Urgent Please - lowells DCA

RAS

Hi

Just to check as the last few days have been mad.

When did you send the CCA letter?
Did you send it with the £1?
Did you send it registered post?

Have they signed for it yet?

if yes to all these, then just sit tight. What lowell do when a CCA is requested is to make repeated attempts to panic the debtor into coughing up by sending letters with very short deadlines or deadlines in the past. if the poor sod rings, then Lowell have the psychological advantage.

LunarTic

eira wrote: »

Lowlife sums up Lowell admirably-keep EVERYTHING in writing. They even tapped into my daughters credit account to get at me and rang a phone number they'd got from somewhere and discussed the account with them.they denied this but there was no way they could have got the rental address in any other way.They pressurise endlessly for 'discussions' over the phone and have a pair of alleged 'solicitors' firms which are them in disguise-it's on the Companies House website.They are bullies that are operating inches away from breaking the law.Keep everything in writing and don't budge an inch until they comply

If you believe that a data protection breach may have taken place with regards to this, then I refer you to section 1.2 of the Office of Fair Trading's Debt Collection Guidance document, http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

"Where the OFT has evidence we can take action to refuse or revoke the credit licences of those concerned. This includes evidence that a creditor or debt collector, or any tracing agency engaged on their behalf, has contravened section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 by knowingly or recklessly obtaining, disclosing or procuring the unlawful disclosure of personal data without the informed consent of the organisation holding the data."

You may find the following link useful should you wish to contact the OFT regarding this issue, http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection

LunarTic

RAS wrote: »

First off, please never give your card details to a DCA. We have a number of instances of them taking more than they agreed. or taking the first payment and then extracting the rest later without explicit agreement.

Surely if a DCA makes an unauthorised payment on a credit card then you would be able to seek redress from the credit card company - in a similar way to being able to claim for goods bought on a credit card that you have not subsequently received?

TopTrumper

UPDATE

After several phonecalls, i had them draft up this letter, do you think this is good enough from them? to be honest i just want shut of them and this debt...comments please


26 August, 2008

WITHOUT PREJUDICE



Our Ref: 92181550
Original Creditor: Barclaycard
Balance Outstanding: £2350.00



I have pleasure in confirming that our client Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd are prepared to accept the sum of £1,500.00 in full and final settlement of your personal liability to them.

This sum will only be accepted provided that cleared funds, are received by us, no later than 25 July, 2008, otherwise any agreement you had with us will be null and void.

We look forward to receiving the outstanding balance and bringing this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.

Please ensure payment is sent by return in the stamped addressed envelope provided.

Yours sincerely






PS Do you think there is a catch in the date? should i tell them to put this weeks date?

RAS

Hi

Forget it.

You need them to committ in writing that they will record that the debt is paid full and final on your credit record, and certainly you need the date correct and a few days to pay.

Di you ever get the CCA back?

Lowel have a reputation for buying debt that is either out of date or not documented.

Unless they have already supplied you with the signed CCA for this debt, then the case is unenforceable in law. if you already have a default on this, then you do not have to pay anything, let alone £1500.

eira

Did report Lowell to OFFT but was told that there would have to be 'a substantial number of complaints' for them to act.the mantyra that kept being repeated was that they 'had a licence' and in that case no one asked too many questions as to where they sniffed around. Lowell vehemently denied going into any account other than mine but there was no way they could possibly have got the information from my account-there was no link whatsoever.

Got my Experian account passworded and that didn't do any good either. It's almost as if once you get pushed into the pool with these sharks you're easy meat and no one is really interested in legislating them

TopTrumper

UPDATE

I have just been putting these people off for ages now, i think they are stalling with paperwork, it seems ages ago that they started hounding me.

The debt was to barclaycard for about £1100 which suddenly jumped up to about £2385 when it reached lowells.

As stated they will except £1500 resettlement to clear off the debt, they have sent me a letter stating the debt is to them and no other companys will pursue me for the debt.

MEANWHILE

I often check my experian credit report, and i do not have any black marks against me since a few months ago, not even the barclays one, does this stand me in good stead regarding the debt, and i noticed lowells did a search on me a few weeks ago and they of course would have seen this.
I have paid lowells £100 off this about 5 months ago, any advice please???
Thanks

RAS

Please can you answer the questions listed previously.

When did you send the CCA letter?
Did you send it with the £1?
Did you send it registered post?

Have they signed for it yet?

TopTrumper

RAS,
no i have not sent anything in writing to them

RAS

So, you really need to do this, as they cannot default on a request that you have not formally made, in law.

Lowell's are hard enough to deal with if you geyt all the legal stuff right.

Send this letter by registered post with a £1 postal order, and do not sign it, print your name or get someone else to actually sign.




I do not acknowledge any debt to your company.

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 s78 Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee, PO Serial Number xxxxx.

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.

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.

Yous

TT


Got to go now.