To be honest, I've tried. I had a telephone conversation with a local solicitor, who was of the opinion that if I was unable get the SD set aside then I was unlikely to be successful fighting the bankruptcy petition. He had nothing to offer beyond that. I also googled for anyone who possibly specialised in such things, with no luck beyond an email to a likely candidate that went unanswered. If anyone can suggest someone suitable then I'd be happy to speak to them.

I have been fighting a claim from Lowells/Hamptons for a Barclaycard debt, and haven't been very successful so far as there is bankruptcy hearing scheduled for next month. I have a thread running in 'Debt Collection Industry' which gives the fully story, but thought this may now be the most appropriate forum given how things have developed. Having spoken to Lowells, they want 30% of the full amount as a down payment in order to adjourn the hearing, with monthly installments thereafter. This will be a struggle for me to find, so I really want to know if I have any remaining options. I am happy to come to some kind of arrangement with them, but what they're asking for seems excessive. However I absolutely cannot afford to be made bankrupt. Apologies if starting a second thread for this is bad form.

Thanks alibobsy. The situation is that there is a hearing scheduled for next month. I've spoken to Lowells and they want a 'down payment' of around 30% of the total debt, followed by monthly installments, in order to adjourn the hearing. If push comes to shove I could probably find this, but it would be a struggle and I really don't want to. I'm willing to come to some kind of arrangement with them, but this seems excessive. My problem is that I'm not in a strong bargaining position. I can't take the risk of going to a hearing as being made bankrupt just isn't an option. Ironically my business is currently doing better than ever, although short term cash flow is a problem, and bankruptcy would ruin this. I'm a consultant and work through my own ltd company. Any advice on what options I have, given the above, would be greatly appreciated.

OK, so an attempt was made to serve the petition today, but I wasn't in. I've spoken briefly to a local solicitor on the phone, and he was of the opinion that if I failed to get the SD set aside then I haven't much hope of fighting off the petition. However I'm not (quite) ready to give up yet, and was wondering if anyone can recommend a solicitor who specialises in consumer credit law, bankruptcy etc? I'm in the north west of England.

Nothing new in the post today. What should I be expecting, i.e. what form would a bankruptcy petition take? Does it have to be served personally, in the same way as a statutory demand? I'm probably going to seek the advice of a solicitor, but any help from your good selves would be much appreciated. Thanks also for the title change mods

OK, this reared it's ugly head again in the post this morning, in the shape of a notice from the Land Registry that my address is involved in a bankruptcy petition.This comes as something of a shock, to say the least, as I have heard nothing from either Lowells or the court since the SD set-aside fiasco. The state of play is that I didn't send a 'notice before action' to Barclaycard, as suggested above, as soon after the failed SD set aside Lowells sent me a load of copy statements and a copy of the original agreement (such as it is). I have scanned the agreement and put it on photocucket, here: http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa339/rdrr1/bc_cca/barclaycard_ccacopy3.jpg This is just to give people an idea of what it looks like, as none of the important stuff is legible even on the original. It looks like it has been taken from a microfiche or similar, and is actually the application form. The dark boxes on the right hand side, to do with the Consumer Credit Act, are completely illegible other than my signature and the date. I have a high resolution scan if anyone wants it, but it probably won't help you any more than what is there already. So my question is, how worried should I be and where do I go from here? From everything I have read on the matter I can't see how this 'agreement' is enforceable. However my confidence in the courts, especially this court, to do the expected/right thing has been severely dented by the refusal to set aside the SD. I'm obviously terrified of going bankrupt, but am not in a position to pay the outstanding alleged debt in full (approx £7K). I'm also worried about how far through the process things may have already travelled without my knowledge, given my first indication of this stage was from the Land Registry. Help please!

She recorded the hearing, but I don't know if it'd possible to get a transcript. I'm not really interested in attempting to challenge the judgement as it seems pretty futile. I'm more interested in discussing my next move,and that is likely to be a 'letter before action' to Barclaycard. I'll trawl through their original SAR response again to see exactly what was included, but I'm absolutely certain there was no agreement.

I wouldn't imagine so, and bear in mind you're relying on my memory for what the judge actually said during the hearing. However I don't think I've misrepresented anything.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the 'letter before action' possibility. I briefly mentioned penalty charges in point 4 (see below), and there shouldn't be any PPI on the account. The judge said it wasn't necessary for the amount claimed in the SD to entirely accurate. She mentioned a couple of cases to back up her opinion, including Tesco v Rankine. It's possible (probable) my defence wasn't all it could have been, but I'm new to this and am doing my best... The defence in full was...

I can quote it in full if you'd prefer, but it was basically... Debt is in dispute due to default on CCA request Lowells are using the insolvency act to circumvent the provisions of the consumer credit act No default notices received No statements provided I didn't mention the lack of a notice of assignment, as even though I don't recall receiving one I was wary of swearing to this as I can't be absolutely sure.

OK, I'm just back from a very frustrating hearing... Even though Lowells have defaulted on the CCA request, and as expected didn't bother to turn up at the hearing, in the judge's opinion they are within their rights to make the demand so she dismissed my application to set it aside. She acknowledged that they will be unable to obtain judgement without the agreement, but apparently the OFT guidelines are clear that this doesn't prevent them making the demand in the first place. I got the impression from the start that the judge wasn't particularly 'on side', and she even went as far as to say, and I quote, "you know you borrowed the money", and suggested I contact Lowells to make arrangements to pay in installments. I'm obviously not keen to do this but I'm unsure as to what my next move should be, if any. Is there a way I can make Lowells 'put up or shut up' regarding whether or not they actually have a valid agreement? I suppose the alternative is to just wait and see if they make another move, but I'd rather stay on the offensive if possible as I just want this done and dusted.

Regarding the change to using a witness statement rather than affidavit, do you know when this happened? I used form 6.5 for my application and have had no indication from the court that this is not the correct procedure, but I don't want any nasty surprises at the hearing this afternoon.

I'm in a similar position, and have the set aside hearing this afternoon so I'll let you know how it goes. I have a thread about it but don't think I'm able to post links yet, but you can find it in my post history. It includes links to the forms to apply for a set aside, and there is also a thread somewhere with step by step instructions on how to fill them in.

Done! Emailed a PDF to the court and they have acknowledged it. I'll post an update after the hearing next week.

To clarify, before faxing the court, am I ok to add a claim for costs even though I didn't mention I intended to in my affidavit for the SD set aside?