Lowell Debt with Three Mobile - Pre-action

doorway

Hello everyone,

I've got a couple of debts with Three for mobile phone contracts totalling around £1500 from 2014 and was looking for some help and advice.

The debt I want help with right now is for £410. This was defaulted around August 2015.

I've been contacted by Lowell who have sent a few letters, the most recent letter is labelled Letter of Claim - 30 days to prevent legal action. This is from Lowell Solicitors received on the 19/10/18 and dated 13/10/18. I've done a little bit of research and it looks like the letter sent out as part of the pre-action protocol.

The letter has payment methods and includes an Information Sheet, Financial Statement and Reply Form. It says that I would need to pay within 30 days or they will issue a County Court Claim.

I've been improving my finances over the last few years and am in a position where I want to pay my debts off and get a mortgage in the next year or two if I can.

My question is, should I call them up and negotiate a full and final fee? Or can I negotiate a smaller amount and pay monthly? What should my next steps be and what is the best way for me to go in getting these cleared and sorted?

Thanks in advance for your help.

sourcrates

A letter before claim is your chance to avoid court action by coming to an agreement with the claimant beforehand.

Make your offer and see what they say.

doorway

Thanks for your response sourcrates.

What would be a reasonable offer? Would 80% or something as low as 50% be reasonable?

Should I be doing this through the phone or email or all in writing through signed for post?

fatbelly

Although the clock is ticking now you can (should) use the pre-action paperwork to slow things down.

There is a guide here:

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

You should tick box C and ask for everything relevant in box I

I would make your offer in writing using the National Debtline 'without prejudice' letter though you may need to phone and negotiate if they do not accept your first offer.

I would think 40-60% might be possible if you start at the lower end.

Your debt is now with Lowell. Three sold it so all correspondence goes to Lowell.

doorway

Thanks for that response fatbelly, very helpful!

So I'll get the form filled in and sent back over the next couple of days.

Should I send the written offer after I receive their response? I guess it would appear contradictory if I tick C and enclose an offer for a full and final payment, so sending the form back is solely just to buy more time?

fatbelly

You can do both. The 'without prejudice' bit means the letter cannot be referred to in court proceedings. It's a sort of 'negotiation on the side'

So you can be saying openly 'show me the paperwork. Prove I owe the money' and privately 'do you want to do a deal?'

Obviously, separate letters though.

doorway

Thanks for your help with this so far.

I posted the negotiation letter and the response form and received a response this weekend.

They refused the offer of 40% at £170 to be paid within 7 days.

I also filled in the reply form, ticking box C and I and asking for:

• Full assignment history of debt
• Initial Default Notice
• Copy of written contract for debt
• A full statement of account, including details of all interest and charges included on outstanding balance of the debt explaining how they have been calculated, and any payments already made towards the debt

They sent two copies of notice of assignments, one from Three and one from their selves on a double sided piece of paper, missing the logos and all the other items making a letter look official. It looks like they have a mail merge that they send out when people send back the reply form.

They have said that as it's a mobile contract not regulated by the CCA so they don't need to provide a default notice or a contract for the debt.

They've also ignored the request for a full statement of accounts and have just wrote the last payment that was received on the 03/02/15 of £35.

I've been doing a bit of research and found that Ofcom don't consider the early cancellation charges to be fair as they're billed while the carrier isn't responsible for providing service. I don't know if this comes under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations which applies as it's a contract before the Consumer Contracts replaced UTCC.

Is that maybe why they didn't want to give me a detailed statements of the debt?

What would be my next steps here? I can post anonymised copies of all the letters if needed.

Thanks again for your help so far.