help re:welcome finance/lowell

gonnabedebtfree

Hi I was wondering if anyone could tell me where I stand/ what I should do.
In 2006 me and my husband took a loan out with welcome finance, we were young and stupid and stopped paying it, life went on we had kids and I started to think about things and sort my debts out, last year I was going though my credit report and I noticed that on my welcome finance it stated 'settled' to which I thought great and paid no more attention. I received a letter yesterday from Lowell stating i owed £xxxx to welcome finance and to ring them to sort out paying it back. I have checked my credit report just and welcome finance is not there now so it must have been taken off, will I still need to repay this debt?

FireWyrm

Chances are that this is now statute barred. The law says that a creditor has 6 years from the date of last action to pursue a debt and since Lowell are bottom feeders, they are probably chancing their arm. If you have not acknowledge in writing nor made a payment to this debt, it is no longer legally enforceable. It doesnt mean that you dont owe it, only that Lowell cannot go down the route of courts and CCJs. If you are confident that you do not have a CCJ, then effectively, the debt is wiped out.

gonnabedebtfree

Thanks for the reply, I have no ccj form them and i have checked my credit searches and it was last year that Lowell did a credit search, but I have not heard from them until a letter yesterday. Also it was a joint loan with my husband but he has not received anything

Powered_By_Pies

The first letter you've received is likely to be a fishing letter - vague in the details, usually just with a name, a reference number, an amount owed and some ambiguous terms like 'may', 'might' and 'could possibly'.

For now you can do one of two things - send them a prove it letter for them to prove the debt is still owed or do nothing and wait for a letter with a bit more detail, then send a CCA request - chances are as the debt is now statute barred they won't have the information needed and will resort to chasing their tails hoping you just stump up the cash out of a moral obligation rather than a written-in-stone legal requirement.

gonnabedebtfree

Thank you, I will wait for the next letter and then send a CCA

Powered_By_Pies

I don't have personal experience with Lowell's but what you may find is they start calling you to try and add pressure - especially if you haven't responded to their threats.

If they do, give them no details, be firm with them, ask them to deal with you in writing only and any further phone calls to a work or personal number will be considered harassment and reported accordingly, and put the phone down on them.

It's unlikely they'll contact your work number, but they have been known to try it before if they have those details. Don't be embarrassed by it.

National_Debtline

Hello there,

If you are sure that there has been a gap of over six years with no payment on acknowldgement in writing by you, you may wish to write to Lowell stating that the debt is 'statute barred'. The onus would then be on Lowell to prove otherwise. If you're not sure about when the payments stopped it may be a better route to send a 'prove it' letter or to make a request for information under the Consumer Credit Act. Please make sure that you do not acknowledge any liability for the debt - as this *could* start the six years running again (if the debt is not already statute barred).

Here's a link to our Limitation Act fact sheet.

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Lensman_2

Was the loan from Welcome secured on a property? The statute of limitations may be different for secured loans. It is certainly 12 years for mortgages.

How much was it for?

sacha28

Lensman wrote: »

Was the loan from Welcome secured on a property? The statute of limitations may be different for secured loans. It is certainly 12 years for mortgages.

How much was it for?

I've had dealings with welcome finance many moons ago and they were unsecured loan lenders. I seem to remember that they ceased trading some years ago so it would be worth your while putting in a CCA request (if not statue barred) as the company that took over their trading apparently 'lost' many of the original CCA's, mine included

harveybobbles

Ignore. Put letter in bin. Carry on with life.