Debts with lowell coming upto statue barred - Discount offers

Stubie1987

Hi Guys and Girls,

I have 3 debts currently with Lowell which are due to become statue barred in Feb-March 2019.

They are phoning relentlessly (which i am of course ignoring)

They have also just sent me a 75% Discount offer on One of the debts and on the other 2 i have 60% discount offers from 2 months ago.

Now my questions...

Should i accept the offers to close the debts once and for all?
Are they offering so much off due to desperation?

Any help will be appreciated.

sourcrates

Stubie1987 wrote: »

Are they offering so much off due to desperation?

Any help will be appreciated.

Unlikely to be desperation, they make these offers to potentially avoid the need for legal action, Lowell are particularly keen in this area, and I can almost guarantee you will receive a claim form a few weeks prior to the statute barred date.

Unfortunately by then the discount offer will of withered away, and you may end up with a CCJ for the full amount.

I would be tempted to take the offers.

fatbelly

I don't like to see anyone paying Lowell anything if they can avoid it!

When you say that they go SB in Feb and Mar 2019 (only 3 and 4 months away now) are you saying that those dates are 6 years from when you last made a payment or 6 years from when they were defaulted? If the latter I find that Lowell roll over and admit defeat pretty easily at that point.

Although they are litigious, they cannot take court action on every debt they hold - it would just not make economic sense. If you are not engaging with them it would be a leap of faith on their part that they would get anything back from their extra expense.

I've seen increasing discounts (up to 90%) in cases where they then gave up so you may be on that track. Are the letterheads Lowell or Lowell solicitors?

For now I would stick with the ignore strategy but let us knw what you get from them.

Stubie1987

fatbelly wrote: »

When you say that they go SB in Feb and Mar 2019 (only 3 and 4 months away now) are you saying that those dates are 6 years from when you last made a payment or 6 years from when they were defaulted? If the latter I find that Lowell roll over and admit defeat pretty easily at that point.

I last made a payment via a DMP 13th Feb 2013 when i cancelled it as the company were taking more then they were paying out.

fatbelly wrote: »

I've seen increasing discounts (up to 90%) in cases where they then gave up so you may be on that track. Are the letterheads Lowell or Lowell solicitors?

The Letters are headed Lowell

Thanks again for all you help Guys

Just_Di

Stubie1987 wrote: »

I have 3 debts currently with Lowell which are due to become statue barred in Feb-March 2019.

. . . . They have also just sent me a 75% Discount offer on One of the debts and on the other 2 i have 60% discount offers from 2 months ago.

. . . . Should i accept the offers to close the debts

What is the value of each of these debts?

A 75% Discount on a £15k debt would be more tempting than a 75% Discount on a £500 debt.

Are the offers time-sensitive with a cutoff point to accept?

What were these accounts when they were originally opened, such as credit card, loan, overdraft, catalogue account, and how long ago were the accounts opened?

Depending on your answers you may have the option to send Lowell a s77-79 CCA Request which has the potential to render the account unenforceable if they can't/don't comply.

A correctly worded CCA Request does not affect Statute Barred status. It's important that any template letter sent doesn't ask for the credit agreement for "my" account - it should refer to the debt owners reference or the account reference i.e. ask for the credit agreement for "account number 123456789" etc.

However I suggest you keep that option (CCA Request) up your sleeve until the time is right. If you ask for the credit agreement now and they do comply then they may issue a claim thinking they've got the evidence they need to be successful in court.

Since October 2017 Pre Action Protocol obliges them to send you a Letter Before Claim giving you 30 days to respond before a claim should be issued. However It's likely a court would be tolerant of a debt owner skipping that step in order not to forfeit their statutory right (the SB clock).

Your decision should be based on a combination of factors for each separate account as no two debt scenarios are the same.

Di

Stubie1987

Since October 2017 Pre Action Protocol obliges them to send you a Letter Before Claim giving you 30 days to respond before a claim should be issued. However It's likely a court would be tolerant of a debt owner skipping that step in order not to forfeit their statutory right (the SB clock).

Sorry does this mean they might not have to send a Pre action letter?

Thanks again for any and all advise it is very much appreciated.

fatbelly

Stubie1987 wrote: »

Sorry does this mean they might not have to send a Pre action letter?

Thanks again for any and all advise it is very much appreciated.

Di is saying that a court might forgive them if they did not follow protocol. The protocol was beefed-up a year ago with a standard reply form and a 30-day period for response.

My observation is that, since it came in, Lowell follow it.

Stubie1987

Di is saying that a court might forgive them if they did not follow protocol. The protocol was beefed-up a year ago with a standard reply form and a 30-day period for response.

My observation is that, since it came in, Lowell follow it.

Thanks again fatbelly, Sorry to seem like a pain in the backside but do you have any further advise based on the info in my responses above.

fatbelly

Stubie1987 wrote: »

Lowell Account 1 - Credit Card - £300 - Last Payment / Acknowledgement made through DMP Feb 2013

Lowell Account 2 - catalogue - £300- Last Payment / Acknowledgement made through DMP Feb 2013

Lowell Account 3 - loan/credit card/overdraft? - £600- Last Payment / Acknowledgement made through DMP Feb 2013

Hope that is clear its all the info i have to the best of my knowledge Thanks in Advance

Stubie1987 wrote: »

Thanks again fatbelly, Sorry to seem like a pain in the backside but do you have any further advise based on the info in my responses above.

No that's fine. My advice is to do nothing.

Except you probably gave us too much info in post 6. What's above is all Di was asking. You could delete the original post 6.

Stubie1987

Lowell Account 1 - Credit Card - £300 - Last Payment / Acknowledgement made through DMP Feb 2013

Lowell Account 2 - catalogue - £300- Last Payment / Acknowledgement made through DMP Feb 2013

Lowell Account 3 - overdraft - £600- Last Payment / Acknowledgement made through DMP Feb 2013

Account 3 was an overdraft as amended above.

No that's fine. My advice is to do nothing.

Thanks again sorry to keep at this but i just want to make sure that i have all my ducks in a row...your advise to do nothing is that based on the idea that they probably wont get these to court before SB comes into play? Am i right in thinking i would then use the CCA request as a possible delay tactic dependent on their next move?

Just_Di

Stubie1987 wrote: »

your advise to do nothing is that based on the idea that they probably wont get these to court before SB comes into play? Am i right in thinking i would then use the CCA request as a possible delay tactic dependent on their next move?

From what you say you've been receiving phone calls and letters from Lowell Portfolio (a debt purchaser).

If you get any letters from Lowell Solicitors then post on your thread again because that may be the best time to send a s 77-79 CCA Request to Lowell.

Once a claim is issued the Statute Barred clock stops ticking so sending a CCA Request before any claim is the way forward. You can also send one after a claim but then you'd be using non compliance as a legal argument in your Defence because you could no longer use SB as a Defence if the claim was issued before it became SB (if you follow me ).

It's all about timing when you're approaching Statute Barred.

I also notice that one of these debts (No 3) was an overdraft so the last payment date may not be the SB date because it may depend on when the bank issued a Final Demand and called in the debt. Some overdrafts are allowed drift on for years without being defaulted/terminated.

Di