County Court advice for a Debt THAT IS NOT MINE!

hairymonkey

OK I'll keep this short.

My brother who has special needs took a lot of money out of my account and also took out some phone contracts, selling the phones. I did not realise this was happening because I was working a lot, and he was at home intercepting the mail!

He has now moved to Canada. I have no inclination to go to the Police. I still love him, and want to see him again. I do not want to put him in a position where he cannot come home. Sorry if you don't like that, but my family is more important to me than a few quid. I understand why he did what he did, and whilst I don't agree with it I can live with it.

However Lowell Group have hounded me for years! I have explained that it's not me who took out the contract! They have called me a lier. I've been told I need to go to the Police. I've told them to go to the police as it's not me who's been defrauded but 02!!! I get nowhere.

Now I have forms for county court. I have refused mediation saying that I have nothing to mediate about as I don't owe them a penny.

How will this end? Is there anything I can do to help myself? Am I going to just end up with a CCJ? They have never even sent me proof that I owe a penny. I'm sick and tired of this and their harassment.

rizla_king

Pop over to legalbeagles and ask them. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

They seems to specialise in giving Lowells a bloody nose in court. Sure they can help.

hairymonkey

rizla_king wrote: »

Pop over to legalbeagles and ask them. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

They seems to specialise in giving Lowells a bloody nose in court. Sure they can help.

Top man. Will do, have a virtual pint on me.

Sadly this is causing me worry. I've got enough money that if I got a ccj they could get it off me (nice car etc...) but I morally cannot support a company like this. It makes me feel sick.

rizla_king

CAG legal section may also be able to help http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?170-Legal-Issues

but I'd try LB first.

patman99

If you end up in Court (make sure you attend whatever) they will ask for your defense. You NEED to mention about your bro & that he took out the contracts using money he stole from you.
He is in Canada, so not a lot Lowells can do about that.
As for you. You are a soft touch. Your brother is a coward. He stole your cash, fled to Canada & leaves you in a situation where you will end up loosing your hard earned cash & goods.

Grow up & do the proper thing and report him.

If her murdered someone using your kitchen knife, would you be prepared to go to jail in his place ?.

hairymonkey

patman99 wrote: »

If you end up in Court (make sure you attend whatever) they will ask for your defense. You NEED to mention about your bro & that he took out the contracts using money he stole from you.
He is in Canada, so not a lot Lowells can do about that.
As for you. You are a soft touch. Your brother is a coward. He stole your cash, fled to Canada & leaves you in a situation where you will end up loosing your hard earned cash & goods.

Grow up & do the proper thing and report him.

If her murdered someone using your kitchen knife, would you be prepared to go to jail in his place ?.

No offence, but you have no idea of my situation. I just love my family. I am not willing to hurt him (and others including my mother who is very ill) if I do not have too. I can afford to lose a few quid, and will happily do so if it means I can protect my family.

As for calling me a coward. Well that is you prerogative. I just have a different outlook in life to you maybe. I am a British Soldier, and have seen enough things to make me realise that money is not all that important. My brother has made his mistakes and I will stand by him.

I am happy to say what happened in court, knowing this company will not be able to do a thing. However because of my job, I can be court martialed if I am in debt so I need to make sure I don't get a ccj.

Let's not compare murder to taking out a phone contract. It is not even comparible.

Antimoron

You'll either pay them the money or if you keep insisting it is fraudulent have to report it to the police.

If dont wish to do any of this, then a CCJ will rightly we awarded against you.

How exactly have you PROVEN to them that your brother's disability incapacitated him mentally in any way? He was smart enough to take the money and hide his actions so how credible do you think your account of events are?

Of course the lender (and a judge) will doubt this - imagine every borrower claiming their disabled family took loans out in their name.

Antimoron

Dude everyone loves their families. I have 5 brothers and love them to death. But all very irrelevant to the facts.

You can't eat your cake and have it. You either pay it or get a CCJ.

No court will buy your story. and if they do, it means the police have to chase your brother for fraud. Simple.

kittiej

Did he have to sign for any of these contracts? It's not uncommon for siblings to take on the identity of another brother/sister.

Acknowledge the claim, make your defence and ask the claimant for signed copies of the credit agreements plus what documents etc were needed to take out these contracts and most importantly if you were elsewhere in the country or abroad at the time then say that in your defence BUT you must be able to Prove it, don't just say it

Put your thinking cap on!

Edit - when you say years, how many years exactly?

ilovelondontown

I can understand why you don't want to dump your brother in it in spite of what has actually happened, I think I'd do the same if it were my bro.

However, if you're declining the option of reporting him for fraud then you've got very little wiggle room to other than to pay up. If it's come from your account and in your name, unless you have a sure fire way to prove it's not you that took out the finances then its yours to deal with.

An ex of mine used my card at an atm and withdrew all the money from my account once without my permission or my knowledge, once I found out I reported the matter to the bank but the bank said unless I report it for fraud they can't do anything about it as it's hard to prove I didn't take the money myself and blame someone else.

On more than one occasion in my life I've found myself having to pay for something I didn't agree with/to/not my problem, but the reality was the short term pain of paying up vs the long term pain of courts and judgements against me, made the decision for me to just pay up and move on. (I'm talking about £10/Hundreds as appose to £thousands)


How much are we talking about here? Can you afford to pay up?

HPoirot

hairymonkey wrote: »

Not going to happen. I'd rather go to prison first. It was immoral companies lending him money with no job and special needs that caused this.

Isn't it the whole point that the companies thought they were lending YOU money? How would they have known about your brother's joblessness and special needs?

You did not know at the time the loans were taken but have now identified who took them and when they were taken and are assuming responsibility for this person's actions: this is an acceptance of the debts too. I fail to see why you are not paying up and trying to blame the companies for your brother's actions.

ETA: Your defence will not stand if you have not reported your brother to the police for fraud. But that you have been told already.