they are asking for. They are so greedy:-x

 

I hope all is going well with you