Rossendales Collect / Lowell debt

LEK

Good morning all,

It appears that them lovely people at Lowell's appeared to have either ignored my correspondence regarding my BR or they have failed to record this down their end - as a result I received a letter from Rossendales Collect a couple of days ago regarding an old debt that they are looking to recover for Lowell's (an old Severn Trent debt which was included within my BR).

The original correspondence I had with Lowell's back in around October time was done over the phone (BR notice & all required information was supplied), and they informed me that as long as they are able to confirm the situation with my OR then the following debt would be dealt with accordingly.

What amazes me is that when Lowell's originally handled the debt, it was only for around £190 odd but now that it's in the hand of Rossendales it has magically reduced down to £150 - and the letter says I am entitled to up to a 40% reduction if I contact them in good time.

Shall I attempt to make contact with them to try and sort this out or should I contact my OR to see what the score is with this? I've googled Rossendales already and see that they are pretty much on par with Lowell's as to how well they are regarded and I'm not inclined to really contact them if I can help it. Not only that and If I am not mistaken - but them perusing the debt in question is now deemed illegal now that I am BR?

Many thanks - Liam.

tigerfeet2006

Send a copy of the latter to your OR so they know of the new owner of the debt.

All lowel have done is cut their losses with the debt and sold it on for a few pence in the pound. Rossendales have taken it on in the hopes of A) you not realising you don't have to pay it and you do and if you do realise then they can possibly claim from your BR estate at the end.

The extra £50 is their mark up.

You can either post them details of your BR or just ignore them it is up to you. If they ring you then you can have some fun and games with them making them think you are going to pay, go through security blah, blah, blah and then hit them with your BR details.

LEK

Thanks for the quick response, I've drafted up a letter complete with my BR order to post out to them - I'll most likely won't hear back from them on the matter.

Now it's time to track down the relevant department at O2 again to try and get to the bottom of the debt I had with them as well... they are the only account listed on my credit report up to now as still outstanding and yet to acknowledge my BR! :mad:

Liam.

sourcrates

Most of these Debt purchasers, such as Lowell, sell on accounts where there has been some dispute, instead of writing them off as uncollectable.

I had one debt included in my IVA, sold on 3 times before the last owner, Cabot, decided to write it off.

GazHatesBanks

Send them a copy of this letter edited to your own details...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=51660099&postcount=1

Courtesy of Fermi

LEK

Just an update and a thanks to all for your replies on this - I received a response yesterday from Rossendales Collect acknowledging my letter to them that I sent off just under a couple of weeks ago, they've closed the account & refereed it back to Lowell's.

It would make me laugh & wouldn't surprise me if Lowell's came back to me again in due course with round two :rotfl:

I doubt that will be the case, though who knows with that lot!

Thanks again - Liam.

alltaken

Now it's time to track down the relevant department at O2 again to try and get to the bottom of the debt I had with them as well... they are the only account listed on my credit report up to now as still outstanding and yet to acknowledge my BR!

This should save your head from the brick wall:

creditfilereferrals@o2.com

EdwardB

LEK wrote: »

Just an update and a thanks to all for your replies on this - I received a response yesterday from Rossendales Collect acknowledging my letter to them that I sent off just under a couple of weeks ago, they've closed the account & refereed it back to Lowell's.

It would make me laugh & wouldn't surprise me if Lowell's came back to me again in due course with round two :rotfl:

I doubt that will be the case, though who knows with that lot!

Thanks again - Liam.

I would not be surprised either, these debt collectors seem to me to be a big bunch of cowboys, it is standard practice for them to offer a discount with scarcity just to get you to respond.

The High Court Enforcement Agents are even worse, they make a TV programme about the misery they inflict on others, yet they themselves do not smell so sweet. One had his own Baliff company become insolvent owing the HMRC £65k, he is now a director of another Bailiff company that has failed to file accounts or annual return. Another HCEO was discharged from the Police for drug offences and failed to declare on FSA paperwork. A lot of them are involved in Parking Enforcement after doing the Clamping gigs, I know one who is ex-con, drug offences and kidnapping.

Whole debt industry needs investigating if you ask me, starting with the Credit Reference databases that have gone way beyond their original remit and have more powers than Police.

LEK

EdwardB wrote: »

I would not be surprised either, these debt collectors seem to me to be a big bunch of cowboys, it is standard practice for them to offer a discount with scarcity just to get you to respond.

The High Court Enforcement Agents are even worse, they make a TV programme about the misery they inflict on others, yet they themselves do not smell so sweet. One had his own Baliff company become insolvent owing the HMRC £65k, he is now a director of another Bailiff company that has failed to file accounts or annual return. Another HCEO was discharged from the Police for drug offences and failed to declare on FSA paperwork. A lot of them are involved in Parking Enforcement after doing the Clamping gigs, I know one who is ex-con, drug offences and kidnapping.

Whole debt industry needs investigating if you ask me, starting with the Credit Reference databases that have gone way beyond their original remit and have more powers than Police.

Oh you can say that again about debt collector firms, I've learned a lot from a handful of them over the years - parking fine in 2009 from the likes of a very well known firm that I cannot remember off the top of my head, originally I was going to pay it but then my mate told me to ignore it - four months later, the fine going from £60 to £140 and after them selling it onto three other firms and countless of letters, they gave up.

Trying to cancel a gym membership debt after I lost a previous job resulted in them instructing CRS to chase me for a mere £45, trying to deal with CRS (silly mistake) and ignoring a couple of letters which resulted in the amount going from £45 to £120, even the chap I knew at the gym told me to ignore it as they can't and won't enforce it !! They left it for another 6 months before piping up again about it and I wrote a very stern letter outlining a few facts and a summary of the harassment I was getting from them, as well as looking to seeking legal action about it - never heard from them again.

On the topic of the likes of "Can't Pay, We'll Take It Away". It is a cringe worthy program to watch at times and some of these people on there do ask for it, though I agree that some of the bailiffs on there are rude, abrupt, obnoxious, threatening and intimidating but they're still doing their job at the end of the day - and to this day I'm still surprised that they get away with wearing a uniform which is the spitting image of the police one, even though it's not the same - it still makes people think that they could be the police at a distance when in fact, they're not. Something like this was highlighted online a while ago as one particular firm were scrutinized by the media for this, especially the design of their body protectors but the uniform was still deemed legal as they didn't have a police constabulary badge, rank markings and any police labels on it.

Liam.

LEK

alltaken wrote: »

This should save your head from the brick wall:

creditfilereferrals@o2.com

Just a shout out as a massive thank you and to also update that emailing O2 using the email address worked a treat. It took 10 working days for them to come back to me but they have finally acknowledged my BR and has marked my old account down as defaulted and for me to notify them when I am discharged, as they will then mark it down as settled.

Liam.