Postcard from Lowell Financial Ltd??

hotcookie101

Today in the post my OH got a pre-printed postcard (with his name and address) saying "we are urgently trying to contact you, I will contact you again between 8am and 8pm, if inconvenient please call 0844xxxxxx" (it came through the post, not handdelivered)
on the back it says from Lowell financial ltd and a PO box address. :eek::eek: He has received no other letters etc from them before this, and we have had no visitors...

To his knowledge he has NO debt whatsoever-he has never had a credit card etc and took out a new bank account about 3 months ago with HSBC and they had no probs giving him £200 overdraft.

Is this legit? does he need to check his credit file-and who with?

Am really worried in case it is real, and he has no knowledge of it...
is there any way it could an effect on the address and my credit rating (we are not married, the house is mortgaged in my name only and he contributes living expenses and is paying me back for all that I spent when we were together and he wasn't working)

Jenna

Hey,

First things first - don't panic! Did the postcard say it was because of a debt? It may be they are just trying to make him call and will then try and sell him a CC or something.

Also, don't call them yet! Wait for someone with lots more advice than me to come along, but I do know that you musn't acknowledge the debt (making a payment counts as acknowledging the debt too by the way).

There are 3 main credit files - Experian, Equifax and I think the third is CallCredit or something like that. There's a full article on the site you can read too and it shows you how to get them for the statutory fee of £2 per agency so £6 in all.

I'm sure it will work out xx

smashedbooboo

Hi hun, DO NOT RING THEM. They are NOT offering credit cards. They are full weight Debt collection agents. I would say check both your credit files to see what is on them just in case. This could be a debt from years ago. Lowells do buy old debts and try to recover them. Dony worry too much hun, this can be sorted. You can get the Experian credit file online. But it costs about 17.00 that way. The other is writing to CRA with a postal order for 2.00 each. Let me know if there is anything else i can do to help. Keep copies of everything you send to Lowells. xxxxxxxxxx

hotcookie101

I know my credit file is spotless (I have checked, and have equifax updates, was subscribed to experian-have a lot of available credit but always up to date etc), this was addressed to OH, we have been together for 2 and a half years, living together for about 2, so it must be from an old address for him.

Definitely not a mistake then? He says no way he owes any money anywhere.

Who do they buy debt from? Would they not have sent a letter first saying why they want him/what the debt is for? Should we wait to see if he gets any other letters?

sorry for all the questions but am panicking a little

smashedbooboo

Ok, stop panicking, not productive and gets you no where at all. I am going to go against my own advice here. You could ring them or he could should i say and ask what it is about. Make sure you have your number turned off if you use a mobile phone or put 141 in front of number if using a landline. Dont take any shoit from them. Ask what they want and tell them you will look into it and leave it at that for now. When you have done that come back and post and i will let you know what to do next.

They buy debts from banks, credit card companies, catalogues, anywhere at all. They buy debts in bulk for a fraction of the value actually owed and then try and get the full amount out of peeps. xxxxxxxxxxx

Deep_In_Debt

the only other thing that I can think of is that they are "fishing". They've bought a debt and can't trace the owner and your OH name is similar so they want him to ring to bully him into paying.

Under no circumstances ring them. I'd sit tight for the moment and see if you get any more letters.

fermi

This is typical fishing from Lowells. :rolleyes:

To be honest I really wouldn't call them. If you do it would simply confirm that they have found someone of that name at your address. If they were sure then they wouldn't need to pull the postcard trick.

I would sit tight and see if you get any properly addressed correspondence regarding whatever debt they are chasing. If Lowells are fishing then it may never come.

hotcookie101

Ok will stop worrying for now, OH going to work tonight at 12 then when he comes home tomorrow will get him to check his credit files online, I know experian and equifax, but is there another one?
He does have a very common name, not quite John Smith but I reckon pretty common none-the-less. Could it be mistaken identity?

fermi

hotcookie101 wrote: »

He does have a very common name, not quite John Smith but I reckon pretty common none-the-less. Could it be mistaken identity?

Although it is against OFT guidelines, Lowells have and will write or send post cards to multiple people of the same name in the hope that they can find the person they are chasing.

So maybe..............

Or it may be something very very old he has forgotten about completely. Hard to tell with these crooks.

Deep_In_Debt

Could be mistaken identity but knowing Lowell tactics more likely fishing. Before I found this forum, I had a similar thing and I rang them and they basically said that by ringing them I was admitting to the debt which wasn't mine!

My name is not uncommon but my surname is not the common way of spelling it (if that makes sense!).

Unfortunately, I opened a can of worms by calling them. I didn't pay as it wasn't my debt but it took a few months of nasty calls to get them to go away.

I'm only saying this from personal experience.

hotcookie101

He has never had a credit card/catalogue etc(has only just opened bank account after over 2 years together without one-and they gave him one no worries with debit card and overdraft ) Could it be if he didnt cancel an old utility account when he moved?


can I also just say how lovely everyone is on this board-you have got back to me so quickly providing reassurance and I REALLY appreciate it-Thanks all :beer: