Mortimer Clarke & Cabot

SadDad_2

Hi everyone.

A little bit of background:

Got myself into financial trouble which came to a head in 2008 when I entered into an IVA with roughly 24K of unsecured debt. IVA failed in early (March-ish?) 2009 after my hours were cut at work & discovering my partner was pregnant. IVA firm (Debt Free Direct) weren't in the slightest bit helpful so I simply stopped paying.

Present Day:

I got home from work this evening to find a letter from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors stating

"Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Our Client: Cabot Financial (UK) Limited
Original Creditor: CAPITAL ONE
Account No: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Outstanding Balance: £2496.04
Ref: XXXXXXXX

We are solicitors instructed by Cabot Financial (UK) Limited.

We have been instructed by our client to start court proceedings against you as you have failed to agree a reasonable payment arrangement in relation to your debt. In these proceedings we will issue a Claim asking that the Court makes a Judgement Order against you for payment of the debt. Blah, blah blah..."

The debt to Capital One is no longer on my credit report, nor is any reference to Cabot, other than 2 'Trace Enquiries' from July & October last year.

I have made no acknowledgement of the debt to Cabot or any other DCA.

I believe no payment was made from my IVA account to any of my creditors so all my debts from this period should be Statute Barred. Is this the case?

What should be my next steps in dealing with this?

Thanks in advance.

rizla_king

acknowledgement can come from you or your agent. IVA company was acting as your agent so any letter from them to Cap One less than 6 years ago could mean not statute barred.

SadDad_2

Would this not show on my Equifax Credit Report then?

Regardless of that, I need to respond to this asap as the letter is dated 12/06 & gives 14 days to respond. But I have no idea what I should be doing in this situation/

rizla_king

legalbeagles.info for help on court claims

patman99

Reply with a statement that you believe that as the debt has not been serviced or acknowledged by you since March 2009, you believe that the debt may be statute barred.

If you do loose, contact a debt charity such as Payplan or Stepchange and discuss the possibilty of a DRO (unless you are a home owner rather than a renter).

If you are a home owner, then something like a DMP would be more appropriate.

SadDad_2

To be clear, Court proceedings haven't yet begun. The letter was sent with an Income/Expenditure form & Direct Debit instruction.

As i have never acknowledged a debt to Cabot should I send a CCA request (along with a copy to Mortimer Clarke)?

rizla_king

as said ask on legalbeagles.info for help on court claims or preaction notices

fatbelly

For the moment I would do nothing.

You may well have a statute barred argument though it could get messy if they can show that your agent acknowledged the debt during the past 6 years.

The longer this goes on without them actually starting a claim, the better.

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim if they do!