Lovetts Solicitors and Premium Credit Ltd Trading As HTC

Socialinsur

I have received a letter not addressed to me but to my address - addressed to a name never known at my address - from Lovetts Solicitors, Debt Recovery and Commercial Litigation Specialists, Bramley House, The Guildway, Old Portsmouth Road, Guildford, Surrey.

The address is correct. There is a lengthy reference number and it says:

Dear Sir,

Re Premium Credit Ltd trading as HTC

Our credit has reviewed your file and this debt still remains unpaid. However, as a gesture of goodwill our client is prepared to accept a payment plan from you. Therefore please ensure the enclosed income and expenditure form is completed along with supporting evidence (such as payslips, documentation confirming credit card, loan and mortgage debt, confirmation of any benefit received etc) and returned to our office within seven days of this letter.

If you fail to comply with the above, then we will be instructed to proceed with an Information Order which will involve you attending Court for questioning. This will make you liable for additional costs and interest.

Yours faithfully,
Lovetts PLC - Solicitors
[no signature]

I have never taken out anything to do with Premium Credit Ltd trading as HTC.

Premium Credit Ltd appears to be part of the Bank of America.

HTC appears to be a company which no longer exists. HTC stood for Holmwood Termtime Collections. Premium Credit Ltd, based in Epsom, Surrey (and also involved with The Prince's Trust and Comic Relief), apparently took "full ownership" of HTC in November 2010 and changed the name to School Fee Plan (SFP).

I have found one person of the same name in my town but at a different address as the addressee of the letter. According to 192 at least until 2006 there was a man in his 80s living with his wife in the town.

His wife is mentioned in a local news story in August 2011. She lives in a cottage and is opposing, along with all the neighbours in the road, a property developer who has purchased a garden plot and wishes to build a "mansion". The 84 year old woman is said in the news story to have told the reporter the developer would have to take down her fence to build such a mansion. I only know her husband was living in 2006 and has the same name as the addressee of the letter.

It is very bemusing. Noone seems to have insured what they are doing is correct. Is this all done electronically and, if so, how are citizens protected against rogue inputters?

This seems to abe all about a scheme where a fee paying school (which is not named in the letter - in fact there is nothing saying what it is about) is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and arranges for parents of a pupil to pay school fees in instalments through a collection company, Holmwood Termtime Collections (HTC). Except that HTC does not exist any more and it is now School Fee Plan (SFP).

Of course I have never signed up for this, have no children, don't pay school (or university or any other) fees for anyone, have never received demands for such a fee plan before etc etc. So it is absolutely impossible there are any records at my address. I have lived in my home since it was a new build more than thirty years ago.

Has anyone experience the same or similar and/or can comment?

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Just write back to them stating that the person this was addressed to does not live at your address.

vuvuzela

If it's not addressed to you, the first thing is not to worry. You seem to have found out a lot about the debt and the companies concerned.
I would send it back and tell them in no uncertain terms that the person addressed is not resident at your property and never has been.
Keep a copy of the letter (again like them don't sign it so they don't have a copy of your signature) on your PC and then forget about it.
Oh, and some people think an address can be 'blacklisted for credit'. This absolutely isn't the case, credit histories are for people not properties. So if it definitely isn't you then you have nothing to worry about

Socialinsur

Hi Jeff Bridges Hair and Vuvuzela,

Thanks for your answers.

What I couldn’t understand is how either Premium Credit Ltd Trading as HTC and Lovetts Solicitors, both of Surrey, seem to have randomly put together a name (whether or not it’s the pensioner in my town) and my address. This is why I asked what protections are there for citizens against rogue inputting.

So I’ve done a bit more digging.

HTC (Holmwoods Termtime Collections) was a partnership between HSBC (Hong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) Insurance Brokers Ltd and Premium Credit Ltd (Bank of America).

The FSA (Financial Services Authority) announced in 2009:

“FSA/PN/099/2009
22 July 2009

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined three HSBC firms over £3 million for not having adequate systems and controls in place to protect their customers' confidential details from being lost or stolen. These failings contributed to customer data being lost in the post on two occasions.

“HSBC Life UK Limited (HSBC Life) was fined £1,610,000, HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Limited (HSBC Actuaries) was fined £875,000 and HSBC Insurance Brokers Limited (HSBC Insurance Brokers) was fined £700,000.

“During its investigation into the firms' data security systems and controls, the FSA found that large amounts of unencrypted customer details had been sent via post or courier to third parties. Confidential information about customers was also left on open shelves or in unlocked cabinets and could have been lost or stolen. In addition, staff were not given sufficient training on how to identify and manage risks like identity theft.”

I should add that as far as I know, at least directly, I’ve never had any dealings with HSBC Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Then in December 2009 US-based Marsh [of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc] acquired HSBC Insurance Brokers Ltd. At the same time Marsh & McLennan and HSBC "entered into a Preferred Strategic Partnership (PSP), which will see Marsh get preferred access to provide HSBC’s corporate and private clients with insurance broking and risk management services.” Insurance Daily, reporter Richard Kilner.

