Capquest/Drydens Letter of Claim - Wifes old Sainsburys credit card

gozzer

Hoping someone can help. I have been managing my wifes old card debts for a number of years. My wife is on ESA and PIP following mental health challenges and as such came away from the workplace in cicra 2008. I tend to look after all of the old debts as I do not want her to have to worry and take any set back.

My wife had a Sainsburys credit card which she opened in 2003, she fell ill in 2008 we tried to carry on paying the min payments but defaulted in 2010.

I thought I did the right thing and  sent letters to all debtors. The outstanding balance was £5.2k, the debt eventually passed to Blair Oliver Scott, then to Capquest and recently to Drydensfairfax. 

Drydensfairfax in 2021 were quite aggressive in chasing further updates to the payment plan and requesting an updated income/outgoings statement.

I stated that my wifes circumstances have not changed and have been making a token payment since the account defaulted. They are now declaring that the payment arrangement is an informal one and is not agreed and have now lodged with the County Court in Northampton and I have a response pack to complete. 

I am completely out of my depth and cannot fathom why they would be chasing after all this time. Its not as if we have buried our heads in the sand. I must add this is not the only debt she has, but they are not chasing and have all been managed in the same way.

I really need help with the response pack with an issue date of 13th Jan. I believe they add 5 days to this date to allow for delivery time of the letter. What do I do now? Guidance or pointers to the correct way to respond to the court would help. Thank you

sourcrates

Hi,

To companies such as this, its all a numbers game, they most likely won`t be aware of your wife's circumstances seen as the debt has been passed around so many times, if they were, its unlikely they would be pursuing legal action, she would have been referred to a specialist team to deal with her accounts.

OK, first thing is they have failed to follow the pre-action protocol rules for debt, before a claim form is issued, a letter before action is normally sent, this is a questionnaire type document with a 30 day response time window, it is meant to avoid the matter going to court in the first place, however they appear to have failed to comply with legislation in this case, and gone straight to a claim pack.

That in itself is not a barrier to legal action, but it may strengthen your case to mention it in your defence, form N-9 in the response pack is used to submit your defence, you can also ask for more time to submit your defence (this can also be done if you acknowledge service online).

You should use this form to tell the court about your wife's condition, it is not your legal responsibility to be paying her debts, its likely if the correct approach had been made previously, the debts may have been written off by now as uncollectable, and you would not be where you are today, but anyway.

Decide on your course of action, then make sure the pack is returned before the due date.

Further advice can be sought from the "Legal Beagles" website.

gozzer

Thank you for your reply, very much appreciated. I have just acknowledged service online and will be defending all. This may actually be the kick up the backside I need to get this debt sorted once and for all. I always thought I was doing the right thing by recognising the debt and have written to both Capquest and Drydens advising of my wifes mental health status. She certainly will not be in a fit state to attend any form of court proceedings if this is how it works!

I will be checking out legal beagles too, thank you for that. 

fatbelly

If the issue date is 13 Jan, the service date is 18 Jan.

If you have acknowledged service you have till  15 Feb to respond but don't go right to the wire

You need to check https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues/received-a-court-claim


They will advise a cpr request to the solicitor and a cca request to the creditor - template letters for both

Edit: token payments are not a long-term strategy. If you had stopped them after 6 months, the debt would probably have gone statute barred.

gozzer

fatbelly said:

If the issue date is 13 Jan, the service date is 18 Jan.

If you have acknowledged service you have till  15 Feb to respond but don't go right to the wire

You need to check https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues/received-a-court-claim


They will advise a cpr request to the solicitor and a cca request to the creditor - template letters for both

Edit: token payments are not a long-term strategy. If you had stopped them after 6 months, the debt would probably have gone statute barred.

Thanks, have CPR and CCA ready to post in the morning. Unfortunately my wife had other debts and have managed them in a similar way but we are paying more towards them albeit they will not clear any time soon.