Letter from Lowell Portfolio

Vkmd

This is my first time dealing with debt collectors and I am not good at. I am thinking of it as an educational experience.


Anyway, I called them up via a landline phone. This phone line belonged to a friend's fax machine, so good luck to them spamming it.

Apparently it is a debt regarding an old T Mobile contract which I thought I had terminated. It is about £93 and not a huge sum in grand scheme of things.

But what did bother me was their aggressive approach to the whole thing. The person on phone said they can only give me details over phone and not in writing and if I want it in writing, I will have to pay £10. He said I can look at 'DF Access' rule for more information.

When I said that as part of Consumer protection act and FCA, I am entitled to it on writing, he pretty much threatened me by saying 'So you are not going to cooperate?' I guess that is one of their standard procedures before they go ahead with legal proceedings. He did ask me for my contact number but I refused saying I prefer email. All in all pretty unpleasant experience.


I told him that I am not acknowledging anything and need to look at my records before taking any action.

Regards

alumende27

Re-reading, it sounds like the letter the OP got contained no details of any debt, and was just an attempt to persuade him to write/phone them so they could establish they've got someone who will respond and they'll then start hassling him for a specific debt once they've made contact.

Under those circumstances I'd advise making no contact until Lowell are upfront about why they are attempting to make contact. If the Op refuses to make contact they will no doubt eventually send a threatening letter explaining it's a debt. Once they establish it is for a debt, that's when the OP should send the example letter I wrote about.

As I see the OP has already emailed them back, I would strongly advise not making any further email contact. Ignore further emails, just delete them. They will eventually send you a letter in the post saying that you owe money. And at that point, send them the letter I advised previously.

They will try all sorts of tactics, including theatening court action, threatening to pass to another debt collection agency (that's still part of Lowell), a payment plan and a discount if you agree to pay the debt. Ignore them all until they are able to provide evidence that you owe them money.

I had them sending me letters via post several times a year for 10+ years (mostly through curiosity to see what they'd do if i never replied). I eventually wrote them the above letter after they tracked me down to a new house and that was the end of the matter.

alumende27

why do people here ask for advice and then ignore it!!!

DO NOT SPEAK TO OR EMAIL THEM AGAIN.

Let them write to you and follow the advice in my previous messages.

George_Michael

Vkmd wrote: »

Anyway, I called them up via a landline phone. This phone line belonged to a friend's fax machine, so good luck to them spamming it.

Even though you called from a different phone, they now know that the mailing details that they have are correct and it's possible that they may find your phone number and start calling you.
Are you ex-directory?

Speaking to them even on an untraceable number wasn't a good idea, hence the reason for other posters stating this earlier.

Vkmd

Yes, I am not listed in any directory.

Regarding my reasons to call them, I am about to get mortgage and was worried about the worst possible outcome for this case. I had checked all my previous contracts and could not really find any record of any debt. I was pretty confident that even if there was some unpaid amount, it wouldn't be massive.

I do apologise if I have offended you. But like I said, I have never dealt with a debt collector/management company before and with the whole mortgage situation, I just wanted to resolve the matter, if any, as soon as possible.

bris

Well I see it a different way to most on here.


Lowell Finance are a legitimate company and not scammers. If they want to speak to you it's for a reason they see as legitimate whether it's a mistake or not.


The best and quickest way to find out the problem is to give them a call and hear it first hand. I don't see the problem with calling anyone, it's the quickest and easiest way to see if the problem is real or not.

alumende27

bris wrote: »

The best and quickest way to find out the problem is to give them a call and hear it first hand. I don't see the problem with calling anyone, it's the quickest and easiest way to see if the problem is real or not.

And has already been established from the OPs response after speaking to them, Lowell are lying weasels.

Your advice may be contrary to most here on this subject, but there's a reason why people are advised to stick to dealing with Lowell in writing. They have been censured by the authorities in the past, and are one of the reasons the FCA's guidance on debt collection was written in the first place!

steampowered

Having spoken to them from a withhold number, at least you now know where you stand and what the debt is all about. And you have first hand experience of how Lowell approach things!

Probably best to keep it in writing from now on. The reality is that you are simply a number in a spreadsheet provided by T-mobile. The spreadsheet is probably wrong and Lowell are unlikely to have any proof of this debt at all.

You will almost certainly receive further threat-o-grams by letter. Perhaps ask Lowell for proof of the debt in writing once and leave it at that.

The only further response you would need to give is if they issue court proceedings, in which case you would need to defend the proceedings. There are guides on how to do that on CAG. If I recall correctly there are also template letters to send to Lowell over at CAG.

alumende27

Vkmd wrote: »

Regarding my reasons to call them, I am about to get mortgage and was worried about the worst possible outcome for this case. I had checked all my previous contracts and could not really find any record of any debt. I was pretty confident that even if there was some unpaid amount, it wouldn't be massive.

I understand the concern and worry, especially with buying a house.

But the fact remains until and unless they can provide evidence you owe them a debt there is nothing they can do.

Write them the letter I suggested, they will either confirm that you owe the amount, at which point you should pay if you agree it is a valid debt, or they will stop contacting you. Either way, it's not going to affect your credit rating or mortgage application.

steampowered

Lowell have been known to put defaults on people's credit records. They can only do this if (1) the underlying debt gets reported to credit rating agencies, or (2) they obtain a CCJ.

Lowell have also been known to obtain a default CCJ by serving proceedings on an old address. In this case the defendant would not be aware of the legal proceedings or the CCJ until he/she starts getting rejected for credit applications.

Hence I suggest the Op keeps an eye on his credit rating every now and then just to check that no nasties appear.