I submitted a MCOL to recover my deposit from a Used Car Dealer who refused to refund it, after I found out they lied to me about numerous things regarding the vehicle's condition. My particulars essentially state that when paying the deposit to the dealer prior to the car purchase, the verbal agreement was on the basis that: 1) They did not lie about the car. 2) The car would pass a vehicle inspection. I since found out that they breached (1) and hence the agreement. Before even filing the claim, the dealer actually offered to give me half of my deposit back to begin with, which I happily accepted. A few hours later that same day, they called me to say they changed their mind i.e. deciding to keep the whole deposit, because they now felt that my decision to cancel the car purchase was a "change of heart" decision, furthermore they spent my deposit money preparing the car for me (even though the salesman told me the car was ready to drive away the day I came to see it). When I challenged them to provide me proof of their expenditure, they outright admitted it was "done by a friend" they didn't have any receipts/invoices. It was at this point when I decided to submit a claim via MCOL as they made their position clear and that their decision was final. About a week after they were served, they called me up and we agreed for them to pay me 2/3 of my deposit back, as long as I cancelled the claim first. There was no way I would trust them after going back on their word last time, I said that I will only cancel the claim after the payment has cleared, I also asked them to provide their agreement in writing, which they did. We came to written agreement, and they said they were able to pay me the same day. I monitored my online account, waiting for this to happen, poised to cancel the claim as soon as I saw the money appear. The money never arrived, despite numerous chasers and calls, they kept making promises to pay "later today"/tomorrow, then afterwards kept made excuses for not paying. Yesterday I gave them the final deadline: Pay the agreed amount that day and/or call me to confirm it has happened, or the agreement is off and I will proceed with the claim. They acknowledged my position (I also have a recording of this phone conversation) and promised to call me back by the end of the day regardless of the outcome. Once again, no call nor payment was received. From my perspective it felt that they were just messing me about, and I was out of patience. It just so happened that the defendant had until yesterday to reply to the claim issue, according to the letter the court sent me. I waited until this morning, and submitted a request for Judgement. Upon checking later in the day I noticed that the defendant filed a defence shortly afterwards (the same day!), despite their deadline being yesterday. In the MCOL transaction history it says: In the Judgement panel it says "Requested", and the Claim Status now shows as "Defence". Surely they were too late? I spoke with the defendant a short while afterwards, they made more excuses, and gave me "his word" that they were still happy to pay the 2/3 of my deposit back, assuming I can get the claim cancelled with the court. I'm going to call the MCOL helpline tomorrow, I'm just wondering: Where do I stand? A bar is in place for this claim, despite them filing a defence too late according to the deadline. They are still offering to pay back 2/3 of my deposit.. . does this count as admission to some degree? In the event that they are still just wasting my time with this "offer", is there a chance that the bar will be lifted and their defence be discarded? Does the fact that they filed a defence mean it is now out of both mine and the defendant's hands? Any help/advice would be much appreciated. H

