Safeloans issued Court Summons - please help

[loofyllis1972]

Despite trying on several occassions to negotiate with Safeloans, they have today issued a County Court summons. The original debt was £175.00 but they are claiming £582.25.

 

They have been impossible to deal with... have not even acknowledged the (albeit low) offer I have made them; they sent me default notices dated the DAY BEFORE the payment was originally due on the loans, and have now hit me with this one.

 

Not sure which way to turn... someone please help.

[renegadeimp]

Get all your evidence that shows you tried to come to a repayment and they ignored you, along with evidence of what you stated above, then file it to the court as your defense. They are hoping that you will ignore it or wont file a defense and they win by default.

[showergirl]

I too was hit with a court summons from safeloans, I rang them and spoke to a woman called vaneese she was very helpful and I was able to pay monthly and have since paid this off. The original loan was for £250.00 and I had a court summons for £463.00 I paid over 2 months although it was a stuggle and ended up paying £300.00. It is a great feeling to be paying my debts and I should be debt free by october this year. Give them a ring and good luck

[26072004]

Showergirl.

 

Thats exactly what they want the summons to do, scare you into paying the loan back.

 

The Op can not afford to pay more than £10.

 

Loofyllis,

 

You must contest this, send proof to the court that you have offered £10 per month and it has been refused/ignored.

[s4ddys]

Yep, would definately be submitting a defence stating you offered to pay and they refused to put a payment plan in place. Have your circumstances changed since taking out the loan? Can you give a bit of background to the case? If you would like a hand drafting a defence that is no problem.

[showergirl]

I originally offered to pay £50.00 per month which they accepted. I was lucky to be able to work extra hours at work so paid it off quicker which is why I got a reduction. Good luck to you whichever route you take.

[sillygirl1]

I can do a short defence for you what are their particulars of claim, this is the starting point. A Defence can be as short as

 

On xxx date I borrowed xxx from xxx company who are a payday loan company who charge xxx interest per month

 

On xxx date I realised I could not repay this loan in its entirety and contacted them, correspondence trail is below

 

At no point did this company respond other than to send this inflated, vexatious and litigatious claim.

 

I can afford to repay the original loan and interest at XXX rate, any more than this would put my other creditors at risk this includes priority creditors such as rent/mortgage, council tax and electricity/gas.

 

This is statement of truth by xxx

 

Half the time these are issued to scare you and as soon as you acknowledge the claim online (do that TODAY) you have a few weeks to do the defence, and they will either discontinue or let it go to court.

 

You can also ask for mediation and they will have to explain their additional costs to the court - which they will not want to do.

 

If you are on JSA or any other income related benefit, ie pension credit, housing benefit then £1 a month is the MOST you should pay towards a low priority unsecured loan such as this.

[EBOY]

i got a court summons i went as far as telling the court i would be defending it on the basis of not having received statements, cca etc. In the end it was settled out of court for a lesser amount I just need to check next month that the credit file has been updated.

[sillygirl1]

Asking for a CCA with a Payday Loan is a waste of time and effort, it is a short term loan and you can print the terms and conditions from their websites. It is a red herring that some people like but it is not needed.

 

You have tried to come to an arrangement, they don't want to know and are unjustly using the courts to force a higher payment than they are entitled to - end of.

[Iloveathens]

you need to defend, hope you have copies of letters emails you sent. Stay off the phone

 

Why oh why would you pay 300 when you only owed 250?

Edited March 31, 2012 by citizenB
removed unsubstantiated statement

[loofyllis1972]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I discovered an email from then, dated today, that states that a Summons is in the process of being issued... blah blah blah.... and that I can avoid this action by calling them immediately! Strange considering that the Summons is dated 27th March 2012...

 

The particulars of claim are as follows:-

 

The claimant provided the defendant an agreed credit limit under a running account agreement dated 05 December 2011 (short term lending), to the sum of £175.00. The account has no fixed duration, enabling approved sums to be drawn down up to the credit limit. Each drawdown amount plus interest will be repayable within 30 days from draw downdate, the repayment date was 30.12.11 the Defendant has not given any notice to pay the Claimant early or in part and the account is still outstanding to the sum of £582.25. The Claimant is also entitled to interest at the rate stated in the terms of the agreement. The Defendant has failed to repay the account... The Claimant claims...1. The amount £175.00 loan amount.... 2. Loan Charges/Interest 407.25.... 3. The Claimant total claim is 582.25... 4. The Claimant claims statutory interest at 8% up until the date of judgment or settlement, under Section 69 of the County Court Act 1984.... Date 21 March 2012.

