Caesar UE Diary

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi Caesar,

A claimant not being authorised is a point of law and should be considered by the trial judge on that basis, regardless of whether or not you have pleaded it in your defence. The difficulty is that the 'unauthorised argument' is a complex one and it is not just a case of alleging the claimant is unauthorised, as there are exemptions to this which can be argued by the claimant.

If there have been a number of assignments the claimant must prove the chain of title to the alleged debt.

What do you mean when you say you have been sent a 'dodgy Notice of Default'?

A witness statement is your opportunity to set out your position and expand upon your defence. However, a statement should be confined to matters which are relevant and within your knowledge. For example, it should not contain opinion, bald assertions or unfounded accusations. The witness statement should only contain statements of facts which, if questioned in court, you would realistically be able to attest to.

You can find out how to draft a witness statement by visiting https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...ess-statements. Your statement of truth should be in the following form, '‘I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.’'

[Caesar]

11. Uncle Buck payday loan

• Type of account (payday loan)
• Date commenced (2016)
• Approx balance £500
• Date last paid (2016)
• Arrangement: not paying
• Status (default)
• Account owner (new owner Perch Capital)

June 2018 Email from Uncle Buck that they have assigned my account to Asset Collections and Investigations.
I had a payment plan with Uncle Buck which I stopped it when I complained to FOS. My complaint was rejected but I haven't restarted the payment?
Sept 2018 Letter of Assignment from Asset sent again
Sept 2018 Letter of Claim from TM Legal Services regarding this debt
Oct 2018 CCA request to Asset Collections
Oct 2018 GDPR (SAR) request to original creditor Uncle Buck
Oct 2018 Received email from TM Legal Services my requested credit agreement
Oct 2018 GDPR (SAR) received from Uncle Buck but no Default Notice or Assignment Letter on it.
Oct 2018 replied to Letter of Claim and denied the debts. I have requested the Default Notice
Oct 2018. Email from TM Legal :,,Thank you for your response to our letter of claim. Unfortunately we are not supplied information regarding how and when the Default Notice is served. You can request this information directly from Uncle Buck''
March 2019 a new Letter of Claim from TM Legal Services
March 2019. Replied to LoC and requested one more time Notice of Default. Email from TM Legal :,,Thank you for your response to our letter of claim. Unfortunately we are not supplied information regarding how and when the Default Notice is served. You can request this information directly from Uncle Buck''
Sept 2019. Email from TM Legal Services: Asset Collections sold my account to Perch Capital Limited. Perch Capital appointed ACI and ACI have instructed TM Legal to continue to manage my account.
January 2020 Default notice (served by email) issued by TMLS on behalf of ACI who is acting for Perch Capital, the legal owner of the debt.
March 2020 County Court Claim issued by Perch Capital
March 2020 I submitted the defense and made s77 and cpr34.14 request
May 2020 I filled in the Directions Questionnaire. I said yes for mediation, but Perch Capital refused it and wanted to proceed with the claim.

I have only 3 weeks until the hearing of County Court Claim with Perch Capital and I have some questions to fill in the witness statement:

1. Perch Capital are not FCA Authorised. Can someone confirm this? If they are not FCA Authorised can I use this on my Witness statement despite this wasn't added on my defence?

2. My account was sold from Uncle Buck to Asset Collection and from Asset Collection to Perch Capital without serving a default notice. Right before the court claim TM Legal issued a dodgy Notice of Default on behalf of Asset Collection who is acting for Perch Capital. I know all this 3 companies are actually the same people. How can I use this on Witness statement?

3. This is their reply after my s77 and cpr34.14 request:
,,We acknowledge that a proof of sale of this debt has been requested. We can confirm that this debt was assigned pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925. As you are not a party to the agreement with the original creditor DJS (UK) Limited, we cannot share a copy of the document or any details contained therein due to it being subject to confidentiality and the fact that it contains commercially sensitive information.
It is noted that you deny being issued with a Notice of Sums In Arrears, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment. For the avoidance of doubt, we have attached copies of the requested documents that were notably issued to the same email address that you served us a copy of your defence from.
The Claimant wishes to highlight that within your defence you do not deny taking out the loan. You do not deny knowledge that defaulted payments to Uncle Buck Payday Loans LLP incur additional costs. You not even deny that the amount claimed by the Claimant is not correct. Your defence outlines documents that you believe you have not received, however, we have now provided you with sufficient evidence to assert the issuing of those documents. The Claimant has provided evidence that they have complied with these rules and protocols in order to claim the value of the debt.''