Since November 2011 Premium Credit Ltd (Bank of America) “took full ownership” of HTC (Holmwoods Termtime Collections) and changed the name to School Fees Plan (SFP).

Set in this context, what are Lovetts Solicitors in Guildford, Surrey doing sending out the above letter with a name seemingly randomly put together with my address on behalf of “Premium Credit Ltd trading as HTC”, the name of a former firm which has been fined for lax data procedures and then sold off to Marsh?

I also note that the “court admissions form” that Lovetts Solicitors enclosed has a reference number and the name of the man (who may or may not be the husband of the pensioner mentioned in the newspaper) already filled in but no space for a national insurance number.

So, set in the context of the FSA findings on data security systems and control and the change from HTC to SFP, doesn't this letter from Lovetts Solicitors in Guildford Surrey which purports to be on behalf of "Premium Credit Ltd trading as HTC" seem rather the tip of an iceberg? :eek:

Socialinsur

This seems to be a matter for the Information Commissioner. Whatever it is all very strange that the name and my address have been put together and apparently no checks are made.

texranger

Hi

9/10 this will have nothing directly to do with Lovetts PLC - Solicitors. If its a Letter Before Action, then this can be created by whoever is sending this through a site page on Lovetts website and all Lovetts do is either print andf p[ost this on your behalf are send you a copy for you to print off and send.

I have used them in the past to sent an LBA, it will be whever completed the letter oin their site at fault, wrong postcode with your house number which would bring up your address, so it is printed with your address.

Socialinsur

texranger wrote: »

Hi

9/10 this will have nothing directly to do with Lovetts PLC - Solicitors. If its a Letter Before Action, then this can be created by whoever is sending this through a site page on Lovetts website and all Lovetts do is either print andf p[ost this on your behalf are send you a copy for you to print off and send.

I have used them in the past to sent an LBA, it will be whever completed the letter oin their site at fault, wrong postcode with your house number which would bring up your address, so it is printed with your address.

Hi Texranger,

Thanks for your answer. I was trying to work out what you are saying.

Are you saying that a company or individual pays a subscription as if the solicitors and their firm is some sort of club? And then the company or individual has access to template letters and then changes the address, reference and heading (I did think the letter was curiously generalized)?

There is a webpage on the Lovetts website called online access (I can't post the link because I am a new moneysavingexpert forum user):

"Our new Client web access gives you full case information plus the ability to instruct us through all stages of Debt Recovery."

So are you saying that the "client" is being allowed by Lovetts to use their letterhead and a standard letter and to use the firm as an address to send it from?

If so, this doesn't get out of the fact that it is Lovetts Solicitors' stationery and the letter is said to be from Lovetts Solicitors. The letter even says "our client". So however it was done, it says it is from Lovetts Solicitors.

Nor does it explain why my name was put together with the address. If it is the other person (or rather it seems couple in their 80s) whom I suspect it may be in the same town as me, they have a completely different second half of the postcode - not one number or letter the same. Nor is the house number at all similar and it has a different number of digits to boot.

It does not ring true either that in the past Premium Credit Limited, (which is not trading as HTC, Holmwood Termtime Collections, now in any case but is SFP, School Fee Plan) has dealt with the person concerned for some years at a certain address and postcode and suddenly puts the wrong address and postcode which is not in their records at all.

It seems, if I've understood you rightly and this is correct, Lovetts the Solicitors are making no safeguards against errors or fraud or individuals seeking to harass others? If I've understood you rightly it sounds like there are no safeguards against a "Nigerian" scam.

How would allowing an individual or company to use its letterhead and sort-of-signature unchecked be covered by Lovetts' professional liability insurance?

Socialinsur

Hi,

I would still be interested in hearing from Texasranger about how exactly this works and if I've understood rightly. And if so, anyone else who has experience of solicitors "renting out" their letterheads and addresses etc without any checks.

Thanks!

NiallB

IMHO you're taking this way too seriously. Somebody's cocked up, and all you need to do is write to the agents and tell them that the named person does not live at your address. Then forget about it.

Socialinsur

Sure NiallB, you are at liberty to not take it seriously. I'm not forcing you to do so.

However, if I've understood rightly, Texasranger seems to have indicated that anyone who pays can use the letterhead, address and standard letter of a solicitor and have it sent out by that solicitor's firm without any checks being made.

I am asking whether the professional liability insurance of a solicitor's firm covers this?

This has very serious implications far beyond what I have written about with multiple possibilities of errors and abuse.

Socialinsur

Funnily enough, listening today to Leveson Enquiry, if I understood rightly, when the Dowler Family expressed a wish for the News International settlement to go to charity, apparently Rupert Murdoch wanted it to go towards a fund he wanted to set up to send help send children to private schools! This all seems flavour of the month!