Claim Form real or fake? Statute barred?

A question about : Claim Form real or fake? Statute barred?

Hi, Today I received a claim form with the claimant being Lowell portfolio saying I owe Ј500+ for a debt from many years ago from capital One. In the top right it says In the 'County Court Business centre', below it it gives the court address and below that a seal which doesnt look real to me. The seal says 'The County court'. Now i want to respond to this but I wanted to clarify first whether its a genuine claim form or fake. Can anyone help? i can give more details if needed. Thanks in advance

Best answers:

• Can you post a picture of it, but blank out any personal details (including names, addresses, account numbers, telephone numbers, national insurance no. etc..) first?
• Under the bit that says "County Court Business Centre" is there a claim number?
  Also further down the front page on the right hand side it should have another box which is headed "Important Note" it should in this direct you to log onto moneyclaim.gov.uk and there should be a password below this to enable you to do that. You will need to set up an account if so, it's all pretty easy.
  I recently got one of these from a debt collection company and thought it might be fake too. I think it is the automation of these forms that makes it look like this.
  If it is real it is really important to make a response to it otherwise you will end up with a County Court Judgment against you!
  Is it a really old debt?
  Good luck!
• Lowell are complete barstewards, but they do not send out fake claim forms.
• Thanks guys for the quick replies. Yes, there is a claim number and there is a box labelled 'Important Note' and i do have a password too. I suppose I better respond. Just one last thing. On the left where it tells of the particulars of claim it says that it was assigned to the claimant on 28/07/2006. Does this mean that the debt is 'Statute barred'? Once again thanks for your help guys
• Sorry Matttye*
• Defence something like
  The Defendant contends that as this is a claim in contract and an excess of 6 years have passed since any cause of action may have accrued, any alleged debt is therefore statute barred pursuant to section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980.
  The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of Ј or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.
• Look at fermi's templates but I have just done this myself and was advised to quote the following:
  I would point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5:
  "An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued."
  I would point out that in their Consumer Credit sourcebook, the Financial Conduct Authority states the following rules:
  "...a firm must not attempt to recover a statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if the lender or owner has not been in contact with the customer during the limitation period." 7.15.4
  "A firm must not continue to demand payment from a customer after the customer has stated that he will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred." 7.15.8
  The last payment or acknowledgement of this debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed.
  You just need to adjust it to your particular case. I got a response back from the court really quickly. If Lowell has a case then they will need to put in proof of defense.
  Good luck!
• Thanks guys, much appreciated
• You need to keep a close eye on the dates for acknowledgement and submission of your defence.
  Failure to submit either in time risks them winning by default - whatever the merits of your case.
• They are probably hoping you don't defend it so they get a default judgement.