Lowell not honouring agreed settlement discount

SF1990

Hi everyone

This is a bit of a long story so bear with me..

I had an account with JD Williams, I had a lot of financial issues a few years ago and ran up some debts which I struggled to repay (which I’m still working hard to fix) this debt of £789.76 got sold to Lowell financial.

The debt stayed with Lowell for a while and I never made any payments, and last year they wrote to me and offered me a 45% settlement discount (reducing the overall debt by £355.39) , which I accepted and they agreed to let me pay in stage payments, I stuck to this agreement and never missed 1 payment since it has been in place. ( I still have all of this in writing)

A few months ago I discovered I had PPI on the original account which I didn’t agree to, and so made a claim with JD Williams, with the intention of being able to clear this debt along with some others. They wrote to me and gave me a PPI Refund of £1186.

JD Williams sent the full original amount of the debt that was sold (£789.86) To Lowell , and sent me the remainder to me even though Lowell had
• Given me a 45% discount and
• I had been making repayments and only had something like £200 left to pay.

About 3 weeks ago I called Lowell and after they tried to say that they now didn’t have to give me the discount they had originally given me, after further discussing with them they eventually agreed that they would use the money from JD Williams to clear the account and close it and then send me a cheque for the balance I think it was roughly around £400ish, but this would take around about 2 weeks to come through

A couple of days ago I called them again asking where the cheque was. Now they tell me they have changed their mind and fobbed me off with some excuses, basically saying again that they don’t have to honour the settlement discount, and the % of the debt that was originally written off was reinstated and they’ve now closed the account down and settled it for the full amount, and ill be getting a cheque for something like £40 which is the balance left.

So, my question is.. Once a company agrees a settlement figure, and I stick to payments – are they actually allowed to do this?? Would it be worth me taking this to the financial ombudsman, or are they perfectly within their rights?

Sorry it’s a bit of a long story but hoping for a bit of help with what to do next, if anything!

Thank you

sourcrates

Hi,

Thats a very good question, and terrible timing on the part of JD Williams i might add.

My suggestion would be to put this all in a written complaint, and send it in to Lowell. they are a big company, and one hand docent always know what the other is doing, send copies of the letter outlining the agreement you had, make sure you write "COMPLAINT" in big bold letters.

This way you bypass the monkeys on the telephones, and get straight through to the organ grinder.

Now they may say that any discount is provided at the companies discretion, and payment in full was actually made, although not by you, i would challenge this on the basis of fairness to both parties, that's how the FOS would deal with it, ask them to rethink there decision, and honor the agreement they made with you.

Tell them you will take it to the FOS if your not happy with there response (that will cost them a further £550.00 referral fee, just for you complaing to the FOS).

See what happens.

fatbelly

I agree with this approach, though FOS may well side with Lowell.

Nevertheless, go through this route as court action can still be taken after FOS ruling, and a judge may view this differently, provided you can evidence the chain of events.

SF1990

Thank you sourcrates, good suggestion i didn't think of going to them first, I will try that and see where it gets me. does seem unfair that they can get away with going back on their word not once but twice :mad: