Historic MBNA Debt - Revisited

dizco

Hi All
In November 2014 I posted the following:
"In 1997 I took out an MBNA Credit Card, and ran up £3,500 limit, which then defaulted in 2000, and was handed over to Wescot Credit Services.
I set up a Standing Order with Wescot and have been paying £30 a month (reducing to £20 a few years ago) since 2000.
I've just called for a balance and settlement figure (still a staggering £800, settlement was around £700). The debt no longer appears on my Experian Credit File.
Here is what I'm wondering:
1) If I pay the balance in full, will this reactivate the debt on my credit file and show that it has now been satisfied, displaying how long it's taken me to pay?
2) If I agree a settlement figure, will this also show on my credit file? Worse still would it show as partially satisfied, because I'd agreed a settlement?
3) If I stopped paying this debt, what would happen? Would the debt show as a default on my credit file, even though it dropped off years ago? Will it be transferred elsewhere? Can MBNA legally still collect this debt through collection agencies after over 14 years?"

I subsequently raised a CCA request through Wescot to see if they had enforceable paperwork. They didn't. I stopped paying. Still no record on my credit file.
Since then, the debt has been passed through several agencies, and today I received a letter from drydensfairfax advising me that a Claim Form has been sent by Northampton County Court for £820 plus court fees etc, also received today. I have been advised to pay the debt in full to avoid a CCJ.

Should I ignore it? Send another CCA request? I stopped paying January 2015.

wannadancewithsomebody

"I subsequently raised a CCA request through Wescot to see if they had enforceable paperwork. They didn't. "

dosnt it all boil down to this 

 I received a letter from drydensfairfax advising me that a Claim Form has been sent by Northampton County Court for £820 plus court fees etc, also received today.
did you get the req one months notice , ie a letter before court  

so you ACTUALLY have the claim form in your hands ? what date was the form issued 

sourcrates

Once a debt is gone from your credit file, its gone forever, nothing you do will change that.

No CCA means they cannot obtain judgement against you in court, however, you must defend the claim on that basis, if you ignore it, that would be pretty dum, as they would win by default, and you would have made your unenforcable debt enforcable again.

Strict time frames exist to respond to claims, acknowledging service online, I believe extends the time to respond to 28 days.

Your defence would be that the debt remains unenforcable as your request under sec 77 was not complied with.

dizco

@wannadancewithsomebody, no they both arrived today. Both the letter saying the debt had been transferred to drydensfairfax and the claim form were dated 14th December. I actually have the claim form.

@sourcrates - Thanks for this, so how would I respond to the claim? I just write to drydens to say that the debt remains unenforcable. The CCA request was actually made to the previous owners of the debt, and they advised that they couldn't locate the paperwork.

A little unsure how to proceed.

wannadancewithsomebody

sorry , slightly out of my depth with this type of claim , but are we not missing a few things 
1: letter from wescott saying they have sold the claim
2: letter from drydensfairfax stating they have bought the claim 
3: letter from drydensfairfax giving you one month to settle the account or they will go to the county court 

several of those seem to be missing , follow sourcrates advice 

dizco

@wannadancewithsomebody The debt was sold by Wescot back in 2015 and has been sold on through several other companies since. The letter from drydens today was the first I'd heard it had moved to them. The letter basically stated that the debt had ben transferred to them and that a county claim had been issued.

@sourcrates Any advice on next steps would be most helpful. 

wannadancewithsomebody

is this were you do an SAR on drydensfairfax  , showing not only authority to start claim (enforceable paperwork) , but also the date they bought the case along with relevent paperwork , and a copy of the letter before claim , approx one month ago , do this ASAP to there data protection officer?? , you will have to provide proof who you are , gosh you have a singular letter from them and a court claim photo those and use them 
you should have had a letter before court giving you one month to pay up , or they would start claim , at that point you could have written to them andf using the correct wording got a 28 day "stay" 

keep your eye on date to reply back to court , as you do not want a default 

sourcrates

You should have recieved a claim pack containing the following -

• Form N9 (acknowledgment of service)
• Form N9A (admission form)
• Form N9B (defence form)

First acknowledge service, doing so online extends the time to respond to 28 days.

Instructions are included in the pack.

If you admit the debt, fill in the admission form.

If you deny the debt, fill in the defence form,

You say they have no legal paperwork to prove your liability, so if you intend to defend all of the claim, then your defence would be one of you do not believe the amounts being asked for can be proven, and you seek to have the claimant prove their claim in total.
(This is called a bare defence, and runs the risk of being struck out and the amount awarded to the claimant).

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part03/pd_part03a)

If the defence is accepted, then there will be a hearing in about 5 months time when they will either produce the CCA or they will drop the case.

Its your choice how you wish to proceed.

Ambulance chasers like Drydens, Lowell and others simply use the court as a means of strong-arming people who have no knowledge or who fear the system.

Clearly you will have to make the choice of whether you want push them back, or partially settle or fully settle. But don't lose track of the dates

dizco

I've completed the AOS online, and stated my intention to defend fully and push back.

dizco

@wannadancewithsomebody @sourcrates Thank you both for your help.