Lowell Financial Ltd???

steampowered

Personally I would contact them to try and find out what this is all about, but don't give them any personal information.

Lowell are known to be aggressive and do sometimes issue court claims, and may issue statutory demands if the amount is over £5,000.

You should also make sure to record the call. There are apps that allow you to do this on smartphones.

Have a read of https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?167-Debt-Collection-Agencies where you will find lots of other people who have been chased by Lowell and general guidance on what debt collection agencies can and can't do.

naedanger

unifan wrote: »

To money ineptitude
That letter doesn't seem to match our circumstances. It suggests we may owe money which we don't not that we're aware of If I send that at this stage it will impy that we owe something we don't surely?

The letter seems entirely appropriate.

It does not imply you owe money.

What it effectively says is that you deny any knowledge of this debt and are therefore disputing you owe money. It then says they must either supply their evidence for believing the debt is yours or must close the case. It points out if they continue to pursue the matter without supplying their evidence they will be breaching their regulator's rules.

[Assuming they are just on a fishing expedition they will not be able to provide evidence the debt is yours and so will have to close the case. If they try to pursue you further without evidence you have told them how you will respond i.e. by complaining to trading standards and the FCA. ]

The letter shows you know your rights and how to enforce them.

In your position I would use that letter. If they ignore it then they are taking a significant risk.

Personally I would modify the following lines of the standard letter from:

"Please do not make any further contact about the above accounts unless you can provide evidence of my liability for the debt.

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. "

to

"Please do not make any further contact about the above accounts, other than to confirm the matter is now closed, unless you can provide evidence of my liability for the debt.

Also please ensure all communication is by letter. Do not attempt to contact me by any other means."

jimmyams1511

Home owner with a good credit score, no bad debt or late payments(certainly no defaults on my account). Out of the blue I receive a letter from the Lowell Group relating to an outstanding debt that I allegedly have with British Gas dating back to 2013.

Rather than dispute what is owed(which I do as I cleared all my utilities before leaving) I said for the sake of a few hundred pounds I would settle the payment rather than requesting Lowell send it back to British Gas. I was warned by a colleague that dealing with Lowell would 'hammer' my credit file..... well they were not wrong!

With the above in mind, I specifically asked the agent at Lowell if my credit file would be impacted or effected. I was assured on numerous occasions that this payment I was making in good faith would have no bearing on my credit file.

After agreeing to settle a disputed/alleged debt my credit file dropped from 960 to 600 overnight! I Only realised this when the bank mentioned I wasn't suitable for a small loan which was concerning as we are in the process of trying to re-mortgage!

Lowell somehow after reassuring me that I wouldn't impact my credit file, registered(or at least imposed) a default that wasn't on my credit file until I paid them. I am so disappointment and my wife is distraught that out mortgage is now unlikely because I offered to pay these guys. I have logged a complaint and we will now have to wait and see.

[Deleted User]

Are you sure it wasn't British Gas that registered your default? You've owed the money for five years, so I'm certain it was recorded as a defaulted debt some time back.

DoaM

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

You've owed the money for five years

To be fair, the OP necro-poster says they didn't owe the money. Why they then decided to just pay it is bizarre.

Geodark

Yeah, in that case remind me to send a few invoices to the OP, you never know they might just pay me for no reason as well.

societys_child

DoaM wrote: »

To be fair, the OP says they didn't owe the money. Why they then decided to just pay it is bizarre.

It's not the op, someone just resurrected (and hijacked) a year old thread

George_Michael

jimmyams1511 wrote: »

Rather than dispute what is owed(which I do as I cleared all my utilities before leaving) I said for the sake of a few hundred pounds I would settle the payment rather than requesting Lowell send it back to British Gas

Which will pretty much guarantee that if the true debtor has run up any more debts, you will be at the top of the list for the debt recovery companies to chase for monies owed and as you made a payment for one outstanding bill, you will have a very hard time convincing the companies that you are not liable for any others.

25_Years_On

societys_child wrote: »

It's not the op, someone just resurrected (and hijacked) a year old thread

But that someone said they didn't owe anything but decided to pay anyway.

waamo

My best guess is that BG put the default on. They will have a name but no current contact details so up to now haven't been able to register a default debt.

Lowell have found someone who has, in essence, confessed to being the debtor and have recovered the debt from that person.

Armed with a name and current address they are now able to register a debt.

Sadly it is a situation of your own making.