Lowell financial and unenforceable debt

catflap11

Hi all, many years ago I was being chased by IDEM for an unenforceable debt( I sent a prove it letter and they wrote back confirming it was unenforceable 5 1/2 years ago) I stopped all payments, and excluding the odd chaser letters they have left me alone.
Skip forward to today and I received a letter from Lowell financial, stating that unless I contact them by the 17th January they would examine my file and potentially take recovery action. 

Firstly I've never been told that Lowell took ownership of this "debt" secondly, if I send a new prove it letter to them, does it start the time barred clock? (I've 6 months to go until it becomes time barred). 

Any guidance would be appreciated 👍

sourcrates

Don`t do anything, not a thing, ignore Lowell completely.

That is unless.......you receive a "letter before action" from them.

This debt is currently unenforceable due to no compliant paperwork, and also may be statute barred soon.

If an LBA were to be sent, there is a box to tick to obtain evidence of liability, chances are Lowell would not be able to comply with this, so it would end there.

Otherwise in 6 months none of this will matter.

catflap11

Brilliant, many thanks, I suspected it was a fishing expedition and you have confirmed it. Much appreciated 

fatbelly

Yes, I agree. They probably know this but are hoping a bit of pressure will make you pay.

The preaction letter is a prescribed format, with a reply form and 30-day limit. Let us know if you get one.

Dataless

Lowell bought Hoist No 1,2,3,4, etc (which at one point were offshore and then brought back onshore).

They are trawling through debts that they know are statute barred on the off chance that someone is dumb enough to be scared and pay them.   Oooh if you don't contact them they will.......examine your file and potentially take recovery action. 

First of all they are breaking CONC rules by chasing a debt that is not enforceable.

Second, they are breaching the FCA consumer duty, which is to act in the best interest of the debtor, how can it be in the best interest of any debtor to be chased for payment for a debt that is unenforceable?  It can't.

The only way to stop the egregious behaviour by Lowell is to make a complaint to the FCA about Lowell's conduct on both of the above grounds. 

Also make a GDPR complaint because they acquired this data from buying Hoist but cannot say they have a legitimate interest or valid legal to write to you without your consent.

The more people that complain to the FCA the sooner this stops, others have said the same thing on here and on Debt Camel, we must make complaints otherwise we sanction their behaviour.

Do not engage with Lowell at all, they are looking for easy targets and on Debt Camel you can see some of their responses which are just ridiculous and unlawful.

If you search for Lowell on here you will find many examples of same behaviour.