Being taken to court

Bob_Harding · 14 December 2018 at 3:24PM

Hello,

I got a claim through the post from the court (from a payday loan company). They are taking me to court because I haven't paid them back yet.

It was my understanding that in order to do this, a company must send you a 'letter before claim' or 'letter before action'. They haven't done this.

Is this right that they have to send such a letter? If so, do I just put in the defence part of the form that they didn't send it?

What if they say they did send it? Who will the court believe?

Thanks.

[Deleted User] · 14 December 2018 at 3:30PM

If they have proof of posting or other evidence (eg a file copy), it will be accepted.

Either way, you're focusing on the wrong thing. They can easily rectify it, so your defence needs to be about why you don't owe the money.

Farmer_Johnson · 14 December 2018 at 7:44PM

As above, you are focussing on technicalities. Did you borrow the money, did you fail to pay it back on time and have you paid it back now?

Bob_Harding · 14 December 2018 at 10:55PM

No, I'm not focusing on a technicality. This is important.

I never said I don't owe the money - my question isn't about that.

If they are required to send the letter then I will have extra time to pay. I might also be able to negotiate a lower amount.

As it's a court letter they've just flat out demanded double the original loan amount and given a short time to pay.

All I need to know is if they are legally allowed to start a court claim without sending that letter first.

NinaSwiss · 15 December 2018 at 12:06AM

OP - bear in mind that just because you did not get a 'letter before claim' does not mean one wasn't issued at the address they have for you.

You can call them to find out if they issued you a letter.
If they say they did, chances are they can prove it so you might want to have a backup strategy.

Exodi · 15 December 2018 at 12:36AM

Can't wait for the OP to submit his sole defense as "I didn't receive a letter", wish you could record the reactions

Farmer_Johnson · 15 December 2018 at 9:09AM

Bob_Harding wrote: »

No, I'm not focusing on a technicality. This is important.

I never said I don't owe the money - my question isn't about that.

If they are required to send the letter then I will have extra time to pay. I might also be able to negotiate a lower amount.

As it's a court letter they've just flat out demanded double the original loan amount and given a short time to pay.

All I need to know is if they are legally allowed to start a court claim without sending that letter first.

Why not just pay them back? Why this wriggling?

As others have pointed out, not receiving does not prove that it wasn’t sent, and there is pretty much no chance that it was not sent.

Concentrate now on paying the money back today, not on fighting. You borrowed it, you agreed to pay it back on time, you need to focus on doing so as soon as possible to avoid extra costs and a court judgement against you.

Farmer_Johnson · 15 December 2018 at 9:11AM

Exodi wrote: »

Can't wait for the OP to submit his sole defense as "I didn't receive a letter", wish you could record the reactions

I honestly don’t get how people think that can utterly disregard themselves having grossly breached the contract then thinking that they can hang the lender out to dry on a tiny technicality, even when they’ve been told that they can’t.

Why make the lender jump through hoops to get back what you readily agreed you’d pay?

System · 15 December 2018 at 10:28AM

Bob_Harding wrote: »

No, I'm not focusing on a technicality. This is important.

I never said I don't owe the money - my question isn't about that.

If they are required to send the letter then I will have extra time to pay. I might also be able to negotiate a lower amount.

As it's a court letter they've just flat out demanded double the original loan amount and given a short time to pay.

All I need to know is if they are legally allowed to start a court claim without sending that letter first.

Yes they are as no doubt this isn't the first letter you've had about the debt and no doubt those letters told you that they may take court action so you've already been warned so, no you can't use that as a get out of jail free card.

They are also allowed to claim for the additional interest that has been accrued in the time since you took out the loan and stopped paying plus any reasonable costs they have in taking you to court.

If they've claimed double the original loan amount then you've got off lightly if it is a year since you took out the debt because at the typical 1000% or more APRs of these loans you should owe ten times what you borrowed.

elsien · 15 December 2018 at 10:38AM

It's a payday loan. You were never going to just pay back the original loan amount. Your original contract will have told you the amount of interest you were being charged; they've not just plucked a repayment figure out of the air. And the longer this drags on the more you will owe.
If you're having difficulty in paying, have you spoken to any of the debt advice charities?

Vikipollard · 15 December 2018 at 2:17PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=70411565 Did you not learn from your post on the above thread, from 30 March 2016?

This seems to be a habit - unless it's the same loan?

You need to budget properly, simple as, and stop taking out loans that you either cannot afford to repay or do not intend to repay. If you made the repayments on time, then you wouldn't be in this position, would you. Harsh? Definitely. But deservedly so.

Being taken to court

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