Blake Lapthorn Northampton Court - Urgent

[DARCYS]

Hi,

I hope someone can help me - I'm desperate and time is against me.

I have tried to search the forum for what I do first, but being in a panic my head has got very muddled & I'm praying someone will hold my hand.

 

I have received a Northampton County Court Claim Form from Blake Lapthorn on behalf of Arrow Global.

This is for an MBNA credit card.

The issue date is 16th January 2013.

 

The particulars of claim read:

The Claimants claim is for the sum of £4320.25 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a regulated agreement between the Defendant and MBNA and assigned to the Claimant. Notice of the assignment has been provided to the Defendant. The defendant has failed to make payment in accordance with the terms of agreement and a default notice has been served pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974. AND the Claimant claims the sum of £4260.57 TOGETHER with the costs of this claim.

They are also requesting £85.00 court fee and £80.00 solicitors costs

 

I do have a debt to MBNA, and I haven't paid anything for probably eight months.

I knew there were large amounts of charges in this debt - perhaps £800.00 or so, and had sent a letter to MBNA asking that they returned these monies. I heard nothing, and hoped this might go away until I was back on my feet financially. I'm self-employed.

 

I do have some records from MBNA because I have statements that I requested and the original credit agreement, I think. but I don't seem to have a copy of an assignment of any sort.

 

I just don't know how to proceed, but know I must do something quickly.

I hope someone might be kind enough to give me advice and help.

Thank you so much if you feel you might be able to guide me.

Edited January 31, 2013 by DARCYS
Wanted to add bold type

[creditcardmug]

Hi, i hope andyorch will see your post soon and step in to help you, meanwhile can you say how old this creditcard is, wheher you intend to defend, and on what grounds, it looks like you have to file an Acknowledgement of Service by the 6th feb so you still have time.

[DARCYS]

Hi Creditcardmug - thank you so much for replying; I can't tell you how grateful I am.

 

The credit card was taken out in 2000. I was paying it at a reduced monthly payment - a payment I agreed with myself not MBNA - until some time last year. My payments became more and more sporadic and the I just stopped paying. I need to look over my bank statements to see what the exact amount and last date I paid anything were.

 

I haven't filed anything with the court up to now. I was scared to do anything, in case I did something incorrectly. I must admit this has really unnerved me...I feel sick at the thought of anything legal.

I would like to defend if possible but I'm not sure on what grounds I could do this. This was one of the reasons that I've hesitated in attending to this. I know this was foolish of me.

 

I really hope andyorch can help me with this too.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

Kind regards

D

[ims21]

Hi

 

OK so you have a strict time line to follow on this.

 

Issue date is 16th Jan, ad 5 days for service = 21st Jan plus 14 to acknowledge = 4th Feb. So you must acknowledge the claim no later than 4th Feb. You can do so on-line using the information in the court pack. If you intend to defend you will have a further 14 days to lodge a defence.

 

Your defence could be structured around the unlawful charges which are on the account (according to your above post) and the associated interest charged as a result of them.

 

Do you have all of your statements of the account.

 

Was there any PPI on the account which you could reclaim?

[creditcardmug]

I know how it feels when this is the first time this hits you, especially when you have other problems to contend with at the same time, its horrible and makes you feel so ill you just cant do anything, but you must try to chill out and take deep breath and tackle this head on, You say the card is from 2000, thats good because MBNA didnt have compliant agreements then, have you ever sent a formal request to either MBNA or the claimant pusuant to section 78 Consumer Credit act 1974?

You will get this sorted beleive me especially with andys help, if you are going to defend, as a first step go on google type in MCOL and register with the government gateway on there, using the password on the front page of the claim form, dont fill anything in until andy has advised you, but at least you will already be registered

[unclebulgaria67]

Worth making a CCA request to them, as they will need to provide one for any hearing.

[DARCYS]

Thank you ims21 - I am so grateful for your help.

 

I don't have statements but I do have a print out that I think I requested by way of a SAR

This lists the charges for over limit fees and late charges. Some go back as far as 2003 though, so don't know if this is too far back.

I also have some screen grab-type images and notes of conversations...not complete conversations, but conversations that would seem to omit crucial details i.e. discussions on charges with MBNA staff members

 

I also have a Default Notice issued November 2009 and the original Credit Card Agreement

 

Many thanks again

Kind Regards

D

[DARCYS]

Thank you, Uncle Bulgaria too. I think this must have been something I did, as this is how I must have come by the Credit Card Agreement I have to hand

Kind regards

D

[ims21]

OK so you have a transaction history...good.

 

Take hold of this spreadsheet and complete it in accordance with the instructions in the "Notes" tab.

 

Simply put, list all of the charges applied to the account for things like Late Payment, Over Limit etc giving the date of the charge, the description and the amount. Set the "Claim To" date as today and to start with setting the interest rate to the rate being charged on the account.

