Hi Elsa Sorry but had to catch up on some other urgent bits. My face is glum because this is the third fight I've had with CL and HC over the past couple of years. I've actually had to face their solicitor who tries to intimidate you into settling before you go into the room and it is very distressing overall, to the point that you do not wish to be in the court process in the first place. the court have confirmed that the case has been discontinued in writing. Meantime, I've had to complain to FOS again and SAR about both companies, I hope they are disgusted with themselves. Will keep in touch, thank you for support. Monyl :-/ (nearly smiling)

Hi, just read your message. I'm current Orange customer and had their laptop deal in 2007 with 24mth contract, obviously now expired. Tried to leave last year but they insisted on things in writing etc. Also I left BT and service cannot be provided without BT line. In the end I cancelled DD via bank and then got attention from them and its now sorted. Monyl

Hi Elsa Well, I received some news and had to wait for it to be confirmed. HC have sent me a Notice of Discontinuance after they finished stressing out my nerves. They will not say why, only that they are not continuing with the claim!! I was too mentally exhausted to even feel happy about it. Thanks so much for your support on this but I am not stopped holding my breath yet

Hi Elsa Received letter from CL Finance, no dates in letter, just stating that they will respond in days. Sent another CPR 31 request today for the actual Deed of Assignment as I was not sure if they would enclose it as part of the Notice of Assignment. As they had not started putting paperwork together, hoping they include it. Going to finish nurse my migraine. monyl

Hi Elsa Eventually managed to speak with HC after repeated phone calls, receptionist kept trying to transfer me to CL Finance. Gentleman found my letter, stated that they would respond within 7 days from today. He could not give actual dates as he was not person dealing with case but He would also ring court to inform them. He said confirmation letter would be sent out today but would not take the email address as it was not made up of personal info, for example, no personal name in email address (i have his name and number). I rang court to inform them of current situation, advised I could send info by email which I have done. Going to read your 'pointers' with a cup of coffee. Monyl:frown:

Hi Elsa From my previous dealings with Howard Cohen and CL Finance, the telephone number on all documents sent from Howard Cohen, are answered by CL Finance staff. I do not recall ever speaking with Howard Cohen solicitors in the past. I did not want to give them an email address for obvious reasons, can I not just record the name of the person that I speak to or failing that, ask that they need to email the court their confirmation. I am really not comfortable with them having access to my email address for any reason. Not with the difficulties I have had with them in the past, they are a ghastly company to deal with. However I will see what comes in the post tomorrow by late afternoon. Please read my comments to Consumeredge next, it just goes to show how stressed I have been that I believed I had actually missed a payment when according to the bank I had not only reduced it! I have to stand corrected. I am so stressed out, I believed as well that I had missed a payment. The bank have confirmed that I have request and pay £5 for the backdated statements as they cannot print an itemitised list of transactions that were made to the Lewis Group. I double checked the date with them and apparently I have not missed any payments. These are as follows:- The events of college took place early May hence payment date missed. I received their letter dated 12 May 2011 insisting that payment is resumed. I telephoned (cannot remember date) and explained circumstances, think case was put on hold. I then paid £20 on 25 May 2011, being all I could muster up. Their Notice of Pending Legal Action is dated 24 May 2011 (I had not received this before I made payment). I spoke to numerous persons on 3 June 2011 as to why I had received notice (big commotion with lady in CL Finance re £40 extra left over - I made four telephone calls that day arguing with them (I have taken their names) then final person agreed to the £25 (made on 8 June). 2nd Notice of Pending Legal Action dated 3 June 2011. Payment of £25 sent on 5 July 2011. I think CL Finance sent a letter confirming the payments last year (have to look for it) but I have never put confirmed or put anything in writing. Where do I find 'account in dispute' letter please? monyl

