Lowell Problems, They say i owe them money

cowps · 28 July 2008 at 5:55PM

a few years ago i had a capital one credit card, ended up having problems paying them back and it went to a company called bucanan clerk and wells, i paid them off 4 years ago, now in january of this year i got a letter from a company called lowell claiming they got the account from capital one and i owe them £348, i told them i paid a different company and that they should take it p with them, they told me it was my responsiblility to prove i'd paid this other company where as i had been told that it was their responsiblility to prove that i had not paind it, thsi has been going on for 7 months now of them sending me letters me replying and we've been saying the same thing to each other, it looks like its finally going to court where if i have to prove it i shall, my question is that because i don't know exactly when it was paid that i will have to get statements for the year to check when it was paid and i will have to pay for them, so can i then claim the cost from lowell for these statements, and also my second question is who has to prove what before it gets to court or even once it gets to court? and of coarse once we prove that we have paid it can i claim costs from lowell?

Ames · 28 July 2008 at 6:02PM

When you say you paid it off, did you pay it in full or was it a reduced settlement?

If you have to get the statements back you can do a subject access request to get all information from the last 6 years that they hold on you for £10 (that's the maximum in law they can charge I think). If it goes to court I would have thought you could claim it back, if it were me I'd try! But that's a big if.

Have you done a CCA and deeds of assignment request? If they can't prove that you owe the money, if they still go ahead and take you to court then it'll be much harder for them to win.

I'm sure other experts will be along soon to help you out.

RAS · 28 July 2008 at 6:17PM

Starter for 10 here

You need to send Lowell the letter below, registered post with a £1 postal order.

Usually we would say do not sign, but snce you have been inextensive correspondence, it does not matter.

Once you do this they are breaking the rules if they continue with any action against you, without prooviding the CCA

Lowell have 12 working days plus 2 days to allow for postage before they are in default.

30 days after that, they are breaking the law if they try to pursue you for the debt. Lowell tend to be a bit slow realising this, but if they went anywhere near a court without the CCA, it would be thrown out.

EDIT

take the last para out if it does not apply.

And if they carry on after the 12+2 days is up, then I would suggest you start complaing to the OFT and the trading standards.

Lette below

Dear sirs

Re:−
Your Ref:

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, therefore if I do not receive evidence that I owe your company any monies by 20 December 2007, I will have no hesitation in passing your details to the Office of Fair Trading.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Regarding your threat that a Doorstep Collector will call the owner of this property is denying you or anybody working on your behalf access onto their estate or grounds in relation to this disputed debt, should you or any agent acting for you attempt to gain access to the estate or its grounds, then you will be ignoring your denial of access and the owner of (enter address) will take legal steps to sue both you and or your agents for trespass, please also note that having a letterbox on the property gives you or anyone working on your behalf neither implied nor expressed rights to enter the properties boundaries, again any instances of trespass WILL lead the property owner to sue both yourselves or any agents working on your behalf.

Yours faithfully

cowps · 13 August 2008 at 5:16PM

hey there, firstly thanks for your help, its been a huge relief to finally be getting somewhere with these guys, i sent the letter as you said to and at first heard nothing but then they went back to the phoning, first getting txt messages on my phone then a guy called, soon as i said we were only dealing with them by letter he hung up, nice eh, anyway we got a letter yesterday ackwoledging the letter i sent them but saying while they were trying to get the infomation in the 12 days but it may take longer and they would let us know if this was the case. from what i understand about section 78 which isn't much am i right in thinking that even if they can produce a CCA after say 16 days that they can no longer chase me for any money they say i owe them?

RAS · 13 August 2008 at 5:36PM

Hi

After 12 working days plus two for postage, they are in default.

Legally, they should not be chasing you once the debt is in dispute (they have signed for the letter), although a number of DCAs specialise in tormenting people or trying to panic them into paying a reduced settlement just before the time is up.

Once another 30 calendar days are up, you can write to them and tell them to get lost, to remove your details and not to sell on the debt. They may do this however, but them you need to complain to the OFT and trading standards and the Information Commisioner.

Rugbys · 20 August 2008 at 10:07PM

If you are sure that your debt is now time bound, then write to LP1 and state - you dispute any amount is owed, instruct them to stop writing/telephoning/emailing you if they do not stop this is harrasment.
If you have written to them and asked them to stop contacting you and they continue this is harrasment - report them to West Yorkshire Trading Standards Department as this company is based there. WYTS can be contacted via Consumer Direct 08454 04 05 06.
DO NOT PAY THIS COMPANY ANY MONEY.

LunarTic · 20 August 2008 at 10:26PM

Also, you could check the Office of Fair Trading guidelines by which debt collection agencies must abide... http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

More information is available here, including a link to a complaints form should it transpire that any guidelines may have been broken: http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection

cowps · 5 September 2008 at 2:17PM

ok story so far and thank you very much for your help so far, sent the letter off then about after 10 days they sent a letter saying they were in communication with capital one saying they were trying to get the requested infomation but it would take longer then the amount of time given, then the 12 days ellapsed then they offered a smaller settlement but the date given on the time limit was the day before the letter arrived, then today a letter arrived enclosed with a photocopy of the agreement i signed, and a letter saying they have enclosed all information i requested and the total fee is now due, but there was no mention of the deed of assingment! or statement of account, so they haven't given all information required have they? and if they haven't i still don't need to pay right untill the other two are sent, so do i have to send them a letter saying the other two bits are missing? the end of the 12 days was the the 19th of august and its now the 5th of september and now to top it off i've had a txt call and poor to understand voicemail from a company called RED who from reading these forums is connected to lowell, and i believe they are now in violation of the credit act right?

Peoples_Champion · 8 October 2008 at 9:26PM

re: suing lowell portfolio aka lowell group aka red collections agency aka reddcs.com

Take a look at the website Lowells.co.uk and join the legal fight.

a domain name which they overlooked reserving is now being used against them.
You will find plenty of links on there pertaining to them being sued successfully and how YOU can do the same. Its time they went down for good.
It may also interest you to know they now have the authorities onto them.

Sincerely
Peoples Champion
x

slanrnwl · 24 October 2008 at 4:28PM

hi.i had a PROBLEM WITH MY IDENTIY BEING STOLAN SOMEONE OPENED A THREE MOBILE CONTACT IN MY NAME AND ADDRESS.I TOLD THREE BUT THETY DIDNT LISTEN AND NOW LOWELLS HAVE GOT THE ACCOUNT AND SAY I OWE THEM 426 POUNDS WITH THIS ACCOUNT THAT I DIDNT OPEN.WHAT SHOULD I DO

angry_debtor · 24 June 2010 at 1:30PM

adv them that u were a victim of id theft and these were taken out in ur name. they will ask u if u reported it to the police and got a crime ref number. stick to ur guns with them dont back down adv them that u want this investigated as fraud by them. they may ask u to make a payment in full and refund u later do not do this and do not also set up any kind of payment plan as they will consider this as u acknowledging the debt.

Lowell Problems, They say i owe them money

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