Help with Lowell's Financial

RocknRollStar

Hi,

I am wondering if any of you guys can help me.

Back in (I think) 2003 I had a credit card with Capital One, it had a £200 credit limit and shortly after I lost my job. It was around the limit and because I couldn't afford the payments at the time they had the audacity to charge me and up the bill over a short period of time to over £800!!

I was adamant that they were not getting that much out of me, as far as I was concerned I would happily pay £200 but not the extortionate amount they were asking for. The years passed and now after finishing university I have moved in temporarily at my girlfriend's parents house. Now this is temporary so I can still stay with her, but I am unemployed and claiming jobseekers allowance at this address, just because it didn't make any sense to keep going back and forward to my parents home address.

Last week a company called Lowell Financial has sent a letter to my girlfriends parents address claiming they are acting on behalf of Capital One and they want £877 from me immediately. I came on this forum and saw a template for a letter regarding asking them for a legitimate copy of my signed credit agreement. I did this from the address I consider my home address (my mums and where the original card was applied from) and sent it recorded delivery on the 15th October.

They have now replied, again to my girlfriends parents addressand the letter basically says (dated the 18th): 'We are in receipt of correspondence regarding your account and will respond to you or your appointed representative, where appropriate, as soon as possible. Your account has been placed on hold whilst we deal with teh correspondence and during this time you will not receive any contact from our collections team. There is no need for you or your appointed representative to write to us again regarding this matter, however should either of you wish to speak to someone in our Customer Service team please do not hesitate to call.

Now what does that mean? Do they not have to provide this signed copy of my credit aggreement within 14 days or is this letter enough to satisfy that requirement?

What shall I do next? At the end of the day, they have no right to be sending letters to this address as it is not my house. Is this going to affect their credit rating or blacklist their house? Because if it is then I will have to move back home permanently because their is no way I could ever do something like that to them.

Also I think that the debt is over six years now so would I be able to get it written off? If not what other options are available to me?


Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Ste

CeeBeeDeeBee

Hi, I have had this with Capital One but with CapQuest.

I'm not an expert but I too posted a CCA request to my DCA and got the standard 'we're looking into it' letter and the account on hold.

If they do not send you a valid CCA within 14 days send the second letter saying account in dispute. Until they supply your CCA they cannot do anything.

The mamouth Unenforceability thread is the place to look!

Not sure about the 6 year thing I think it is only effective in certain circumstances.
Chris

CeeBeeDeeBee

They will be sending stuff to your GFs house as all your addresses will be linked on your credit file and that is where they would have got it from.

Chris

fermi

It won't effect your girlfriends parents credit report, so don't worry on that score.

The 6 years...........

For a debt to be "statute barred" under the Limitations Act 1980, there must have been a full period of 6 years during which you did not either acknowledge the debt in writing yourself or make a payment towards it.

Have a read through the factsheet here:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act

RocknRollStar

Thanks for your reply guys.

After just looking online at my credit report its seems that the account only defaulted from 12/12/06. However I definitely did not make any payment in December of 2006, I was in my first year at uni and money was hard to come by as it was.

The account was opened on the 1st November 2004 so the 6 years is not up yet either. What can be done about this as I feel like some sort of criminal when these letters turn up to my girlfriends house.

If I really owe them it then why have they not taken me to court or pursued it further with the police etc?

Also, why is this company writing to me and not Capital One? I think the card actually had that insurance on it (which I never asked for) and that is possibly why the balance was so high in regards to the actual credit limit. £200 limit and £877 allegedly owed is quite a difference! Surely that would be about 200% APR + a year!!

RAS

Have you requested a CCA? In 2004, Cap 1 was unlikely to have done one that was legally compliant.

RocknRollStar

RAS wrote: »

Have you requested a CCA? In 2004, Cap 1 was unlikely to have done one that was legally compliant.

I have sent a letter asking them for my CCA and they replied (as stated and their reaction is in my original post). Obviously I will wait until the 29th November to see if they can produce it and if not then I will send them the 2nd letter in response.

It is just annoying me that they are dealing with it, when it was with Capital One. They sent me letters about it around 2005-2006 and then they completely stopped, then al of a sudden three years later they have started re-sending them. If I really owe it then why are they just dishing out these generic letters instead of actually doing something about it?

If they do send a CCA and it has my signature on it, say if it wasn't legally compliant where would I go from there?


I will update with what they say (if anything) in the next week or so leading up to the deadline.

RAS

RocknRollStar wrote: »

If they do send a CCA and it has my signature on it, say if it wasn't legally compliant where would I go from there?
.

if it is Cap 1 the most likely thing is that you will get a piece of paper with your signature which says it is a CCA. But it will be an application form. I have seen ONE legally compliant CCA from Cap1.

At that point you can tell them to sling their hook and they can do nothing or you cold offer a fulll and final at about £50.

RocknRollStar

RAS wrote: »

if it is Cap 1 the most likely thing is that you will get a piece of paper with your signature which says it is a CCA. But it will be an application form. I have seen ONE legally compliant CCA from Cap1.

At that point you can tell them to sling their hook and they can do nothing or you cold offer a fulll and final at about £50.

Thanks for your reply. Is there an official letter template to tell them to 'sling their hook' or will that comment suffice? :P

CeeBeeDeeBee

I think I must be the only person with a valid CCA from Cap1 lol, I still told CapQuest it was unenforceable and haven't heard back from them yet

If you get an unenforcable CCA or no CCA at all they can still (and by all accounts do) trash your credit file with defaults etc and still keep hassling you. The best thing to do is use it as a bargaining tool to get a low F&F settlement as RAS says.

Chris

pepe2008

Lowells, as usual, trying to get money for nothing.
Do nothing except send them a Default Notice.

remind them that if they place ANY default Notice etc on ANY address associated with you whilst they are unable to provide a valid CCA then you will make a Formal Complaint against them.