Hi Consumeredge I spoke to the bank today and according to them the first payment of £40 was made in Oct 2010 (total 7 payments made). I made a payment of £20 in May two further payment of £25 for June and July. According to them I have not missed a payment yet their letter dated 12 May 2011 states that no payment had been received since 7 April. Difficulty is I cannot get print out from branch relating to payments for some reason and the lady spoke to another department today who confirmed that I had not missed a payment. I will have to double check the dates again with Head Office in the morning. I do know that the lady acting for Howard Cohen/CL Finance was livid because she calculated that I had £40 extra a month which she could have (without taking into account me buying clothes for my son and I which she said did not count and totally discounted my college course and equipment). She was absolutely furious. monyl

Hi Consumeredge, Thanks for this, it is food for thought. To address your first paragraph. Everything obviously went wrong when I lost full time employment and all the companies starting renaging on my PPI policies. It has been a nightmare trying to sort them out, let alone fighting debt collectors who would not listen to the disputes that I had with the companies. The worst being Howard Cohen/CL Finance who appear to have the script to transfer straight to court before they even contact you. At this moment, I do not know for sure if they purchased the debt in the correct manner but due to the stress of the other cases I agreed payment as it was affecting my health as it is doing now again. I tried link for account in dispute but could not find relevant letter. Do I need to put something together and send before I send defence? I will attempt to answer your questions. 1. I need to check with bank again tomorrow. I did go into branch on Friday and tried to get statement but computers were down (I don't do internet banking). 2. I only recall missing one payment around time I enrolled for course and bought equipment. They sent letter immediately insisting payments were resumed which I did at the reduced rate. If I had missed any payments in the past, they would have written to me, they would not have ignored me sending a payment. Also in the past they have telephoned me on my mobile enough times checking if I had more money to pay as they had to right to contact me every 3-6 months to review my circumstances. 3. 12 May 2011. 4. When I responded to the 12 May letter, I explained what happened. They took my income and expenditure over the phone, it was never done in writing on either side for both amounts (please note, it has been very stressful and I know better now). 6. Again, have to check bank and get back to you but think around May/June. 7. Letter dated 24 May 2011 headed 'Notice of Pending Legal Action' (no deadlines noted in letter to reply), I rang as it looked serious and I was told that they were not happy with my payment. 8. Yes, I have date and their names especially the lady who was horrified at the payments I was making to my cable company. She would not listed when I was trying to explain that it included my phone line/broadband, tv package. She was absolutely livid. She was also saying that I should not be going to the cafe for my meals at college as i was spending too money there and should be buying my lunches in my shopping budget and wanted a good explanation why I felt I had to do this. I dont even want to relive this telephone call, she was horrific. 9. About 2-3, again, will check. 10. Yes, I thought the second one had crossed with the chap accepting my payment and as there was no deadline in the letter again. Also I thought if it was about the payment, they would have simply rang me. I could not believe that they really think I'm going to rob a bank and give them what I have not got in light of the fact I'm trying to come off benefits and this will just complicate my employment prospects. Will let you know the rest asap. Regards monyl

Hi Elsa Can they not just 'make one up' and produce it for the court hearing? monyl

Hi Elsa I have located two documents on my computer: 1. Reply to my SAR from CL Finance dated Nov 2008 on their ‘Account Notepad’ states ‘incoming letter from Defendant requests documents under CCA, enclosed fee. 2. Reply from GE Money re HBOS loan in December 2008, notes that account was sold in August 2008, no date of any Default Notice noted on the account. Also undated items of ‘transactions made to your account when administered by HBOS Personal Loan and list of dated ‘transactions made to your account when administered by GE Money’ No date of Default Notice or Notice of Assignment shown on any documents although the Notice of Assignment dated 29 September 2008 was sent along with a batch of documents with the other cases. Anyway back to hunting through paperwork Monyl

Checked Royal Mail Track and Trace this morning, confirmed letter delivered and signed for this morning, have printed off signature and name of person who signed for it. Have to complete some work for college to hand in tomorrow then going into the depths of old docs to see what I can find. monyl

Hi, Just confirming letter sent this afternoon by recorded delivery, going to see if I can find anything else that they may have sent in 2008 relating to this claim

Hi Postggj, this makes very interesting reading...is it also normal practice for Howard Cohen and CL Finance staff to work together, for example, CL Finance staff answers telephone calls on behalf of Howard Cohen?