 

When you have done that come back here and let us know the figure that the spreadsheet comes up with.

 

 

CISheet v101.xls

Edited January 31, 2013 by ims21
Spelling

[DARCYS]

Brilliant advice Creditcardmug - I will try to do this. I feel like I'm incapable of dealing with this somehow. I'm try to be positive, but then just think I'm going to end up in v deep waters and be completely out of my depth.

And yes, I have been sick with worry. I stuck my head in the sand again when I received the letter, but then I had to give myself a jolly good talking to, because it's not going to go away this time.

Thank you for being a great support. I am in awe of the people on this marvellous forum that can hold it together, and advise others when they too have problems of their own

Kind regards

D

[42man]

Have a read of this too - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?159445-Getting-Them-To-Reveal-Their-Vitals.-Using-CPR-31.14-to-Your-Advantage%281-Viewing%29-nbsp

[DARCYS]

ims21 - I've downloaded the form & will try to fill it in correctly, but I'm not sure what the interest rate is being charged to the account. Do you know where I might find this info?

Thank you so much.

Kind regards

D

[ims21]

Go through the stuff you received back from the SAR...there may be an indication somewhere in that data.

 

Otherwise pop in a nominal rate of 24.9% for the time being.

[DARCYS]

Wow - I did this form - it's very clever...I couldn't find my inetrest rate as none of the paperwork printouts states this.

The total charges without any interest is £810.00

 

I'm still going to look through my papers and see if I can find any info on interest rates.

 

Thank you so much. I wouldn't say that I feel better, but I stopped shaking once I got going on the spreadsheet. I guess my 'secretary' head took over. Although, I'm sure I make a pretty lousy secretary looking through this.

Kind regards

D

[DARCYS]

ims21 - I put 24.9% in the interest rate box (row 15) as you advised but it doesn't seem to want to do the calculation.

I'm sure it's my fault, but not sure how to rectify it. Do you know what I might have done wrong.

Kind regards

D

[MrHat]

Sub

[ims21]

ims21 - I put 24.9% in the interest rate box (row 15) as you advised but it doesn't seem to want to do the calculation.

I'm sure it's my fault, but not sure how to rectify it. Do you know what I might have done wrong.

Kind regards

D

 

Have you actually downloaded and saved the spreadsheet rather than use it from the link?

 

Save the spreadsheet to your PC and then open it from there.

[DARCYS]

Hi ims21,

I've downloaded and saved and started to fill it in again, but it's not calculating the compound interest. It's totting up the charges as I go, but no interest added. Might this be a problem with my Mac downloading it, do you know.

Sorry to be a pain.

Kind regards

D

[ims21]

Have you entered a "Claim To" date and are your date formats for each charge in the form of dd/mm/yy? (or yyyy)

[DARCYS]

I clicked on the Claim To and it gave me an option for 'TODAY', so I clicked the tick and it automatically added 1/31/13 in to the box

 

When I typed in the date in the charge sections i.e. 10/05/2003 it automatically converted it to the American format of 5/10/03 which I thought was how the spreadsheet must want it. It converted all of the inputed dates to the same format.

 

Thank you so much for helping me with this.

Kind regards

D

[DARCYS]

I'm sorry I have another stupid question...I tried registering on the MCOL site as suggested by creditcardmug but I'm not sure what he/she meant by password on the front page of teh claim form. There are a few different sequences of numbers on there but which one would be the password?

If anyone could advise this would be really helpful.

I can't believe any shred of competence I thought I had has deserted me in my hour of need

Kind regards

D

[ims21]

The court pack that you received should point you to the correct number for registration

[DARCYS]

Sorry, I think I've found it.

On the blue form it says:

You will need the claim number (see above) and the following password ********

But it didn't ask me for a claim number when I registered; just a password.

 

What should I do next? I'm afraid I haven't had any luck with the compound interest calculation.

 

Thank you so much ims21

 

Kind regards

D

[ims21]

Get this

 

http://www.openoffice.org/porting/mac/

 

and you might find the spreadsheet works in OpenOffice.

 

On MCOL read the instructions...you need to acknowledge the claim and choose defend of that is what you intend to do

[DARCYS]

Thanks very much. I will attempt the download - fingers crossed!

 

I would like to defend but don't know on what grounds and how to phrase it. Please could you point me towards a letter template that might be a good fit for my case? I thought I had found one earlier on CAG but couldn't find it when I came to searching again. Do I need to check over my original CCA for any serious omissions/errors, or is that chasing rainbows?

 

I really appreciate all the time and advice you're giving me. Thank you ims21. And everyone else who has offered their time and help.

It's going to be a long night, I think.

Kind regards

D