Overdales - Notice of Intention to issue a County Court Claim

JibberdyDacodo

Hi all,

Been reading on here for a number of months, has been eye opening.

Situation is currently as follows:

10th June: Received an email form Overdales that they have been instructed by Lowell in relation to an amount of £3,200 owing (original CC was with 118118Money), with reply required within 7 days.

16th June (still within the 7 days): Sent a Prove It letter by Next Day Signed for delivery with Royal Mail (still showing as ‘due for delivery’).

Received a Pre Action Protocol, date: 17th June 2025, which I ignored at the time as I had already sent a ProveIt letter which my understanding was (correct or not?) requires them to stop any action.

30th June: Letter stating they had received my ProveIt letter, and had requested the relevant information from the original credior. This letter finished by stating ‘Please be aware that no further action will be taken on you account until a response is received.’ Further reinforcing my understanding that the PreAction letter of 17 June had been ‘invalidated’.

July/August: Somewhere throughout this time I received from them the requested information, including the original Credit Agreement and the Statements of the account.

14th October: email stating that they had recently sent me a Pre Action Protocol letter, to which I need to respond within 30 days (my understanding was that this a new PAP that had been sent).

17th October: Letter threatening legal action if I do not clear the full balance within 7 days.

21st October: Today received another email threatening imminent legal action unless full balance is cleared within 3 days.

I guess my question comes down to as follows:

1 – Were they allowed to send a Pre Action Protocol on 17 June if I had already sent a Prove It letter the day before, and if not would they need to send one again after responding to the PI letter?

2 – Does it make any difference whether they had yet received my letter at the time they sent theirs out by post?

3 – If my Prove It letter does not stop them from sending a PAP, where do I currently stand with their threat of a Court Claim within 7 days, taking into account that I am unable to fully clear the balance within that time?

4 - Is there any point in trying to agree a payment plan now, or do I wait for them to issue a court claim and then take it from there?

Any further clarifications, just let me know.

Thank you all in advance.

Grumpelstiltskin

If they are going to try and get a CCJ they must write to you by snail mail, you can safely ignore E Mails, texts and phone calls.

Don't contact them wait until or if you receive a snail mail letter.

JibberdyDacodo

They did send a letter as I stated in my OP: 

17th October: Letter threatening legal action if I do not clear the full balance within 7 days.

ManyWays

Received a Pre Action Protocol, date: 17th June 2025, which I ignored at the time as I had already sent a ProveIt letter which my understanding was (correct or not?) requires them to stop any action.
We usually advise responding to pre action protocol letters. 

1 – Were they allowed to send a Pre Action Protocol on 17 June if I had already sent a Prove It letter the day before, and if not would they need to send one again after responding to the PI letter?
I don't think you will get anywhere with arguing this. At most it will put a court claim off by a month as they have already sent you all the information you asked for. 

2 – Does it make any difference whether they had yet received my letter at the time they sent theirs out by post?
See answer to 1

3 – If my Prove It letter does not stop them from sending a PAP, where do I currently stand with their threat of a Court Claim within 7 days, taking into account that I am unable to fully clear the balance within that time?
They will probably go ahead, they have sent you the credit agreement and statements. Do you have any grounds to defend a Court Claim because having failed to comply with the Debt Pre Action Protocol is NOT grounds to defend a claim (and anyway it isnt clear that they have failed to do this)

4 - Is there any point in trying to agree a payment plan now, or do I wait for them to issue a court claim and then take it from there?
If you don't want a CCJ, I suggest you make a payment offer and not a low token one without evidence you can't afford more. 

sourcrates

It depends whether a CCJ would be an issue for you or not really.

Sometimes they bluff about these things, other times they follow through on threats, any judgement monthly payment issued by the court will be set according to your budget.

JibberdyDacodo

sourcrates said:

It depends whether a CCJ would be an issue for you or not really.

Hmm... It might be, will have to contact the Organisation of which I am a member to find out.

But you don't think I stand to gain anything by setting up a payment plan in the next few days?

JibberdyDacodo

So now I just sit tight and wait for them to follow through on court action?