Help with Lowell Group

GemGems984 · 19 June 2019 at 11:07AM

Hi there

This is my first time posting here so hope this is ok.

I’m hoping someone can shed some light with regards to a Three Mobile debt that has been sold to Lowell Group.
They are chasing payment from my partner for almost £800.
I sent them a prove it letter, they responded with a final bill from Three Mobile which only indicates the final amount that needs to be paid.
So I sent them a second letter requesting the following information:
Statement of Account – showing details and dates of debits and credits including payments, interest and charges to the account.
Copy of the default notice – Showing date of default.

They have now responded with the below:

“We can advise that the statement previously provided is sufficient evidence of the balance outstanding. If you require previous statements that Three Mobile have sent you, or more detailed statements, you would need to contact Three Mobile directly and submit a Data Subject Access Request for all statements they have previously sent you.

The account has a default date of the 12th January 2017.

Please be advised that Default notices are usually a one-off document and most original creditors do not keep a copy of them. We have no obligation to provide a copy of this as the notice would have been sent to your correspondence address Three Mobile held for you at the time of the account entering default. Please contact Three Mobile directly regarding the default notice that was sent to you by them. If you do this please quote the original account number xxxxx.

We will place the account on hold for a period of 30 days to allow you time to contact Three Mobile to request any further information you may require. Please contact us by the end of this time to discuss this matter further.”

I’m curious to know if what they’re saying is correct. They’re expecting him to pay almost £800 with no details of how this amount is made up. I thought that as Lowell are now the owner of this debt, it is their responsibility to prove that it belongs to him, not the other way round? Shouldn’t it be down to them to request and provide the information as Three Mobile are no longer the owner of the debt? Is a final bill, which contains no breakdown just the final amount, sufficient evidence?

He genuinely doesn’t know if this is his debt or not, but I’m not particularly happy handing over that kind of money without being certain. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RecentPost · 19 June 2019 at 11:17AM

1. Does the debt belong to him?
2. How old is it?
3. Was he aware of the debt?

The evidence is enough at this point to make him liable, Lowell own the debt they bought it for a
few pence in the pound!

Unfortunately if he owes the debt there no magic that will make this go away.

GemGems984 · 19 June 2019 at 11:27AM

He isn't aware of the debt and doesn't believe it belongs to him. As he wasn't aware of it, we don't know how old it is, only that Lowell have said it defaulted in January 2017.
We don't want magic to make it go away, we want to ensure the debt is his before coughing up almost £800.

RecentPost · 19 June 2019 at 12:01PM

Best thing to do would be to contact three and do a Subject Access Request - there is only so much Lowell will be able to get off Three on your behalf.

has he ever had a contract with Three?

GemGems984 · 19 June 2019 at 12:45PM

The only contract that he's aware he had with Three is his current one which he took out in August 2017. This is why we're suspicious that it's actually his debt, as this apparently defaulted in January 2017. If he was in debt with Three Mobile in January 2017, surely they wouldn't have let him take out a new contract with them in August 2017?

We will do a SAR request in that case, I just thought that as Lowell are now the owner of the debt, that they were the ones that required to prove that it, not the other way round where we're having to prove that it's not.

RecentPost · 19 June 2019 at 12:59PM

They have provided the proof they have - if three have made an error they will recall the debt from from Lowell. Good luck!

sourcrates · 19 June 2019 at 1:34PM

Whilst your waiting for the SAR, send a further letter to Lowell disputing the account, inform them your making a SAR request to 3, and you will be intouch again when you have the results of that.