re my last posting thankyou for your comments. i have already contacted local solicitors & cab but to be truthful they have been very unhelpful & it is questionable exactly whos side they are on. on reading claim form which has come from the courts i noted the details with regards to disputing the claim & fileing a defence. this is what one kind person who replied to my last posting stated i needed to do. could you please clarify the following for me 1) because i have had no help from solicitors or cab can i file my own defence or would you advise that i didn't. 2) re counterclaims not knowing much about this area but am i able to counterclaim against the building society with regards to the fact that they have harrassed me so much threats etc that i have been unable to work & am on constant medication my doctor/councellor states that they will back me re this. what do you think on reading the sites dos & donts & what to do when you receive a summons i have picked up some good advice with regards to counterclaiming mis-selling/misrepresentation re the MIG which was in place. any info would be greatly appreciated as obviously the 14 day deadline is ticking away. thanks to all of you

-- sunita (sunitakaur@aol.com), September 26, 2001

Answers

Hi I know what a confusing time it is.

You should have been sent a ‘Acknowledgement of Service’ form well as the claim/counterclaim form. If you send the ‘Acknowledgement of Service’ form back asap this will give you 28 days from the date of when the summons was served. It gets you a little more time. The court service is very helpful if you call them.

Let me know if you need any other help

Cheers

Jon S

-- JonS (jks_uk2001@yahoo.co.uk), September 27, 2001.

Hi Sunita, Re your court case you are perfectly capable of filing your own defence so please don't worry. Judges are very sympathetic to people representing themselves in person and not using a solicitor,infact they usually bend over backwards to help you.Most solicitors don't no much about shortfalls but they do know about Litigation, You can point them in the right direction and spoon feed them with information.If your percieved debt is over the six year limit or they have undersold your property/mis-sold the MIG etc then it looks like you have a strong defence and counterclaim.Good Luck

-- mam (mam.man@virgiin.net), September 27, 2001.

Hi Sunita.

If you email me I'll email my phone number in return and help you fill in the documents etc.

I can possibly also point you at a more useful legal route than the CAB, although they are normally quite good. To be honest it depends entirely on what branch you go to and how much the individual you spoke to knew about the subject, and as you no doubt are aware now, the information needed is thin on the ground, so its a bit pot-luck really.

Regards Andy

-- (bluemoon_andy@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.