Confusing Lowell/Westcot Situation

Giraffeseeker

Hello, I am after some advice on how to proceed in this confusing situation.

4 years ago I took a rather high interest loan to clear credit cards from HSPF (part of BoS) - it was a very silly decision, didn't clear all my credit cards and it was only 18 months before I ended up in a DMP. The DMP is going fine and debts are coming down and I can't think too much about the amount of interest I'll end up paying on that loan as it makes me too mad with myself!

Once I had defaulted on the loan, the amount on my statements and on my credit report has always been a very high amount, one which includes all the interest for the whole 86 month loan period.

The loan has been managed by Wescott for the last year but still retained by HSPF, and so statements have come from HSPF but payments have gone, via Stepchange, to Westcott (who I have never needed to speak to).

On Saturday I received 3 letters in 3 different envelopes:

1) Regular "notice of arrears" as sent every 6 months from HSPF showing a balance owing on 9/7/2014 of around £15K

2) Annual personal loan statement from HSPF showing the same balance owing of around £15K

3) A letter from HSPF telling me my loan was sold to Lowell on 31/3/14 and that "HSPF no longer own your account and your account is now owned by Lowell. However, for your convenience your account will continue to be managed by Westcot". There is a letter from Lowell enclosed saying they bought the account on 31/3/14. The amount owing on both the HSPF letter AND the Lowell letter is just under £11K.

I am confused for a number of reasons:

1) If the account was sold on 31/3/14, why has the annual loan statement and arrears notice come from HSPF and are statements of my account up to the 9/7/14?

2) Why are the amounts on the two letters so radically different? (very happy if over £4K has been wiped off, but why?)

3) The loan and arrears statement both have a payment missing from March 2014. I can see from Stepchange that it was paid as usual, but it has not been credited to the account. So £180 is missing. If some weird error has knocked £4K off my debt I am not going to argue this, but if I do argue this, so I contact Westcot, Lowell or HSPF?

I have checked Noddle and it still has the account listed as HSPF with the higher figure, my report is next due to update on 9th August.

What should I do?

sourcrates

Hi,
The balance stated on your credit report is rarely correct, so don't pay too much attention to that.
Debts do get sold on and/or assigned through various DCA`s, this is quiet common, and as you say, can be confusing.
As you are making payments via your DMP, and is all running smoothly, rocking the boat at this point may not be a good idea, you could write to Lowell, as it seems they have now acquired your account, and ask for a complete statement of account, or you could just carry on and hope the 4k has disappeared for good.
Personally I would not say anything and just carry on as you are, but if you really want to know, then a letter to Lowell should suffice.

Giraffeseeker

Thanks Sourcrates, it is confusing, I cannot understand why HSPF are still issuing statements for a debt they tell me they sold 4 months ago. I am hoping the £4K has vanished so I don't want to rock the boat by chasing the missing payment from March of £180, but on the other hand if the £4K hasn't vanished then I want to know where my £180 has gone!

sourcrates

tintingirl wrote: »

I am hoping the £4K has vanished so I don't want to rock the boat by chasing the missing payment from March of £180, but on the other hand if the £4K hasn't vanished then I want to know where my £180 has gone!

Asking for a statement of account may be the way to go then, could be the payments have got lost in the system, happens when debts get sold on regularly, maybe best to find out.

stekka

Just thought I'd add to this by saying that pretty much the exact same thing has happened to me. I got the same letters as you on Saturday, two from HSPF and one from HSPF with a Lowell one enclosed. The HSPF showed an amount owing of £17k and the Lowell one closer to £15k.


BUT, I also received one from Westcott, informing me that Lowell now own the debt and that Westcott are still managing it. The Westcott letter contained the same amount owed as the Lowell one (£15k).


My DMP is with PayPlan, and the payments are made to Westcott from them every month.


The only thing I can think of is that the higher amount (HSPF) shows all the interest applied to the loan for the full period and that interest may actually have been frozen when entering into the DMP, which is why actual amount owed differs.


So, yeah, totally confusing but a VERY similar story.

Giraffeseeker

Ok, looks like they have had a clear out of bad debts then. I am really hoping for the lower figure, knocks 10months off my DMP and brings me 10 months closer to being able to save for a new car!

fatbelly

I have noticed debt collection agencies and banks being a lot more twitchy since the FCA started throwing its weight around with Wonga and the Student Loans Company a few weeks ago.

I suspect that HboS have decided that they should have frozen interest at the start of the dmp and made that amendment voluntarily.

I actually had an apology letter from Apex this morning for sending out a previous letter with the wrong letterhead!

happy_bunny_2

And I haven't had a debt collection letter for a few weeks now.

I suspect they are re-doing their templates and procedures and thinking carefully what company the claim to be...

Giraffeseeker

An update on this one in case anyone else is in the same position...

The defaulted debt disappeared from my Noddle report a while back.

Haven't had one bit of paperwork or a letter since July and today while sorting some finance stuff I was curious, so I took the trial with Equifax and there was the debt, listed as Lowell.

When I looked at the amount outstanding and added on my payments since the debt changed hands it does indeed seem that £4168 has been completely wiped off my debt.

No idea why, but very happy with that!