Lowell - CCA

Jeojadi_2

Hi All 

Long-time lurker, rare poster. Just after some advice on which direction to take when tackling a response to Lowell. 

They have taken over from Hoist, and now own my very old Barclaycard debt. Long story short, this is the final debt of over 20 I had from a period of dreadful financial mismanagement (payday loans, defaults, the works) and it currently stands at £5000 and change. 

My dealings with Hoist (for over 3 years) ended up in them saying that they could not produce the CCA and the debt was unenforceable - but they never put that in writing, only over the phone after I chased them for it. 

Lowell have now sent a letter also saying "we are unable to produce the agreement" but state that they have sent credit card statements, have the details of my last payments, current address and "we regard this balance as due and payable". 

My query therefore is: do I take this communication as confirmation that they can't produce the CCA, and won't be able to enforce this in court, or would they be able to claim that the alternative info provided is sufficient? I know Lowell are highly litigious, and would probably be willing to do court if they thought they could. 

I can't afford any kind of settlement that they'd come down close to either unfortunately. 

Thanks, 

JJ

DjangoUnchained

the experts on here will give you the best advice but i had similar with PRA. when i requested the CCA from them they sent me a bundle of statements. I wrote back saying that is not what i requested, i wanted a CCA. They then wrote back saying they were waiting for it and until then it was unenforceable ( over 5 years ago). I think the key at least for now on is to only deal with them in writing, create a paper trail.

fatbelly

It sounds like they know there was a cca request, and that it was not complied with.

saying that the debt is due and payable is not the same as saying it is legally enforceable.

Personally I'd ignore everything except a pre-action letter- the one that comes with a 30-day reply form.

Jeojadi_2

Thanks both, I will sit tight in that case. 

ManyWays

I think you should reply to Lowell asking them to confirm the debt is currently unenforceable as they havent produced a true copy of the CCA agreement. Remind them that the FCA says in CONC 13.1.6 that " a firm should in no way, either by act or omission, mislead a customer as to the enforceability of the agreement."

DjangoUnchained

ManyWays said:

I think you should reply to Lowell asking them to confirm the debt is currently unenforceable as they haven't produced a true copy of the CCA agreement. Remind them that the FCA says in CONC 13.1.6 that " a firm should in no way, either by act or omission, mislead a customer as to the enforceability of the agreement."

why rock the boat?. they have had a request for it and know it. If it comes to them threatening or issuing court proceedings then that is the time to remind them about the cca? unless you really want them to make concerted efforts to obtain it. 

fatbelly

That was my advice.

I'd ignore everything except a pre-action letter- the one that comes with a 30-day reply form.

sourcrates

Lowell won`t go to court without the necessary paperwork, they may threaten to do so, they may even issue a claim, and take it all the way to the wire, but then fail to show on the day, that is their usual modus operandi, they hope you will cave in before they do.

I`d just leave it alone for now, further letter tennis won`t get you anywhere, you don`t want this at the top of Lowell`s "to do" list, if you ignore it, they likely will too.

Jeojadi_2

Thank you all for your helpful advice. I have decided not to reply to Lowell until (if) they send a letter before claim. I am quite certain that Barclays didn't (and won't) provide the CCA when they sold this defaulted debt to Hoist, so all I hope to receive now is the irregular chasing threat-o-gram letters. Cheers all.