Court claim form

m48925

Hello all,
so this morning I received a court claim form but I think it might be fakeen. Firstly it is not blue, it's a pale grey and secondly there is no bar code at the bottom. of the page and finally it's a low amount, £300. can anyone give me any advice? ??

sourcrates

Hi,


Can you give us a little bit more detail to work with, which creditor ?, addressed to you correctly ?, do you recognise the debt ?

Correct address on the form ?, is there a phone number on it ?.


The more info you can give us, the better able we will be to advise correctly.

m48925

a but of background. its a debt o recognises, it'san old debt from an old address and doesn't come up on my credit profile. I've come home from 3 weeks visiting family with a letter stating they will go to the courts in two weeks and then this Court claim form. the form asks me to respond to the claimant and not them which I thought was odd. I'll upload a photo of the form later.

sourcrates

You say its an old debt, how old exactly ?


The reason I ask, are you familiar with the limitations act 1980 ?


Basically, if no payment or written contact is made, within any period of 6 years (England/wales) or 5 years in Scotland, then the time for collecting on the debt has passed, and it will be statute barred, which means you would not have to pay it, and it is also a full defence to any court claim.


Would this scenario apply to you at all ?

m48925

The debt is around 4/5 years old so I would still need to pay but I have not acknowledged the debt in that time. I want to pay the debt, I have been waiting for it to show up to pay I just didn't expected it to escalateveryone this fast.

Aquamania

m48925 wrote: »

Hello all,
so this morning I received a court claim form but I think it might be fakeen. Firstly it is not blue, it's a pale grey and secondly there is no bar code at the bottom. of the page and finally it's a low amount, £300. can anyone give me any advice? ??

The form should identify which court has issued the summons.
It should also include the court stamp.
It should also include a reference number (case number)

If you believe this may possibily all have been faked, you should call the court who will be able to confirm whether or not it is genuine

(Take usual precautions and seek the court telephone number from a reliable source, such as a reputable website, in case that has been faked on the form too)

Aquamania

m48925 wrote: »

a but of background. its a debt o recognises, it'san old debt from an old address and doesn't come up on my credit profile. I've come home from 3 weeks visiting family with a letter stating they will go to the courts in two weeks and then this Court claim form. the form asks me to respond to the claimant and not them which I thought was odd. I'll upload a photo of the form later.

The debt will not appear on a credit reference file unless it is from a credit agreement that you have failed to honour, etc.

(It will appear if they secure a CCJ against you and you fail to pay within 28 days)

Could it simply be the case that the claimant has sent you a copy of the form they have filled in to indicate it is all ready to be sent to the court, but they have not yet done so.
This is quite common at the LBA (Letter before Action) stage.

Aquamania

m48925 wrote: »

The debt is around 4/5 years old so I would still need to pay but I have not acknowledged the debt in that time. I want to pay the debt, I have been waiting for it to show up to pay I just didn't expected it to escalateveryone this fast.

Now this is really confusing. You say the debt relates to something from 4-5 years ago, and indeed it's from an old address you previously lived at.

First of all, a debt is not a debt until it is formally demanded.
Secondly, the creditor would not have progressed to the LBA stage without first having demanded payment, which it seems they probably did years ago.

Now you are complaining how quickly things are progressing???
14 days is quite normal notice to give in a LBA.
If, as you claim, you want to settle the debt, why not do so.
We could go into why you didn't do so years ago, but lets deal with the present, not the past.

The fact this amount appears to have been owed for 4-5 years is possibly why the creditor is now taking legal action against you. They probably are aware of the limitations act, and if so, are probably also aware that if they secure a CCJ against you now, then the limitations act does not apply.

m48925

As stated above the debt does not show on my credit report, I have not been able to locate so I have been unable to pay. demands were made years ago at the old address.
I went away to visit family for three weeks, upon my return I have a letter stating I have 14 days to respond or court proceedings will begin and a letter claiming to be a court claims form.
my question relates to the legitimacy of the court claims form as it is not blue as I'm led to believe it should be and it's missing the barcode at the bottom.

Aquamania

m48925 wrote: »

As stated above the debt does not show on my credit report, I have not been able to locate so I have been unable to pay. demands were made years ago at the old address.
I went away to visit family for three weeks, upon my return I have a letter stating I have 14 days to respond or court proceedings will begin and a letter claiming to be a court claims form.
my question relates to the legitimacy of the court claims form as it is not blue as I'm led to believe it should be and it's missing the barcode at the bottom.

And I have advised you how you can verify for yourself if the court has actually issued the summons haven't I?

(as well as the possibility that there was no intention to try and imply the form was issued by the court, but was just included as part of the LBA process to show you the claimant has filled out the form and it's all ready to be popped in the post for the court to then formally issue)

Presumably you now know the current address of the claimant, and so if you really want to settle the debt before the claimant incurs court costs (which, when incurred, will only be added to the amount that the claimant is expecting you to pay), why don't you pay now???

sourcrates

I think it could be a "letter before action", if no court stamp is present, that would be my guess anyway.
Do as previously advised and ring the relevant court to confirm.