Link/IDR issue court papers on MBNA CC debt - HELP!!

[Valeyntara]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the CAG and also forums in general, so please bear with me!

 

I've been finding a lot of useful information over numerous threads, but was wondering if anyone could offer any case specific advice.

 

In early 2011 I fell into arrears on an MBNA credit card after they increased interest rates, meaning that the minimum monthly payment nearly doubled.

 

Due to personal circumstances I was unable to meet the new monthly payments and continued to pay £75 per month, as previously.

 

However, I contacted MBNA and provided them with details of my income and expenditures.

They agreed a reduced payment plan with me of £35 per month, which I paid faithfully.

 

In April 2012, I received a letter on IDR Finance headed paper,

advising that they were giving notice that the debt to MBNA had been assigned to Link Financial Outsourcing Limited on 29 March 2012

and that on the same date,

 

Link had assigned the benefit of the debt to IDR Financ UK Limited.

 

The letter states that as a result of the assignment the debt was now owed to IDR and Link were acting as servicer for the debt.

 

The letter advises that any payments should be made to Link at the PO Box shown above (no PO Box details were actually given)

and that no further payments should be made to MBNA.

 

I was therefore left with no choice but to contact them by telephone.

 

I spoke with one of their 'advisors' and said that I wanted their bank details so that I could continue to make the £35 a month payments, as had been agreed with MBNA.

 

I was told that they were not prepared to accept such a payment and they were seeking recovery of the full amount.

I told him I was not in a position to pay the full amount, otherwise I would have cleared the debt directly with MBNA.

He then went on to suggest that I take out a loan to pay the amount, or perhaps sell my house.

 

I was disgusted with the careless and frankly irresponsible 'advice' he was giving and told him I would only be in a position to pay on a reduced payment plan.

 

He said he would knock 20% off the debt then and there and I repeated that I still was not in a position to pay.

 

He said he would put a hold on the account for 7 days and asked me to ring him back to discuss my 'circumstances'.

 

I researched Link and decided it would be prudent to only communicate with them via written correspondence.

 

I therefore wrote to them on 25 May, making an ex gratia offer and also advising that I would only be prepared to deal with the matter via written correspondece.

I also advised that my partner had been ill health retired and that I was due to go on maternity leave in August, which would mean a further reduction in income.

 

I have therefore been engaged in written negotiations with them,

with offers on both sides being made for settlement sums.

 

I continued to receive telephone calls to both my mobile and work number from the advisor I orignally spoke to.

I eventually had to write a letter of complaint as despite written requests on 3 different occasions for the phone calls to cease,

he then rang through to main reception number at my place of work, which my boss was not best pleased with. The phone calls finally stopped.

 

They made a counter offer in writing in early August and before I had time to respond, I received an lba from them at the end of August.

 

I immediately wrote to them advising that I thought the LBA was unnecessary and also it advised they were seeking payment of the full amount,

yet they had already told me they would accept a reduced amount.

 

I advised them that I am due to give birth in the next couple of weeks (now within a matter of days) and that I have also been made redundant,

so I made a final ex gratia offer and said if they were unable to accept that, I would only be able to pay them £10 a month at the moment,

which would begin to pay in October if I heard nothing further from them.

 

I have now received court papers from Northampton county court and IDR Finance have issued against me for the full amount, plus the issue fee and interest.

 

My question is, if we were in the middle of written negotiations, how can they suddenly decide to issue proceedings for the full amount?

 

This is a blatant waste of the Court's time and incurs unecessary costs.

 

Is my best course of action to defend the claim in full?

 

Any help / advice is much appreciated.

 

As with everyone else experiencing the ups and downs of life and struggling with debt,

 

this is one thing I could do without at the moment!

[Valeyntara]

Hi 42man,

 

I set up a standing order to continue making the payments to MBNA. It took me a few months to realise that the money was being returned to my account some 10 days or so after the payment date. By that time, I had received the letter from IDR / Link stating I shouldn't make any further payments to MBNA so I didn't do anything else about it. I had also been advised by Link that they now owned the debt and it no longer had anything to do with MBNA!

[42man]

Have a read of this - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?241827-Legal-Action-how-to-start-off.-IMPORTANT-IF-YOURE-BEING-SUED

[Valeyntara]

Thanks for that - mega informaton to process!

 

I've filed my AOS stating I intend to defend the claim in full and will send the CPR 31.14 Request letter to the Claimant tomorrow.

 

This credit card was taken out in 2001 and I note a lot of people rely on unenforceability issues as a Defence, although this seems to be less reliable currently.

 

On the basis that they firstly appear to have acted against the OFT guidelines in several ways, secondly in my opinion the LBA was non compliant as the Practice Direction states that court proceedings should only be a last resort if all attempts to settle the issue between the parties has failed and we had been negotiating a full and final offer, failing which I had made an offer of monthly repayments, the LBA did not state that we could discuss possible repayment options or advise me of free independent advice and assistance, and thirdly no forms of ADR have been suggested / mentioned by the Claimant, that any of this is a basis for a decent Defence?