New Forest Finance Statutory Demand - SCOTLAND

[scottybhoy]

My partner received a Statutory Demand under Section 268(1)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986, Debt for Liquidated Sum Payable Immediately.

 

Only last month, my Partner was discharged from her Bankruptcy, and to my knowledge and hers we are unsure if this debt was included in her Sequestration (we are based in Scotland).

 

Anyway, this SD was sent by first class post, not a "signed for" or anything like that, nor was it hand delivered - it came from New Forest Finance (as it had their cover letter in it). It therefore leads me to believe that this is being used in an intimidating manner to try and force my partner to pay this debt of which we believe she is not liable. Now, we all know where 1st Credit ended up by doing this!

 

I would appreciate any help with the following:

 

- If this Debt was not included in her Sequestration, is she still liable?

 

- The court on the letter was not in Scotland, it was a County Court in England - I was of the belief that should a Creditor pursue you, it should be at you local County Court.

 

The statutory demand requests that my partner contact the Creditor direct - in my experience, should any formal Court proceedings take place, then it is the Court you should be writing to in order to make your defence.

 

Pretty confused as to where we stand with this as through her Sequestration, we thought that was all our Debt worries resolved.

 

Any suggestions on how to proceed with this would be greatly appreciated - I want to try and avoid the CCA route if this Debt should have been written off on the sequestration.

 

Thanks in advance, Scotty

[Bandit127]

Scotty. I have asked the mods to move this to the legal forum where you should get a better response.

[cerberusalert]

Moved to the legal forum.

[renegadeimp]

You need to check if it was included in the bankruptcy. Then check the SB status of it.

 

As for court, i think they must being court proceedings in scotland in the sheriffs court, as for it to be processed by northampton or by MCOL, the defendant must be resident in england or wales.

 

If you get a claim form from them, check online to see if it is genuine, then acknowledge it online, so you can extra time for a defence. As you are in scotland, then make sure you contest jurisdiction.

[Stigman]

Also, because you reside in Scotland, the Statute Barred time is 5 years.

 

Stigman

[scottybhoy]

It's not statute barred, she has had it less than 5 years. Have no way of confirming whether this has been included in the Sequestration as these scummy loan companies trade under all sorts of names and DCA's and you never really know who's debt they are chasing. So do not really have a definitive way of seeing if it has been included under another creditor name.

 

Where do I check to see if it is legitimate?

 

Do I send a letter of reply to New Forest Finance as well as the Court?

 

Are there any specific forms I need to fill in or can I just send them an email/recorded delivery?

[IdaInFife]

Hi SB,

 

Statutory demands work differently up here, basically they can send one from an english court as they can treat us as if we are 'abroad' due to the difference in laws.

 

Did this debt occur prior to your application for sequestration?

 

If so even if you did not provide the details to your trustee, your trustee 'advertises' the sequestration so any unknown creditors come forward.

 

If this debt was incurred prior to the sequestration, I would reply via the SD to apply for a set aside based on the debt was prioe to the seq and send a copy of any seq pw you have

[scottybhoy]

Hi Ida,

 

Thanks for coming to my rescue again (you helped me in the past with a Walker Love debt) - what you have said makes total sense to me and this was the route I was hoping that I was able to take.

 

The debt did occur prior to the Sequestration and I was under the impression that the advertisement by my O/H trustee would have caught the stragglers - such as this one appears to be.

 

Will an email/recorded delivery do or are there any specific forms that have to be filled in?

[IdaInFife]

I am not au fait with SD's but I am sure someone will come along to confirm.

 

You need to reply using 6.4 http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/About-us/forms/england-and-wales

 

and you will need to also do a WS on the 6.5 form on the same above link.

 

have stole this template from 42man and amended

 

 

The defendant is disputing the alleged account

 

The defendand entered sequestration on xx/xx/xxxx. This debt was incurred before this date and therefore the defendant is no longer liable for this alleged debt.

 

Also enclosed in a copy of the sequestration for the courts ease of reference.

 

The defendant believes that the claimants use of a statutory demand is trite law and merely a tactic to frighten the defendant into paying and thereby frivolous, malicious and a gross abuse of the process. I believe the claimant will not turn up to court to defend this demand and it is the defendants contention that use of the insolvency laws as a debt collection tool is an abuse of the Insolvency Rules.

 

In light of the above evidence, the defendant gracefully requests the Judge dismisses the demand.

[IdaInFife]

oh and send recorded delivery. I will as 42man to pop in to check my response to the SD so if you can hold of til he or someone more knowledgeable on repsonding to sd's come along

[scottybhoy]

Excellent, thanks again Ida, will hold for a couple of days and get this off Monday.

 

Anyone else I can complain too - i.e. any formal bodies that will give NFF a swift "boot in the b@ws" for their clear abuse of the legal system Grrrr - it really gets my blood boiling!

[citizenB]

You can send a complaint to the OFT - they have censured more than one company for their abusing the insolvency laws and issuing SDs when they should not.

[42man]

I am not au fait with the Scottish laws, however if he has been bankrupted before, then you need to check with the trustee to see if it has indeed been included (At a guess I think it probably would have), and if indeed the debt was run up before the original bankruptcy, then they haven't a hope of pursuing it. If you can find out then you should write a simple letter to them explaining that you were bankrupted in / on date and that they should get in touch with the trustee.

[Ell-enn]

Looks like they're sending a few of these SD's out - another one here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?365182-New-Forest-Finance-Statutory-Demand

[scottybhoy]

Thanks everyone for the help here. I have a standard "Debt included in Bankruptcy" letter which seems to hit the spot with most, but as this SD appears to be formal, does it merit a formal complaint via the forms suggested by Ida?

 

Just want to cover all bases.

[42man]

Any dispute should be raised at demand stage......however in this case you could maybe call the company and give them the name of the official receiver / trustee and back it up with the letter. When/if they find out that you have already been made bankrupt, they would find it pointless/expensive in issuing another petition.

[scottybhoy]

Waiting on a response from them, will update when and if one arises.

 

Do you think they have actually lodged this with the court?

[42man]

A stat demand doesn't get lodged with the court, only if you dispute it by setting it aside will the courts become aware of it...

[scottybhoy]

had no response to my previous correspondence and running slightly low on time if this is to be contested in court, so would be grateful if someone could answer the following questions:

 

- Does this now need to be petitioned against using the official forms (links provided by Ida),

 

- Can this complaint be lodged at my local court or is it good enough just to send the official response to the SD to NFF?

[scottybhoy]

bump! Anyone!?

[42man]

I think you should set it aside but I am really not au fait with Scottish Law - I just think that if the debt was incurred before the last bankruptcy then it should have been included.