Small Claims Court on Monday - HELP! (Scotland/MBNA)

oopsi

New to this so hope I'm posting in the right place if not - sorry.

Back in 2003, as a poor student, I signed up for an MBNA credit card. That was just before everything went wrong, unsecure jobs, a period in hospital. You name it.
Needless to say I defaulted on the card. MBNA continued to add charges and eventually cancelled the card, demanding the entire debt. They wouldn't accept any offer to pay. They then sold the debt to Link Finance, a company which has left me feeling bullied and intimidated through threatening calls and letters. They won't accept an offer of £5 per month despite their knowledge of my job loss in December.
I am being taken to a Scottish Small Claims Court on Monday and can't afford representation. I now realise that instead of admitting the debt I should have asked for the original credit agreement to prove ownership of the debt. Can I still contest the debt?

sp1987

Post this on the debt free wannabe forum. Your post is a bit lost in this forum as many of the people who will be able to assist are over there.

As for being a litigant in person, you will be fine. I only have experience of E&W courts but especially in small claims they don't expect a solicitor to be in attendance often.

fermi

I'm not overly familiar with the Scottish system, but......

Do you have a house/property? Proof of benefits/income/expenditure to take with you?

May have been of some use to look at any CCA, but if you have admitted the claim and have a hearing on that basis then it sounds too late now.

PNPSUKNET

we seem to see more of these cases been taken to court, sounds like lenders are getting tougher. If you have admitted the debt its too late, if you go back its like saying you were lying.

dancingfairy

Hi - this is for English debts but I'm sure some of it will be relevent to you:
1) companies often do not accept payment plans - if this is all you can genuinely afford then you should have paid that religiously so as to put yourself in a better position should you go to court and show you were trying your best.
2) If a certain period has passed where you haven't written to them or paid anything - it's 6 years in England (not sure what it is in Scotland) then the debt becomes staute barred so it still technically exists but you cannot be made to pay into unlessa CCJ has already been granted.
3) I would suggest contacting on of the debt charities - try National Debtline or CCCS - they almost certianly will have sections that deal with people in Scotland.
Best of Luck
df

lvm

Hi oopsi,

It's uncanny the resemblance you have to my own experience.

In December I also received a Court Summons with Link Financial claiming £3064 of unpaid debt. This debt originated from Virgin I think who provide credit on behalf of MBNA (or something like that).

You should have been asked to return a form that would be enclosed with the Court Summons - it would have to be returned around 2 weeks ago. That form would give you the opportunity to dispute the debt, pay in full before any court action or give details of your income/expenses and offer either a regular monthly/weekly payment or confirm you would pay all debt within say 2 years.

Anyway, I returned mine (not thinking the whole court thing was important at all as I had no intention of turning up!) saying that I would pay £20 a month.

Anyway, it got to about 2 days before the return date when I thought I'd do a little research on the Decree they would be applying for and I didn't actually realise that this was the same as a CCJ and would affect my credit file for 6 years from the date of issue. As I was only 3 and a half years from having a clean credit file, I did not want this to happen so I contacted the solicitors representing Link Financial (McClure Naismith) offering an immediate payment of £1, 000 and monthly payments of £200 until all debt (plus costs) were cleared - with costs the debt had increased to £3370.60 IF they didn't go ahead with court. They replied saying they would accept my payment offer however they would still go ahead to have the decree issued to make sure I paid!! I must say they are not very nice people to deal with. Downright rude on the phone and not in the least bit helpful.

So, only option was to beg my parents for the money - so I managed to escape court this time and am addressing all other debt.

Dancingfairy is right in what he/she says - although for Scotland I think it might be 5 years for no contact/payments to be made.

Anyway, not that you wanted to hear my big long story but just wanted to say if there is any way of you getting the money together before court - even if it means borrowing from friends/family then it's definitely worth doing (depending on what your credit file is like and if it's been a while since any defaults issued).

Apart from that, if you go ahead with court, then they will come up with something you can afford on a monthly basis.

As far as I was led to believe if you don't attend, they will just make a decision in your absence based on the information you returned to them.

Hope that helps and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks x

broxiebear1

i take it that you have recieved a SMALL CLAIMS SUMMONS from the court, if so then you should have the OPTIONS you have in the form are you admitting liabilityto the debt or are you disputing the debt or do you want a time to pay option.
i have the above summons but as i was needing a charge for payment before i could go br i ignored the summons on advice from my advisor.
if you want any advise on above please post asap and i will try to help. if its going to court on monday why didnt you do something before this as you should have had above summons for at least a month. might be to late now
just my opinion i wish COOLCAIT was about she would have helped you
broxie

broxiebear1

this is a letter i recieved yesterday
REGISTRY TRUST LTD
dear ...........
this letter contains important information which could affect your ability to obtain credit. accommodation, employment
registary trust ltd holds a public register of scottish decrees
details of decrees are held for a period of 6 years from original decree date
broxie

oopsi

I was a big coward and ignored the letter for as long as I could, then just filled it in. I admitted the debt as I never took out a card with theintention not to pay. Unfortunately, life got in the way.
A friend mentioned on Friday that she thought Link had to prove ownership of the debt under the CCA.
If I had known that I would have disputed the claim. I offered £5 a month which Link (checked them out too) refused even though they are willing to accpet it from other defaulters. I actually can't afford that amount as I am now only employed pt, any look at income and expenditure would show that expenditure is greater. And not on luxuries either.

Is is of any benefit to me to attend tomorrow or will they just go ahead and decide what I can afford whether I am there or not?

I am at my wits end

thechippy

You should go, even if it's just to put your case forward of what you can pay per month. The judge will normally find in your favour with the suggested amount. They fully understand that you can't pay what you don't have....;)

If you don't, then they may give a forthwith order for the full amount, in which case, you'll have to apply for a redermination.

oopsi

Thanks

I'm just not too sure what to expect. I surely didn't expect to be in court, I am supposed to be a responsible adult. Just seem to be caught in a never ending downward financial spiral. Costs just keep going up and income down.