 

Amount Claimed £582.25

Court Fee £ 55.00

Solicitors Costs £ 0.00

Total Amount £637.25

As I see it, I have had a 'default' notice from them dated 2 days prior to the actual payment date, although it arrived about a week later, no satisfactory response to my emails or letters, and then a Summons, and a notification that they were in the process of issuing one after it was issued...

 

I am now in receipt of IS, and in financial hardship. I am also worried sick about this... I have never had to deal with a county court claim before, and just don't understand the process. Will I actually have to attend court?

 

Thank you for all your help.

[sillygirl1]

I would defend as follows you should just use the bits in red numbered as appropriate

 

The claimant provided the defendant an agreed credit limit under a running account agreement dated 05 December 2011 (short term lending), to the sum of £175.00.

 

The claimant is a payday loan company and provided a short term loan of X for the period of X. Therefore there was no running account agreement in force. The claimant needs to provide evidence of this running account agreement and the terms and conditions thereof.

 

The account has no fixed duration, enabling approved sums to be drawn down up to the credit limit. Each drawdown amount plus interest will be repayable within 30 days from draw downdate, the repayment date was 30.12.11 the Defendant has not given any notice to pay the Claimant early or in part and the account is still outstanding to the sum of £582.25.

 

The above statement contradicts the first statement, the amount of x was borrowed at an interest rate of x for x days, not as stated above.

 

The defendant shows below the correspondence trail they began when they informed the claimant they would be unable to repay the loan, therefore this claim is both vexatious and litigatious and needs to be struck out due to the claimants abuse of process.

The Claimant is also entitled to interest at the rate stated in the terms of the agreement. The Defendant has failed to repay the account... The Claimant claims...1. The amount £175.00 loan amount.... 2. Loan Charges/Interest 407.25.... 3. The Claimant total claim is 582.25... 4. The Claimant claims statutory interest at 8% up until the date of judgment or settlement, under Section 69 of the county court Act 1984.... Date 21 March 2012.

 

The claimant cannot claim interest as stated amounting to £407.25 plus statutory interest as the agreement is not a regulated agreeement and the amount borrowed is under £500.

Amount Claimed £582.25

Court Fee £ 55.00

Solicitors Costs £ 0.00

Total Amount £637.25

The defendant would like to draw the courts attention to the fact that the claimants company has been sanctioned by the Office of Fair Trading in the past (I can provide the link for you tomorrow) and that this company is still under scrutiny by the OFT for breaching the guidelines on debt collecting.

 

That lot should help your defence, this claim is totally out of proportion to the length of time you have owed them money and the amount they are claiming cannot really be justified.

 

If you could draft up the defence and let us see it others will chip in with the necessary 'legal' stuff. I don't believe in blinding a judge with legalities when it is plain the company are taking the proverbial.

[EBOY]

in the t&c's point 1.7 its states about fees for letters being £12. It goes on to said

 

"we reserve the right to charge you any reasonable fees we incur in the instruction or involvement of 3rd parties for tracing you, debt collection, returned payments or court action."

 

They should be proving the fees they have added are "reasonable" i think you will find they are not reasonable.

[dx100uk]

POC by EMAIL?

 

i hope you've phoned the court to check the case is real?

 

dx

[sillygirl1]

Yes, check this as it is most unusual, and again would display a complete contempt for the rules. It is against the OFT Guidelines to send out documentation which looks like court documentation, in fact I think it may be one of the few areas they can actually dive straight in and suspend a company's licence.

 

Was there a claim number and have you gone online to Northampton Court to acknowledge the claim yet? The sooner you do that the worse they will be as they will then have to appear in court.

 

At least you have a skeleton defence to put in.

 

I would also recommend getting in touch with MP Stella Creasy who is actively campaining against Payday loans.

 

As promised yesterday, here is the thread to the OFT's sanctions on this company

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?287653-OFT-takes-further-action-against-unfair-direct-debit-clauses-in-payday-loan-contracts

[EBOY]

In my cases it was definitely an official court case. The problem was their claim in the case had the wrong figures i.e they said the origional loan was £160 when in fact it was £120. I think over a week later they must have realised their mistake and sent another copy of the court paper stating it was "amended".

 

The first point was that this was not an official court paper you could tell because of a few differences. it was one they made themselves.

 

the second point being i believe they cannot just amend a claim when it has already been issued. To amended would have meant seeking permission from a judge.

[sillygirl1]

Eboy either way you should report them to the OFT and Trading Standards as this is most definately NOT allowed. If you don't complain you are doing other people in the same boat a dis-service, particularly as both the OFT and Trading Standards are dealing in depth with this murky market.

