Wescott claim form received for 12yrs old littlewoods catalogue debt

[bunaki]

Hi I wonder if anyone can help with this please.

 

I received a defense pack from Northampton courts today issued by Westcott SPV LTD

concerning a Little-woods account which is approximately 10 to 12 years old.

 

At the time I had an accident in work and was told the insurance on the account would cover the outstanding balance.

 

At various times over the years different companies have tried to collect

but when I ask them for the relevant paper work they pass it on to someone else,

 

my problem at the moment is what to do with the defense pack as I need time to SAR/CCA Westcott

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Bunaki

[citizenB]

Sadly you dont have time to SAR anyone. Although there is no reason why you shouldnt send a SAR and hope that it will arrive in time or you can negotiate an adjournment to allow for the information to arrive.

 

You will need to use CPR 31.14 for those items mentioned in the particulars of claim and CPR 18 for information only..

 

See pdf below.

 

legal issues-compilation.pdf

 

Can you please let us know the date of issue - top right hand of the claim and what they particulars of claim actually say they are claiming for ?

 

You have a strict time table to adhere to.

 

Issue date + 5 for service + 14 to acknowledge + 14 to submit defence if that is your intention.

[AndyOrch]

Hi bunaki

 

You state its 10/12 years old but could you expand on the following and why it didnt?

 

" At the time I had an accident in work and was told the insurance on the account would cover the outstanding balance."

 

Regards

 

Andy

[unclebulgaria67]

I would be tempted to phone them to ask when the last payment towards the debt is showing on their records and can they send you evidence of this in the post.

 

Not normally advisable to phone these companies, but it would be interesting to see what information they can tell you over the phone.

 

Perhaps if they realise that it is statute barred and they have made a mistake, they will cancel the court claim.

[bunaki]

Thanks for the replies

 

Date of issue 02/08/2012

Particulars of claim

The claim is for £1325.09 being monies owing to the claimant in respect of goods provided by Littlewoods to the defendant under account number xxxxxxxx

The agreement was terminated due the defendant fail to maintain the agreed terms.

In accordance with the pre action protocols the claimant has attempted to contact the defendant and agree a payment plan.

The defendant has fails to responded or maintain a suitable agreement.

Littlewoods ha sold and assigned all rights title and interest under this agreement to wescot spv ltd

and the claimant claims interest pursuant to section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8 percent per annum from the 14/12/2010 to the 02/08/2012 totalling £173.10 and thereafter at a daily rate of 0.29 to date of judgement or sooner

 

the claimant believes that the facts stated in this claim form are true and I am duly authorized by the claimant to sign this statement signed Mark Robinson

 

I had insurance at the time with Littlewoods to cover me if I came out of work and they told me that this would cover the debt at the time, then everything went quiet for months then a dca contacted me and I explained the situation with the insurance then some more months passed and then contacted by another dca and so it has gone on. The figure quoted is nowhere near the amount owed and I can only assume it is made up of interest and charges

I was wondering about statute barred this was the reason for sending an Sar request.

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes the SAR might reveal the last payment.

 

I wonder whether if you telephoned them, they would reveal the last date of payment and who made this.

 

Is it possible that the Insurance paid out and the relevant sum was credited to the account at some point. When Westcott bought the account they would have been provided with very little details of the account. It would probably only have been a summary statement of account.

 

Do you know when the last payment was for the account ?

 

If you don't want to phone them, you can send them a part 18 request asking for the date of the last payment and details of the payment.

[citizenB]

For the debt to be statuted barred, there should have been no money paid or liability acknowledged for 6 years in England - 5 in Scotland.

 

Ok, so do you know if hte Insurance was picking up the tab?

 

I think it is Littlewoods you need to be contacting to find out why, if there was an Insurance claim in progress, they then sold it on ?

 

Dates..

 

Issue date 2/08/2012 + 5 for service = 7/08/2012 + 14 to acknowledge = 21/08/2012 + 14 to submit defence = 04/09/2012.

 

If the account is not statute barred, then I would think that your belief that the account was being paid by the Insurers could possibly be a sound defence ?

[bunaki]

Thanks for the replies. Because this account is so old what reference would I use to when contacting Littlewoods as in the past when I've sent cca requests to various companies my postal order has been returned with account not known letter attatched.

So I could use the insurance payments as my defence when I respond, would I then be given enough time to gather the evidence I need and should I SAR/CCA Littlewoods. Thanks in advance

[unclebulgaria67]

I am sure that if you phone Littlewoods with your name and address you had at the time you had the account, they will be able to find your details.

 

Why not give it a go and find out ?

[bunaki]

ok I'll try in the morning thanks for your help.

[citizenB]

What account reference is being used on the claim form?

 

Did Wescott contact you prior to the issuing of this claim, in order to advise of assignment? If so, they were obliged to give you the account number at that time.

[bunaki]

What account reference is being used on the claim form?

 

Did Wescott contact you prior to the issuing of this claim, in order to advise of assignment? If so, they were obliged to give you the account number at that time.

Sorry for the delay in responding I've now contacted Littlewoods and they say they assigned the debt to Wescot in Feb 2007 and that they can see on my account that there was insurance but they couldn't see that a claim had been made.

I asked about a copy of the original agreement and she said "I would have to do this through Wescot as they now owned the debt but she was unsure what information they would have because of the length of time that had passed and it would probably be up to me to prove I made a claim."

So would I make this request through a CPR 31.14 and what happens if they don't have the agreement?