Hi Elsa Well it looks like the gremlins have decided to take up residence in my Blackberry to stress me out further but I shall try to ignore them. I have been checking my phone constantly for an update from you today and nothing arrived. All I got was the notification from 'consumeredge' and it is still not allowing me to reply on it. I just decided to come on my wide screen (laptop) to find your reply sitting here from this morning thanks for this, you are a star, I will be at the Post Office first thing in the morning. Will let you know as soon as its gone. (Have to get my phone sorted out too). Read National Debtline website re Tomlin Order but it appears that the Judgement may still be registered which is what I am trying to avoid. According to 'Consumeredge' the court has no power to enforce it but if they could and not record the Judgement, it would be something to negotiate. Thank you so much.

Hi Postggj, can you please explain what a 'cattles company' is? Thanks

Hi Elsa I replied to you via my Blackberry yesterday to explain that I would be at a funeral today and would not be available. It does not appear to have registered on the site, did you get it? I was confirming that I would be available from tomorrow to put the details together, also that I do not remember receiving a default notice. Even when they sent me documents back in 2008, they only sent credit agreements, and notes from the computer. The court ordered them to send the default notice prior to the hearing as I have shown evidence that I had sent a SAR request for information.

Hi Elsa, I understand what you say about not ringing debt collectors but when you are vulnerable to your rights, it is difficult not to be intimated by them because of the threat of court. However, I will answer your questions in turn. 1. Date on claim form is 4 July 2011. 2. Date of loan 28 July 2005 for £7k 3. No assignment mentioned in the POC but in 2008 when they bought the debts and their court actions starting kicking off, I sent £10 to get all documents under Data Protection Act for the three debts. The Lewis Group sent a document that I assumed was one as it is headed Notice of Assignment and dated 25 September 2008. It states the ‘….Assignment is dated 31 December 2007 between GE Capital Bank and CL Finance assigned to CL Finance absolutely a debt in the total of £7050.65 due by me….’ I assume they packaged up all three debts ready to go as the first took to me court in February 2008 and September 2008 respectively. I received letters from Robinson Way & Company chasing the debt on 21 August, 3 November and 28 December 2008. Then received a final demand from Lewis on 16 March 2009. (p.s. I had managed to get legal advice from Community Legal Advice and they advised me to get the information from both GE Capital and CL Finance in relation to all the debts they held in my name). 4. The Notice was not sent by recorded delivery but came under my Data Protection SAR request back in 2008, do they need to produce a new one. I did not receive the ‘actual assignment’ only the Notice of Assignment. Does this mean that they may win based on this 'document' being sent. In one of the cases, they had produced a photocopy of the signatures with Ozanne acting for both companies (GE Capital and CL Finance) is this not conflict of interest? 5. I have been to mediation with them before with one of the cases and mediation did not mention a Tomlinson or Time Order and we failed to negotiate as they were still ignoring my PPI dispute with the company. Unfortunately I had already addressed the PPI issue on this case, I had cancelled it and the redress had been deducted from the balance before I agreed to pay the £40 just to get them off my back and avoid having to go to court as it was too stressful. With hindsight I had too many things going on at home to argue and unfortunately let the paper confirmation letter slip. The only evidence I have this time, is that I have the names of the people I spoke to prior to this last incident. What is a Tomlin Order/Time Order? If they win, does this avoid Judgement being registered against me so it is does not affect my future employment prospects. Postggj mentions ‘Lewis and CL Finance being a ‘Cattles Company’? What is this also? Regards, monyl

I managed to get the previous two cases struck out before. They were not linked in any way, they just filed the claims as they bought the debts from GE Capital without me knowing and refused to acknowledge that I had PPI disputes with the two debts. They were not 'discontinued' from their side, meaning did they abandon the cases, if I understand that correctly.