I highlighted in red that the amount requested by them didn't match with the amount of the original account but I haven't used this on my defence.

It's first time for me in this situation and have no idea about how to build a Witness statement and what kind of words to use this information. Can someone please help me with this?

[Caesar]

Does the letter say it will be a telephone hearing or maybe a virtual one?

The hearing is taking place remotely and the parties should not come to the court. One more question here to avoid any confusion because I am not familiar with the terms. The hearing means the trial, right? The date for the trial is on the paper and the name of the County Court.

You will need to send your Witness Statement on or before the 7 day deadline. I think you would have every right to say in your witness statement that you had asked for evidence of the assignment chain and this had been refused. I also think you would be able to say that no S87 Default Notice was received from Uncle Buck. Be careful with your wording as a) you don't want to lie but also you wouldn't want the judge to think you were using word play to try and appear clever- it might annoy them.

I would say that you agreed to mediation but Perch refused

This is one thing that I am worried, what words to use because the terms are not very familiar to me. Can I find somewhere a model of Witness Statement to see how it should look like?
On the letter it says I have to send the Witness Statement no later than 7 days before the hearing.

I imagine they have been told to pay the court fee before the date, it is usually 14 days. They may or mayn't do that. Also just to further confuse you they may or mayn't send someone to court and usually they will be a local lawyer . If you do not attend then they will almost certainly win by default

Maybe others can add to what I have said.

They have one month to pay the trial fee or to settle this with me.
I am planning to attend the trial, no matter if I have a good or bad defense.

[scottygees]

Hi, can someone please help me regarding this trial? I have no idea what to do. Just received a letter from the court regarding the trial date but nothing about the hearing time. ,,No later than 7 days before the hearing the parties must send to each other and the court copies of all documents upon which they will rely.''
On my defense I pointed out the missing of the Default Notice. Uncle Buck sent the account to Asset Collection without providing me a DN, Asset Collection sold the account to Perch Capital the same without DN. Right before de court claim, it was a Default notice issued by TMLS on behalf of ACI who is acting for Perch Capital, the legal owner of the debt. Were they acting right?
Another thing, I requested a proof of sale, but they didn't want to show and said the documents are confidential.
The amount they requested on court claim is different that the amount that was in my Uncle Buck account by a few pounds. Is that an issue for them?
I have no idea about what to expect so any help is more than welcome.

Hi Caesar

i know exactly what you are going through. I myself have just thrown the towel in as I haven’t got a clue what to expect or how to argue my case at trial. I have a dodgy default notice on a Piggybank account but if I got asked further questions would probably just crumble as to not knowing the full legal requirements. Again I wouldn’t know how to draft a witness statement that is compliant. As with yourself I was hoping mediation would happen but though the claimant agreed to it they didn’t provide the mediation service any contact details so the claim was just tracked to the small claims which seemed wrong to me. In the end I have agreed a £20 a month payment with a view to offering a F&F in about 6 months to clear the debt. Good luck with your claim, fingers crossed you are successful in your defence.

[Warwick65]

Hi, can someone please help me regarding this trial? I have no idea what to do. Just received a letter from the court regarding the trial date but nothing about the hearing time. ,,No later than 7 days before the hearing the parties must send to each other and the court copies of all documents upon which they will rely.''
On my defense I pointed out the missing of the Default Notice. Uncle Buck sent the account to Asset Collection without providing me a DN, Asset Collection sold the account to Perch Capital the same without DN. Right before de court claim, it was a Default notice issued by TMLS on behalf of ACI who is acting for Perch Capital, the legal owner of the debt. Were they acting right?
Another thing, I requested a proof of sale, but they didn't want to show and said the documents are confidential.
The amount they requested on court claim is different that the amount that was in my Uncle Buck account by a few pounds. Is that an issue for them?