In brief - We went to a local independent flooring company, wishing to purchase a wood floor. The owner talked us through the various products, came to our house to look at the area it was for, measured up, checked the subfloor etc. He then recommended a product for us, ordered it and arranged for "his team" to come out and fit. He arranged the day and time they were to come out and told us that we should pay them cash on the day. In the meantime, he took moisture readings, spoke to the manufacturer and also the manufacturer of the underfloor heating we'd had put down, to check what underlay might be needed. The floor was fitted by "his team" - his brother and another man. It subsequently failed 4 times in the course of a year. The first 2 attempts to remedy the problems were made by the fitters. After it went wrong the 3rd time, it came to light that the fitters and the company owner had parted company, so the company owner/supplier came out and attempted to repair it. The same thing happened again, and he came out again. At this point, the supplier offered us a replacement stair carpet for our trouble. We said that this was not necessary, but if the floor failed again, we would be seeking a refund. When it failed again, we requested our money back. The supplier agreed, minus fitting costs. When we argued, he withdrew his offer and offered us a replacement floor instead. We expressed our concern that we had no confidence he had the neccesary skills and knowledge to fit a floor, given our experience thus far. We then took advice from the CAB and wrote a letter before action, inviting the supplier to comment on what he believed to be the issue with the floor, and offering to go to mediation. He responded, trying to lay the blame on us with various spurious claims, including that the contracting of the fitters had nothing to do with him - since the receipt he issued clearly stated "supply only." We then wrote again, offering to have an expert inspection and report done on the floor, and asking that both parties share the cost in order to confirm what had caused the problems with the floor. He refused, saying the cost was too great in relation to the value of the floor. We once again gave him the opportunity to refund us, while warning him that he may be asked to pay the cost of the report, should we take our case to the small claims court and win. In order to ascertain whether we had a case, we had the expert inspection done. It found that the fitting was to blame for the issues, including inadequate moisture and humidity readings taken by the supplier. The expert contacted the supplier to find out exactly what prep he had carried out and the supplier told him. The report also queried the suitability of the product for the conditions of our property. Once again, we wrote to the supplier with details of the report's findings and requested a refund of both the flooring, fitting and cost of the report or we would have no choice but to take our case to the small claims. The supplier has not responded. We feel we have a strong case. However, our concern is that it may be thrown out on the basis that the receipt we were issued was for supply only. In the letters from the supplier, he does state that he tried to repair the floor on 2 occasions, hut says it was purely a good will gesture. However, he also states that he did the pre-fitting site visits and prep. So, what is our legal position regarding his responsibility for the fitting of the floor?

I've been issued with court papers from an old debt from Three/lowells/BW Legal Is there a secure/private part of the forum I can ask questions and get help with writing my defence?

Dear all, Thanks for the fantastic job of running this great forum. A friend of mine kindly referred this to me today. My situation (apologies for the length): In 2012 (sept) i urgently needed a set of my company accounts (ltd company) for Visa purposes so i spoke to an accountant and he said he would be able to help me. All i needed was 4 months (my company had already stopped trading st that point) of account statements he charged me £1100 and he said this included annual tax filing as well. There was no terms/condition of service was provided to me or signed, all these happened verbally (i made a bank transfer to his account). He did prepared the documents (though i had to review and suggest changes heavily), and i used the documents for my application which was successful. After around 11 months he send me an invoice of £800 for tax filing purposes and when i inquired he said this is the charge for annual tax filing 12/13 (my ltd company only operated for 6 months). I was very surprised the charge, informed him that this is not we discussed or agreed and my upfront payment should also cover the tax filing. There was no indication from his side about this charge and i was only aware when i received the invoice. And on top of this the charges are really high for filing (only filing, no invoices to customer or any other activities) for 6 months. But he was very adamant despite me offering him a goodwill payment of £100. He has now filed a claim (issued on 05/08/14), i have done the acknowledgement via MCOL and now need to file the defense. My key points are: 1. There was no clear terms of agreement provided by the service provider. 2. There was no clear breakdown of charges 3. I clearly mentioned him that my company was not operating anymore (so he knows that all he has to do is calculate 6 months worth of transactions for tax filing) 4. I have been prompt in paying him the agreed charges (paid him the £1100 straight away as a single payment). 4. Whatever charges he is claiming for the services he has provided is quite high (i checked with few other accountants and i was told that i should not cost more than £350 for just tax filing and my accountant is claiming £1900 in total). 5. I have been consistently in communication with the accountant and disputed this claim. does the above points makes a decent defense or do i need to think more? Also is there any stickies for 'how to put a good defense' I am very new to this and your valuable insights will help me to make my case. Thanks for your help! Regards, Vincent

Hi, I had a Virgin credit card with a credit limit of £8,500 and could not afford to repay it. No payments or transactions in four years and the debt has been now been purchased by Arrow Global. With charges it's around £10k now and they have issued a summons and I have filed online a defence for the full amount. What is the best course of action from here. I have priority debts which I am having to deal with and they will have purchased this for a fraction of the actual debt and piled on the solicitors costs. Thanks for any advice.

I logged into Moneyclaim this evening to file my defence to Bryan Carter/Lowells. I already logged in 2 weeks to acknowledge the claim and that I was going to defend. Tonight however, after logging in, all I get is And there is no option to file my defence. Does this mean I am too late? Any way around this? I CCA Lowells with a £1 postal order but they never responded with a copy of the credit agreement. Thanks

Hi ,can anybody help my situation. I am a newby I had a kitchen company apply to the courts for a payment to which they said I owed, this first started in 2013 they claimed I owed on several invoices over a period of time I phoned them on several occasions to state that I have never had or authorised anybody to have these items. I even phoned head office but they would not have any of it so it went on until in dec last year I phoned head office and after getting nowhere they said they would refer it to the legal dept to which I said see you in court, that's where I am at . I had a letter from the courts asking if I wanted mediation , which I phoned but because I wasn't prepared to pay anything that was not the way forward , then I went on holiday with my family ,when we came back there was a n149a,b,c judgment or order form that stated I had to return by 29th july when we came back off holiday the date had passed. ive tried filling the n244 in but not sure I have done it right and don't know where to send payment can anybody help in any way hanks.

Hi all, wondering if anyone can help - I originally posted on another forum where I got some advice but not getting any replies to help take this forward. my wife has an old debt to Welcome Finance for a personal loan. She became ill, and disabled, whilst repaying the loan and had to stop working. She agreed a repayment plan initially but then her benefits were frozen for a while and she could no longer pay so welcome passed the debt to Cabot Financial. Cabot haven't even tried to make any contact for about 2 years - then suddenly started court proceedings last month. Based on figures my wife says she's already paid a lot of the loan back - but the amount they're claiming doesn't tie up with anything she has and there's no statements from Welcome been received in years. when we got the claims form we acknowledged, and requested a copy of the credit agreement, notice of assignment and default notices under CPR 31.14 (referenced in the claim particulars) from Shoosmiths (the solicitors Cabot instructed). Despite this going by recorded mail they've not responded (nearly 3 weeks) at all. Meanwhile we also requested the agreements and notice of assignment from Cabot - who responded to say they don't have it and have requested it from Welcome, but may take 40 days over it. Tomorrow is the due date for a defence to be filed. I'm lost as to how to handle it - we can't accept the claim without any proof of the amounts involved. Any thoughts appreciated as to how best respond?

Hi, I received a claim form from MKDP for an old Barclaycard debt. I acknowledge service online but now need to submit a defence today - any advice please on how to construct it. issue date 29/5/14 Particulars of Claim the claimant claims the sum of 3,175.32 being monies due from the defendant to the claimant under a regulated agreement originally between the defendant and Barclaycard. The defendants account number was xxxxxxxxxx and was assigned to the claimant on 16/1 2012, notice of this has been provided to the defendant. The defendant has failed to make any payments in accordance with the terms of the agreemen t and a default notice has been served pursuant to CCA 1974. The claimant claims the sum of 3,175.32 and costs. The claimant has complied, as far as is necessary, with the pre-action conduct practice direction.

I am accused of trespassing into a neighbour's garden and cutting down 5 trees.....however the trees were in my garden and were planted by my father 32 years ago. The Claimants are asking for £14,500 I have been served a claim and I have returned the service of acknowledgement I have prepared a lengthy defense including photographic evidence and witness statements. I had a visit from a chartered surveyor yesterday who has told me not to submit a full defence but rather a letter stating that I have a surveyor who will make a statement and complete drawing to support my defence. He also thinks I should make a counter claim to recover costs and damages, which we weren't planning as we just want it all to go away I need to send in my defence today....How complete should it be? Pleas help!! Sara

I would appreciate help iro submitting my defence which is due on 05/07/2014. AOS was submitted on 19/06/2014. I have attached relevant docs. The Credit Agreement was provided following a CCA request to Marlin. As it was too difficult to read they then provided the letter of 23/01/14 with a typed out version of the declaration. I believe that I had a default notice from Northern Rock in 2009 and have received the statutory notices each year. The loan was opened in 2001. The last full payment was made in October 2009 and token payments were made in Dec 2009 , Jan 2010 and Feb 2010. N Rock were aware of my financial difficulties at that time. I have not received an actual deed of assignment... just the attached letter and similar letter from N Rock.

