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Provident Personal Credit Visit Threat ref Lowell Debt

Hi all

I have received a letter today from Provident and I am somewhat confused, the letter reads like this:

"Lowell Portfolio Ltd assigned Provident Personal Credit Ltd the legal rights to your outstanding debt of £370.00. This means a friendly local agent will call at your home to discuss your weekly repayments with you.

We understand there may be reasons why you have been unable to make repayments with Lowell Portfolio Ltd in the past, if you sign a new agreement with us you will repay less than you currently owe, spread over a term which is more manageable for you with repayments collected weekly by an agent.

It is simple with your new repayment plan. Your oustanding debt will be settled and you will start a new 0% credit agreement
"

I assume they are going to turn up, can I ask for proof of the debt as I am genuinley unsure what Lowell are suggesting I owe.

If I am honest I am not even sure I have had any correspondence from Lowell. If I tell them to sling their hook what will they do next? will they give it back to Lowell who will contact me in due course? or will they keep coming round to my house?

Thanks Guys

Comments

  • taffy056
    taffy056 Posts: 4,895 Forumite
    Do you owe them money, if so how much do you believe you owe ? How old is this debt ? And you don't have to accept an appointment from them. And don't sign any agreement with them, as that could be a new credit agreement .
    Excel Parking, MET Parking, Combined Parking Solutions, VP Parking Solutions, ANPR PC Ltd, & Roxburghe Debt Collectors. What do they all have in common?
    They are all or have been suspended from accessing the DVLA database for gross misconduct!
    Do you really need to ask what kind of people run parking companies?
  • fermi
    fermi Posts: 40,542 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Rampant Recycler
    As said, do not under any circumstances sign a new agreement with them.

    Provident seem to try this dodgy tactic on old and unenforceable debts to try to circumvent those problems.
    Free/impartial debt advice: National Debtline | StepChange Debt Charity | Find your local CAB

    IVA & fee charging DMP companies: Profits from misery, motivated ONLY by greed
  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 23,224 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Cashback Cashier
    "Lowell Portfolio Ltd assigned Provident Personal Credit Ltd the legal rights to your outstanding debt of £370.00. This means a friendly local agent will call at your home to discuss your weekly repayments with you.
    "

    Whatever this account is, Provident have bought it. You can write to them - it would be a combination of a prove-it and a don't visit paragraph like:
    I also note that the OFT Debt Collection guidance states:

    3.13f Examples of unfair or improper practices are: visiting or 'threatening' to visit a debtor, without his prior agreement, when the debt is deadlocked or reasonably queried or disputed.

    I dispute the allegation that I owe this sum and do not agree to a visit.

    Alternatively just tell the friendly local agent where to go when they turn up.
  • jgbird
    jgbird Posts: 3 Newbie
    I had my visit from the local friendly agent today. I also have a loan with them anyway so I knew the woman.

    She claimed this was a government backed scheme where the government is trying to get money back to companies by offering a discount on the debt.
    The discount they were offering was £50 off the £550 debt, I had more of a discount from Lowell. It was credit as they required me to sign a credit agreement so they are offering loans to repay a debt which I thought was against OFT guidelines.

    However, all she wanted to know was will I be paying, I said no and that was that, no pressure or anything.

    Told her I wasn't happy about them becoming debt collectors and that I would be using another company in future if I needed that kind of credit.
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