Lowell Finance chasing statute barred debt

MrCJW

Hi again,

My efforts to tidy up my credit file are provng to be very difficult and stressful.

I have an old Barclays Student overdraft which I consider to be statue barred as I have not acknowleged it in any way since 2002.

Lowell Financial have written to me demanding payment, so I called them.

They tell me that I made a payment in January 2008 for £20. This is complete lies. I have asked them to send me a statement showing when and where this payment was aledgedly made, which they said they have already done 2 weeks ago. Again, complete lies.

How on earth can they just make something like that up to counter the Statute Barred status?

If this statement shows a payment as being made, how can I dispute it?

This is really scaring me, and I don't know what I can do.... any advice would be greatfully received.

Thx.

CCCS_Sarah

MrCJW wrote: »

Hi again,

My efforts to tidy up my credit file are provng to be very difficult and stressful.

I have an old Barclays Student overdraft which I consider to be statue barred as I have not acknowleged it in any way since 2002.

Lowell Financial have written to me demanding payment, so I called them.

They tell me that I made a payment in January 2008 for £20. This is complete lies. I have asked them to send me a statement showing when and where this payment was aledgedly made, which they said they have already done 2 weeks ago. Again, complete lies.

How on earth can they just make something like that up to counter the Statute Barred status?

If this statement shows a payment as being made, how can I dispute it?

This is really scaring me, and I don't know what I can do.... any advice would be greatfully received.

Thx.

Hello,

You could try sending the following letter and see how you get on.

Sarah

Example letter – limitations act

From:
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Date:
To:
Creditor’s Name:
Account/Agreement No:

Without Prejudice

Dear Sirs
Ref
I do not admit any liability for your claim and will not be making any payment towards it, as it is now more than six-years since any cause of action may have accrued. Any claim would, therefore, appear to be statute barred under section 5 of The Limitations Act 1980 and any court claim will be defended on that basis.
In addition section 2.14 of The Office of Fair Trading Collection guidance states that it is unfair to pursue such claims where, as here, the creditor has made no contact during the relevant limitation period.
If, however, you have substantive evidence that your claim is not statute barred then please supply it to me within 21 days. If you are unable to provide such evidence please confirm that no further action will be taken against me.
Yours faithfully
(Signature)
(Print name)

fermi

MrCJW wrote: »

so I called them.

DON'T CALL THEM!!! :eek:

Their staff will lie through their teeth, so ONLY DEAL WITH THEM IN WRITING.

Require that they provide you with documentary proof that would stand up in court. If you didn't make a payment, that that will clearly be impossible.

State that you are prepared to defend any legal action that they might attempt, and that you will require them to provide evidence of a payment or acknowledgement to the court.

Hannah_10

You've recieved what looks to me to be great advice above and I can't add to that so I wont mess about trying to.

What I will say though is after years of DCA's hounding me I have grown cynical and hardened to it, the vast majority of the time they opperate on fear, guilt and the other darker emotions to get a result they wouldn't get by fair play.

So the golden rule is do not let them scare you.

The second golden rule is if they DO scare you do not let that influence how you proceed!

Come back and get advice, either here, or from one of the charities:- CCCS, National Debtline etc. instead.