Hello - I issued a claim against a company. The defence filed came from a different company which is connected to the original defendant but there is no discussion of this relationship in the defence and it's more complicated than one being wholly owned by the other. I'd like to apply for a strike out of their defence on the grounds that the defendant didn't file a defence or summary judgment because the defence gives no reason why the defendant isn't liable. Anyone help with a reason why this isn't a good idea? AS

Hi, this is my first post, have followed other threads and got the ball rolling but am still worried about this. Claimant= MKDP Date of issue = 30 April 2014 What is the claim for, POC = By an agreement between HSBC & the Defendant on or around xx/xx/2002 (“the Agreement”) HSBC agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card upon the terms & conditions set out therein. In breach of the Agreement the Defendant failed to make the minimum payments due & the Agreement was terminated. The Agreement was assigned to the claimant on xx/xx/2013 THE CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS 1. 11xxx.xx 2. Interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984, namely 2xxx.xx and continuing until Judgment or sooner payment at the rate of x.xx What is the value of the claim? +£13k Has the claimant included section 69 interest (8%)within the total claim or is it shown separate within the Particulars but not added to the debt? Yes claimant has included s69 interest in total (i.e. added to debt) and its shown separate in Particulars Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Account is assigned and debt purchaser has issued the claim Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Yes - but has wrong address Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes – this is incorrect, arrears amount is wrong Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? NO Why did you cease payments:- Initially entered a repayment plan, then raised an account dispute which was not resolved Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? YES, further to above the arrears amounts were incorrectly calculated Story so far; No Account Termination received, but NOA received. Letter before Action from MKDP has wrong address Court Claim form has wrong address – hence cannot use MCOL, contacted court and have posted the AOS with defend all which has been confirmed received I have also sent CCA and CPR 31.14 in accordance with other threads I’ve read At the moment I ’m looking to base my defence on the failure to remedy dispute, defective arrears and DN, I don’t recall any Agreement exists in the required form, and am assuming I’m unlikely to receive anything prior to requiring to submit a defence. I’d welcome any advice in relation to the above to confirm or otherwise if I’m on the right path for preparing said defence, if my basis will be robust enough, or indeed if I should be dealing with this in another manner. Many Thanks

Good evening CAG team I would be grateful if you could help & advise? I received the following POC and I have taken action as follows: Issue Date 9th April 2014, from Northampton CCBU Claimant Marlin Europe II POC Monies due under current account overdraft. The Claimant claims is for the balance outstanding under a Bank account facility Lloyds xxB (“xxxB”) agreed to maintain for Defendant. It was a term of the Bank account would be repayable by full on demand. Despite demand being made, the Defendant has failed to repay the amounts due. The Debt was assigned to the claimant on 28/11/2013. The Claimant claims therefore claims 1 £4,xxx.xx 2 Interest pursuant to section 69 of the county courts Act 1984, namely 2,xxx.xx & continuing until Judgment or sooner at the rate of 0.xx Has the claimant included section 69 interest(8%)within the total claim or is it shown separate? Shown Separately Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Bank Account When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Before 2007 Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Debt Purchaser Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Not sure Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? I believe so Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year? No Why did you cease payments: Financial hardship Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management ? Yes , I think I paid nominal amounts I acknowledged the service with defense to follow by 12th May (if my calculations are correct) 19th April Dispatched CPR31.14 Recorded Delivery to Mortimer Clarke 19th April Dispatched CAA + PO (blank) Recorded Delivery to claimant 24th April MC returns Copy of CAA sent to claimant & blank PO requesting I change the Payee to them. 24th April Acknowledgement of service. 25th April CCA & PO Returned to MC Recorded Delivery with Payee completed 6th May I received correspondence from MC, stating they are awaiting instruction from claimant regarding my requests(CCA) I guess, and they confirm 28-day extension for defence and that I should notify CC. 9th May Spoke to Northampton CC who said I still need to file defense on 12 May, and ignore 28 day letter as its ambiguous since MC did not state an extension date in their letter. I would be grateful if the CAG team could help me structure my defence, which is now imminent. I am assuming the defense is I have been frustrated by the claimant and his representative providing neither the CCA or CPR requests within the time frame before defence? Please could you provide the format I should use against the POC points Many Thanks

