Help with County Court Claim letter for Santander Store card

financialfactz

Hi,

I am new to this forum and after reading some posts I realised that this could be the perfect place where I could seek help. I have just received a letter from Northampton County Court and I am really worried as in to what my next steps will be.

I signed up for ASDA store card in 2007 offered by GE Money. This was recently taken over by Santander.

Over the last three years I was on a debt management program as I was finding it difficult to keep up with the payments. My debt on that particular store card was £900 and I was paying around £20 towards it through Debt management every month.

By december 2011, my debt management company stopped paying my creditors and I lost 3 months payments I had made to the debt management company. They had made a total payment of £362 to Santander on my behalf for the store card.

Current situation:

As of today, my debt still stands at over £706 due to charges and interests. Santander have employed Drydensfairfax solicitors to collect the debt in March 2012 and I kept receiving letters from them to pay the balance in full.

I wrote a letter to Drydensfairfax 3 days ago stating that I am unemployed and planning to leave the country to seek jobs abroad soon. I offered them £200 as a full and final settlement of my debts.

Today, I received a letter from County Court (Northampton) stating that the claimant is claiming £706 + court fee £55 + £70 solicitors cost = £831

I am really worried about my situation and I would very much appreciate if people with similar experience could suggest what my next steps should be.



Are these arguments vaild?

Throughout the time I have had the credit card, my surname was spelled wrong on statments and my card too. It was the last letter they had put a 'H' instead of 'M'. Does that give me a fair ground to say Santander did not follow the right procedures in my credit card agreement? My mistake appears on the County Court letter too.

In 2008, my card provider phoned me and persuaded me to buy PPI £7 a month subscription which I cancelled after 4 months. Would that count in my favour?

Does it make any difference that I had paid £362 through debt management agency to Santander and my balance still hasnt reduced significantly?



Is it worth for me to write another letter to Drydensfairfax solicitors and offer them more money i.e. £400 as full and final settlement and they might cancel the County Court claim?

I have only 14 days to respond to the court and would really prefer not to have a judgement against me. Also, I have not got a job at the moment and do not have enough money to pay all the court fees.

Can citizens advice bureau help me in this matter much? I heard that it is very hard to get an appointment with a specialist.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks


p.s. sorry if my post was too long, thank you for your patience.

jonesMUFCforever

Yes you NEED to contact CAB they will help you.

Do not worry about the court papers - they are trying to get a CCJ over you - it is not the end of the world.
You might even have a judge say that £20 per month is too much!
Prepare a statement of affairs - all income and all expenditure.

HappyMJ

The SOA that you provide to the court would be one that is similar to a bankruptcy SOA so you use figures that you would be expected to spend on things such as those suggested by the CCCS rather than those suggested by Debt free wannabee's on MSE. If you are on benefits with no job then you are not expected to pay anything towards the CCJ. However, if you own an asset such as a house then the creditor may want to secure the debt against the house.

chanz4

Think by telling them your leaving the country has sparked the court case, also inregards to the name spelling it would be counted as an alias, also why did you never get it changed

Dr_Cuckoo3

financialfactz wrote: »

Does it make any difference that I had paid £362 through debt management agency to Santander and my balance still hasnt reduced significantly?

are the debt management company covered by the Financial Ombudsman ?

http://www.gregorypennington.co.uk/complaints/

financialfactz wrote: »

I have only 14 days to respond to the court and would really prefer not to have a judgement against me. Also, I have not got a job at the moment and do not have enough money to pay all the court fees.

file an acknowledgment of service and you will have 28 days

tick box 1 (or 2) on the N9 form you received from the Court

financialfactz

Thanks to everyone for your sincere replies.
I will go to citizens advice bureau first thing on Monday. I have also taken asking for time on board thanks.
I have not asked them for a CCA. Is it too late now to ask? Shall I just ask the debt collectors?

Also, I have been thinking to sign up with payplan.com they mentioned on their website they can deal with debtors with no monthly charge and eventually negotiate a full and final settlement..

I am worried if I file an acknowledgement that will mean I am defending and court will proceed the service. I would prefer to solve the issue outside court if you think if there is still a way..?

Any thoughts on that would be very much appreciated.

bengal-stripe

financialfactz wrote: »

Throughout the time I have had the credit card, my surname was spelled wrong on statments and my card too...... Does that give me a fair ground to say Santander did not follow the right procedures in my credit card agreement?

chanz4 wrote: »

......also inregards to the name spelling......why did you never get it changed

OP thought, one day the misspelling might come in handy as a get-out.

Dr_Cuckoo3

financialfactz wrote: »

I am worried if I file an acknowledgement that will mean I am defending and court will proceed the service. I would prefer to solve the issue outside court if you think if there is still a way..?

I don't think that filing an acknowledgement of service will cause any problems

Almost all solicitors do this when a litigant in person commences a claim against their client

financialfactz

I spoke to the Drydensfairfax people and offered to settle the account outside the court, they have agreed not to charge any court fees or solicitors cost and also taken of £100 off the original claim amount. I asked them to put everything in writing and email me. Please can you have a look and see if it is safe to pay now?

Here is the email they have sent:

"We can confirm that upon receipt of £625.00, which is to be paid!in full and final settlement of the account,!we will not be pursuing the Claim through the courts and we will not be entering a County Court Judgment.
!
We can also confirm that once this amount is received and cleared we will close your account!and return it to Santander, you will also receive a letter from us confirming that the account has been paid in full.
!
We can also confirm that we have not registered anything against your credit file."


Do I have to notify the County Court by myself that the dispute has been settled?

Any more areas they need to cover first before I pay?

Many thanks

chanz4

Pay them as if its via the bulk center it will be cancelled by the sols

christ1970

hi all
i have had a letter from this company today telling me again that they have now bought my bill off another company this is the 3rd time this has been done i dont no where i am with it and they have sent me a letter telling me i have to send 2 months wage slips and bank statments to them
what dose anybody think about this