The CCA request to our creditor helped us the most. We then did one to Cabot requesting details of internal communications between Halifax/Cabot/Restons. That was fun reading! Panic and gaps. From what you have said it SHOULD all be OK , but I know what you mean about the uncertainty. Hope you get a judge who wants to kick their immoral arses.

Spot on, the clue is in the name . They chased us for £3K. We owed Halifax £7K, set up a DMP with Stepchange and fully paid off the £7K. During the 12 years of the DMP Halifax charged £3K in interest, despite promises not to etc. After the DMP ended they passed the 'debt' around the houses and then it ended up in Cabot's hands. To cut a long story short we had the usual letters from Reston's, and the claim which we defended. It was stayed. A year later Reston's applied to have the stay lifted and their intention was to request the judge to strike out our defence bla bla bla. A hearing date was set. They sent a barriste, to represent them. Pretty intimidating and was trying to make deals with us immediately prior to the hearing to get us to pay the £3K so we 'woulndnt be wasting the judges time'. At the first hearing the judge requested more info from Reston's within 8 weeks, set a new hearing date and berated them for delays, being poorly organised and not putting it through the small claims system. At the second hearing they couldn't produce the info but said it was because it was over Christmas and requested more time so another hearing was set for 4 weeks later. Meanwhile we had finally got more info from Halifax including recorded phone conversations but there were SERIOUS gaps. At the third hearing we attended, they didn't show up. At this point we took advantage of some free advice from a solicitor. He wrote them a letter detailing all the things they had done wrong , processes they had not followed, gaps in their evidence and suggested they go away. They sent a letter back saying they had decided to no longer chase the debt. Great outcome in the end but so much hassle to get to that point. We used annual leave so we could attend court, weekends were spent going through statements, letters, preparing evidence. Ultimately though Cabot/Restons lost out as they would have spent a lot of money fighting it. Pillocks!

I would love to know more about Ground Five. Goodness me they are bullies! Is it appropriate to ask for examples of what makes up each ground for appeal??? Perhaps other forum members can advise?

Well done for getting this far. Your story is pretty much identical to mine. Restons really are a bunch of idiots. I would say yes, if the appeal is granted then attend. In my experience the judges are getting pretty peed off with the way Restons operate. If they truly had a case against you they should have got their act together 18months ago by the sound of it.

Original debt was with MBNA and was £6,200. Paid off monthly with DMP over 8 years. Interest and late payment fees of £3000 added. I am glad we had records of every contact, every phonecall. When the SAR was returned there were so many gaps! They sent a CD with one phonecall only, who knows what happened to the other 20!! Thank you once again. The help of these forums is invaluable.

Hi there, First post on here but have followed the stories of many previously - what a fabulous source of info, reassurance and advice. I hope my story will offer the same. In Dec 2015 we received a County Court Claim Form from Reston's re an alleged old credit card debt. The agreed debt had been paid off two years earlier with a DMP but there was a query re applied interest and late payment fees. Reston's continued to pursue, we continued to ignore them but behind the scenes followed the advice on here around SARs etc, preparing statements, evidence and generally getting our affairs in order. Reston's focus was on threatening us they would be asking the Judge to strike out our defence. 1st court date (Oct 2016). Reston's sent a Head of Chambers barrister to represent them, we represented ourselves. Reston's aim a few days before was to ask the judge to strike out our defence and award against us, however on the day they decided to ask the Judge for an adjournment as new evidence had been provided to them a day before (it hadnt). The judge took a dim view of the fact they had been messing around for around 12 months but allowed them another 8 weeks. 2nd court date (Feb 2017). We (along with an advocate) arrived at the Court, Reston's did not. They had contacted the court the afternoon before to ask for a further adjournment (the Judge agreed and we waited another 8 weeks) During this time we saw a solicitor who wrote to Reston's to assure them we were more than willing to fight the case and would push for a full hearing. Reston's replied to them in April stating that they were confident of their case and would again ask the judge to strike out our defence. 3rd court date was due to be last week, however Reston's sent a communication to the solicitors one day before withdrawing proceedings. So, it's all finished. I think the morale of the tale is to not be scared. Whichever tactic you choose in dealing with them they will twist it. Reston's told us that by ignoring them we were going against the Civil Procedure Rules and the Judge could rule against us purely for that, others who have engaged with them have been tied up in knots. What does seem apparent though is that they talk the talk but are into easy wins and not up for a fight. So, go get 'em tiger and all the very best wishes to anyone going through it all xx