CAI Sent Court Claim, No documents to prove they own alleged debt.

[pavlovthecat]

Ok, so I sent a CCA (thought it was worth a go as I was writing a letter anyway!) to see what info they have on me, and also a copy of the letter template kindly posted by CitizenB above, sent separately. Both have been sent recorded delivery and I have copies to evidence that.

 

The letter related to the County Court Claim has not been responded to within the 7 days requested and today I filed my defence contesting the full amount.

 

Interestingly and confusingly I received a letter today from Connaught Collections relating to the same debt. However, rather than the letter being for the amount statef by CAI as £1577.15, this letter states that they have been continuously been writing and telephoning me (they have not!) for a Halifax debt of £1732.15 - which is EXACTLY the amount that CAI Finance are claiming from me in total which includes Court and Solicitor Costs. The letter states that due to my lack of contact they have now passed this amount owing, as of today's date (13th March - date of letter) over to Judge and Priestly PPL, who are the solicitors working for CAI Finance on the same apparent money owed! There is no matching reference number, but the amount owed is identical to the amount on the court summons total figure.

 

Talk about confused!! I am guessing Connaught have something to do with CAI Finance?

A) who the hell are they?

B) why do they claim to have owned a debt until today which has now been passed to solicitors, a week after the County Court claim was recieved?

C) If they are in fact linked somehow to CAI Finance, why is this money they state owed including Court and Solicitors costs, as surely even if I owed money to someone (who? I haven't got a clue now!) it would not include court costs until/if that is concluded in their favour?

D) why are they now stating it has been passed to solicitors, as of 13th March, when it was already with CAI Finance? They said not to contact them further re this as the solicitors are now dealing, but I thought from the County Court summons that CAI had already instructed the solicitors

 

It seems like they are making up a whole bunch of figures and just saying I owe it. To see if I pay. Is it really as simple as pretending someone owes you money, taking them to small clais court and getting money from them legally? If so, I need to change professions

 

Any ideas as to a) what is going on and b) what the next step is re them not giving me any information to show how they come to have this debt and how they come to think I owe it to them?

[citizenB]

Perhaps just write back to connaught and ask what their game is. That this account is already subject to a County Court Claim issued on DATE and if they are trying to muddy the waters, then you will bring this to the attention of the court when you submit your defence.

[citizenB]

You say you have submitted your defence ? what have you said.

 

Or have I misunderstood and you have only acknowledged the claim and confirmed that you are intending to defend. I dont think you need to submit a defence until around the 2nd of April if my memory serves me correctly.

[citizenB]

Are you able to scan in the letter and post it on your thread ?

 

Follow the instructions below..

 

 

Dx100 – Instructions on uploading pdfs

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets

as a picture file

remove all pers info inc barcodes etc using paint

but leave all figures and dates.

go to one of the many free online pdf converter websites

convert the image to pdf format.

or ir you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments

below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files,

navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

NB:you can set where

it goes in the post by hitting insert inline.

the hit reply button

[pavlovthecat]

You say you have submitted your defence ? what have you said.

 

Or have I misunderstood and you have only acknowledged the claim and confirmed that you are intending to defend. I dont think you need to submit a defence until around the 2nd of April if my memory serves me correctly.

 

Sorry, no, you didn't misunderstand! I think I used the wrong terminology! I have acknowledged the claim stating that I intend to defend the claim. I will gather my evidence, get it all together and consider how I will propose the defence and see if I have any more contact from any of the companies who claim to be involved in this.

 

Good idea to write to Connaught, I will do that this week.

 

thank you

[pavlovthecat]

Are you able to scan in the letter and post it on your thread ?

 

Follow the instructions below..

 

 

Do you mean the letter from Connaughts? I can try, as I do have a scanner, but will do it a bit later? If you are not about I hope you will pop back when you are back on, I appreciate your help.

[pavlovthecat]

Have tried scanning letter(s) but user interface problems have prevented me!

 

I stated the letter from Connaught Collections was for the same amount as the court claim. It is not. I re-read it and checked against. It is almost identical but not exact. Court claim including all solicitors fees etc is for £1732.xx and the amount Connaught Collection claim I owe is £1733.xx. To confuse matters further yesterday I received a letter, this time from 1st Credit, stating I owe them both amounts in the same letter! I will type out both letters word for word so you can see what is going on.

 

So far I have received:

*28th Feb 2013 (received sat 2nd March) Court claim for £1577.xx relating to XXX account. plus Court fee £75; solicitors fee £80, interest charges £69.xx - Judge & Priestly on behalf of CAI Finance Ltd.

*13th March (received 15th March) - Letter from Connaught Collections stating I owe £1733.xx and that this is now passed to Judge & Priestly. Ref no. YYY

*13th March (received 20 March) - letter from 1st Credit stating issuing my 'annual statement'. Letter states I owe £1733.xx. The statement states I owe £1732.xx and includes charges of £75, £80, and £69.xx (the same as from court claim). Ref no. XXX. And stating I am to contact them to make payment (no mention of Judge & Priestly solicitors)

the style and layout of both Connaught and 1st Credit letters are exactly the same.

 

What's going on?! If you have any suggestions for how to present this confusion within my defence statement I would appreciate that.

