could Lowell be lying?

jennik123

Hi, in need of advice!

My OH took out a loan of £8000 16 years ago. It has been sold on multiple times to DCA and the letters only ever say along the lines of "please call us to arrange a repayment plan". This is when my OH had no financial assests.

It has now disappeared off his credit file as it defaulted over 6 years ago and we went ahead and got a mortgage assuming (wrongly) that that was it!

Now, Lowell have written saying they are aware he is a home owner and is going to seek a CCJ on him. My OH send the letter from here not acknowledging the debt but claiming it to be statute barred, to which Lowell have responded with a date and a payment amount of £62.40 paid in 2009 and therefore the debt is enforcable. My OH does not remember sending a payment this late on, as his situation would have been very dier to afford that amount then.

Is there a possibility Lowell have made this date up? We are hoping we can fight out the last 9 months and not repay the debt as it is so historic, but need to re mortgage after our fixed term mortgage expires in a year and a half and very concerned Lowell may actually persue a CCJ and we end up in a whole heap of problems with our property.

Can anyone help - and has anyone on here worked for Lowell and knows what they may do?

Many many thanks

matttye

LL30 wrote: »

I thought that might be the long and short of it. I did consider the SB route, but she's not sure when the last payment was, so I decided a cheeky 'prove it' letter might be a better way forward (nothing to lose by trying!).

Interestingly, she had another one that we did the same to, and she's not heard back, but today she got a letter from the original creditor about reclaiming PPI on the debt. I told her to hang fire - I suspect it's a way to get her to admit to the debt? She thinks that one was circa 2006 and she's unsure when the last payment was too (it really is a pickle, but we'll get there) so that's why I decided on the 'prove it' letter for that one too.

If it is statute barred, perhaps she could reclaim PPI and ask them to pay it off her debt - so they at least get some of their money back

jennik123 wrote: »

Hi, in need of advice!

My OH took out a loan of £8000 16 years ago. It has been sold on multiple times to DCA and the letters only ever say along the lines of "please call us to arrange a repayment plan". This is when my OH had no financial assests.

It has now disappeared off his credit file as it defaulted over 6 years ago and we went ahead and got a mortgage assuming (wrongly) that that was it!

Now, Lowell have written saying they are aware he is a home owner and is going to seek a CCJ on him. My OH send the letter from here not acknowledging the debt but claiming it to be statute barred, to which Lowell have responded with a date and a payment amount of £62.40 paid in 2009 and therefore the debt is enforcable. My OH does not remember sending a payment this late on, as his situation would have been very dier to afford that amount then.

Is there a possibility Lowell have made this date up? We are hoping we can fight out the last 9 months and not repay the debt as it is so historic, but need to re mortgage after our fixed term mortgage expires in a year and a half and very concerned Lowell may actually persue a CCJ and we end up in a whole heap of problems with our property.

Can anyone help - and has anyone on here worked for Lowell and knows what they may do?

Many many thanks

How did he used to pay, was it from a bank account? He needs to ascertain whether or not he did make a payment in 2009.

Wouldn't be the first time a DCA has made up a payment, but Lowell are one of the few that regularly do take people to court so you need to find out if it's statute barred sooner rather than later. Get your husband to check his accounts.

rizla_king

jennik123 wrote: »

Is there a possibility Lowell have made this date up?

Quite possible. They do that a lot.

Ask here for examples. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums

sourcrates

The onus is on Lowell to prove he made a payment, not on you to prove he didn't, anyone can produce a spread sheet with figures on it.
I would write and tell them you consider the account SB and ask them to prove how, and by what method this "payment" was made, and until they do you consider the account to be "in dispute".
Head your letter "COMPLAINT" and post recorded delivery.


Also, as a second line of defence, hit Lowell with a CCA request as well, if they can produce the original credit agreement I would be very surprised.
The very act of making the request puts the account automatically "on hold",
if they cant produce the original signed document, they cant obtain a CCJ against him in court, just another string to your bow, that you may want to consider.

[Deleted User]

In answer to the OPs question, "could Lowell be lying"?, I pose a further question

"could an animal, of the order Ursidae, be defecating, in an area containing trees"?

The answer to both questions, is a resounding YES.

matttye

sourcrates wrote: »

The onus is on Lowell to prove he made a payment, not on you to prove he didn't, anyone can produce a spread sheet with figures on it.
I would write and tell them you consider the account SB and ask them to prove how, and by what method this "payment" was made, and until they do you consider the account to be "in dispute".
Head your letter "COMPLAINT" and post recorded delivery.


Also, as a second line of defence, hit Lowell with a CCA request as well, if they can produce the original credit agreement I would be very surprised.
The very act of making the request puts the account automatically "on hold",
if they cant produce the original signed document, they cant obtain a CCJ against him in court, just another string to your bow, that you may want to consider.

Yes the onus is on Lowell, but I for one would want to resolve the matter out of court IF it was not statute barred, so it would still require investigation by me.

If the OP is happy to deal with the matter in court and possibly get a CCJ then go ahead and wait for Lowell to prove it.

Edit: I'm referring only to whether it's SB or not, not to your points about a CCA request.

GingerBob_3

In answer to the question posed by the OP; they are debt collectors aren't they? So yes, almost certainly they are lying.

rizla_king

Dispute that the payments ever occurred. Tell them that unless they prove they happened you will report them to the FCA for pressing for payments on a statute barred debt and you will take them to the FOS. Add that you would insist on proof in court so it is in their interest to resolve the dispute now, because if they refuse and it goes to court you will present their refusal as evidence of unreasonable preaction conduct.

jennik123

Thanks everyone!

What is the impact of a CCA if they can or cant provide it? I am totally clueless on the legalities of these things!

double_mummy

if they cant provide the CCA the cant take any legal action even if it isnt statute barred

with a CCA of that age i would be surprised if it would be enforcable anyway as there has to be lots of bits in it if it is a ore 2007 one

sourcrates

jennik123 wrote: »

Thanks everyone!

What is the impact of a CCA if they can or cant provide it? I am totally clueless on the legalities of these things!

As its an old debt, Lowell would have to supply a copy of the original signed agreement, within 14 days, if they cant do that, they are in default of your CCA request, and that prevents them taking any legal action against you.
The default will continue until they supply you with the correct document, if its been lost, or no longer exists, they are prevented again from getting a CCJ against you in court.
The debt will still exist, they just cant get a judgement against you in court, so its very worth while doing it.