I think I owe the claimant less than they have claimed for.

Once you have received notice of the claim, you should still respond to the claimant as soon as possible — usually within two weeks of receiving the letter. If your creditor wants to take you to court, you should also check they have the correct documents. They must have a Letter before Claim, a Letter of Claim, and a Claim Pack. The Letter before Claim explains what the creditor feels you haven’t paid, and how often you missed payment. Your creditor must give you two weeks to make payment before following up with the Letter of Claim.

If you make the payments, the creditor will not be able to take the claim any further. Therefore, if you believe you owe slightly less than the claimant says you do, you should consider whether or not they have made an accounting error. You should always consider contacting the claimant directly to see if you can come to an agreement and avoid going to court.

If you were unable to reach an agreement and your creditor has begun legal action, the court will send you a claim pack. You will then have two weeks to respond to the claimant. In the claim pack will be the proposed amount you owe, and documents allowing you to inform the court you will need four weeks to prepare a defence if you disagree with the amount owed. Following this, it will be your job to mount an argument as to why you believe you owe the claimant less than they think you do.