Financial ombudsman

Ossyref

I’ve been receiving chasing letters from Lowell with regards to 2 debts that I do not recognise.

I have asked Lowell to prove it which they can’t.

I have also complained and not received a final outcome after 8 weeks.

I have reported them to the financial ombudsman who now say that I must complain to the original debtors first. 

Is that correct?

ManyWays

Can you give some more details, as this seems unusual? 

fatbelly

Ossyref said:

I’ve been receiving chasing letters from Lowell with regards to 2 debts that I do not recognise.

I have asked Lowell to prove it which they can’t.

I have also complained and not received a final outcome after 8 weeks.

I have reported them to the financial ombudsman who now say that I must complain to the original debtors first. 

Is that correct?

No.

FOS is getting confused between debt collectors and debt buyers.

Lowell is now the creditor as defined in the Consumer Credit Act. If you have exhausted their complaints procedure or 8 weeks have passed, then FOS must consider your complaint.

It's in s189 of the Act

FOS don't like people picking them up on mistakes so you will need to be diplomatic to get them to reconsider.

What you may want to do is to push Lowell for a response that you can pass on, using the third post here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter

Ossyref

Just an update - i carried on asking Lowell to prove the debt which they couldn’t and followed up with FOS regarding them being the debt buyer not collector.

Got an update today from FOS and “ Lowell have made an offer to close both of your accounts to proactively resolve this complaint.”

So no more issues hopefully.

Thanks for everybody’s help on this.