Direct debit mandate live. Payment not taken this month. Claim for CCJ.

dori2o

I have a £10 monthly direct debit set up to repay a Capital One CC.

This was set up with Fredericksons in April 2014. The debt was around £300.

Fredericksons was taken over by Lowell portfolio last year and everything continued as normal.

Payments are always taken on the first of the month but no payment was taken in February.

Not having the details of the original balance of the debt, and as I dont get any form of statement to tell me what is outstanding I assumed that the balance had been cleared.

Today I got the paperwork from Lowells solicitors.

They are applying for a CCJ as I have failed to maintain a payment arrangement

The balance outstanding is £49.58, but they have added costs of £200.

I'm happy to clear the balance in full, but Im not happy to pay their costs. Especially as they have not even notified me of the fact the payment wasnt taken and given me the opportunity to resolve the situation. Which would have resulted in the balance being paid in full given its only £50ish. And also because this is entirely their fault.

The direct debit mandate is still live. The bank has confirmed that no request for payment was received from lowell and they are putting this in writing.

I've half a mind to let this go to court and take the evidence with me that shows that they are to blame for this problem.

I thought there was some sort of guarantee with Direct Debits to protect me from these sorts of things happening.

Ive dealt with Lowell in the past, many years ago, and they are at best ignorant, refuse to listen, believe they are always right, and every one of the staff members Ive spoken to are down right rude. Therefore I dont really want to waste my time dealing with these incompetent muppets on the phone.

They have also marked my credit file with a missed payment mark.

Im just starting to build a good credit rating after years of putting right the wrongs of my late teens and twenties where due to Frivilous spending on crap, redundancy and taking a 50% pay cut just so I didnt have to sign on plus 2 young children, I built up a few debts which are all now paid (excluding this one which is almost done).

I know its only 1 late payment mark, but it could potentially end up as a CCJ, through absolutely no fault of my own.

Any advice on this matter is appreciated.


A final thought.

If I do decide to phone them is it worth trying to make a full and final offer, using their mistake as leverage?

So with £50 outstanding (excluding their fees which I refuse to pay) I may try an offer of £25/£30.

Again advice appreciated.

fatbelly

Sort of in reverse order...

Don't phone them.

If you want to make a settlement offer, do it in writing using the National Debtline standard letter. I would suggest £25.

The debt should have been defaulted by Capital One before being sold to Lowell. That default date should still appear on your credit file in Lowell's entry, with the whole entry set to drop off six years from that date. Complain if that hasn't happened. A missed payment is meaningless on a defaulted entry.

The paperwork that matters is the N1 court claim form, sent direct to you from the court. Until that happens, everything is a threat. If they do start court action on a £50 debt, you would respond with a cca and a cpr request, and defend (or at least only part admit) the claim. That would cost them more than £50 of their time.

In fact if you want to be bl**dy awkward you could send a cca request to Lowell now (can do this at any time) and this to their solicitors:

Dear Sirs,

Ref: xxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xxxx/2017. As the letter contains a threat of litigation, it is being treated as a formal letter before action. As such, I refer you to paragraph 1 of the Practice Direction Pre-Action Conduct, which states the purpose of such a letter is to “enable the parties to settle the issues between them” and to encourage the parties to “exchange information”.

Paragraph 2.2 (1) of Annex A states you have an obligation to “list the essential documents on which the Claimant intends to rely”. I could not identify such a list in your letter, please list the documents so I can see your case against me and request copies of anything that I may need.

Paragraph 3.2 (3) of Annex A allows me to “request further information to enable me to provide a full response”. My request is a request for documents as the information I require would come from those documents. Paragraph 5.1 of Annex A states that you should “provide the documents requested within as short a period of time as is practicable or explain in writing why the documents will not be provided”.

I require copies of the following:

1.The original Consumer Credit Act agreement;
2.The Default Notice;
3.The Termination Notice;
4.The Notice of Assignment;
5.Statements of account.

These documents would be expected to be supplied if proceedings were issued and would likely be in your possession if you were issuing a claim. If you consider that there is difficulty in providing a copy of a document, please identify that document and the reason.

I shall being able to provide you with a full response to your letter within 14 days of receipt of the documents listed above and also reserve the right to refer to the contents of this letter if proceedings are issued without first providing copy documents to me.

Yours sincerely,

datlex

Whatever you do, defend the CCJ in court.