Carter claimform - cap1 card.

[dave466]

Hi hope someone can help us please.

 

My wife has just recieved a county court claim form from northampton court.

 

The claim form is for a capital one account with Bryan Carter Solicitors for the amount of £668.34.

 

I know that they have added loads of £12 charges on for late/missed payments etc...

 

We have been struggling for a while now and have not made any payments to capital one for just under a year.

 

What do i need to do with the form as we have never had anything like this before?

 

Many Thanks in advance, Dave.

[asokn]

Do you owe the money or do you wish to defend the claim?

 

Please type up the Particulars of Claim.

[dave466]

I owe the money but most of it is charges and i cannot afford to pay it all off

[dave466]

The claiments claim is for the balance due under an agreement which is now all due and payable.

 

The defendent agreed to pay monthly installments under the account number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx but has failed to do so.

 

And the claiment claims the sum of 530.55.

 

The claiment also claims interest thereon pursuant to s.69 county court act 1984 limited to one year to the date hereof at the rate of 8% per annum amounting to 12.79.

 

on the right hand side it has

 

amount claimed 543.34

court fee 55.00

solicitors fee 70.00

total amount 668.34

[Eshezo]

Hi Dave,

 

Going from the beginning:-

 

If you have recieved a County Court Claim, the first thing you need to do is send the acknowledgment in , but you have 14 days to do this and you should make a note of the date and send it by special delivery on the 13th day (keep the receipt).

 

When you fill in the acknowledgement you have three choices, one that you dispute the debt or part of it, two you admit the claim or three your making a counterclaim.

 

You say that you do owe the debt so clearly there is no defence , your disputing the charges, or at least saying that you can't afford them, which are very different things.

 

Brian Carter is the default solicitor refered to by Moorcroft debt collection and one would assume that you have recieved letters from them and maybe Brian Carter prior to the County Court Summons, they do normally send a whole raft of letters prior to any action.

 

OK, thats the negative, but there is some positive for the time being, if it's Brian Carter acting on behalf of Moorcroft or another debt collection agency then the debt must have been assigned to them before they can take action and you can request this, sometimes they play on words and don't actually have the debt assigned and sometimes they do but never the less it's certainly worth sending them a request for a CCA.

 

I would suggest this course of action:-

 

1/ return the Court Acknolwedgement on the 13th day by special delivery filling in the debt is disputed section, this will give you a further 14 days (28 days in total from date of service) to submit a defence.

 

2/ Send a request for a CCA ( Copy of your credit agreement, search on this forum and you'll find some templates, if not PM me) this will mean that Brian Carter will be required to send you a copy of the original executed credit agreement without which they cannot enforce the debt, unless they have stated that they are acting on behalf of Capital One and even then they will need to give copy. I think it's highly unlikley they are acting for Capital One rather than Moorcroft though.

 

Brian Carter will have 12 days ( it may be 14) to send you this , if they don't under the consumer credit act 1974, i think section 77 , they cannot purse action against you.

 

I'm concerned though that the above will give you time and not resolve the long term issue because if you do owe the money you may well find that subsequent action could follow.

 

My exprience of Moorcroft and Brian Carter is that they on the most part have purchased a portfolio of debt, ie for some xx pence in the pound and pursue what they can, although the fact that they have actually filed a county court action does suggest that they think they have something and as you say you do owe the money.

 

You need to be very aware of the time scales and act quickly, ie send the CCA request tomorrow or the day after, so that if they don't respond your still within the timescale to file a defence within the total of 28 days.

 

Post on here with your progress and I'm sure you will get continued advice, although it may not always be want you want to hear, I do refer back to the fact that you actually owe the debt.

 

Lets hope that they don't have it assigned to them and can't forfill your CCA request .....

 

rgds Eshezo

Edited March 27, 2012 by Eshezo

[asokn]

I would suggest this course of action:-

 

1/ return the Court Acknolwedgement on the 13th day by special delivery filling in the debt is disputed section, this will give you a further 14 days (28 days in total from date of service) to submit a defence

 

There's no need to wait until day 13, the extension runs from the date of service of the original claim form so the sooner you get that off the less the risk of it not being acted on by the court. If you want until day 13 and the court doesn't receive it you run the risk of default judgment being entered.

