court summons

cchelp1

Hi all, 1st time poster on these forums but do read them from time to time for advice.

I'll try to keep this short, was stupid about 6/7 years ago and got myself into a fair bit of debt on credit cards and unsecured loans, couldn't keep up with payments for it all and defaulted on them. After that i've just buried my head in the sand with it, however today i've received a court summons from global arrow for £1600 so was looking for advice on what to do next?

I admit liability to the debt and the letter says i have 3 options..

1.admit liability and settle in full now
2.admit liability and make a written application to pay by instalments or deferred lump sum
3.admit liability for the claim and attend at court to make application to pay by instalments or lump sum


I am probably going to go down route 2 as i cant raise the money for option 1 by the end of the month, does anybody have any advice on this please?

A bit further info on this, it was an old mbna cc but the debt was bought by arrow global, i live in scotland but the debt is not statue barred but will be in 6 months, also i live in a small town and would rather avoid any of this going in the local paper if possible

sourcrates

Hi,

Are you sure it's not statute barred ?

Statute of limitations in Scotland is only 5 years.

County court judgements are not published in the papers.

National_Debtline

Hi cchelp1


I haven't been able to establish from your post whether the paperwork issued to you is a sheriff court summons or an English county court claim form.


On this occasion I would recommend that you contact us (or another advice service able to cover Scottish law) as soon as possible for guidance on what to do next.


Dennis
@natdebtlinee

velocity_girl

This appears to be a sheriff court small claims summons and your service copy lists 5 options, not 3! Number 4 is dispute the claim and is probably listed over the page...

However if you know it's definitely not time barred and you do owe it, and intend to pay, just contact the pursuer's solicitor and put forward an offer of instalments. If your offer will get it paid within a year or two they'll probably agree to it and you won't have a decree granted against you (though they'll likely want to continue the court action meantime for payments to be monitored).

cchelp1

Hi, thanks for the replies, the papers are asking me to send it to the court address and they will deal with it, would it look bad to bypass this and send it straight to arrow global solicitor? If i agree a payment plan with them does this go on a credit report as a decree/ccj and last for another 6 years?

Also its not statue barred for another 6 months but reading other threads i do think somethings not quite right with it as they have offered numerous discounts up to 60 percent of the last year?

sourcrates

cchelp1 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies, the papers are asking me to send it to the court address and they will deal with it, would it look bad to bypass this and send it straight to arrow global solicitor? If i agree a payment plan with them does this go on a credit report as a decree/ccj and last for another 6 years?

Also its not statue barred for another 6 months but reading other threads i do think somethings not quite right with it as they have offered numerous discounts up to 60 percent of the last year?

When did you last pay the account ?

velocity_girl

cchelp1 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies, the papers are asking me to send it to the court address and they will deal with it, would it look bad to bypass this and send it straight to arrow global solicitor? If i agree a payment plan with them does this go on a credit report as a decree/ccj and last for another 6 years?

Also its not statue barred for another 6 months but reading other threads i do think somethings not quite right with it as they have offered numerous discounts up to 60 percent of the last year?

Not an expert on time bar so can't comment on that.

Yes you should make sure you lodge your response form with the court in good time for the return date. If you don't then the pursuer will be entitled to seek decree (a CCJ). However there's nothing wrong with also contacting the pursuer's solicitor directly to make an offer, it's totally normal. You may well be able to come to an agreement with them which avoids decree passing against you.