Help please - court claim 1st Stop PayDay ***Claim Discontinued***

[AndyOrch]

You wont get a DQ until the claimant informs/responds to any defence chrismk ...until that happens the claim is stayed.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[chrismk]

Ok excellent thanks Andy

[chrismk]

Quick update, I received notice of transfer of proceedings today to my local court. It states details of judges directions will be sent to me in a notice of allocation.

[AndyOrch]

Normal procedure wait until you receive the directions.

 

Andy

[chrismk]

Hi All,

 

Today I have received Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) dated 16th May 2014.

 

First off it's been transferred to my local court and they believe the case is suitable for mediation, we have already been through mediation so i'll ignore this bit.

 

The following directions will apply to this claim:

 

1) Each party must deliver to the other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which that party intends to rely at the hearing no later than fourteen days before the hearing.

 

2) The original documents must be brought to the hearing.

 

3) The judge may refuse to consider a document or take it into account if a copy of it has not been sent to the other party as required by this order.

 

4) The documents to be sent to the other party and the court must include the statements of all witnesses (including the parties themselves)

 

5) Witness statements must:

Start with the name of the case and claim number

state full name and address

set out the evidence clearly in numbered paragraphs on numbered pages

end with 'I believe that the facts stated in this statement are true'

signed and dated

 

6) The judge may refuse to hear the evidence or consider any statement of any witness whose statement has not been prepared and copied to the other party and the court in accordance with the above

 

7) neither party may rely at the hearing on any report from an expert unless permission has been granted by the court beforehand. Anyone wishing to rely on an expert must write to the court immediately on receipt of this order and seek permission, giving an explanation why the assistance of an expert is necessary.

 

8) Because this order has been made without a hearing, the parties have the right to apply to have the order set aside, varied or stayed. A party making such an application must send or deliver the application to the court (with the fee) to arrive within seven days of service of this order.

 

The hearing will take place on a date and time to be fixed at the county court

 

a hearing fee of £80.00 is payable by the claimant by 30th May 2014.

 

 

So thats what arrived today, as no hearing date has yet been set, I'm not sure when I should send documents to the court or to the claimant and what I should send? I assume I will get more than 14 days notice of the hearing?

 

Any help or advice on how to proceed gratefully received.

 

Thanks in advance

[AndyOrch]

Are you sure it does not state the date of the hearing?

 

"a hearing fee of £80.00 is payable by the claimant by 30th May 2014"

[chrismk]

Andy,

 

Spoke to the court this morning and they have confirmed that the hearing date and time has not yet been set and will be advised in due course. There are some dates I am away in June and they advise that I should write in advising the court of those dates.

 

So do I wait until I have the hearing date before doing anything?

 

Thanks

[AndyOrch]

Did you not put the dates on your DQ?

[chrismk]

I can't remember there being a section on any of the forms I completed asking for any unavailable dates. Have i missed something

[AndyOrch]

Ah yes its changed from the old N149...I would wait until you get the hearing date and see if it clashes.

[chrismk]

Ok is there anything I should be doing in the meantime?

[AndyOrch]

The following directions will apply to this claim:

 

1) Each party must deliver to the other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which that party intends to rely at the hearing no later than fourteen days before the hearing.

 

2) The original documents must be brought to the hearing.

 

3) The judge may refuse to consider a document or take it into account if a copy of it has not been sent to the other party as required by this order.

 

4) The documents to be sent to the other party and the court must include the statements of all witnesses (including the parties themselves)

 

5) Witness statements must:

Start with the name of the case and claim number

state full name and address

set out the evidence clearly in numbered paragraphs on numbered pages

end with 'I believe that the facts stated in this statement are true'

signed and dated

[chrismk]

Hi all,

 

A few questions if I may,

 

My witness statement, essentially is this a history of my attempts to communicate and rectify the situation? Should it include the reason why it was not paid, I.e financial difficulty. Should I summarise all the letters I wrote and the lack of response received, and send copies of the letters to the court and claimant?

 

I still do not have a copy of the agreement despite a valid CCA request being sent, I assume I mention this also. The directions state that they must deliver documents to me prior to the hearing that will be relied on so I'm guessing they will send it to me now anyway.

 

If I could have a little guidance on what content my witness statement should contain id be grateful.

 

Thanks in advance

[chrismk]

Further to the above, I know I've asked this before but I'm still not convinced something isn't quite right with this.

 

Claimant is down as 1st stop payday loans ltd, whilst I don't have a copy of the agreement I'm sure it said 1stop payday loans ltd on the agreement.

 

As previously mentioned there is no such company registered on companies house nor has there ever been. I appreciate that 1st stop group has subsidiary companies, these would still be registered as individual companies with companies house, no entries exist for 1st stop payday loans ltd

 

How can a non existent company form a credit agreement if it does not exist?

 

I can't help but think something fishy is going on, further compounded by the fact they no longer offer payday loans.

[AndyOrch]

Have you checked Companies House and if they have a valid credit licence?

[chrismk]

Hi Andy

 

I can't find any sign of 1st stop payday loans ltd on companies house.

 

Credit licence details below, 1st stop payday loans listed as an historic trading name.

 

 

 

Licence Number:0615366Licence Status:Current

Current Applicant / Licensee:

Business Name Company Registration Number

1st Stop Home Loans Ltd 5667257

 

Categories:

Consumer credit

Credit brokerage

Debt adjusting/counselling

Debt administration

Debt collecting

Provision of debt-counselling on a commercial basis

 

Right To Canvass Off Trade Premises:No

Trading Name(s) (Current):

1st Stop

1st Stop Secured Loans

1st Stop Unsecured Loans

Atlas Collections

 

Trading Name(s) (Historic):

1st Stop Mortgages

1st Stop Debt Solutions

1st Stop Financial Services

1st Stop Options

1st Stop Payday Loans

1st Stop LeadGen

 

Issued Date: 23-Jul-2008 Date Maintenance Payment Due: 22-Jul-2018

Legal Formation:

Body Corporate (incorporated inside UK)

[chrismk]

Okay a bit more research has revealed they changed there name from 1st stop payday loans ltd to 1st stop unsecured loans ltd in November last year.

 

So claim issued by a company that does not exist anymore, can they do this?

[AndyOrch]

Well yes as long as they can prove they are the legal owner of the debt and the debt has been assigned/agreement amended to reflect the new name.

[chrismk]

Thanks Andy, I would of thought that the claim would of been issued in the new company name and as you said a notice of assignment sent.

 

I'll carry on and prepare my witness statement, as posted above is this just my summary of events? Dispute the amount claimed etc? Is it worth mentioning that the claim has been issued by a company no longer trading and no notice of assignment has been received from the new one?

[AndyOrch]

Yes its just a statement in your own words of why you dispute disagree with the claim and yes its advisable to include the differing names.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[chrismk]

Ok thanks for all your help, I'll post my witness statement once I've done it and further updates as I receive them.

Thanks once again enjoy the bank holiday weekend

[chrismk]

Quick update, still nothing from the court regarding a hearing date

[AndyOrch]

Have you drafted your WS chrismk ?

[chrismk]

Hi Andy

 

Working on it and hope to have it all completed by the end of the week. As I haven't heard ref a hearing date yet I figured I have a bit of time.

[AndyOrch]