Capital One and Lowell

kempocab

My wife had a very old credit card debt that caught up with her. Her card had a £250 limit. She was a bit silly with it and maxed it. (All before I met her) Charges added up over years to bring the debt handed over to Lowell Portfolio to over £900. We wrote to them a couple of years ago and offered to pay £10 per month but on the condition that they investigate and review the charges. They actually wrote back and accepted and said they would review the charges. 2 years later we wrote and said that we had no response about the charges and would stop they payments at £250, we received a reply threatening the usual legal action. We continued to pay but again asked for charges to be removed. Another year later, we have stopped making payments and asked for charges to be investigated as per their promise. We have just had a reply that said charges were fair as per Capital one's contract.
Pointing out that they are disproportionate based on the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and referring to the Office of Fair Trading’s April 2006 statement into credit card charges, which noted that the level of charges at the time, and prior to that period, were unfair has been completely ignored. We have been threatened with legal action now. I feel happy to let them try to recover the money from me in court as if it is easy to reclaim these types of charges in court, it must be difficult to take us to court. I would like people's comments on my idea, or any better ideas. Lowell are a nightmare to communicate with. Very arrogant and unhelpful

Premier_2

I think your idea is crazy. (Sorry but you did ask for comments on your idea)

You agreed to pay, so you presumably you accepted you owed the money.
You admit the card was max'd out and presumably more so as it was the over limit charges that then mounted.

So your wife owed at least £250, and at £10 a month that would take over two years to repay if there was no interest. I suspect there was hefty interest. As your wife was only paying 4% per month of what was owed it's not surprising the money paid has had little effect on the balance owed. I don't even know if 4% would cover the minimum payments on £250, and it certainly wouldn't on £900 (even before the recent changes that increased most people's minimum payments)

If you wish to try and reclaim charges, read & follow the MSE guide to reclaiming credit card charges ... but in the meantime you need to come to some agreement over repayment ... or get that suit freshly cleaned & pressed

podperson

I think it would be quite tricky trying to defend a court case to pay the debt by claiming on unfair charges so I would suggest keeping the two things separate for now. Set up another arrangement with them for now to pay a small amount per month and then start the reclaiming process properly with Capital One - Lowell will not pay your charges back since it wasn't them that charged them in the first place.

tifo

Premier wrote:

get that suit freshly cleaned & pressed

podperson wrote:

I think it would be quite tricky trying to defend a court case to pay the debt by claiming on unfair charges

If you haven't done so, ask them for a true copy of the agreement (s.78 CCA) and send with £1. Also ask them to bring this to the court hearing.

If you want to go another route, ask for the credit agreement, original terms and conditions and any variations under CPR 4 rule (since they've threatened court action you now need to investigate their claim before you can respond, otherwise it will be seen as unfair action). Also ask them to provide a breakdown of the cost of each charge as you believe it to be disproportional to the actual costs.

Lowell won't chase you for the money and won't take you to court. If they do, use the above. And if you get a court form, tick the box "I don't acknowledge all the debt" and give the reason as "the amount includes unfair charges in breach of regulations".

They've already defaulted your wife, what more can they do before a court order? Nothing.

RV27

Hi

I had a similar experience with Capital One and Lowell. I had a credit card with a limit of £200 which I maxed out in order to pay my rent but could afford to pay it back so charges built up to just over £600. I got an extra job and paid all the money I made from it towards the debt in order to get it cleared. I wasnt paid much so it took quite a while! I got the debt down to £107 before quitting my job. I left it like that for a couple of years and they kept sending out letters. It was only recently that I was in a position to settle the debt in order to clean up my credit report. I didnt contact them I just used the account details they have on the back of the letters they send out and paid through online banking what I could afford, when I could afford it, until it was clear. It meant I didnt have the pressure of being forced into an agreement that I couldnt afford and probablly got it paid off a lot quicker than if I had tried to keep to an agreement. I know it probablly isnt the answer you want to hear but your wife is probablly responsible for any charges as they will be stated in the original agreement that she signed when taking on the card. If your not too bothered about having credit scoring then you could just ignore it as in my experience other than sending out letters they dont actively chase you for the debt and sometimes you can feel like your not getting anywhere when you are trying to get answers from them. If you do care about credit scoring then best to clear it up, although I know it is hard to pay for these charges as you feel you dont owe them and they are stupidly high. I know that you say that they have threatened you with court action but just look and see if the letter says 'we may' or anything like that as a lot of debt letters do which means they have no real intention of taking you to court and is just a scaring tactic to get you to pay. The letters they always sent me said that they would be taking me to court but in the whole 4 years, they never did. Your debt is probablly too small to warrant them going to court with it. Best of luck and hope this helps.

