Lowell’s chasing old debt after CCJ

suzukigsxr

Hi,
Ive had Lowell portfolio chasing me for an old orange debt from 2011-12, I had a CCJ for this in 2017 which is now off my credit report. Lowell are aware of the ccj. I believe the limitations act doesn’t cover this because of the ccj? What can they do? Can they just harass me forever? 

Thanks for any help.

fatbelly

They can ask for payment but the ccj is unenforceable without specific permission of the court.

They've left it too long.

Can yo just ignore them? How are they harassing you?

suzukigsxr

I could ignore them but don’t want any further court action against me, Can they get another ccj against me for the same debt?
What’s the chance of the court giving them permission to start proceedings again?

RAS

Nil.............

sourcrates

suzukigsxr said:

I could ignore them but don’t want any further court action against me, Can they get another ccj against me for the same debt?
What’s the chance of the court giving them permission to start proceedings again?

No they can`t, county court judgements become unenforceable after 6 years, special permission to extend must be applied for and approved before the 6 years are up, it didn`t happen, so will never happen now.

suzukigsxr

sourcrates said:

suzukigsxr said:

I could ignore them but don’t want any further court action against me, Can they get another ccj against me for the same debt?
What’s the chance of the court giving them permission to start proceedings again?

No they can`t, county court judgements become unenforceable after 6 years, special permission to extend must be applied for and approved before the 6 years are up, it didn`t happen, so will never happen now.

Thanks. So is that unenforceable 6 years from date of ccj (2017)? So they just trying their luck, thought this might be the case as offering a discount on amount owed.

BadDebtor

suzukigsxr said:

Hi,
Ive had Lowell portfolio chasing me for an old orange debt from 2011-12, I had a CCJ for this in 2017 which is now off my credit report. Lowell are aware of the ccj. I believe the limitations act doesn’t cover this because of the ccj? What can they do? Can they just harass me forever? 

Thanks for any help.

Chances are your old unenforceable debt was acquired by Lowell, for example from Hoist Finance UK was based in Salford, and incorporated Robinson Way, Lewis Group and Compello Group.

I got letters suggesting they had gone offshore and then came back with Hoist number 1, debt camel had a useful threat on Lowell and the tricks they get up to.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/hoist-debt-sold-to-lowell/

There is also a six year limit on the CCJ after which time they would need to seek special permission from a Court to have more time to enforce the debt. It is special because the law gave them 6 years so they have to create an argument as to why the law was not good enough when everyone else accepts it and it is what legislators intended.

It is extremely rare for them to seek special permission and you should be informed if they attempt to go back to Court, to do this they need to make an application and in the application they must provide your name and address. 

Now while it is common for some debt collectors to try and get a CCJ at your old address (if they suspect you have means) the fact that they contact you now at your current address means they won't get away with that.  They would risk paying the application fee, the set aside fee and your legal costs if you use a Solicitor, that would be throwing good money after bad.  

On top of that, if Judges started allowing this they would be swamped and the Courts are just creaking under the stress already. The Gov is working on a new "digital" Court processing system but like many computer projects it is not going very well.  Already the manifesto commitment to end Section 21 no fault eviction has been stripped out of the Renters Reform bill because that programme is not going well.  At least that is the excuse they are giving, the lobbying by Landlords has nothing whatsoever to do with it, honest guv.


So NO, they can't harass you forever and it can become harassment, you can exercise your right provided by GDPR for them to only contact you by post (for example).

If the CCJ has expired and they did not extend it then the debt is not enforceable and it is a breach of FCA/FOC rules to chase debt that is unenforceable, it is good to make formal complaints and escalate.

fatbelly

So, how are they harassing you? Letters, texts, phone calls, emails?

suzukigsxr

fatbelly said:

So, how are they harassing you? Letters, texts, phone calls, emails?

Letters and emails.

fatbelly

Your email software should have a mark as spam option. It's safe to ignore these anyway.

As for the letters, just check what it is and file it somewhere. If anything important did ever come, it would come by letter. But all you are likely to get are empty threats and ever-increasing offers to settle at a discount