lowellfinancial/lowell portfolio/cetelem

harlandfamily

hope somebody can give some advice with regard to the above people.
my son bought a laptop via novatech on 1 year interest free finance.the otion was to pay in full at end of year 1 or finance via cetelem over 3 years.
unfortunately being my sons first encounter with credit he opted at end of year 1 to take on the credit option.(fatal)
he made continuous payments by d/debit up until march of this year when cetelem did not 'call' for the payment as usual.he then received a letter from them where he then paid by debit card and restarted the d/debit arrangement.as he was at university he was unaware that the d/d's were not being taken up until august of this year.he offered to clear the debt in full but by this time cetelem had onpassed the debt to lowell portfolio,who in turn have now onpassed it to lowell financial!!
my son is now not in a position to clear it totally but has proposed to lowell to pay half now and half in january 2008 or spread the balance over the next 4 months.
they refuse this on the grounds that the debt they have bought now includes over £500 of interest and legal fees?
i have spoken to the national debt helpline and stated the legailities but lowell refuse to accept this and state that he is liable for the full amount they state.they will only accept the figure less their legal fees etc.., if he pays in full now.
anybody out ther got any advice?would be greatly appreciated,

RAS

Hi

This is unsecured consumer credit and they are in no position to demand full payment and if you do a search you will find that lowell have a reputation on these boards.

You can start by demanding the signed CCA and letter of assignment, which they may or may not have, but unless they produce it in 12 + 2 working days, they cannot enforce the debt. They cannot chase him in the mean-time.

I would seriously consider getting advice on the legality of cetelem passing a debt to a DCA when they failed to take the DDs. You need copies of the documents relating to the DDs and his accounts. Personally, I am not sure to whom he should complain but I would suggest a letter to the CEO at cetelem and a copy to the trading standards in the town/city where cetelem are based.

Whilst you are at it remind cetelem that they are legally responsible for the action of Lowell and lowell are breaking the OFT Guidelines on debt collection. Offer to report them both to the CSA, OFT and local trading standards unless they come to a reasonable arrangement.

here is the CCA letter


If a debt collecting agency is chasing you send them this:

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

4. I would also like to point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, therefore if I do not receive evidence that I owe your company any monies by 6th February 2006, I will have no hesitation in passing your details to the Office of Fair Trading.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.


Yours,

send it recorded delivery


and here is the link to the OFT Guidelines

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/bus...dit/oft664.pdf

if you are going to be dealing with this lot long term, read and inwardly digest.

i have spoken to the national debt helpline and stated the legailities but lowell refuse to accept this

If lowell tell you that something is not as you have been advised, ask the monkey concerned for his/her full name and where they get this advice from. record it

However I would recommend advising them that you will communicate by mail only and any telelphone calls will constitute haressment

harlandfamily

thanks for all that information.
i did call our local CAB today.in essence they told me exactly what you have,
but i am very grateful for your reply.
with regard to the 'monkey' at lowell.theree are quite a few 'defensive' characters there.i did get manage to get the team leaders name for the purpose of sending the letter.
i seriously think that they think they are doing my son a favour!!what a bunch of a###h###s.excuse my french!!
cant wait to see what their response will be.