How to stop calls from Lowell

Indout96

Longish story.
About 6 years ago we got a lot of calls from Lowell asking to speak to woman (name is always the same but don't think I should put it here) who we had never heard of. This went on for a few months and then stopped. At this time I had had the phone number for around two years.

About 6 months ago these calls started again along with many text messages, we stated many times that we do not know this person but obviously this is a tactic used by many so they did not believe us. We are not able to reply to the messages as they will simply not send, so we blocked the number and left it at that.

The latest ones now are all from mobile numbers and as soon as I answer (as a man) they just put the phone down so you don't even get to try and explain. we had 5 calls on Saturday alone.

This is now getting into the realms of harassment for a (presumed) debt by someone I don't know but obviously gave my mobile number at some time.

is there anyone that oversees these debt companies that we can complain to ?

CliveOfIndia

Indout96 said:

is there anyone that oversees these debt companies that we can complain to ?

The FCA are the regulators for all financial institutions, so you can complain to them if you've exhausted Lowell's internal complaints procedure.

This assumes, of course, that the calls you're getting really are from Lowell.  The fact that they're putting the phone down as soon as you answer would strongly suggest that they're simply scam calls.  Yes you can block the numbers, but if it's always from a different number then it can be tricky to keep on top of them.

What a lot of people do is simply ignore calls from an unknown number - although you do then run the risk of missing a genuine call from a bank, solicitor, credit card company, that kind of thing (assuming their numbers are not in your contacts list).

sourcrates

If indeed it is Lowell, send a written complaint to them alleging breach of data protection (GDPR).

Make it clear what your complaint is, and what you want them to do about it.

You are not the debtor they are looking for, if they don`t cease collection activity, you will escalate the matter to the FOS and the ICO.

Indout96

Thank you, I will write to them first and see how it goes. I don't think its a scam as it the same woman they are asking for as it was before.

EssexHebridean

The 6 year - ish time period is not coincidental I suspect - when they were calling originally it was almost certainly when they first bought the debts. Now if indeed it is approaching 6 years on they are running out of time for limitation, and so that has inspired a fresh bout of chasing. 

Indout96

Slight update - They rang again on Friday but from a normal number rather than a mobile and when I answered they actually spoke. I managed to explain that we do not know the person they are asking for and that this number has been mine for around 8 years now and that if the kept calling I would be putting a formal complaint in.
She promised they would manually remove my number from this account but time will tell.

Thank you all for your input, I will put a formal complaint in if I receive another call. It does seem a bit silly that on taking out the loan you can just give a random phone number and they do not check it, when you sign up for anything with an e-mail you generally have to click on a link sent to that e-mail to verify so why not with phone numbers.

sourcrates

Not wishing to defend Lowell at all, but they just inherit the information passed to them by the original seller of the debt, they don`t go looking for it.

In circumstances where you must provide a phone number, but for whatever reason don`t want to provide your own, its common to insert a made up number, which on occasion can be a live number, you just got unlucky that`s all.