[citizenB]

The OP needs to check their copy of the agreement to establish if this is an agreement that is regulated or not.

Edited March 31, 2012 by citizenB

[citizenB]

There should be a claim number at the top right hand side of the claim form.. telephone Northampton first thing Monday morning to confirm this has been issued by them.

[citizenB]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I discovered an email from then, dated today, that states that a Summons is in the process of being issued... blah blah blah.... and that I can avoid this action by calling them immediately! Strange considering that the Summons is dated 27th March 2012...

 

The particulars of claim are as follows:-

 

The claimant provided the defendant an agreed credit limit under a running account agreement dated 05 December 2011 (short term lending), to the sum of £175.00. The account has no fixed duration, enabling approved sums to be drawn down up to the credit limit. Each drawdown amount plus interest will be repayable within 30 days from draw downdate, the repayment date was 30.12.11 the Defendant has not given any notice to pay the Claimant early or in part and the account is still outstanding to the sum of £582.25. The Claimant is also entitled to interest at the rate stated in the terms of the agreement. The Defendant has failed to repay the account... The Claimant claims...1. The amount £175.00 loan amount.... 2. Loan Charges/Interest 407.25.... 3. The Claimant total claim is 582.25... 4. The Claimant claims statutory interest at 8% up until the date of judgment or settlement, under Section 69 of the County Court Act 1984.... Date 21 March 2012.

 

Amount Claimed £582.25

Court Fee £ 55.00

Solicitors Costs £ 0.00

Total Amount £637.25

 

As I see it, I have had a 'default' notice from them dated 2 days prior to the actual payment date, although it arrived about a week later, no satisfactory response to my emails or letters, and then a Summons, and a notification that they were in the process of issuing one after it was issued...

 

I am now in receipt of IS, and in financial hardship. I am also worried sick about this... I have never had to deal with a county court claim before, and just don't understand the process. Will I actually have to attend court?

 

Thank you for all your help.

 

Right.. so what they have done is suggested that there is a claim in the pipeline and have advised what they intend to be claiming for.

 

You havent ACTUALLY received a claim form from Northampton ?? Please confirm ?

[Andyorch]

The OP needs to check their copy of the agreement to establish if this is an agreement that is regulated or not.

 

 

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=regulated%20or%20unregulated%20loan%3F&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CGMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oft.gov.uk%2Fshared_oft%2Fbusiness_leaflets%2Fconsumer_credit%2Foft140.pdf&ei=osZ2T9rtMZSB8gOqldi4DQ&usg=AFQjCNHT3G68eQX80qQHU_GVpETniUKs6Q

 

Regards

 

Andy

[sillygirl1]

andyorch, it is NOT a regulated agreement in any way, it is a payday loan - this company love to confuse the issue. I've already given a basic defence which should suffice.

 

All this CCAing of a payday loan is useless if it is a recent loan, fair enough if a year or so has passed but you do not normally need to CCA, it will not stop them issuing court paperwork and will not stop them adding costs and interest, in fact it seems to make them worse.

 

Remember you can print off the terms and conditions from their websites.

 

Each PDL agreement differs in the amount of interest charged, whether or not the person has had a previous loan and whether or not the loan is a reloan to pay off an old loan.

 

Payday loans are for one month and therefore do not come under the same regulations as a bank overdraft - I cannot state this strongly enough.

 

I've done enough defences on this without CCAs (and won and lost according to the way the op has dealt with the paperwork) and so far no judge has bothered about a CCA or lack thereof, the lack of default notice or the way they incorrectly issue them is more of an issue.

[citizenB]

Thanks Andy

 

Number of payments

 

3.4 The Act does not regulate:

 

• a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement for fixed-sum credit, under

which the total number of repayments of credit does not exceed

four, and those payments are required to be made within a period

not exceeding 12 months beginning with the date of the agreement

(for example, an annual gym membership payable in quarterly

instalments)

 

That clears that up and also substantiates it with FACTs

[Andyorch]

No problem SG, fully aware of your vast experience with these type of loans, I was just quoting the regs for any other poster unsure regulated vs unregulated.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[sillygirl1]

I hate to say 'I told you so' but I knew this ages ago, it cropped up with the 'original loan and one months interest' endless debtates....

 

These loans are NOT regulated and therefore a CCA request is useless. Plenty of other ways to flatten them should they go to court, as my skeleton defence above shows.

 

It is far far easier and simpler to destroy their particulars of claim and cast doubt on their ability to use the courts as a first line of collection than use the CCA route.

 

I've added the legislation to my list of useful legal stuff should anyone else ask. Might come in handy if somebody does quote CCA rules in their POCs....