 

And I still haven't heard back from Judge & Priestly/CAI Finance regarding either the letter asking for info as per court claim rules, OR relating to my CCA so have no information at all to show if they even own a debt in my name, let alone how these silly figures are made up.

[pavlovthecat]

Letter from Connaught Collections is worded as such:

 

our ref: YYY

date:13/03/2013:

 

Dear XXXXXX

 

Re: HALIFAX, Outstanding Debt - £1,733.xx

 

We refer to the above matter and our numerous attempts to resolve this matter via correspondence and telephone.

 

We are disappointed that we hav failed to agree upon an arrangement to settle this matter.

 

In view of the above we have, as of today's date, forwarded your account to our solicitors Judge & Priestly LLP for the purposes of recovering the outstanding monies on our behalf.

 

You will, in due course, be contacted by them directly. Whilst your account remains with them, any payments or correspondence in relation to this matter should be sent directly to their offices.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Andrew Athineos

Head of Connaught Collections.

[pavlovthecat]

Letter from 1st Credit

Re your agreement with HALIFAX

Relating to account number: XXXX

Balance Outstanding: £1733.xx

 

Please find attached your latest annual statement detailing all financial transactions from 01/03/2012 - 28/02/2013.

 

Should you wish to discuss this further please do not hesitate to contact us on 01737 xxxxx. The details enclosed within this letter are for your information and we encourage you to make the time to read through them.

 

If you are not currently paying your account we would like to take this opportunity to let you know about the convenient payment options available to you, these can be found overleaf. If you would like to know more about these options please call us today to find out more on 01737 xxxxx.

 

If you are experiencing financial difficulties and would like to discuss your options we are more than happy to discuss these with you.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gavin Flynn

Head of Collections.

---------------------

'statement' details:

 

Account No: XXXXX

 

Statement no: 5

dated 13/03/2013

For period ended 28/02/2013

Opening Balance at the start of statement period £1507.xx (this is what they say I owed Halifax when it was assigned to them)

 

Date Transaction Debits Credit

27/02/2013 Fees Increase (Debtor) £75.00 £0.00

27//02/2013 Costs Increase (Debtor) £80.00 £0.00

27/02/2013 Interest Increase (Debtor) £69.xx £0.00

Balance on Account: £1732.xx

Credit Limit:

Amount payable to reach us by :

 

Debit interest rates Credit interest rates

 

Dispute resolution:

(info about complaints and the ombudsman)

 

Please note:

If legal action has been taken on this account this statement may not include legal costs and interest occurred.

 

--------------

 

So, the costs added have been added before the court claim was made, and are for the same amounts. The total amount they state is owed on the statement is different to the amount on the letter which is physically attached to it. The statement date suggests previous ones have been sent, but it states statement no 5, and it's 'annual' suggesting they have had this for 5 years? but CAI state they were assigned it in 2012.

[pavlovthecat]

And, if CAI Finance Ltd is 1st Credit but under a new name, then surely if they've changed their name, they are no longer 1st Credit? So why is the letter from 1st Credit?

[AndyOrch]

Your only debt with 1st Credit/CAI or what ever their name will be next month is £1507.xx...the agreement is dead they are not allowed to add anything further.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[pavlovthecat]

I received a letter from Judge & Priestly in this afternoon's post in response to my CCA and Court Claim information requests:

 

Dear Madam,

 

RE: OUr Client - 1st Credit (Finance) Limited

 

Further to your recent letter regarding the above matter, we write to acknowledge receipt of your letter and have passed this through to our client to action.

 

We will forward the requested documents once they are received and hold action on the file until then.

 

Yours faithfull

 

Judge & Priestly LLP

 

------------

 

Does anyone know what this means in relation to the Court Claim against me? They state 'hold action on the file until then.' but what does that mean re court case? They can't just put that on hold can they? won't that just continue for now until it's resolved one way or another once I put in my defence?

 

I find it interesting that even they refer to the company as 1st Credit, despite the court claim that Judge & Priestly themselves have put against me is in the name of CAI Finance. I have never had any information to say CAI have changed their name, so as far as they are concerned, I don't know that 1st Credit and CAI are the same company, will the Court?

[JunkiMunki]

When I say a Default Notice, I mean a letter that would have been headed..

 

Default Notice issued under the Credit Consumer Act 1974 - s87(1) - it should have advised why they were sending it eg you are in default of the terms of the agreement and there are arrears amounting to £X amount. The clause you have breached and an amount of 14 clear days in which to remedy the breach at which time, if you havent remedied then they would be able to take further action.

 

Halifax were notorious for not giving the correct amount of time because they didnt make any allowance for posting the Notice (2 working days for 1st class and 4 working days for 2nd class mail)

 

Unfortunately, it is going to be no good requesting a copy as these are templated letters and they are not obliged to keep a copy - just record on their logs that one was sent (although that doesnt mean one actually was! )

 

I think you will find that CAI finance is actually 1st Credit. They changed their name just recently.

 

When was the last time you made payment to the account ? Was there any Payment Protection Insurance with the card and do you know if there are any default charges added the outstanding balance ?

 

Ok, your timeline is

 

Issue date 28th February + 5 for service = 5th March + 14 days to acknowledge = 19th March + 14 days to submit a defence (if you are intending to defend) = 2nd April 2013.

Cai finance hit the scenes when 1st credit (finance) 5 Ltd went down, Companies House Web Check