sam.laidlaw@centrica.com is the ceo email they tried to con me out of £250 and then when I complained they said it was just a computer error, and I just have to accept it Computers dont make errors, the people using them make the errors

Yes it was not that bad, exact as you decribed. Spent most the time in conference room with Restons Barrister. I did ask the DJ questions about the draft order at the hearing as did not wish to take the barristers word for it, and she did explain it was full and final and not a short settlment, and sanctioned it, and I have a copy of the draft. She made comment that she was pleased both sides had compromised and reached a deal and saved costs, and was happy to grant extra time for the 2 parties to discuss. We went into the hearing about an hour after we were supposed to have. The terms are if I do not pay up then the claimant shall be at liberty to enter judgment for the amount claimed by consent.

Cheers for that Mr Happy, I am glad to hear all went well for you. I made out to the opp barrister that I am not scared to go in the court room as a lay person and use lay language, but never had to go through with it. The first time is an experiance and half alright.

Hey there Thanks for your support throughout. I nearly did not go today, but I am sure glad I did in the end, as if I did not go they would have got the Judgment by default on whatever amount they wanted to claim. You was spot on, soon as I sat down in waiting area their barrister was over asking if I wanted to chat. Went ahead and had a chat, barrister seemed ok. She tried to serve a new WS on me which I refused to accept. They then try to get me to agree to making £5 weekly payments, in return for a charge on my house, cheeky! I told them were to stick that. We then haggled and argued over whether an unserved default notice can be served again, whether they can claim stat interest and whether £12 charges are lawful or not. Then I metioned full and final settlements and we negotiated a deal. I am quite happy as the settlement is less than the credit limit on the card, and it is half of what they were claiming, so in real terms for me, mbna have paid me for borrowing money from them, and they will be paying the sols costs too. But on the other hand I am left thinking if they were so sure of what they had against me, why offer a full and final which was half of what they were claiming, why not go for SJ and why bother "having a chat". Again you were spot on with the confidence and appearing to be confident, it is almost like who can out bluff who. I think I showed them I was not scared, and that I was not scared to go in the court room and use plain english to defend myself (really I was bricking it and my heart was pounding so fast!). Thanks again for all your help, without it, I know I would be sat here with a much larger debt and a CCJ to show for it, and probably on my way to getting a charging order on the house. Thank you

Thanks for all your help on this FG really appreciated. Have sent off the ws and the exhibits etc last week. Am in court tommorow and will report back how it goes. As a LIP am not feeling confident and wish that I considered being represented before. Would I be too late to be represented by member of the bar on a cfa? Anyway, will report back how it goes, and thanks again.

that all seems to be in order, 21.10.08, 07.11.08 and 29.11.08 on comms log 1st mention of charge off

Hi there Supasnooper, Thanks for you post. My reconstructed and copy dn, as described by Restons, both look the same and do not have any heading, they do not look anything like even a photocopy of yours, apart from text contained. I have done a sar request to which they recently replied. Have gone through it, and there is no DN, not a copy not a reconstruct none at all. But there is a note on a print out of what seems to be system notes, stating DN issued on the date the copy dn states. I have also just gone through a CCA request which they (MBNA) replied to in Dec 2008, and again no copy of a DN there. Hmmmmmm

Thanks very much for you guidance, I was going too far into detail. That looks great, the DN does give enough time ro remedy, I assume 14 days to be same as 10 working days, plus 2 working days for the notice to be served, they are bang on timewise, shame never received it though. Yes the defence I sent in did not include the statement of truth at the bottom, is this something I would address in the ws, along the lines of me being a non member of the bar with no funds to get legal advice, and feeling very streesed and intimidated. The DN they provide, I can not see how it could fit on MBNA letter headed paper if its a true copy, the logo of MBNA would cover where the date of issue is on the copy.