[dave466]

Will do as you said, i am in no way trying to get out of paying this debt i just cant afford to pay it and dont want to get a ccj i've had my head in the clouds and this is my wake up call to sort it out once and for all. Many thanks for help so far, i have a copy of a cca request which i will send first thing tomorrow.

 

Just one more thing the letter (court letter) is dated 22nd march so when would i need to return the form as it says something about 5 days after?

[cymruambyth]

As it is from the Northampton bulk court you can complete your AOS online, follow the instructions in the pack. Make sure you keep to the dates as if you don't they will get a judgement by default.

 

You need to send CPR 31.14 as court action has started.

 

How old is the card? Our Cap 1 card did not have the prescribed t&cs and was thrown out by the court.

[dave466]

As it is from the Northampton bulk court you can complete your AOS online, follow the instructions in the pack. Make sure you keep to the dates as if you don't they will get a judgement by default.

 

You need to send CPR 31.14 as court action has started.

 

How old is the card? Our Cap 1 card did not have the prescribed t&cs and was thrown out by the court.

 

We have had it for about 4-5 years and debt is about 1 year old. We don't even think we sent a signed copy of the credit agreement back to them when we got the card

[the_shadow]

We have had it for about 4-5 years and debt is about 1 year old. We don't even think we sent a signed copy of the credit agreement back to them when we got the card

 

Could you have taken out the card online, digital signatures have been allowed since December 2004.

 

S.

[cymruambyth]

If you admit any part of the debt you will get a CCJ unless it is all cleared.

I would say that you are defending until you get back copies of your paperwork, check everything and then decide on your best course of action.

[Eshezo]

Dave, seriously there are lots of replies that are legimate in their context but at the end of the day you have a court summons and you need to deal with it.

 

Waiting until day 13 to send the acknowledgement does not put you at risk of any court entering a default claim, you just need to send the acknowledgment buy special delivery. Askon says that you should send it sooner but this is not the case, there is no need to send it earlier or even worry about doing so, it does not change any aspect of the courts descision.

 

Return date of the court form as you ask is 14 days from post mark (to be safe), so send it on the 13th day from post mark.

 

cymruambyth says you should send Civil \Proceedure 31.14, sorry but CPR 31 deals with disclosure and is fully dealt within the CCA request and as matter of fact the CPR 31.14 simply outlines the requirements, see below:-

 

(1) A party may inspect a document mentioned in –

(a) a statement of case;

 

(b) a witness statement;

 

© a witness summary; or

 

(d) an affidavit(GL).

 

(e) Revoked.

 

 

(2) Subject to rule 35.10(4), a party may apply for an order for inspection of any document mentioned in an expert's report which has not already been disclosed in the proceedings.

 

(Rule 35.10(4) makes provision in relation to instructions referred to in an expert’s report)

 

As with all these proceeds you need to simplify them, and the important aspect is the timescales, as I said in my previous post , follow the steps and issue the CCA, then post here as to the responses or not and then people can advise again.

 

rgds

[gezwee]

Without wishing to butt in here, but.......... this is BC and a 600 squid claim, test him with the part 31 [you can CCA as well if you want to, does no harm] and see how quickly he makes a commercial decision to drop this one.

 

Gez

[the_shadow]

Eshezo,

 

Obviously the OP should not send in a response to the court until they have decided their course of action however I'm concerned about the waiting till the midnight hour to send it in, it would only take a delay and the claimant would be entitled to get judgement routinely. Also the special delivery method... why?

 

The court claim has come from the bulk centre and therefore allows the signing in digitally and the replying digitally, its worked in thousands of cases up to now so why add a variable such as the royal mail to the mix.

 

 

A CPR 31.14 request would be a perfectly valid request at this time so long as all that is requested are the specific documents mentioned in the particulars of claim, if no documents are mentioned by name then a cpr18 request should be sent to force the claimant to admit documents exist and then the cpr31.14 requesting the newly admitted documents. All of which is covered in your copying of the Court CPR guidelines above.

 

There is templated cpr31.14 request letter on this site should the OP wish to use it.

 

S.

[the_shadow]

Without wishing to butt in here, but.......... this is BC and a 600 squid claim, test him with the part 31 [you can CCA as well if you want to, does no harm] and see how quickly he makes a commercial decision to drop this one.

