Lowell/London Scottish Finance

NPJ

Almost twenty years ago, I got into a lot of debt through my (then), wife's drug addiction, we were even made homeless.  One of the debts was over £8,000 on a credit card.  We split and I eventually began to rebuild my life, even to the point where I met someone else and we've now been together for 18 years.  In 2008, London Scottish Finance agreed to payments of £1 a month for the £8,000+ debt.  I no longer had my own current account, so my partner agreed to setting up the £1 standing order from her account, and it has been paid every month since October 2008.  

Today, I've received a letter from Lowell.  It states that the original company name was 'Hoist Finance UK', and my outstanding balance is over £8,000.  The letter states;

'You've already taken the first step

We know that you're serious about becoming debt-free with Lowell because you've already made a payment to us.  But we have not received a payment from you recently.'

They want me to get in touch to discuss options for paying the outstanding amount etc.

I haven't made a payment to them (at least not directly), as I hadn't heard of the company until today.  So I checked up on London Scottish Finance and apparently, they were dissolved as a company on February 8th 2017.  This begs the question, 'Where has the payment of £1 a month been going for the past seven years?'  

I suspect that it would not be a good idea to change the standing order details to pay Lowell instead of LSF, as they may then counter claiming that they did not agree the £1 a month payment plan.  Also, if they haven't received a payment from me recently, that surely means that they haven't received any of the payments that have been made since LSF was dissolved, and so the debt is statute barred.  Is that correct? 

At the moment we are not cancelling the payments to London Scottish Finance, just in case Lowell are indeed receiving them and are trying to trick me into cancelling them so that they claim that I haven't kept to the agreement.  

Grumpelstiltskin

I would cancel the payments and see what or who come out of the woodwork.

Nothing terrible is going to happen  so don't panic.

RAS

It's a pity your new partner made the token payments but ........

So cancel the standing order. Don't do anything further until you get another letter. Then come back here. There are a number of possible avenues to explore so having a bit more information may indicate which to try first.

sourcrates

Your payment is currently going to a liquidated account, so cancel it immediately.

Lowell are a debt purchasing company who will be unaware of events prior to them purchasing the debt.

The letter is a first contact excuse to get you to call them to arrange payment, don`t.

Wait until a second letter comes, you have 2 possible options to deal with this, if Lowell are unaware of the £1 payments, you may have a statute barred defence, or if not, a CCA request to a liquidated company would be unlikely to be fulfilled, so it could be rendered unenforceable.

Just cancel the payment for now, and see what happens.

DisabledDan

Never call Lowell, personally I would not have any contact with them except the CCA suggestion above.

They prey on low hanging fruit who call them up or engage with them.

Chances are they will not be able to product the CCA and so the debt will become unenforceable under CONC Rules.

Lowell try all kinds of stunts or in plain English they tell lies.

For the sake of others, let me tell you that if you had stopped those token payments and not acknowledged the debt for 6 years from default it would be statute barred by now.

Lowell do not have any real powers, so even if they were to somehow produce the CCA that does not mean you have to pay it, just keep them at arms length and let the 6 year clock start now.

NPJ

Another letter dated 29/07/2024.  I've only just received it as we were away for a few days.  It's pretty much the same as the first one, except that it begins with 'Set up an affordable payment plan'. It goes on;

We're aware that you've previously made a payment to us.  We can see that you're already taking steps to pay off what you owe.  But you have not made a payment to us recently.  We understand your situation may have changed.  Please contact us to discuss the outstanding account(s) listed at the top of this letter  note - there is only one account 

Many customers like you take advantage of our interest-free payment plans to clear their debts in a way that's manageable.  We've provided some examples of how much you could be paying each month to clear what you owe.  These are just examples, if they don't look affordable to you, there are other options, whatever your situation. 

There follows a table giving examples such as £1,000 owed 40 payments of £25 each month/week.  Then an invite to call their friendly team to discuss my options or visit their app or website where I can set up a payment plan.  

However, I also received a text from them last Wednesday stating  that they are trying to contact me over a personal matter. The call I missed (that same day), came up as suspected spam, so I have blocked it and have also reported their text as spam.   

sourcrates

Have you stopped paying this debt yet???

Because for whatever reason your payments have not been credited against the account.

Now you can play it one of three ways, ignore Lowell and take your chances, or make a complaint about where all the missing payments have gone, and ask them to write off the balance due to there inadequacy in this matter, and also the time that has elapsed.

Or, and this is my preferred choice, if Lowell are unaware of the £1 payments this last 16 years, you could be extremely cheeky and send them a statute barred letter, they are a massive organisation with all the flaws that come with being that large, you might just pull it off, you have nothing to lose, the worst they can say is sorry, you've been paying a £1 a month since 2008.

I would do the latter, but then I enjoy having fun with the likes of Lowell.

NPJ

sourcrates said:

Have you stopped paying this debt yet???

Hi, yes the last payment was 15th July.  The standing order has been deleted.  Thank you for your advice, I'm leaning towards the third option. 

If it does turn out that they're aware of the £1 payments, then should I ask for a statement to show when they last received a payment from me, as their letters do state that they've received nothing from me for some time.  This suggests that they've received nothing since Scottish Finance went under in 2017.  So surely, they've either received every payment since Scottish Finance was liquidated, in which case I've kept to the payment plan agreed.  Or, they've received nothing since 2017, seven years.  

sourcrates

Precisely my thinking, try the statute barred approach, they might just roll over and agree, and that will save you a packet.

If they don`t and they mention the £1 payments, then pursue the lost payment route and see where that leads.

Please post back when they respond to you.

NPJ

sourcrates said:

Precisely my thinking, try the statute barred approach, they might just roll over and agree, and that will save you a packet.

If they don`t and they mention the £1 payments, then pursue the lost payment route and see where that leads.

Please post back when they respond to you.

I will, thank you.

NPJ

Lowell have finally replied to the letter I sent at the beginning of last month.

Thank you for your recent letter.

We can advise your account is not statute barred under the Limitation Act 1980.

This is because the debt is enforceable for 6 years from the date of your last payment.  Your last payment on this account was received on £1.00 on the 24/04/2023.

Please advise how you wish to proceed.

We have put your account on hold for 30 days to allow time for you to get back to us.  If we don't hear from you in that time, contact will resume.

When you are ready to set up an affordable and sustainable payment plan etc etc etc

We trust this is satisfactory.
Yours sincerely
Lowell Customer Team

So, it appears that the most recent 15 payments are being ignored.  And I have now missed two payments.  But if they received all of the payments up to April 2023, then surely they also received the payments up to July 2024.  It strikes me that underhand tactics may have been employed to prompt me to cancel the direct debit, defaulting on the agreement.