Lowell and discount

Kolokial

Hello again folks.

Since I joined this site, my mother and I have come quite far in tackling her debts, and I'm pleased to say we are making progress. However, we're not done yet!

To use an analogy, we've been offered a slice of cake, and I'm wondering if we should take it or go for the whole thing.

:bdaycake:

I requested a copy of the CCA from Lowell, in hindsight this might not have been a good idea, for all accounts. Afterwards I later sent an email basically putting forward a payment proposal, to which they accepted. Lowell have now responded with a letter and a copy of a CCA with no signature and interestingly have also offered to write off 20% of the balance.

I'm a little confused by their actions. I hadn't considered negotiating (yes I know, silly me) but now that they have put this to us, I'm wondering if it's worth asking for a larger discount? Or if that might exacerbate the situation.

So, do we accept the new balance with a discount and pay the amount they accepted from us or ask for a larger discount?

rizla_king

What sort of debt is it and when did you first open the account? Check somewhere like legalbeagles or consumeractiongroup to make sure the CCA is valid or not. You may be able to knock them down much lower than 20%

sourcrates

Kolokial wrote: »

Hello again folks.

Since I joined this site, my mother and I have come quite far in tackling her debts, and I'm pleased to say we are making progress. However, we're not done yet!

To use an analogy, we've been offered a slice of cake, and I'm wondering if we should take it or go for the whole thing.

:bdaycake:

I requested a copy of the CCA from Lowell, in hindsight this might not have been a good idea, for all accounts. Afterwards I later sent an email basically putting forward a payment proposal, to which they accepted. Lowell have now responded with a letter and a copy of a CCA with no signature and interestingly have also offered to write off 20% of the balance.

I'm a little confused by their actions. I hadn't considered negotiating (yes I know, silly me) but now that they have put this to us, I'm wondering if it's worth asking for a larger discount? Or if that might exacerbate the situation.

So, do we accept the new balance with a discount and pay the amount they accepted from us or ask for a larger discount?

Hia, CCA doesn't have to contain a signature for it to comply with section 78, however the fact they are offering you a substantial discount could mean that either the paperwork may be questionable, or the debt may be statute barred, depends when you opened the account, how long its gone without payment etc.

cynicalgit_2

Sounds like it's unenforceable.
You may never need to pay it.
Get it checked out.

Kolokial

rizla_king wrote: »

What sort of debt is it and when did you first open the account? Check somewhere like legalbeagles or consumeractiongroup to make sure the CCA is valid or not. You may be able to knock them down much lower than 20%

I believe this particular debt is a 'Pay Day Loan' from Shopacheck.

The reconstituted agreement they've sent shows the "Date of Loan" as being 2010. The "When Applied? Date of Loan" is blank however.

sourcrates wrote:

Hia, CCA doesn't have to contain a signature for it to comply with section 78, however the fact they are offering you a substantial discount could mean that either the paperwork may be questionable, or the debt may be statute barred, depends when you opened the account, how long its gone without payment etc.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to pinpoint when a payment was last made.

They send the CCAs with the offer of 20% discount in the same letter, surely if the paperwork were dodgy they wouldn't put them both in the same letter? Right? Am I being naive here?

cynicalgit wrote:

Sounds like it's unenforceable.
You may never need to pay it.
Get it checked out.

On the case! Thank you again you lovely people!

rizla_king

Won't be unenforceable as it postdates the law changes in 2007. But we had to check.

Deep_In_Debt

I'd try and negotiate them down further - Lowell would have probably bought the debt for peanuts - pennies in the £ so will probably be making a nice profit even at 30% of the debt.

Kolokial

Ahh, I see. Thanks Rizla! I've setup a Legal Beagles account now too, maybe they can shed some light on Lowells response.

rizla_king

Deep_In_Debt wrote: »

I'd try and negotiate them down further - Lowell would have probably bought the debt for peanuts - pennies in the £ so will probably be making a nice profit even at 30% of the debt.

This is true. Lowells would have paid much less than is offered.

Industry average is 23% if I recall, so start low.

Kolokial

I see. I'm worried that if I start to negotiate they might just say no and remove the 20% offer they've already put forward.

Other than asking for more discount, can any one suggest another tactic I can try?

Thanks!

cynicalgit_2

Kolokial wrote: »

I see. I'm worried that if I start to negotiate they might just say no and remove the 20% offer they've already put forward.

Other than asking for more discount, can any one suggest another tactic I can try?

Thanks!

It's called stalling and blagging.
Maybe look at other sites.
Lowells are shysters, research further.