Firstly, may I say thanks to Phatram for replying earlier. May I first reply to Postggi and confirm that CL Finance Ltd have been the Claimants in all the claims but the previous two claims were for two separate claims for separate store cards. Undercover-Elsa - to answer your points: 1. The actual claimant is CL Finance. 2. No, the loan was just a unsecured loan. Forgive my ramblings, I am just so stressed at the moment. The kit is not part of the court claim but was trying to explain that I have to buy equipment for my college course and wanted to know if it needed to be taken as part of my defence. 3. The particulars of the claim state 'The Claimant's claim is for the sum of £6701.12 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a regulated credit agreement made in writing under reference XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. The Defendant has failed to make payment in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served upon the Defendant pursuant to Section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The Claimant claims the sum of £6701.12.' Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone, I'm new to this site so please excuse me. If I'm not in the right place, can someone direct me to where I need to go. :violin:Back to my problem with Howard Cohen/CL Finance/Lewis Group/GE Money. I unfortunately was unwell back in 2007 and subsequently lost my job in 2008 due to other factors such as my son also becoming unwell and my mum becoming terminal and passing away. However, loss of income = multiple debt collectors on my back. I had a couple of storecards with GE Money and a HBOS loan, all had PPI insurance. To cut a long story short, I have been taken to court twice by Howard Cohen and managed to win my cases (representing myself) because I could prove that I had PPI insurance and had been in dispute with the companies and they had no right to bring the case to court without my acknowledgement or looking into the dispute. I managed to get my costs (£5 travel) awarded against them for one of the cases also. I have never disputed the loan (around £6K) with them and made arrangements to pay £40 monthly. As you are aware, with the economic climate with petrol prices, the rising cost of shopping and the cost of having to buy equipment for college (studying part time as a beauty therapist and nail technician), I got into problems with a beauty supplier for a nail kit (£66) which unfortunately was no good and it ended up with trading standards who had advised that I have to take them to court under the Sale of Goods Act. I cannot afford this so it is money down the drain and had to rebuy my kit. I forgot to make a payment and got a nasty letter from them to resume payment. I contacted them and told them what had happened and they wanted a new income and expenditure. I explained that I could only now afford £25 instead of £40 (also I am still trying to get my mum's headstone erected as it is now 3 years since she passed and trying to negotiate monthly payments with the stonemasons for a £3k bill which is the minimum headstone/kerbset that the cemetery will allow). I paid the first £25 and received a 'notice of legal action' letter. The letter threatens legal action...mentions information about CPR 4.....and that I should reply within the stated deadlines. But there are no deadlines in the letter. I telephoned again and found that they were not happy with the reduced payment. I asked them what the deadlines were in the letter and I was told, it was as soon as I got it, there were no particular deadlines. One lady in particular was livid when i told her i was paying £70 for my Virgin account but it has arrears attached and she wanted to see the bill. Another one wanted to know why I could not take sandwiches to college instead of buying my lunch at the cafe! They were upset that they found £40 left at the end of the month and said that it was too much for me to have left over (they had not taken clothes, my sons clothes into account). I spoke to four people that day, in the end, the last gentlement accepted my offer of £25 and I made the payment and continued to do so. I then received another 'notice of legal action' with NO deadlines. I was in the end of my term assessment and exams and did not respond but kept payment and hey presto, I now have a court money claim that I had defaulted on the agreement (which I have not). I have returned the service of acknowledgement defending the whole amount so I wanted some advice please for my defence. I am also quoting that they do searches on Land Registry to see if you own your property and then add this charge to your account. 1. I need some clarification on the 'Ozannes Attorney' area where I have noticed in my past cases, they are listed as representing GE Money and CL Finance and was concerned about them signing for both parties. 2.. Is it better to go to Small Claims or Fast Track? 3.. Am I allowed to be able to purchase my mum's headstone (under Human Rights Act Article 6) even though I have a debt? 4. Is there anyway I can avoid the CCJ even if the Judge sets the repayments as I do not want them to be able to register a CCJ as this will defeat my future employment prospects if I wish to go self employed as I am due to be transitioned from Incapacity Benefit soon. 5. I received a default notice from Lewis Group back in 2009, do i request it again along with the notice of assignment and credit agreement 6. Can I make a counterclaim for harassment as this will be the third time they have dragged me to court? Sorry this is so long