Help! Need to submit County Court Defence

Brickinthewall

Hi

I am being pursued by Marlin for an alleged debt of 19k and they have taken it to the Northamptom Bulk Court through Restons solicitors. I have asked for the CCa information relating to this debt and they have said that it is a bank account opened with HSBC on July 2008. I did not open a bank account with them in that date. I previously had a loan, mortgage and overdraft with them which fell into arrears, but I am thinking that perhaps HSBC have lumped them into one debt into a bank account to then sell on to a DCA?

What should I say in my defence to the court?

Thanks

fatbelly

Unless you're right up against the deadline I think you should:

1. Acknowledge service, saying that you intend to defend the claim (if you eventually accept the claim, it doesn't matter). This buys extra time (it's 5 days from issue date to service date, and acknowledgement gives 28 days from that)

2. Get a full breakdown from Marlin of how the 19k is arrived at. Never mind the cca request, which would only apply to the loan anyway.

If you get it, pick through it carefully and question as much as you can in your defence.

If you don't get it, that IS your defence - they have been unable/unwilling to justify their figures. The court will require them to do so.

rizla_king

You also may want to make a request under the civil procedure rules for information which could allow a further extension of the time to file a defence if not complied with. The LegalBeagles and Consumer Action Group forums have legal sections for when creditors take court action where you can get more info.

Brickinthewall

Thank you for the replies. The Acknowledgement of Service was two weeks ago come Monday so I need to write a defence now. It seems that the DCA don't know what the debt relates to so as advised I'll say I've been in contact by phone and letter and they haven't been able to tell me how the debt came about.