We owe about £300 for historic school fees and Redwoods are acting on behalf of the school. They issued a claim through Northampton on 13/11/2013 and we issued a defence against the claim. We continued to make payments to Redwoods, and after missing a payment in April, they contacted us again to say the judgement had been enforced. We responded to their letter as follows: "Dear Sir/Madam, I refer to your letter dated 29th April 2014 and confirm that I received claim xxx dated 13th November 2013 and submitted a defence dated 13th December 2013. I have not received a response to the defence or any paperwork from the court stating that a judgement has been made against me. Surely it is legal procedure for a claim and a defence to be evaluated by a judge before a judgement is made? You make mention that "our client reserves the right to enforce their judgement held against you" - could you provide details of this judgement because I haven't received any court paperwork and there is nothing on my credit file to this effect. If a judgement has been made in my absence, and my defence has been ignored, then I would like to appeal the matter because there has been an abuse of legal process. I am aware that an amount is owed to xxx School I have made 3 payments of £40 since the claim was issued in November 2013. I would like to make an arrangement but would like you to clarify your comments about enforcing a judgement. If a judgement has been issued, I should have heard about it and the court should have given directions for repaying the debt. I look forward to your response so that we can agree upon a mutually acceptable solution" We received a letter this morning saying they have secured a CCJ against us. Is it possible for them to do this as we have heard nothing regarding the defence we submitted and I was under the impression that a defence had to be heard by the judge and the judge directed on how to proceed... Many thanks

I am in the situation where i was the victim of ID Fraud from a previous address. Hillesden have been at me for the last 18 months. I told them i had no knowledge of this debt, put up or shut up and take me to court. I did the usual and put it into official dispute. They came back and stated they believed i was the person that they were after and now seek payment. Now after a 6 month lull i get this. Looking through various threads it seems that hillesden purchase the right to use the Alpins letter head as a frightner. Is this true, or do i need to rack this up a gear myself with hillesden thanks

Hi All, This is the first time I've asked a question on the forum,iv read and followed many story's getting good information from them but now I need some help please. I have just recived a county court claim from lowell portfolio/bryan carter/fredricsons. The cliam is for an eleged loan agreement they purchesd from the co-op in jan 2013.I'v receved numerus letters/demands/threat o grams of court action over the past 5 year.nobody has ever provided me with the singed copy of the aggregment or terms.ive not responded to lowell/Bryan/freds at all regards this matter.In the past iv ask several of the others via the prove it letter to provid me with information but nothing as ever come back, one company(Red castle)Back in feb 2010 replied to the a section 77/78 with this. "we have spoke to the co-op bank who confirm they fulfilled your consumer credit agreemeent request in nov 2009 " But if they did i didnt recive it nor did Red send me a copy. I have had demands and threats from all TEN yes TEN debt companys . 1/ Red 2/ Resolution legal 3/Gothia 4/Iqor 5/Moorcroft 6/HOME collection services 7/Lewis 8/ lowel.9/Fredricksons 10/Bryan carter . On the court claim form do they have to provid some proof ?? All it say's is he acc number,amount and that it was " his debt was assigned to/purchased by lowell portfolio on 8/1/2013. When and how do i get to see what proof they have to show me or the court ??? Please help as im not sure what to do at this stage Thank you

Concerning the issue of whether we are a casual worker or a an employee there is many criteria to consider for example the time we work for the employer, our skills, whether he employs us only in case of shortage or during peak time or he uses us in the normal running of our business...etc. However I would like to know if the conclusive evidence is not when the P45 has been issued because if it has been issued one year after the start of employment this means that we are now an employee. It is up to the employer to decide if he need us anymore or nor and as a consequence if he send us our P45 or not. If the employer decides because it is not convenient for him not to issue a P45 at the end of each project we could be consider as an employee There is also the issue of HMRC and in order the employer not to pay tax maybe a worker has to work only for a small period of time and not come back for a long time There is also the issue of the difference between temporary employee and a casual worker

