Lowell Group - O2 Debt

TMCUK

Hi all.

I wanted to see if anyone has previously been in the same situation, or if anyone has advice to help me out.

Back in 2007 I took out a phone contract with 02. After some issues with my insurance policy I refused to pay for the remainder of my iPhone contract after I had my phone stolen as they told me that I was liable for the £500 of unauthorised calls even though I had insurance which covered this. O2 then passed the debt on to creditors who were seeking the full amount for the contract, £1,200.

After returning back to the UK after a brief period of travelling last August, I had heard nothing in regards to the debt until a few days ago.

I have had two credit applications rejected recently ( one for a £10 a month sim card! ) so I decided to call O2 to see where my credit had been passed to.

O2 had no reference of my debt and notified me that as far as they were concerned I no longer owed them any money. Looking online, a number of posts noted that I should get a credit report to try to locate the debt and it appears that Lowell Group have bought the debt from O2.

Two days ago I called Lowell Group to try and come to some kind of arrangement. It took the representative about 20 minutes to locate my information and they told me that they had located me at my new address and that they have sent a letter dated 22nd July to pursue me for the outstanding balance of £1,200. They tried to get me to pay for the outstanding balance there and then, but I wanted to get some advice on how to move forward with this.

This is the only bad account I have on my credit report ( the only credit in fact ) and it has bought my Equifax Credit Rating down to 158, which is listed as very poor and it's become somewhat of a burden to me as all debt is.

Should I just bite my tongue and pay the £1,200, or are they known for taking settlements ( I heard they purchase the debt for 10 - 15 % of the original amount. ).

All advice is welcome greatly.

Thanks.

Tom