Proposed Allocation to Small Claims Track letter

Bitofapilchard

Hi, posting on behalf of husband.

He recently had a letter from The County Court at Northampton informing that he was being pursued for unpaid debt owed to Robinson Way (ex Capital One). We are confident that he has made no payment or had any contact with them for more than six years (in excess of ten years, we believe), so he replied to the court online that he disputed the debt as Statute Barred, plus sent letters informing the debt collectors and their solicitors (using templates provided by this site).

Now he has received a letter from the court stating that the case is suitable for allocation to the small claims track and it asks him to agree to the case being referred to the small claims mediation track. We understand that he should not accept mediation/settlement as he does not believe the debt is now owed.

But where we are confused is that it seems to be asking-in the case of refusal of mediation-which county court hearing centre would he prefer it to be held and it asks him to state availability of dates to attend court. Why, when he has defended his case as Statute Barred, would he need to attend? Why can he not prepare a case on paper and send to a court?

Any advice gratefully received.

Comms69

The money is still owed; statute barred simply means that the courts cannot enforce the debt.

waamo

I'm guessing the letter says it is suitable for allocation to the small claims track and suitable for mediation. Subtle but important difference to what you seem to think it says.

Yes it is suitable for the small claims track tick no you don't want mediation.

That is unless the forms have changed recently. Could you confirm if I'm right or wrong please as I haven't seen them in a while.

bris

I will assume they have something that proves it's not statute barred. if you ignore this they will get a default judgement.


You will need to go see what they have and why they are pursuing this, they don't usually chase statute barred debts so you better go to find out.

Bitofapilchard

"I will assume they have something that proves it's not statute barred. if you ignore this they will get a default judgement."

If that was the case, then why would it (the case) not still continue at Northampton? Why is it changing to another court (or mediation)? Who would have prompted the change? The debt collector or Northampton court?

I can find no other payments to this debt since 21 Jun 2012.

waamo

Northampton is merely a processing centre. They allocate all the claims to the appropriate local court.

Bitofapilchard

Husband is registered with Noddle and there is no reference to this debt on his file at all. If the debt falls under the 6 years timeline, should it not have been listed on there as a default?

Thank you all for your help. We really appreciate it.

waamo

Why not send a SAR to the claimant to see what information they hold on you.

Google for examples of how to word a SAR.

Bitofapilchard

waamo wrote: »

Why not send a SAR to the claimant to see what information they hold on you.

Google for examples of how to word a SAR.

Okay, I've looked up what a SAR is and how to go about it. However husband has to send his letter (the proposed allocation one) back to the court by the 18th of this month, so we would not get the information about him back in time for us to know how we should respond to the court. Should we request a SAR anyway?

waamo

Request a SAR anyway. It will tell you what they know. If it gets as far as court it might be useful.

Bitofapilchard

EDIT: just checked paperwork. He had a letter from Robinson Way 28/12/18 as a response to a template letter we sent them from this site, in which a request was made for a copy of the credit agreement relating to the claim and copies of the documents on which the claimant relies.

We acknowledge receipt of your request under sections 77/79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. However we are still awaiting your official response to the County Court Claim form which was served on 28th November 2018.

We have requested the documents mentioned in your letter from our client and they are currently in the process of retrieving thd documents requested.

Your account will remain on hold until the documents have been provided. Once we receive a copy of the requested documents, copies will be provided to you and your account will be placed on a further hold to allow time for you to contact us.

I have no idea what they mean by saying they are still awaiting his official response. He responded to the court online, defending as Stature Barred? To date, the requested documents have not been sent to husband.