Hi all, I've been fighting a case with Optima Legal over the past 4-5 months. To quickly bring everyone up to speed, heres what has been happening. CPR 31.14 request sent 7/11/2013 Extension agreed until 01/01/2014 (as no paperwork arrived) Filed a "holding defence" with a N244 order on 01/01/2014. Order was accepted, Optima Legal given until 24/02/2014 to comply with CPR 31.14 request or the claim would be struck out. Documents turned up on 21st. I now have until 17/04/2014 to submit my defence. Basically, the documents they sent were the following: A reconstituted copy of the Credit Agreement This has NO signatures on it, I do not think I ever signed one (this is for a catalogue company shopping direct, perhaps why it took so long to arrive). A copy of the Notice of Assignment from Shop Direct Finance dated 02/11/2010 A copy of the Notice of Assignment from Capquest dated 2/11/2010 Account Summary of transactions A copy of Judgement HSBC Bank PLC V Carey (2009) EWHC 3417 (QB) and A copy of Judgement of Lombard Northern Central PLC v Power Hines (1995) There was NO default notice supplied. However I have been informed from another forum that the The Lombard v Power Hines case will be quoted to cover the lack of default notice and that my best chance would be through the reconstituted credit agreement? I really do not think I ever signed one. If I recall rightly they use to send the first lot of goods with the credit agreement in but I never returned it. I have uploaded the credit agreement if anybody could please take a look and advise me of a possible defence? Also, if anyone is wondering, the account was opened 19/09/2008 according to my credit file. Thanks, Mike

Could do with some URGENT advice please. I received a court claim from Lowell's in January, & completed acknowledgement of service as requested. At the time, I stated that I would defend in full. Deadline being tomorrow 28th Feb. Unfortunately, family bereavement & my own health (which tend to affect concentration & memory) have led to me lose track of time-scale, & unable to prepare any defence. This claim is for an amount outstanding from 2008 on an old catalogue. From the paperwork in my possession, I last made a payment in Sept 2008, with a balance of £333.49. It would appear that with admin charges, and "peace of mind plan" this had escallated to £545.95, by the time Lowell's took ownership in Jan 2013. The amount with court costs now total £718.83. As I'm unable to present any case, I feel my only option now is to come to some payment arrangement. Can anyone advise me on how to proceed with this. A) Do I contact or email the court & say I'm not submitting a defence? B) Do I make contact with the claimant & sort out a payment plan with them? I know that a CCJ will be entered against me, as there isn't any way of paying amount in full. Hope some kind person will advise. Grateful thanks, Leyla

Hi all, I am after a bit of advice regarding a Fixed Penalty Notice issued to my father from our local council. It was issued to him for smoking in his car (which is a taxi and therefore classed as a smoke free place). It was originally issued for something else (smoking in a bus station) but was changed by the person issuing it. Now the council have no evidence at all other than the original allegation. There is no photographic proof, no video, no cctv and no other witnesses. Just the one statement. As it was on a Sunday, both my father and the "licencing officer" were on a day off. He was sent the original ticket through the post, but as they sent the wrong part, and the wrong details were put on it, the licencing officer knocked on his door, said he had an important document about his taxi licence, then handed him the new one. She didn't know his address so she looked it up on their database of licensed taxi drivers that the council have. In her statement she says that she followed him as he picked up his family and then went shopping. She actually followed him in her car to the supermarket, waited outside while they went shopping, then followed him home until he pulled into a police station. This in total was over an hour and a half. We went to court this month to plead not guilty, and that is where we are at now. He is not entitled to legal aid, and can not afford a solicitor. My questions are as follows: 1. Am I right in saying that the onus is on the council to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was indeed smoking in his taxi, or have I been watching too many ITV crime dramas. 2. If so can he be found guilty based on just the one statement from the council? 3. Would it be a case of him having to prove his innocence and having to come up with reasons why she would lie? 4. Are there data protection issues with them looking up his home address on their taxi drivers database to issue tickets like these? 5. Is it worth going down the road of asking why she didn't take a snap or two on her camera phone? Any help or advice from people who have had some experience with this would be really useful. Thanks.

