Advice Needed with Lowell Debts

BiccyOliver

I am wondering if someone could give me advice regarding 3 outstanding debts I currently have with Lowell, which are:

O2 UK

Amount Owed: £804

Last Payment Made: April 2018

Scottish and Southern Electric (Dual Fuel)

Amount Owed: £556

Last Payment Made: April 2018

Vanquis Credit Card

Amount Owed: £323

Last Payment Made: April 2018

I was contacted by Lowell towards the end of 2024 to advise me of the outstanding debts and set up a monthly payment plan of £10 towards each debt. Through financial difficulties I have been able to make payments to Lowell in November 2024, December 2024 and March 2025. I am currently in a position to make an offer of monthly payments for these balances but it has been suggested that these debts may be 'Statute Barred Debt' which I have no idea about or if this even applies to me. I am more than happy to resume the payment plans with Lowell but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RAS

In which months in 2018 did you last previously make pay payment? And when were the defaults issued? Any idea?

fatbelly

Well the devil's in the detail. You have given the month of the last payment for each as 2018 but not the actual date.

You then say you started paying again in Nov 2024, which certainly confuses the issue.

If there was no acknowledgement, by payment or in writing for a period of 6 years since the cause of action then the matter is statute barred under s29(7) Limitation Act 1980 and stays that way.

Now the cause of action for the Vanquis debt is the default date which would have appeared on your credit file. If it still appears, it isn't 6 years.

For the o2 debt i would say it is the date of contract termination. Again, If it still appears on your credit file it isn't 6 years old yet.

For the dual fuel again contract termination but this may never have appeared on your file.

Good luck in sorting that out. There is a statute barred letter in the sticky files if you need it

BiccyOliver

RAS said:

In which months in 2018 did you last previously make pay payment? And when were the defaults issued? Any idea?

O2 UK - I last made a payment on 25/07/18 and the default date was 17/12/18
SSE - There is no information provided regarding final payment or default date held by Lowell
Vanquis - Last payment was made on 02/10/18 and default date was 31/05/19

BiccyOliver

fatbelly said:

Well the devil's in the detail. You have given the month of the last payment for each as 2018 but not the actual date.

You then say you started paying again in Nov 2024, which certainly confuses the issue.

If there was no acknowledgement, by payment or in writing for a period of 6 years since the cause of action then the matter is statute barred under s29(7) Limitation Act 1980 and stays that way.

Now the cause of action for the Vanquis debt is the default date which would have appeared on your credit file. If it still appears, it isn't 6 years.

For the o2 debt i would say it is the date of contract termination. Again, If it still appears on your credit file it isn't 6 years old yet.

For the dual fuel again contract termination but this may never have appeared on your file.

Good luck in sorting that out. There is a statute barred letter in the sticky files if you need it

O2 UK - I last made a payment on 25/07/18 and the default date was 17/12/18
SSE - There is no information provided regarding final payment or default date held by Lowell
Vanquis - Last payment was made on 02/10/18 and default date was 31/05/19

BiccyOliver

fatbelly said:

Well the devil's in the detail. You have given the month of the last payment for each as 2018 but not the actual date.

You then say you started paying again in Nov 2024, which certainly confuses the issue.

If there was no acknowledgement, by payment or in writing for a period of 6 years since the cause of action then the matter is statute barred under s29(7) Limitation Act 1980 and stays that way.

Now the cause of action for the Vanquis debt is the default date which would have appeared on your credit file. If it still appears, it isn't 6 years.

For the o2 debt i would say it is the date of contract termination. Again, If it still appears on your credit file it isn't 6 years old yet.

For the dual fuel again contract termination but this may never have appeared on your file.

Good luck in sorting that out. There is a statute barred letter in the sticky files if you need it

Additionally O2 UK disconnection date was 06/11/18

fatbelly

It looks like o2 was about to go statute barred 17/12/24, vanquis not till 31/5/25 and sse unknown.

BiccyOliver

fatbelly said:

It looks like o2 was about to go statute barred 17/12/24, vanquis not till 31/5/25 and sse unknown.

Does the fact that I've made any payments to Lowell affect this or could I challenge this with them for them to be statute barred?

RAS

The payments have reset your liability to pay. At least for O2 and vanquis, unless you are in Scotland.

fatbelly

BiccyOliver said:

fatbelly said:

It looks like o2 was about to go statute barred 17/12/24, vanquis not till 31/5/25 and sse unknown.

Does the fact that I've made any payments to Lowell affect this or could I challenge this with them for them to be statute barred?

You need to do more investigation into the sse debt but it is looking like none of them got to the statute barred point, which presumably was the point of the Lowell strategy late last year

This is assuming you live other than in Scotland, where the statute barred point is 5 years.

BiccyOliver

fatbelly said:

BiccyOliver said:

fatbelly said:

It looks like o2 was about to go statute barred 17/12/24, vanquis not till 31/5/25 and sse unknown.

Does the fact that I've made any payments to Lowell affect this or could I challenge this with them for them to be statute barred?

You need to do more investigation into the sse debt but it is looking like none of them got to the statute barred point, which presumably was the point of the Lowell strategy late last year

This is assuming you live other than in Scotland, where the statute barred point is 5 years.

I've contacted Lowell who have confirmed the last payment I made to SSE was on 24/04/18 and there was defaults made on this account. It looks like me making payments to Lowell have cancelled out any opportunity to claim statute barred as I live in England. Thank you for the help