I'm a little confused why would I take out a policy and then not claim on it and how do I prove it, all communication at that time was over the phone and I was told that the insurance would cover the outstanding balance. thanks

[unclebulgaria67]

Did you not ask about the last date of payment ?

 

Your defence is that the debt is statute barred.

[bunaki]

They said the last normal payment they could see was in2003, but when I finished work for good after an accident I went to a debt management company and explained to them about the insurance and they said they would sort it out and now I find out after speaking to Littlewoods all they did was make a few payments to them in2007 for one pound thus keeping the debt alive.

What dosen't make sense is that Littlewoods would have been pursuing me for the balance of account and by their own admission today it states on my account that I had insurance Which would have paid it, so why are they now trying to say no claim was made when it would have been the obvious thing to do?

[unclebulgaria67]

They said the last normal payment they could see was in2003, but when I finished work for good after an accident I went to a debt management company and explained to them about the insurance and they said they would sort it out and now I find out after speaking to Littlewoods all they did was make a few payments to them in2007 for one pound thus keeping the debt alive.

What dosen't make sense is that Littlewoods would have been pursuing me for the balance of account and by their own admission today it states on my account that I had insurance Which would have paid it, so why are they now trying to say no claim was made when it would have been the obvious thing to do?

 

Think you need Littlewoods to confirm in writing that the last payments they received from you was in 2003 and that the payments on the record in 2007, were from the Insurance company, who were supposed to be dealing with a claim.

 

Those £1 payments from someone else don't keep the debt alive ( I.E not statute barred for you). For the debt not to be statute barred for you, those payments would needed to have been made by you.

 

As has been said, you have a while before you need to acknowledge and then 14 days to submit your defence.

 

In your position, I think I would make a complaint by phone( follow up in writing) to Littlewoods about the issues you have and ask for the information I mention above. Perhaps they can also look into why the Insurers did not deal with the claim. If the Insurance was sold to run along side the account, then Littlewoods as your agent, should be assisting you with this.

[bunaki]

Think you need Littlewoods to confirm in writing that the last payments they received from you was in 2003 and that the payments on the record in 2007, were from the Insurance company, who were supposed to be dealing with a claim.

 

Those £1 payments from someone else don't keep the debt alive ( I.E not statute barred for you). For the debt not to be statute barred for you, those payments would needed to have been made by you.

 

As has been said, you have a while before you need to acknowledge and then 14 days to submit your defence.

 

In your position, I think I would make a complaint by phone( follow up in writing) to Littlewoods about the issues you have and ask for the information I mention above. Perhaps they can also look into why the Insurers did not deal with the claim. If the Insurance was sold to run along side the account, then Littlewoods as your agent, should be assisting you with this.

Thanks for that good idea, I'll contact Littlewoods in the morning and see what they come up with. at the time they led me to beleive that the insurance would take care of it and I would have thought that would have been in their best interests too.

[bunaki]

while I trying to get info from Littlewoods should I CPR 31.14 Wescott and if I Understood it correctly am I only allowed to ask for info that they mention in their particulars of claim letter sent from the court ?

I would appreciate it if some one could let me know what I should include in the request.

[citizenB]

bonaki, yes you can properly ask for a copy of the agreement, the termination notice, statement of account and a notice of the assignment, under CPR31.14.

 

I think it might be a good idea to send a CPR part 18 for other information. So send off your CPR31.14 and I will think of what to ask for by way of the CPR18

[bunaki]

Thanks very much for your help.

[Ganymede]

Bunaki, sorry if I've missed this but did you actually call/write to the insurance company to make a claim against the policy?

[bunaki]

Bunaki, sorry if I've missed this but did you actually call/write to the insurance company to make a claim against the policy?

 

Hi, from what I can remember when I contacted Littlewoods to let them know I was on the sick they told me that they would make a claim through the insurance attached to the account, but when I called them yesterday they said there was insurance but no claim was made which I find difficult to believe as this was a sure way of them getting their money and as they sold me the policy I am sure it would be the first thing they would mention.

Another question was it legal for them to sell the account when the insurance should have paid.? I don't know if this is one big clerical error, I'm trying to get more info from Littlewoods

[Ganymede]

I think it was your responsibility to call your insurers and for you to make the claim, not Littlewoods. Have you spoken to them since all this started?

[bunaki]

I've spoken to little-woods but they were not sure which insurance company they were using then. At the time of the claim because I was self employed I had insurance for everything credit cards loans etc so I had multiple claims on the go and to be honest it,s difficult to remember the specifics.

when I spoke to Littlewoods yesterday they said they had a normal payment in 2003 and then they sold it to Wescot in 2007, so why the big gap and why wasn't anything done about it.

[unclebulgaria67]

I think it was your responsibility to call your insurers and for you to make the claim, not Littlewoods. Have you spoken to them since all this started?

 

Yes, they would have asked for relevant evidence to be sent to them in support of the claim. It would not have been a telephone conversation with someone at Littlewoods and then that was the end of it. Perhaps they might have said something along the lines of " we will inform the Insurers that you wish to make a claim and get them to send you a claims form". Perhaps they did not do this and you did not chase this up.

[bunaki]

As I said I had multiple claims at the time and when I spoke to little woods yesterday they said they weren't sure which insurance company it was as they didn't have the info in front of them and weren't sure if this info exsisted because of the time that had passed.

So it is possible that I dealt directly with the company but because It was so long ago it's difficult to honestly remember.