Is it too late to send a 'Prove It' letter after court form has been served?

fiodyl

I received court forms through the post today from Northampton Courts regardibg a claim by HFO against me for £290.

I do not recognise this debt as mine, so will be sending the prove it letter from this website to find out more information about it . However, as the court forms have already been issued, will the court process still go ahead? I am assuming that this company will probably not reply to my request within the next 28 days, by which time it will be too late to defend the case in court.

Should I still go ahead and send the letter? Can i ask the court to delay the case until I have received a satisfactory reply from HFO? Or is there some other action I should take instead?

DarkConvict

If it is the first you have heard of the debt, you need to tick the box that you want to defend this case.

This should move it to your local court, and give you 28 days to prepare a defence. Namely that this is the first you have heard of the debt and the creditor has made no contact to discuss this matter and as such has provided no proof of any liability to the money they claim is owed by yourself.

I think you can still send the prove it letter.

NorthernLas

Factsheet from National Debtline on CCJ http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=20_replying_to_a_county_court_claim_form#chapter9

You should have received other letters warning you of the intention to take legal action.

fiodyl

OK I'm going to send the letter to them anyway and hope I get a response within the time limit. If I have not had a reply from HFO by the end of the 28 day period, should I enter my defence as they have not provided me with proof that this debt is mine? Also you mention that the case will be moved to a court nearby- how long does this take? I will be going to university in late september and hoped this matter would be sorted before then.

The only possible prior correspondence on this debt was a phone call I recieved a few weeks ago. A man rang asking for my personal details as he had some important imformation for me, but refused to tell me where he was calling from and the reason why he needed this information. I thought it could have been an identity fraud scam so hung up.

A week after the phone call I received a letter from the same guy. The letter said I owed over £4000 to Barclaycard and that unless I paid up further action would be taken. Enclosed with this letter was a print out from google maps of my house. Looking again now this letter was from Roxburghe HFO Ltd. so there is a possible link.

The only time I have had a Barclaycard was in the late 90s and it cannot possibly have been used any later than 2004. This does not fit with the court letter which gives a default date of Nov 2005, and also the sums do not match.