Letter of claim -Arrow

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi,

I have received your email. I will review everything and come back to you on here.

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi, I'm just about to email you a question. The reason I am not asking on here is just in case your answer allows the creditor to identify you.

[Perth81]

Another question is if it is advisable within a CCA request to ask for more information such as notices of assignment and default notice or the request refers to the contract terms and dates by default?

[The Tech Clerk]

No. A separate request later on if advised l

[Perth81]

Hi Perth81

When you make the S.78 CCA request we advise that as it is an important document that you send it by special delivery. If you send by recorded delivery then in most cases evidence of delivery cannot be obtained from the Royal Mail track and trace system.

There is also no need to attach any documents to any response you may or may not choose to make to the Pre Action letter.

It is not compulsory for you to respond to the pre action letter. There are arguments both for, and against. Which is right for you depends on your individual circumstances, which only you know and the other posters, however well meaning, do not.

Arrow has indicated to you that they are intending to issue a claim by sending you the pre action letter. If posting a diary be careful about the information you are posting on a public forum.

A bit curious about it...I was about to write down my diary but then i realised that most of my debts are about to be statute-barred. Would the mentioning of dates and agency names intrigue them to chase "forgotten" cases?

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi,

The answer to the latest question, as The Tech Clerk says, is no.

Apart from the fact a creditor wouldn't need to deal with subsequent requests within a CCA request, it will likely alert them to where you are going with your thinking, or to what they need to do. In doing so, you could inadvertently prejudice yourself down the line.

Thanks for answering my first question. I would suggest holding off on submitting a CCA request, at least until you have responded to my second question which you say you are looking into, and upon which I will give you further advice on the matter. That, of course, is my opinion only.

In a prior post on this thread it appeared to be suggested that all a Solicitor will do is make a CCA request on your behalf. If that was the intention of that post, that is not true and it grossly undersells what myself and my colleagues do on a daily basis to assist and protect consumers. I would hope anyone who has been a client of my firm will attest to the same.

In any event, and prior to your anticipated response to my second question, my preliminary thoughts, and this is based only on the two documents you have sent to me, are;

1. My hunch is that this creditor is going to a great deal of difficulty in proving any legal assignment;
2. I also find it to be likely the stated company is not the company you actually entered into the alleged agreement with. That is based upon my experience;
3. The alleged original creditor lost, or gave up, its status as being authorised with the FCA this year. Nothing really falls on that point, except;
4. You have to question why an agreement dated when it was, according to the letter of claim which may or may not be correct, has been assigned so quickly to a debt purchaser, on the date the letter of claim says it was. Is that because the agreement is unenforceable? We don't know at this stage;
5. Upon your response to my second question I will be much better placed to advise you, and the answers to the above will likely become a lot clearer. Along with a number of potential issues for the creditor.

I look forward to hearing from you further.

[Perth81]

It appears that I haven’t received Default Notice or assignment of debt to from the initial creditor to Arrow Global.
Any suggestions?

[Still Waving]

It appears that I haven’t received Default Notice or assignment of debt to from the initial creditor to Arrow Global.
Any suggestions?

Re-read from post #18 above. I think Colin would advise that this is not the time to raise it as an issue. Ask him.

[Perth81]

So best option is to ignore letter i guess

[Still Waving]

So best option is to ignore letter i guess

Don't guess - Are you still in touch with Colin? I thought he was giving you some free advice.

[Perth81]

Yes, will definitely wait for his opinion on this one.

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi,

I did receive your email about this. Apologies for the delay. I have been inundated in the office.

If a creditor has terminated an agreement without first serving a compliant Default Notice, then not only has that creditor breached the agreement itself, but it has also broken the law.

The effect of that would be that any court claim would in turn be unlawful as the creditor has no right to demand repayment of an entire outstanding balance prior to the expiry of a compliant Default Notice. The breach can't be remedied as the creditor has already unlawfully terminated the agreement, and the creditor, or any assignee, loses any right to demand payment of the alleged balance outstanding.

Whatever you decide, whether it be to respond to the letter of claim, or to not do so, in absolutely no circumstances should you make the other side aware of the matter. Do not even mention a Default Notice to them in any correspondence.

You mentioned you would search for a Default Notice, if any. Did you manage to unearth any other documents? If so, if you wanted to email them to me I'll have a look. If not, let me know and I'll let you know my thoughts at this stage and then you can make the decision that best suits you.

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi,

I have received your latest email and the attachments.

There is nothing in those letters, so to speak. They are a demonstration of Arrow playing hot potato.

From everything you have said, and from everything I have seen, I believe you have very good prospects of defending any Claim, if actually brought against you.

A reply to the Letter of Claim at this stage may alert Arrow to an extent that is detrimental to any case you propose to advance.

I also would suggest the creditor has no right to demand this money from you, for reasons I believe it best to discuss privately.

That being said, I have consideration of the sum of money being pursued.

On that basis, you have the following options;

1. Your can respond to the Letter of Claim. However, that will give Arrow a chance to 'rectify' or 'attempt to rectify' any issues in their prospective case, of which there already appears to be many. Responding to the Letter of Claim will alert them to the fact they are dealing with someone who is intending to defend their prospective Claim. So they will 'try harder', if you see what I mean;
2. You can attempt to come to a deal with Arrow, prior to any prospective proceedings. However, that would need to be approached with extreme caution. Doing so in the wrong way will be an open admission of the debt and, if rejected by the creditor, which they will say they have a right to so reject, will not only extend the Limitation period, but it will also seriously harm your case if they go on to issue a Claim in any event; or
3. You can ignore the Letter of Claim and see what their next move is. It may be to issue a Claim against you, or it may not be. There is no real way of knowing at this stage. All we have is a letter saying they are going to issue a Claim, so you can't be criticised for accepting that letter on face value as their intended next step.

If they issue a Claim you can represent yourself, you can instruct a firm of Solicitors, or you can instruct my firm of Solicitors. I, personally, would certainly be happy to take the case on. However, that obviously comes at a monetary expense, which you may or may not recover from the other side if you are successful. In this case, If a properly pleaded case is presented I do not see any reason why you would not be successful. Obviously, no guarantees can ever be given.

It is a case of determining if you you believe you owe this alleged assignee any money, and not whether you simply owe money to someone, whether they actually have any case against you, whether any Claim would actually be an unlawful activity, and to what extent you want to stand up for your rights as a consumer and to challenge them.

If you need any further information please let me know, or feel free to contact our office, where we would be happy to discuss matters with you.

[Perth81]

Thank you Colin for establishing the available options, you will hear from me soon!

[Perth81]

I just realised that the debt doesn’t appear in my credit report, unlike the rest of them. Like Colin mentioned, it most likely can’t be enforced, but still I don’t have neither the experience to defend myself in a court, or afford any fee at my current financial situation. The debt itself is the smallest one compared to my other ones so i was thinking to fill up a Cca to Arrow and s78 request to the creditor expecting they will pull off it. Does that sound reasonable?
Another question would be if i can use to my favour the fact that my previous verbal request of Cca wasn’t satisfied by the previous company who was managing the debt on behalf of Arrow (we are working towards it, expect us to send it by middle of Jully letter, never received though)?