Defence/ Counterclaim template for County court Lowell

petersouths

Hi guys ,
Sorry in advance if this is the wrong part of the forum i'm unsure which to post under.

I read a post on this forum (can't post the link) Thread title is "Letter when you know nothing about about the debt - AKA "Prove it" letter "

and just wanted to check that i can respond online to a county court letter i got from Lowell with this template please.

I got a count court letter from Lowell Portfolio which i do not know what the debt is for and have never had any contact with them. It seems to be multiple phone bills on the letter judging by the companies names on the letter however iv'e been pay as you go for as long as i can remember so really do not understand how i can owe any money .

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks Peter

Caz3121

have you had a look at all three of your credit reports to see if there is anything there?

DoaM

What exactly have you received? Is it a real letter from the court with a claim reference number?

Or is it simply a Letter Before Action from Lowell saying they intend to raise a claim?

I'm minded to think that this is a fire-and-hope debt collection letter that they've sent to several people with the same or similar name to you.

petersouths

Hi the letter is titled claim form . It's stamped by the county court and i was given a Claim no and password to log in to a site called moneyclaim dot gov dot uk . There is a response pack with the letter given me options of admitting the claim or defend and counter claim .

The claimant's legal representative is signed by someone called Simon Plunkett .

There also trying to charge me a court fee of £60 and legal rep fee of £70

MEM62

You cannot solve every situation with template letters. There are occasions, and this is one, where you have to actually compose a letter for yourself. The prove-it letter could have been sent in response to their earlier letters but it is not the way forward now you have received a summons.

You need to logon using the details you have been given and acknowledge service of the summons. That will buy you time to formulate a proper response. If you do not believe that the debt is yours then you will need to indicate that you are defending the claim and explain, in your own words, you are refuting the fact that the debt is yours.

DoaM

As above, do the Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) and that gives you 28 days or so to compose and file your defence.

Note: you file a defence at the moment. A defence responds to their Particulars of Claim (PoC) and advises the points you'll raise against their claim. (A numbered list of defence points). The evidence comes much later in the form of a Witness Statement.

Court fees can be included (filing and hearing fees); legal fees are very limited in small claims ... £50 was what I remembered but it may have gone up.