kempocab

Premier wrote: »

I think your idea is crazy.

You agreed to pay, so you presumably you accepted you owed the money.


You admit the card was max'd out and presumably more so as it was the over limit charges that then mounted.

So your wife owed at least £250, and at £10 a month that would take over two years to repay if there was no interest. I suspect there was hefty interest. As your wife was only paying 4% per month of what was owed it's not surprising the money paid has had little effect on the balance owed. I don't even know if 4% would cover the minimum payments on £250, and it certainly wouldn't on £900 (even before the recent changes that increased most people's minimum payments)



If you wish to try and reclaim charges, read & follow the MSE guide to reclaiming credit card charges ... but in the meantime you need to come to some agreement over repayment ... or get that suit freshly cleaned & pressed

Agreed that some of the debt was valid but were not accepting charges.
Read the guide thank you. And there is reason to think that if it is possible to reclaim unfair charges, then it would be difficult to enforce unpaid charges.
I didn't need the maths lesson, just an opinion on my choice of action,Thank you for your sarcasm.

Anyway, Lowell have replied finally today with an apology for taking so long to reply. They have reduced all of the charges for £20 to £12 which leaves a balance of just a little of £350.00 now. I am quite happy with this and will probably settle on this. I am considering fighting to have the charges completely removed, but I am not sure if I can be bothered with the hassle anymore.

podperson

I would push for it - Cap1 offered me the difference between the charges first. Wrote back to them saying wanted the full charges refunded, quoted the OFT report to them and said would be taking to court if not. Got the full charges back within 3 weeks.

kempocab

I have written to Lowell and told them that we will not be paying anymore money to them and said that we will argue our case in court should they wish to attempt action.

They have now "forgotten" that they reduced the debt and keep trying to request the original balance again. Letters from Lowell and their other partners requesting the original amount are now ignored. They have also offered a 25% discount on the original balance.

Wonder how long they will take to give up.

I know some of you think that our choice of action is crazy and I am not seeking advice. I just want to share our experience. I will keep the forum updated, whatever the outcome.

Premier_2

kempocab wrote: »

I have written to Lowell and told them that we will not be paying anymore money to them and said that we will argue our case in court should they wish to attempt action.

They have now "forgotten" that they reduced the debt and keep trying to request the original balance again. Letters from Lowell and their other partners requesting the original amount are now ignored. They have also offered a 25% discount on the original balance.

Wonder how long they will take to give up.

I know some of you think that our choice of action is crazy and I am not seeking advice. I just want to share our experience. I will keep the forum updated, whatever the outcome.

Debts rarely just disapper. I suggest you get your suit cleaned & pressed.

kempocab

Debts rarely just disapper. I suggest you get your suit cleaned & pressed.

I am more than happy to go to court. I am not expecting or wishing that Lowell go away nor am I hiding from the situation.

I strongly believe that we would win if this was brought to court, so although I respect your opinion. I do not believe that you are right.

kempocab

I forgot to mention that with my last complaint, I said that I will dispute the debt in court, but for a quick resolution I am offering £50 as full and final, to put the matter to bed.

Yesterday my wife received a letter where Lowell accepted that they had made some errors and not carried out what had been requested of them, though they also claimed that although Lowell were the legal owners of the debt, any dispute of the amount owed (in full or part) had to be taken up with the original lender.

But they also said that due to the age of the debt and the errors they had made, they were happy to accept our offer.
FANTASTIC.:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

So there is not need for getting any suit pressed for court hey!!!!!!!!!!!!
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer: