County Court Claim (lodged by Lowell)

Gr8st33t

Hello,

I received a County Court claim form, filed by Lowell Solicitors, for an old O2 debt. The total amount on the claim is £660.74. I've also signed up for the online service https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk, which apparently extends the deadline for response to 28 days.

Having calculated my monthly outgoings and expenses, I've decided that the amount I can realistically pay is around £10.

In your experience, given the small size of this debt (£660.74), how likely it is that the County court would challenge my calculations and ask me to provide further proof of income and expenses? While I am concerned about responding as swiftly as possible I am equally concerned about making a mistake in my calculations. Does anyone know if the county courts challenge these sort of amounts, or do they tend to accept any offers of repayment?

PS: As I was writing this letter, I received another letter, this time from Lowell Solicitor's themselves. The letter mentions the County Court Claim which I should be expecting and asks me to call them to discuss paying the outstanding balance.

In your view, now that they have already lodged a County Court claim isn't this a bit pointless? Can a claim be cancelled once it's already been filed and I have already received the notification? I'm guessing the purpose of this letter is to use the claim to pressure me into accepting whatever it is they tell me on the phone. I would really rather not discuss this over the phone as based on previous experience these agents are invariably rude and aggressive. Do you think it is worth writing a letter with a payment proposal at this stage?

Thank you all!

IAmWales

A claim can be withdrawn after it has been issued. Leaving it to go to hearing will incur further costs for you.

£10 a week might be acceptable, £10 a month will attract some questions (and quite likely, a refusal). Five years is far too long to settle that size debt.

Have you completed a SOA on here, to see if others can suggest where you can make cuts?

Gr8st33t

Thanks for your reply.

When you say 'refusal' do you mean the County court might reject or proposal, or Lowell themselves?

I was specifically asking if the County Court is likely to ask me to provide further proof of expenses (as in statements and other such documents) in the event they think my offer is too low.
You say that five years would be too long as a repayment term, but what if my circumstances don't leave me with much choice? What is reasonable? Two years?

sourcrates

You offer what you can afford, backed up by a copy of your budget, that's all you will be expected to do.

Lowell may not like it, but you stick to your guns, lots of people only pay £1 a month to massive debts a lot greater than yours.

Gr8st33t

sourcrates wrote: »

You offer what you can afford, backed up by a copy of your budget, that's all you will be expected to do.

Lowell may not like it, but you stick to your guns, lots of people only pay £1 a month to massive debts a lot greater than yours.

Thanks. And do you think it is still worth negotiating with Lowell directly (in response to their letter, which was sent AFTER I had already received the County Court claim)? Or I am better off with just going ahead with filing out the my response to the claim form? To be clear I do still want to avoid a CCJ, but I am doubtful as to whether this claim can be cancelled at this stage. What are the chances Lowell will actually cancel this claim? Thanks again.

sourcrates

Gr8st33t wrote: »

Thanks. And do you think it is still worth negotiating with Lowell directly (in response to their letter, which was sent AFTER I had already received the County Court claim)? Or I am better off with just going ahead with filing out the my response to the claim form? To be clear I do still want to avoid a CCJ, but I am doubtful as to whether this claim can be cancelled at this stage. What are the chances Lowell will actually cancel this claim? Thanks again.

Probebly only if you pay in full would be my guess.

patman99

How old is the debt?.

As you have at least 28 days before you are likely to get a Court date, you may even have time to send a prove it letter.

boliston

i'm not sure why it would be necessary to deal with lowells directly - just fill in the court form showing income and expenditure and send it to the address shown on the court form - only offer 10 pounds a month if you think this is realistic as if you offer too much it would not be easy to get it reduced later