Lowell's after money....again.

emerald12

Hello everyone,

I wrote on here last year regarding Lowells hounding me for money from an HBOS account (opened 1995), owing £600 approx and evidence that in 2008 a payment had been made towards this debt.

I did send a 'prove it' letter. The copies showed that it was a joint account (though looked to me as not being quite right, paper work looked different) and a payment had been made.

I did not make that payment.

I contacted my ex- husband, he says he made the payment, he said he was not sure when or if it was a joint account but must be if they say so.(i left my husband in 2005 and it was him that purchased on this account in 2006)

He said that when he went bankrupt in 2008/9 that account was paid off or written off.

They then came after me. They managed to screw up my credit score, so much that i could not get credit when i applied this year for a credit card.

I looked at my records on experian and they had put a default on and that is why i could not get credit.

I stuck it out, ignored the nasty threatening letters as i noticed that of Jan 2013 6 years had passed since, i think, the payment was made, or from when Lowell's bought it, im not sure.

This must have been the case, as when i applied for a credit card last month, i was accepted (i havent checked experian)

Now, a month later, they send me a letter stating~

"We're contacting you about an account that we purchased from HBOS, opened in 1995, sold to us, with an outstanding balance which they had not been able to recover. This is because HBOS did not have your up to date address details and therefore you were not in a position to discuss this account with them"

Whats going on? Why are they trying to make out there has been no contact and acting like this is the first ever letter they have sent? What do i do?

Many thanks.

Tixy

If a payment was made in 2008 as you say inititally then the debt will not be statute barred until sometime in 2014.

So if it was a joint account when husband was declared bankrupt then you became liable for the debt.

You could ignore it. You could send the prove it letter again. You could offer a full & final settlement.

If the last payment wasn't 2008 and was in Jan 2007 (as you say it may be) and so more than 6 years ago - then you could reply with the hybrid letter to say you have no knowledge of the debt and it would be statute barred anyway.

emerald12

Thank you Tixy for your reply.

The reason i am inclined to think it was 2007 is because i am now able to get credit. I was not able to get any last year and that is when i discovered that Lowell's had put a default on my credit rating/profile.

I did not know that a debt, payed or waved through bankruptcy, could still be passed on to me. Furthermore, my ex contacted them and said the debt was his, he purchased the item after i have left our marital home.

I feel so harrassed by these people. I have been getting numerous calls (as many as 8 a day) from odd phone numbers, that i have ignored and now inclined to think it is Lowells again, trying to make verbal contact.

The irony of this is that the item my husband purchased, was a laptop that he bought specifically to track my every typed word on my own laptop. He payed for some kind of program ; keylogger? to track my movements, converstions etc........I do NOT want to have to pay for that!

Many thanks.

Tixy

The reason i am inclined to think it was 2007 is because i am now able to get credit. I was not able to get any last year and that is when i discovered that Lowell's had put a default on my credit rating/profile.

The last payment date doesn't affect when it falls off your report.
Jan 2007 is probably when it defaulted or when lowells bought the debt and entered a default on your credit files as that is why it fell off 6 years after that (and so means you could now not affected by it when you applied for credit).

Your first post sounds like your husband agreed that he made a payment in 2008?

I did not know that a debt, payed or waved through bankruptcy, could still be passed on to me. Furthermore, my ex contacted them and said the debt was his, he purchased the item after i have left our marital home.

If it was a joint bank account then you are both jointly and severally liable for the debt. If one of the account holders is declared bankrupt then the other account holder would be the only person left liable for the debt.
Who ran the debt up isn't relevant to the bank, both are liable for any debt on the account unless the joint account is closed or unless the bank agree to take off account holder from the account.

emerald12

Thank you Tixi,

So basically, you are saying that if it was a joint account, despite being waved or paid off when my husband declared himself bankrupt, I am still liable and have to pay this debt?

Secondly, yes, i think he did say that he payed a payment once, but i would have to ask him to confirm this.

Many thanks.

Tixy

Its very unlikely that the creditor will have actually ever agreed to write off or waive the debt when ex went bankrupt.

Him going bankrupt only removes his liability to the debt, it doesn't pay off or cancel the debt.

What happens to a joint debt in bankruptcy?
In the case of a debt that you owe jointly with another person (joint debt), creditors have the right to claim the balance of the debt from each person who signed the contract. Each person is responsible for full payment of the debt. This is known as ‘joint and several liability'.

If you have a joint debt and are made bankrupt, you can include the whole of the joint debt in your bankruptcy. If other people who signed the contract are not bankrupt, the creditor can still pursue them for the full amount of the debt.

Where all of the parties to a joint debt are made bankrupt, they should each include the whole of the joint debt in their bankruptcy. So you should all list the full amount of the debt in your Statement of Affairs.

from here http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/personal-insolvency/bankruptcy-debts

emerald12

Thank you Tixy,

That's the thing though, i never signed anything. He said he added me as an 'additional card holder'
Am i still liable?

I guess i will have to write to Halifax to find out exactly what is what.

Many thanks for your replies.

Tixy

Was the bank account? I assumed it was but as you mention additional card holder I wonder if it was a credit card?

If it was a credit card then it cannot be a joint account and only the account holder is liable for the debt not an additional card holders.

If its a bank account then he could not have added you to his own account without your permission and you would have needed to go in branch or possibly signed forms and returned them to the bank.

fatbelly

How many digits in the HBOS reference number?

emerald12

fatbelly wrote: »

How many digits in the HBOS reference number?

It is not on this 'new' lowells letter and i threw all the old correspondence away because i thought it was all over.

I have just looked in one of my files and saw that we had a halifax mortgage joint account together.

Sorry if this is confusing but, my ex's first response was that we did NOT have a joint account (other than mortgage) and then said it was a possibility that he opened an account with me as 'additional cardholder'

That is why i said, in my initial post, that when i received the copy of the alleged 'joint' account, it did not look right, the 2nd page (2 of 2) did not have any account number on it....it just did not look right.

Do you think that they could have faked it somehow? Used the mortgage letterhead with both our names, when really, the debt was from my exe's own bank account?

Many thanks.

fatbelly

Yes I do think it possible.

So they responded to a prove-it with statements showing a payment made in 2008 but not showing any original reference number

It seems we still don't know
(a) whether this was a joint debt or solely in the name of someone who went bankrupt in 2008
(b) whether there was ever a six-year period with no acknowledgement.

You can carry on the correspondence, which may not achieve anything. Or ignore them and see what they do. Sending fake documents to you is one thing - sending them to a court is another.