Hi All, I just wanted to have a little help. We are due to send off our defence for a return of goods order (from Moneybarn) this week. The case is a little long winded but just to sum it up, The DN seems to be in the prescribed format but we have been unfairly charged £25 for the privilege of being sent a DN (Charged twice for 1 notice!) and then charged an admin fee and then sent a Termination Notice after we notified them we were seeking a Time Order. We emailed Moneybarn to ask for an arrangement to pay the 2 months arrears and they were not interested in the slightest. I have now taken this on as a personal vendetta against this company as I am fed up to the back teeth of rolling over and allowing companies to stick us with costs and get away with daylight legalised theft!! We have (on the advice of a debtline agency) hidden the car for the last 8 weeks and have had two visits from a collection agency and then a phone call from a moron in another firm explaining that all the advice we had received from CAB etc. was incorrect. we are able to make the repayments now as our circumstances have changed, My question is, are there any terms of reference or case law that needs to be added to our defence that would enable a judge to rule in our favour? Many thanks PB23

Hi everyone I was issued with a claim form for an old disputed credit card debt back in late Nov. I filed my defence which shows as submitted on the MCOL website on 12 Dec and received on 13 Dec. Is it correct that if I don't hear anything back from the claimant within 28 days that the claim is automatically stayed? Hope you can help.

Hi All, I received a claim from Optima Legal acting on behalf of Capquest on 20th November from Northampton CCBC. I sent the acknowledgement of service to Northampton intending to defend the claim in full straight away. I sent a CPR 31.14 request to Optima which was received on the 22/11/13 and a separate CCA request (inc postal order) to Capquest which was received on the 22/11/13 too. I received notification from Optima advising that this information was being requested from the claimant. However I have never had a response for the CCA from Capquest. As my defence initially needed filing by the 19th December, I asked Optima for an extension, which they agreed to. The date agreed was an extra 28 days to 15th January (Maximum under the CPR) I have chased Optima weekly for confirmation of compliance with the SAR request and am just being advised the file is on hold until they receive the relevant information. They and I have always been polite to each other and they acknowledge that is taking a while to get the information relating to POC. Today, Optima are still awaiting the information (and implied they may not get it) Capquest have yet to acknowledge and respond to the CCA request (52 Days now) I have to file my defence today/tomorrow. I am getting a little confused on how to defend. I believe the claim is in relation to a mail order catalogue. (Claim form attached) Thanks in advance. Mim

Hi all. Hope someone can offer some advice as to how to proceed regarding defence submission. Details as follows: MKDP LLP issued County Court claim form (bulk centre) on 21 Oct regarding a credit card debt allegedly had with Barclaycard. I have no record of the account and have never received any paperwork relating to it and have never made any payments to the account. I received the claim form on 24 Oct and acknowledged service and intention to defend online on the same day. Deadline for defence submission 23 Nov, although the Court advised as that is Saturday, they will accept sumbission on Monday 25 Nov. I sent CPR request for copies of documents referred to in PoC on 25 Oct which was delivered and signed for by MKDP on 26 Oct. No response at all to above by Weds 20 Nov so sent an email asking when they would be supplied. No response to that email so rang on Thurs 21 Nov to request response. They asked for my DoB which I refused to give (I am unsure exactly as to where they got this info from??) so they refused to speak to me. They gave me another email address for their legal department so I re-sent the email chasing a response. Finally received one back with what seems to be (having read many threads on this forum...!) their standard "we are not the original lender so have requested the documents from BC which may take up to 6-8 weeks. Therefore we will allow you up to 14 days after this to submit your defence". I replied requesting their written agreement to a specific date (as directed by the court) which I gave, and showed how I had worked out that date, based on MKDP's estimate of 6-8 weeks + 14 days. No response so sent another email at 5pm Fri 22 Nov saying if they didn't respond I intended to apply to court to have claim struck out on the basis that it couldn't succeed. This may have been the wrong thing to do but I was in a bad mood and wound up that these types of companies appear to be able to get away with not following the guidelines, yet if I don't (i.e. submit defence by the deadline) they can automatically get judgement against me! I have not received anything from MKDP since then - so as I don't have agreement from them as to a specific date to file my defence, what do I do now? I don't believe trying to get the claim struck out at this stage will get me anywhere, and I don't have time to do this before having to file defence anyway. I can't submit a decent defence without having a clue as to what this alleged BC account is - all I have is their word it exists. So do I submit a defence denying the allegations - but how do I defend, other than to say I have no record of any such account. This seems a bit flaky and surely that's what most people would try if they were trying to avoid paying a debt? Or is there another / better course of action? I can post up PoCs if necessary/helpful. Thanks in advance for anyone's help!