Hello, Have been working on my WS, and have included what I have got to so far below. Many thanks to FairyBlue whose thread and draft WS I have used a lot, kindly pointed out by FG. Here goes: 1st Witness Statement of XXXXX Dated:xxxxxxx In the Xxxxxxxxx County Court Claim Number: XXXXXXXX Between: MBNA Europe Bank Limited (Claimant) -And- XXXXXX (Defendant) _________________________ 1st WITNESS STATEMENT OF XXXXXX _________________________ 1. I, XXXXX of XX Xxxxx Xxxx, Xxxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx, XXX XXX, being the Defendant, am a litigant in person in this case. 2. I make this Witness Statement in support of my defence against the Claimants claim against me. 3. I make this Witness Statement from information and facts within my own knowledge and which I believe to be true. 4. In this statement I will refer to facts relating to the claimant regarding their failure to follow recognised procedures, practices and protocols during their prosecution of this case and their failure to respond to my lawful requests. 5. It is accepted that I had use of a credit card supplied by the claimant at the material times, but in August 2008, due to changes in my financial circumstances, I was unable to make the minimum payments requested on the monthly statements received by me from MBNA Europe Bank Limited. This led to MBNA making a series of telephone calls to me enquiring as to why the payments had not been made. 6. During these telephone calls I had explained to MBNA Europe Bank Limited about the change in my financial circumstances and that I was unable to make the payments which they were requesting. I tried to negotiate with them to get them to accept reduced payments but they were unwilling to accept my offer of £10.00 per month. 6.1 The amount which I could realistically afford to pay per month was calculated by subtracting me and my families basic living expenditure from my income and dividing the remainder between all my creditors on a pro-rata basis. I also submitted an Income and Expenditure form to the claimant. 6.2 I made to the claimant a full and final settlement offer that although I could not afford myself, I would have looked to family to assist if the offer was accepted. The offer was rejected. 7. On the 17 November 2008 I made a S77/S78 request to the claimant, the claimant responded on the 15 December 2008 enclosing ‘ a copy of the credit card agreement, including applicable terms and conditions, and statement of account’. 7.1 Within their response was a letter dated 08 December 2008 advising me to find enclosed a copy of my current terms and conditions. The letter was signed by Sean Humphreys, Director of Satisfaction MBNA. 8 The claimants solicitors served upon me County Court Claim papers, which were issue on 24 July 2009. 8.1 No Letter Before Action was served or received, the Claimant acted in contravention of the Civil Procedure Rules, Part 1 the Overriding Objective, and Practice Direction the Pre Action Protocols paragraph 4.3 9. I tried to obtain legal advice on how I should proceed with my response to the Claimants claim, but as I had no available funds to pay for a solicitor, the only other option of which I was aware was the Citizens Advice Bureau. However due to my local Citizens Advice Bureau being under great pressure at the time due to the number of people they are trying to help, and the fact that appointments are only available on two days each week, I could not get an early appointment. 10. I acknowledged the Claim online via the MCOL website before the 14 day deadline and stated that I wished to defend the claim. I was then in a quandary as to how to defend the claim. 11. At the point where my defence was required I was not in possession of documents from the Claimant, which were vital to my ability to defend this action and placed me at a distinct disadvantage. The Claimant failed to include the written agreement, which formed the basis of this claim in accordance with part 16 and Practice Direction 16 of the Civil Procedure Rules. 12. Because the Claimants Particulars of Claim were vague and insufficiently particularised and therefore did not provide me with the information which I needed to prepare a fully particularised defence, I was only able to enter a very vague defence, but stating that I had requested documents from the Claimant, and reserving the right amend my defence at a later date if the Claimant produced the aforementioned documents. 13. I have never been served with or received a Default Notice from the claimant as they claim to have done. 13.1 I request the claimant be put to strict proof the Default Notice was served 13.2 The sending of a Default Notice, by first class post, in which reconstructed copies of which are later relied upon in court, can not be deemed as received or served, unless it was specifically sent by a recorded or registered method. 14. The reconstructed copies of the Default Notice allegedley served upon me on 21 October 2008, received from the claimant and their solicitors, show balance in default which include unlawful charges applied to the account which would in any case would deem the Default Notice defective. 14.1 The reconstructed Default Notice also states clearly that if the required action is not taken by the 07 November 2008 then the claimant may terminate the account. 14.2 For the avoidance of doubt the word ‘may’ in this instance is synonymous to ‘shall’, the claimant would have terminated the account on 08 November 2008. 14.3 The claimant seeks to rely on terms and conditons which proceed the termination date, the latest letter received from the claimant containing terms and conditions being dated 23 September 2009. 15. The claimant seeks to rely upon a copy of a credit card agreement that was allegedly agreed to by myself 15.1 The copy of the credit card agreement the claimant seeks to rely on has a 15 digit reference number at the top which I have no knowledge of what this is, this reference number appears in no other documentation the claimant is relying upon. 16. The copy of the credit card agreement is one which has a tick in the box representing both my signature and that of the claimant. 16.1 Electronic agreements needs to comply with British Standards Institute BSP 0008 16.2 An organisation needs to be able to prove (to a court of law or some other statutory body) that the contents of a particular document or data file created or existing within an Electronic Document Management System have not changed since the time of storage. If the data file is an electronically stored image of an original paper document, an organisation must be able to prove that the electronic image is a true representation of the original. Proving the authenticity of electronically stored documents is crucial to their admissibility in a court. 16.3 The current terms and conditions and reconstructed copies of credit card agreements and notices supplied by the claimant does not comply with the procedures and protocols set out in BSI BSP 0008. Thats as far as I have got, any comments, suggestions and advice will be gratefully apreciated, if its going in the right direction. Thanks : )

Hi there FG Its come from the court and hearing date about 3 weeks away. There was no signature, just tick in box, and dated after 06/04/07 Thanks for the link, will get onto it. Thanks

I think I have come across a big boo boo from the bullies, I hope so anyways, dont really want to say anything just yet, may be red herring

And here is the dn, it is reffered to as a copy, and previously as reconstructed. I do not remember receiving this at all. Have gone through all my papers and have not seen it.

Hello, Got the SJ hearing papers, and am daunted a bit. So gonna read through some other threads that were at this stage again, and again. I have attached link to copies of everything they have sent me, and would really appreciate some help and advice on how I respond. I need to get this in 7 days before the hearing, they dont give much time. Thanks so much

Well done mate, you have done brilliantly, and thanks for you kind words and link to yours on my thread I will be keeping my eyes peeled here

Thanks mate, will be reading through your thread very carefully, cheers for link. I called the court today, and they say they had just been someone working on it, and that it is to be listed as a hearing in a few weeks, no SJ mentioned so either not applied for or thrown out? First feelings are of fear and anxiety, going to court! I am assuming this is better than having to face a SJ, and that burdens of proof are all with them (mbna) for this heaing. There has been no response to any CPR requests, only copies and reconstructed dn's forwarded. Can updated terms and conditions apply, if they are updated way past any termination date, its seems to be the case on the sars req. Thanks for all the kind support, well appreciated.