I have no idea about what to expect so any help is more than welcome.

Does the letter say it will be a telephone hearing or maybe a virtual one?

You will need to send your Witness Statement on or before the 7 day deadline. I think you would have every right to say in your witness statement that you had asked for evidence of the assignment chain and this had been refused. I also think you would be able to say that no S87 Default Notice was received from Uncle Buck. Be careful with your wording as a) you don't want to lie but also you wouldn't want the judge to think you were using word play to try and appear clever- it might annoy them.

I would say that you agreed to mediation but Perch refused

I imagine they have been told to pay the court fee before the date, it is usually 14 days. They may or mayn't do that. Also just to further confuse you they may or mayn't send someone to court and usually they will be a local lawyer . If you do not attend then they will almost certainly win by default

Maybe others can add to what I have said.

[Caesar]

11. Uncle Buck payday loan

• Type of account (payday loan)
• Date commenced (2016)
• Approx balance £500
• Date last paid (2016)
• Arrangement: not paying
• Status (default)
• Account owner (new owner Perch Capital)

June 2018 Email from Uncle Buck that they have assigned my account to Asset Collections and Investigations.
I had a payment plan with Uncle Buck which I stopped it when I complained to FOS. My complaint was rejected but I haven't restarted the payment?
Sept 2018 Letter of Assignment from Asset sent again
Sept 2018 Letter of Claim from TM Legal Services regarding this debt
Oct 2018 CCA request to Asset Collections
Oct 2018 GDPR (SAR) request to original creditor Uncle Buck
Oct 2018 Received email from TM Legal Services my requested credit agreement
Oct 2018 GDPR (SAR) received from Uncle Buck but no Default Notice or Assignment Letter on it.
Oct 2018 replied to Letter of Claim and denied the debts. I have requested the Default Notice
Oct 2018. Email from TM Legal :,,Thank you for your response to our letter of claim. Unfortunately we are not supplied information regarding how and when the Default Notice is served. You can request this information directly from Uncle Buck''
March 2019 a new Letter of Claim from TM Legal Services
March 2019. Replied to LoC and requested one more time Notice of Default. Email from TM Legal :,,Thank you for your response to our letter of claim. Unfortunately we are not supplied information regarding how and when the Default Notice is served. You can request this information directly from Uncle Buck''
Sept 2019. Email from TM Legal Services: Asset Collections sold my account to Perch Capital Limited. Perch Capital appointed ACI and ACI have instructed TM Legal to continue to manage my account.
January 2020 Default notice (served by email) issued by TMLS on behalf of ACI who is acting for Perch Capital, the legal owner of the debt.
March 2020 County Court Claim issued by Perch Capital
March 2020 I submitted the defense and made s77 and cpr34.14 request
May 2020 I filled in the Directions Questionnaire. I said yes for mediation, but Perch Capital refused it and wanted to proceed with the claim.

Hi, can someone please help me regarding this trial? I have no idea what to do. Just received a letter from the court regarding the trial date but nothing about the hearing time. ,,No later than 7 days before the hearing the parties must send to each other and the court copies of all documents upon which they will rely.''
On my defense I pointed out the missing of the Default Notice. Uncle Buck sent the account to Asset Collection without providing me a DN, Asset Collection sold the account to Perch Capital the same without DN. Right before de court claim, it was a Default notice issued by TMLS on behalf of ACI who is acting for Perch Capital, the legal owner of the debt. Were they acting right?
Another thing, I requested a proof of sale, but they didn't want to show and said the documents are confidential.
The amount they requested on court claim is different that the amount that was in my Uncle Buck account by a few pounds. Is that an issue for them?

I have no idea about what to expect so any help is more than welcome.

[Caesar]

Hello Warwick65

I've sent the s77 and cpr 31.14 request and also filed a defence. They haven't complied with my request, the only thing I got back was a copy of the original credit agreement served by email.

