We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that dates on the Forum are not currently showing correctly. Please bear with us while we get this fixed, and see Site feedback for updates.

Lowell Group Advice Needed

Hi everyone. I used to be a member on here years ago in a half-arsed attempt to get my finances in order. I never did in the end. I'm now in my 30s, so that has changed somewhat and I'm smack bang in the middle of sorting it all out, properly.

My question (for now) relates to Lowell Group, to whom I pay a number of different accounts from my shady financial past. For some time, I didn't question this, but over the last few days I decided to examine my affairs more closely and I'm not very happy at what I discovered.

When ordering a gift for my daughter's birthday, I happened to recall that I'd had a credit account with the company (overall JD Williams & Co) and out of curiosity, I thought I'd log in to see how the balance had changed, considering I've been paying it via Lowell for two years now. It hadn't changed one bit, even though on my credit report (Experian) it appears to be down significantly, albeit listed as a default with no recent payments (bizarre, I haven't missed a single payment via Lowell). Perhaps stupidly, I went on to see if I could make a payment myself via the account and did so successfully, bringing the balance down by another £100.

I then thought I'd check out one of my other creditors that I pay via Lowell, and gave Vanquis a call about my old credit card (for which I no longer hold details). They were very accommodating and informed me of the balance due - which again hasn't changed in two years. They explained that to make a payment I had to do so via Lowell as they'd bought the debt - but I *have* been making payments via Lowell with apparently no results. I'm very, very confused.

I'll be calling Lowell tomorrow to go through everything, but wanted to see if I could get some thoughts here first. Surely, if I'm paying them for these debts, the payments should a)show on my report and b)actually bring down the balance? Another thing that troubles me is that on my credit report, the original creditors are listed as well as the SAME accounts held by Lowell, making it appear as though I have twice as much debt as I actually do. Can I do anything about this?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.7K Life & Family
  • 254.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.