 

Gez

 

Spot on as usual, BC will drop like a lead balloon if he thinks he has a fight on his hands.

 

S.

[asokn]

Waiting until day 13 to send the acknowledgement does not put you at risk of any court entering a default claim, you just need to send the acknowledgment buy special delivery. Askon says that you should send it sooner but this is not the case, there is no need to send it earlier or even worry about doing so, it does not change any aspect of the courts descision.

 

I suppose my point was that there's no reason not to do it promptly, it will avoid the cost of registered post and the OP will be safe in the knowledge that it has been received in plenty of time so he has an extra period in which to consider his position. What if the OP becomes unable due to unavoidable circumstances to send it on day 13? A default judgment may be entered.

 

The OP should say he's defending and if he changes his mind before a substantive defence needs to be filed then he can file an admission.

[dave466]

Hi just got in from work and was reading up on all replies and many thanks so far for the replies.

 

I have just this minute opened my post and have received a letter today from credit solutions regarding Capital One. (Letter dated 26 march 2012)

 

It is a formal demand letter for the balance of £668.34

 

It says capital one has informed us that you have not complied with the default notice recently sent to you. The balance stated above is now due in full and capital one demands that you pay this amount immediately.

 

Your payment , made payable to credit solutions ltd, should be made within 7 days from the date of this letter.

 

Please not that this information has been passed on to licensed credit reference agencies. The longer this debt remains unpaid the greater impact it will have on your ability to gain credit from other lenders, now and in the future.

 

Please telephone the above payment hotline today and we will be happy to process your debit or credit card payment.

 

Continued non payment could result in more direct methods of recovery including:

 

A Debt Collector calling at the above address to collect the debt professionally

 

A COUNTY COURT CLAIM being issued against you, resulting in additional costs.

 

I highlighted the county court claim bit because obviously thats what i have just got yesterday. Does this now change things or do i still do as mentioned by others above?

 

The balance of £668.34 is the balance from the court letter i received yesterday with the added cost already on?

[dave466]

The balance of £668.34 is the balance from the court letter i received yesterday with the added cost already on?

[asokn]

It doesn't really change anything, you know they've issued anyway.

[dave466]

Ok thanks, i didn't think credit solutions had dealt with this debt before that i remember of.

 

Can i use this template letter to send off and also who do i send it to? Just the solicitor on the letter or credit solutions aswell now?

[dave466]

(http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?159445-Getting-Them-To-Reveal-Their-Vitals.-Using-CPR-31.14-to-Your-Advantage)

[cymruambyth]

Hi Dave

 

You need to read all replies. I think the thread you have linked is important and helps with using the CPR 31.14.This link is comprehensive, try and plough through it. pt is a solicitor who specialises in the CCA (quite successfully) and used to post on CAG

pt-legal issues-compilation.pdf

[dave466]

Hi thanks. I have read all the posts and i am becoming a little overwhelmed with all the information and advice. Some people saying do one thing and others another thing. This is the first time with anything like this and i hope it is the last and i really have no clue as to what i'm doing to be honest.

[cymruambyth]

Hi that's why I have have given the link to pt's compilation.

1. keep an eye on dates, it you are late you will get a CCJ by default

2. Complete the AOS on line

3. Say you will defend, this will give you a total of 33 days from the date the claim was issued to try and understand everything, find out all the information that you need and make a decision to defend or admit

4. It is a relatively small amount (unfortunately I can multiply that by 20) so as stated if you start to question the action MAY not go further as it isn't worth it financially.

5. What is the POC? CPR 31.14 enables you to request all documents mentioned in POC.You need to know what documentation and whether it is enforceable that this action is based on.

 

6. My advice is from 4 court cases, 2 won, 1 lost (DJ lottery), 1 ongoing with a legal firm.

 

7. Most advice is based on experience; not all advice is good; try and check who the posters are; all decisions are yours so ask for help or PM the site team if you are lost or worried, the replies won't be instantaneous but they will arrive!

8. Good luck!

[Eshezo]

Hi Dave,

 

To be clear on my early post, Askon and others are correct aswell, of course the acknowledgement can be sent earlier and also because it's from the bulk center it can easily be completed online.

 

Keep updating to let everyone know whats happening.

 

rgds