Lowells - How long after an account has defaulted can a default date be registered?

solentsusie

Thanks eddy freddy. How odd. So you can treat a letter as 'payment' without an actual monetary payment being made...

I suppose if the worst comes to the worst and Lowell go for a CCJ then they will just have to claim statute barred and get Lowell to prove when the last payment was made.

enfield_freddy

prob not as payment , but as the last time communication took place




"and get Lowell to prove when the last payment was made. " , does,nt communication (post/phone etc) keep restarting things?

fermi

For the Limitation Act 1980, an offer of payment would be an acknowledgement, and would not be treated as a payment itself. Although either restarts the clock if made by you, so it's usually a moot point.

For the credit file acknowledgement or payments is on;y partly relevant to when it can be said a breakdown has occurred, as there are other factor that may overide or be more important. i.e. other indicators of a default.

fermi

enfield_freddy wrote: »

"and get Lowell to prove when the last payment was made. " , does,nt communication (post/phone etc) keep restarting things?

Legally acknowledgement must be in writing, signed by the debtor or their agent.

All that is necessary is that the debtor should recognise the existence of the debt or other liquidated amount outstanding and unpaid or that the person who might rely on the statute of limitation should clearly recognise the rights against himself. Whether a document is or is not an acknowledgment depends on what the document states. In determining whether a document is a sufficient acknowledgment, the court will look at the circumstances in which it was written, and will construe it in the way in which the writer intended it to be construed by the person to whom it is addressed.

sparkles12_2

I would try and work with Lowell thats what i did and they were great to be fair , maybe send all the evidence to Lowell and explain everything from your side , they told me when they buy from the original creditor they don't get to hear all the info behind the debt . In my case they agreed to shut the account with them down and updated all the credit reference agencies .. 02 never told them the account in my case was in dispute , they just sold it on , i guess everyone's circumstances are different but rather than wait for a CCJ or that worry it will happen or to wreck your friends credit file they should try and put a case forward to Lowell .. It worked for me and i can't tell you how pleased i am ... I have to say Lowell in my circumstances were great so its with a shot .

ALIBOBSY

solentsusie wrote: »

My friend has found the last letter sent.

The last contact was made offering payment in December 2008. No acknowledgement of the letter or offer of reduced payments was ever made by the creditor and no further payments were made after this date.

So even if you go from this date forward as a worst case scenario, it would have been 7 months later that a default was recorded according to Lowell.

The advice from other users is correct this matter is now statute barred. The default date may or may not be correct, but by the time its been disputed and sorted it will have dropped off anyway.

I would keep the head down and wait and see, if Low decided to start threatening court action, then hit them with a statute barred letter. I'll bet they will be sending a "we are offering you a massive discount to settle this matter now" letter anyday.

Still Low gave us a laugh this morning, they wrote to us about a really old card, well statute barred and long since dropped off the file-not a huge amount anyway.

They are offering an discount of 75% and they are "aware the period for recovery by court action has expired", but they still want a payment :rotfl:

Will ignore for a while-costs them cash to send out letters etc, then if they keep asking will bang a statute barred/stop asking for payment letter to them.


Finally advice to the OP's friend never ever call the debt collectors, they will lie and threaten over the phone and try to trace your number to keep calling you back and harrass you.

If you have to contact them, letter or email is best. Plus don't let them say you have "reset" the statute barred clock by discussing matters now. The period is six years and once SB its SB forever.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

sparkles12 wrote: »

I would try and work with Lowell thats what i did and they were great to be fair , maybe send all the evidence to Lowell and explain everything from your side , they told me when they buy from the original creditor they don't get to hear all the info behind the debt . In my case they agreed to shut the account with them down and updated all the credit reference agencies .. 02 never told them the account in my case was in dispute , they just sold it on , i guess everyone's circumstances are different but rather than wait for a CCJ or that worry it will happen or to wreck your friends credit file they should try and put a case forward to Lowell .. It worked for me and i can't tell you how pleased i am ... I have to say Lowell in my circumstances were great so its with a shot .

If your friend is really worried she could do a statute barred letter now with a COPY of the letter-never send a DCA an original. TBH companies like Low are looking for easy money and any case that looks like it could become an issue with official bodies or courts they will usually drop like a hot potato.

Ali x

enfield_freddy

sit tight till july , don,t rock the boat by sending any letters and waking then up ,

solentsusie

fermi wrote: »

For the Limitation Act 1980, an offer of payment would be an acknowledgement, and would not be treated as a payment itself. Although either restarts the clock if made by you, so it's usually a moot point.

For the credit file acknowledgement or payments is on;y partly relevant to when it can be said a breakdown has occurred, as there are other factor that may overide or be more important. i.e. other indicators of a default.

Thanks Fermi

So, worst case scenario is they offered to make reduced payments December 2008. No acknowledgement received and no further payments made.

So this would mean that account became statute barred 6 years from December 2008, so lets say December 2014/January 2015.

Even if the default was registered after January 2009, the debt would be statute barred in January 2015.

Will see if anything come forward from Lowell and I will advise him to send a statute barred letter, or contest any CCJ as statute barred.

solentsusie

sparkles12 wrote: »

I would try and work with Lowell thats what i did and they were great to be fair , maybe send all the evidence to Lowell and explain everything from your side , they told me when they buy from the original creditor they don't get to hear all the info behind the debt . In my case they agreed to shut the account with them down and updated all the credit reference agencies .. 02 never told them the account in my case was in dispute , they just sold it on , i guess everyone's circumstances are different but rather than wait for a CCJ or that worry it will happen or to wreck your friends credit file they should try and put a case forward to Lowell .. It worked for me and i can't tell you how pleased i am ... I have to say Lowell in my circumstances were great so its with a shot .

Nice to hear of someone having a positive experience with Lowells. I won't recommend contact to my friend as it may cause far more anxiety than it is worth.

We shall wait and see what happens between now and July.