Help with Lowell financial.

wargirl

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can advise me. I've got 3 old debts (which amount to approx £7000 in total) with Lloyds which were accrued around the period 2004-2005 when I was in a really bad relationship.

I know they chased me for the money in the past and I did make some repayments and corresponded with various debt collection agencies but I have no idea when I was last contacted but don't think it's been in the last 4 years at least.

I've now received 4 letters from Lowell financial group. The latest says that if I don't agree repayment by 6th Aug solicitors will be instructed to take legal action to recover the debt. This particular debt is £1900 and I think it was a joint account.

Is there anything I can do or should I try and offer them what I can afford. They've offered a 20% discount which I suppose is tempting but also sounds like they are desperate to get the money off me if it only some of it.

It's not great timing as I've just had a baby and I moved house fairly recently so I haven't got any spare cash. Please help as I'm getting worried and my husband stresses out about it all.

sourcrates

Hi,

Lowell are specialist delinquent debt purchasers, if they say they will take legal action, then usually they do.

That's not something to be afraid of though, if it happened, you just fill in the claim form, you don't normally have to attend court, and an affordable repayment is agreed with the court.

To avoid that, the first thing you should do is send them the "provit" letter, make sure they have the legal right to ask you to pay it, you are basically asking for proof you owe the debt, as it was a bank account, then no agreement would exist, evidence would be in the form of bank statements most likley.

See what comes back from that, if it checks out, it would be in your interests to make some kind of arrangement with them.

undaunted

Find out for certain when you last acknowledged this debt - 4 years is no good but if it is actually 6 years you can claim it statute barred.


Admit nothing in the meantime, tell Lowell you deny owing any such debt & believe that even if it had once been owed it would by now be statute barred & them let them prove that it is not (they'd have to anyway if you properly filed such a defence to any claim)


Even if there is evidence that you owed Lloyds the money & have acknowledged it have they provided you with an accurate notice of assignment? (If not - and it must be accurate - they will have to do so before they can pursue the debt or any claim should fail when you pointed this out to the Judge.

wargirl

Thank you for all your replies. So it's clear that I have to send them some form of communication to dispute it. Are there template letters for this? I'm going to try and find out if I kept any of the old paperwork and check dates and amounts.

fatbelly

Prove-it letter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247

This does not acknowledge the debt so the clock is still running. It is important to try to work out when you last acknowledged the debt by payment or in writing. Them writing to you does not count as acknowledgement and phone calls don't count either.

assignment = sold. That is what has happened here. Just to be clear - the 4 letters from Lowell are on the same (joint) debt? We should also point out that payment by the joint person restarts the statute barred clock for you (but interestingly written acknowledgement does not!)

wargirl

Thank you so much, still haven't got round to doing this yet but am going to today or tomorrow.

Thanks for clarifying, I had no idea that them writing to you doesn't count in the statute barred timeline. I'm sure it must be over 6 years since I attempted payment or acknowledged the debt but just need to do some more digging in the loft to see if there is anything I can find.

Does it matter if you claim it's statute barred and it's not? I mean are they able to easily check?

sourcrates

wargirl wrote: »

Thank you so much, still haven't got round to doing this yet but am going to today or tomorrow.

Thanks for clarifying, I had no idea that them writing to you doesn't count in the statute barred timeline. I'm sure it must be over 6 years since I attempted payment or acknowledged the debt but just need to do some more digging in the loft to see if there is anything I can find.

Does it matter if you claim it's statute barred and it's not? I mean are they able to easily check?

If you claim it's statute barred, they have to prove it isn't.

It's not unheard of for a DCA to "invent" a £5 payment within the time limit, to make it seem like it isn't SB.

They may send something like that to you, but would not do that to a court, as the consequences would be severe.

If the above applies in the future, you would need to challenge it further.