Red/Lowell Group.

rasinkernow

Please excuse my ignorance in this matter. I have a bit of a time issue.
Basically i recieved a letter from red collection services about an outstanding debt i have for circa £6000. In the time i've had ive scanned the forrums and a lot of people have said they've recieved letters from the red collection service or Lowell group, but all seem to be about debts over 6 years or paid off debts. When i phoned them (stupidly?) they offered to half the debt if i paid in FULL before the end off the month. I can borrow this money and it would be a huge weight off my shoulders if i can clear it.
This, however, seems a little too good to be true.

My question is simply: Is this company real?

THey haven't conducted the phone conversations in a particularly professional manner and the lowell website looks as though a child put it together. The RED collection services web site, does not exist.

If they are real and not just fishing for debts, is there anyway i can get them to prove they are holding my real debt or if they have just come across one of my letters in the bin.

Thanks in advance.

fatbelly

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Are you Cornish?

Red are real enough. But you are right. If your creditor did not inform you that they were instructing Lowell (or selling the debt to them) then you should not make payment until it is clarified.

If this relates to a Consumer Credit Act debt then you can require them to produce a copy of the signed agreement. There's a factsheet here.

My gut feeling is that they would do a full and final settlement deal at less than 50%. You could put a lower offer to them using a version of the letter in this factsheet.

rasinkernow

Thanks for your quick reply.
Leaves me in an awkard position, either i make the payment within the next 6 days and hope its my real debt, or miss out on this opertunity and spend the rest of my life paying them off. Is it possible that this kind of offer will come up again? Or are they likely to accept a lump sum at a later date?

Is this a normal practise or is it the only advantage to the credit crunch?

I am cornish, well spotted.

Cheers

fermi

It's likely that Lowells purchased the debt for quite a bit lower than 50% so I agree with fatbelly that they may well go lower.

Do you have any indication who or what this debt is for? If it is your debt, how old would it have been.

If it is for a credit card, loan, catalogue or other agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act (not overdrafts) then it might be idea to check to see whether there is the correct documentation/agreement to back it up.

For a regulated debt taken out before April 2007 they would not be entitled to enforce the agreement if they cannot produce a copy that contains the correct information under the act.

If they are willing to take a 50% settlement from the start, it does make you wonder if they have anything that would stand up in court.;)

rasinkernow

The debt is for a loan i (stupidly) took out mid 2006, the amount seems to tally with my barclays loan.
It all just seems too good to be true.
I can't shake the feeling that the company isn't legit.

Thanks for your help.

brightonman123

I feel Red are the 'legal' arm (or trading style, at least) of Lowell.. get written conf of any f/f offer to be logged with credit agencies, and that remainder is cancelled/credited- otherwise it wll stil show o/s, and someone else may take it on down the line..

hopefully you have checked/reclaimed any charges?

fermi

Red Collections are indeed a "trading style" of Lowells. It will often say that on the bottom of any letter from Red.

If the debt is from as recent as 2006 then it is more likely that a valid agreement exists.

May still be worth checking though since I find it very odd that you are considering paying a debt without any proof as to what it is and who was owed?

Lowells are a genuine company, but their methods of debt collection leave a lot to be desired. They appear to frequently ignore the Office of Fair Trading guidelines on fair practice in debt collection. "pond life" is a phrase I have heard frequently used. :rotfl:

Don't believe a word of anything they tell you over the phone. If you do find yourself agreeing to an offer for a settlement then make sure that the offer is in WRITING, stating that it is a full and final settlement. Read the factsheet linked to by fatbelly.

Debt collectors such as Lowells have been known to agree a settlement over the phone and take payment, and then deny any knowlege of the settlement. Then people find later on that they are being chased for the remainder. :rolleyes:

rasinkernow

Thanks to every one who has contributed, every one seems so well informed i feel like a real dunce.
I have decieded my course of action. As Fermi said its very odd to consider paying off a debt that i don't know 100% is mine. I will therefore send off the CCA form for full confirmation(thanks to fatbelly), even if it means missing out on this 'deal'. Then i will over them a lump sum settlement, if indeed it is my debt.
Once again thanks to all who have replied. I will continue to check this thread if anyone else has any other thoughts.
Rich

Peoples_Champion

if you go to LOWELLS dot co dot uk you will read every post you need to see that LOWELL are a fraudulent company who buy up old debt and in most cases settled debt to chase innocent people and scare them into paying them. LOWELL themselves have been sued and bailiffs are now trying to establish where all THEIR properties are. DONT PAY THEM A PENNY. Cut and paste the letter on that site and you will never hear from them again. Then you should email the yorkshire trading standards and get a reference number from them as I did. They then forward it to the Office of fair trading. The serious fraud office https://www.sfo.gov.uk are also aware of LOWELL and their RED COLLECTIONS scam.

merri-drake

Peoples_Champion wrote: »

if you go to LOWELLS dot co dot uk you will read every post you need to see that LOWELL are a fraudulent company who buy up old debt and in most cases settled debt to chase innocent people and scare them into paying them. LOWELL themselves have been sued and bailiffs are now trying to establish where all THEIR properties are. DONT PAY THEM A PENNY. Cut and paste the letter on that site and you will never hear from them again. Then you should email the yorkshire trading standards and get a reference number from them as I did. They then forward it to the Office of fair trading. The serious fraud office www.sfo.gov.uk are also aware of LOWELL and their RED COLLECTIONS scam.

Is there anyway that this can be confirmed? I realise that these people are pond life, but I am trying to organise a repayment plan and my mum has debt that she is repaying to them... will my money be going to the right place?

katyjinny

My daughter recently received a letter from Lowell demanding money for a debt they said she owed to 3 mobile. She did have a disagreement with 3 mobile about 4 years ago over a bill raised several months after her contract had ended. We thought it had been resolved so this letter came out of the blue. After reading comments on several forums we decided to ignore the letter. However my daughter has now had an interview for a job in a bank and this 'debt' has shown up as a defaulted payment which the bank says she has to clear before she can take the job. How does such a debt come to appear on her credit reference without her being notified and does anyone know whether we can have it removed?