Lowell Portfolio

Tinaroo

Afternoon

Lowell Portfolio have wrote to me regarding a £1050 debt I apparently owe. I have challenged it and informed them I paid the original debt in full however the collection agent was not declaring the weekly payments and keeping them for herself.

I have made a complaint to Lowell around some data protection issues such as the information they hold on me is inaccurate and they have held my data longer than necessary before making contact with me.

They are currently investigating my allegations and the information I have provided them, I have now been waiting almost 6 weeks and they are still investigating it.

Has anybody else experienced them investigate for this time period? If so, what was the outcome?

Regards,
Tinaroo

fatbelly

It sounds as if they are corresponding with the original lender. If this is Provident (or Greenwood) they should look into it.

How do you know the collection agent was not declaring the weekly payments and keeping them for herself? Did you complain and have it investigated at the time it happened?

Tinaroo

I received an email 8 weeks after my initial complaint.

I made a complaint on the basis they hadn't made contact with me for a year after they bought the debt, breaching principle 5 of the data protection act.

I also made a complaint regarding them breaching principle 4 of the data protection act by holding information on me which wasn't accurate and up to date. This came from the fact my credit report shows the account was opened on the 25th March 2011 with Provident Personal Credit however the debt they owned shows the account was opened on the 23rd November 2011.

Lowell have emailed me back and I quote "However, I would like to thank you for bring this matter to my attention; Upon further review we have now obtained documents from Provident Personal Credit Limited and it appears there is some discrepancy with the information provided.

Therefore, with a view to resolving this matter without further delay, I have decided to close the above account and confirm that we will take no further action to recover the debt. This is done without any admission of liability or wrongdoing."

Although it has taken 8 weeks, the default of £1050 will be removed from my credit report.

sourcrates

Had Lowell bought the debt from Provident, or were they just acting as agent ?


If they bought it, then you no longer need to worry about it.


If they were assigned it, then provident may try it on again with another DCA.

Tinaroo

I believe they had bought it, the opening line to their findings states:

"Firstly, please be advised that when we purchased the above account from Provident Personal Credit Limited, it was in good faith and on the understanding that the debt is due and owing and free from any outstanding complaints."

fermi

Is there anything on your credit files about the debt from Lowell that should not be there? That would be my primary concern now that they have dropped any form of collection.

sourcrates

Tinaroo wrote: »

I believe they had bought it, the opening line to their findings states:

"Firstly, please be advised that when we purchased the above account from Provident Personal Credit Limited, it was in good faith and on the understanding that the debt is due and owing and free from any outstanding complaints."

That's fine then, they have written it off !!!!

Tinaroo

The default for £1050 is still there however in the email response it states:

"I have also arranged for any information being reported by Lowell Portfolio I Ltd to the Credit Reference Agencies in relation to the above account to be removed from your credit file, this should be updated within 10 working days."

I will be chasing it up if it isn't removed in 10 days.

Great start to my weekend.

Tinaroo

sourcrates wrote: »

That's fine then, they have written it off !!!!

Thank god! They placed the default on my account whilst I was on a Practitioner in Data Protection course so luckily I knew what I was talking about otherwise I would have been hung out to dry. I wonder how many times they have breached the DPA without the data subject not knowing!

sourcrates

Tinaroo wrote: »

Thank god! They placed the default on my account whilst I was on a Practitioner in Data Protection course so luckily I knew what I was talking about otherwise I would have been hung out to dry. I wonder how many times they have breached the DPA without the data subject not knowing!

Keep that letter/email, safe, as you never know what the future holds !!!!!

Tinaroo

sourcrates wrote: »

Keep that letter/email, safe, as you never know what the future holds !!!!!

It's been screenshotted, dropboxed, iclouded, sent to my mum, sent to my work email, saved on my laptop, saved on a memory stick and printed out hahaha