One month ago they sent email to the court and also to me that they want to proceed with the claim but I haven't received any DQ by post or on mcol site. And recently another email only for me this time, the court was not included in cc, in response to my defence. They can't share with me some of the documents requested because there are private but they attached Default Notice, Notice of Assignment and Notice of Sums in Arrears. And in the end the invited me to withdraw the defence and contact them to discuss options of repayment. Is this correct what they are doing?

In the eventuality that the claim will stay, and they want to lift the stay, I guess there is a fee for that. Can they add the fee on top of the claim in the situation they win?

[Warwick65]

Hi Caesar

Any updates on all this

I am assuming you sent a cca request, a cpr 31.14 request and filed a defence.

Assuming you filed everything at the last minute and allowing for post and service time, you should be receiving a DQ any time soon. Sadly having said that I imagine the court service is running on reduced staffing levels so if they sent the DQ back to the court by post, it might take them some time to get one sent out.

Any updates would be good to hear- and also good for other members to see how he process goes.

[Caesar]

Email sent to Di. Thank you all for help.

[Warwick65]

Try not to panic. What is the date on the claim form? You have 19 days from that date to respond which means logging on and acknowledging the claim. Then you have another 14 days to submit a defence.

I am not sure if I’ve said anything to you about service by post for default notices but I may have been wrong although possibly no harm in adding it in.

There are still lots of options even if you feel there is no hope of defending.

[The Tech Clerk]

Speak to:-
di@joannaconnollysolicitors.co.uk

or by telephoning

0330 053 9340.

Our initial advice is always free.

[The Tech Clerk]

Diana Mayhew

[nightwatch]

Morning.

don't panic, I am sure Di will be along later to help.

[Caesar]

11. Uncle Buck payday loan

• Type of account (payday loan)
• Date commenced (2016)
• Approx balance £500
• Date last paid (2016)
• Arrangement: not paying
• Status (default)
• Account owner (new owner Perch Capital)

June 2018 Email from Uncle Buck that they have assigned my account to Asset Collections and Investigations. Now I have 2 accounts with Asset.
I had a payment plan with Uncle Buck which I stopped it when I complained to FOS. My complaint was rejected but I haven't restarted the payment?
Sept 2018 Letter of Assignment from Asset sent again
Sept 2018 Letter of Claim from TM Legal Services regarding this debt
Oct 2018 CCA request to Asset Collections
Oct 2018 GDPR (SAR) request to original creditor Uncle Buck
Oct 2018 Received email from TM Legal Services my requested credit agreement
Oct 2018 GDPR (SAR) received from Uncle Buck but no Default Notice or Assignment Letter on it.
Oct 2018 replied to Letter of Claim and denied the debts. I have requested the Default Notice
Oct 2018. Email from TM Legal :,,Thank you for your response to our letter of claim. Unfortunately we are not supplied information regarding how and when the Default Notice is served. You can request this information directly from Uncle Buck''
March 2019 a new Letter of Claim from TM Legal Services
March 2019. Replied to LoC and requested one more time Notice of Default. Email from TM Legal :,,Thank you for your response to our letter of claim. Unfortunately we are not supplied information regarding how and when the Default Notice is served. You can request this information directly from Uncle Buck''
Sept 2019. Email from TM Legal Services: Asset Collections sold my account to Perch Capital Limited. Perch Capital appointed ACI and ACI have instructed TM Legal to continue to manage my account.
January 2020 Default notice (served by email) issued by TMLS on behalf of ACI who is acting for Perch Capital, the legal owner of the debt.

I've just received a Claim Form from Northampton County Court Business Centre. The claimant si Perch Capital Limited. I have 14 days to reply to the claim. Can someone help me with this?

[Caesar]

What clause did you break, how much do you have to pay ?
What are the names and addresses on the top of the DN
How long does it give you to remedy the breach , does it just say in 18 days or does it give a date?

What happens if you do fix it, what happens if you don’t?

Were there any other attachments to the email?

I have to pay around £500. They said I have failed to keep to the terms of the agreement.