My debt was sold to a third party company (lowell portfolio I Ltd)

bearstar

Hi,

I'm looking for advice I started to spend silly money with JACAMO I realised I was not going to be able to keep up with both the repayments and the interest so I did the smart thing and contact them to discuss it, I managed to get them to agree to freeze the interest and agree to a payment £20 a month. I have been keeping up with the repayments, but have awoken to a letter from Lowell Portfolio I LTD saying that JACAMO has sold my debt onto them for £570 (my debt standing with them currently was £550). When I contacted JACAMO to basically say what the !!!! they told me it was sold due to that fact I was making small payments on an interest free agreement and that this is what this company specializes in. When I complained that the fact I have kept my side of the deal and that if it was such a small amount why did they A) agree to it and not contact me to renegotiate the woman basically said unfortunately this is just a company decision and that Lowell would stick to the interest free agreement. In the letter this is not stated by them and they are asking me to contact them to start talks about paying this debt back to them. I'm asking for advice before I do on what are they allowed to do i.e in terms of interest they can apply and how much they can ask for a month I was happy with the £20 and also if I am now even liable to pay it as I have read up on the company and have come across posts saying that because they took over the debt the debter has no agreement with them as they owe the original lender the money and not them. Also because I read that once I contact them I have acknowledge the that I have a debt with them. I was happy to pay off this debt but with JACAMO not with this third party and also feel cheated and angry that my debt was sold without warning especially when I was making great effort to make sure I was sticking to my agreement. My main concern is that I owed JACAMO £550 and they brought the debt for £570 but only asking £550 this makes me suspicious as they would need to make there money back somewhere so scared what they will ask of me.

MrsTinks

Firstly ignore any reference to what they have bought the debt for - they will have paid far less than you owe for this.

JACAMO have the right to sell on your debt or employ someone to collect this debt for them - you have defaulted on your original agreement to pay the minimum monthly payments. Given this is a very "young" debt it is likely they will have all the paper work in order to collect the debts.

It makes little to no difference to you who collects this debt, all that will probably change for you is your credit file will now show this defaulted debt as being owned by Lowell and not to Jacamo.

Yes you are still liable for this debt. If Lowell are happy to stick to £20 a month then simply carry on. If you can then pay them £20 and stick £10 aside each month or more and when you have a bit of a lump then offer them a full and final settlement to clear the debt permanently at a discounted rate.

bearstar

Hi

Thanks for your response the thing is though I haven't defaulted on a payment JACAMO even confirmed this that's why it has angered me. When I spoke to JACAMO the reason it was sold was because I was making small payments not because I missed one and Lowell specialise in interest free debts so they are basically doing me a favour which I just do not believe

sourcrates

Ok,

Take a breath, its common practice within the industry to sell on bad debts, happens all the time.

Jacamo have offloaded your account to Lowell, who will of bought the debt dirt cheap, unfortunately along with that sale, they inherit all rights and privileges, just the same as the original creditor.

This means that if your original agreement allows interest to be added, after default, then Lowell can charge that too, most agreements dont, but its wise to check.

The good thing with Lowell, and i use the term loosely, is that they will pretty much accept most offers of payment from you, so keep everything in writing, and nothing much should change.

StokieBecks

The minute you are no longer making a contactual minimum payment (even if you have a payment plan in place) then the account is usually in default as you have defaulted on your original agreement.

As for what Lowell purchased the debt for probably just means they took over the account when balance was 570 and Jacamo have since forwarded the £20 payment made in what looks like a crossover.

sourcrates

bearstar wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for your response the thing is though I haven't defaulted on a payment JACAMO even confirmed this that's why it has angered me.

You had defaulted on your contractual payment, thats what matters.

Once you start paying less than the contracted monthly payments, you break the terms of that agreement period.

sourcrates

bearstar wrote: »

My main concern is that I owed JACAMO £550 and they brought the debt for £570

Who told you this little snippet ?

Usually this kind of information is never, ever disclosed.

That figure is bound to be incorrect, Lowell pay pennies in the pound for debts, they probably bought yours for less than 50 quid.

StokieBecks

Just pay Lowell your agreed £20 a month. You do not even have to deal with them just go online and pay it via their site. If you can save a little bit up you may even be able to negotiate a discount

bearstar

sourcrates wrote: »

Who told you this little snippet ?

Usually this kind of information is never, ever disclosed.

That figure is bound to be incorrect, Lowell pay pennies in the pound for debts, they probably bought yours for less than 50 quid.

Going back through the letter I may of misread that it says "The total balance sold was £570.38" so thinking you guys may be right I as I often misinterpret things

sourcrates

bearstar wrote: »

Going back through the letter I may of misread that it says "The total balance sold was £570.38" so thinking you guys may be right I as I often misinterpret things

Yea that was just the balance sold, not what Lowell paid for it.

Seriously, i would not worry about it.

As stockibecks says, Lowell have a very modern website, you can log in, make a payment, set up a DD, make an offer of payment, all without having to speak to anyone.

But if i were you, first, i`d write a letter, just asking them to confirm no further interest will be added, and that, should you wish, the agreement you had in place with Jacamo will be honored. (you will need to advise them of what that amount was as they will not be aware of the arrangement you had with Jacamo prior to them becoming involved.).

Just to put your mind at rest.

MrsTinks

As others have repeated too - yes you defaulted the moment you failed to pay the minimum contracted amount on your ORIGINAL agreement - this will have likely placed a default on your credit file - or at least they have the right to place this now on your account at any point (They must place it with the correct date however so do keep an eye on this).