Contacted by Lowells out of the blue!

[HarrasedByLowells]

I received the following letter from Lowells this morning out of the blue. My Wife and I were living in Spain, having returned to the UK back in October last year, after 6 years being abroad. I am quite confused about what they are going on about here, as I cannot remember ever having a Capital One Account - and we most certainly did not have any credit cards during our time abroad and we still don't now.

I also have a very good credit rating with my bank and am concerned that this Lowells outfit, may have an adverse affect on my credit rating.

Their Letter:

Ref No: xxxxx
Original Creditor: Capital One
Balance Outstanding: £707.37

Dear Mr x,

I write to inform you that your Capital One Account, ref xxxxx, has been sold to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd on the 7/09/2006. Lowell Financial Ltd have been appointed as duly authorised collection agents for recovery of the outstanding balance.

It is our aim to help you clear the indebtness you currently have with ourselves by either agreeing a settlement or repayment plan. You will find we have many flexible repayment plans designed to suit your current financial circumstances.

Please can the number below where one of our experienced negotiators will assist you in finding the ideal option for you.

PAYMENT CAN BE TAKEN OVER THE TELEPHONE BY EITHER DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD.

It then includes an address for correspondence and a number in big red ink to call immediately to discuss my account.

Now two things. What account and also who's chain are this outfit trying to pull? I have done a bit of reading up on this site this morning and have typed up the following letter that I intend to send to them. Could someone experienced here, give it the once over and let me know if I should add anything or remove anything from this letter.

Dear Sir/Madam,


I refer to your letter dated 16/2/2007 which was received today in
respect of a Capital One account. I am writing to inform you that I am not aware of ever having held a Capital One Account and that I do not acknowledge any debt to you or Capital One.

Furthermore I have just returned from living abroad in Spain for over 6 years, returning to the United Kingdom in October 2006, having moved there in September 2000. Therefore if I ever did have any debts accrued prior to my moving to Spain in September 2000, this would now be statute barred and unenforceable by law as per the Limitations Act 1980.

I must insist that you cease contacting me and should you not do so, I will be obliged to contact the Office of Fair Trading about this matter.

Regards

I notice many on here send the CCA Template, but do I need to do this in my case - as I dont know what they are going on about as I cant remember ever having a C1 account and also even if I had, it would be statute barred by now.

Many Thanks

[dannyboy660]

I know some here would disagree with me, but I would do nothing.

You need to be prepared for the phone call which usually follows this letter. The most important thing is do not admit liability for a debt which is statute barred, and do not give personal details. Just state you have never had any dealings with Capital One, and you have been out of the country for at least six years and will not accept liability for the debt. They'll threaten you with court etc, but you don't even have to listen to that crap. Just hang up.

The letters will continue, increasing in their threatening nature, but do not respond. If you get more phone calls explain again that you've never had cap one etc, etc, statute barred, not interested.

You'll get threatened with a home visit, which never seems to happen, then a company called Hamptons Legal puts in a brief appearance with more threats. If they haven't listened to your earlier explanation (which they won't) just continue to ignore them. They may offer you a 50% discount if you settle in full. Don't even consider it.

You could at this point make a formal complaint as they can not pursue you for a statute barred debt, but wait a while until you have plenty of ammo to hit them with.

Whether you complain or not, they will eventually give up - but why not have a little fun with them and once they've given you enough poop, just go through the channels and throw it straight back at them.

It's a wonderful experience, it may not seem like it at the moment, but when you know you are right and they are wrong, it's just....a fantastic feeling to give 'em hell.

Perhaps we could get an alternative, and probably more ethical course of action from someone who is not quite as anti-Lowell as I am???

[cheddar]

You are saying that you have never had a Cap1 card then get copies of your credit file as there may be cause for concern.

[HarrasedByLowells]

Well if I did have, It would have been over six years ago.

[cheddar]

Oh right sorry i thought you said you have never had a Cap1 account. In that case it may have been a form of indentity theft when you were abroad but i stand corrected.

[missm]

I would be concerned about identity fraud!!!

[HarrasedByLowells]

I don't think it is ID Fraud. My experian file is clear and nothing strange on there. It could be a card I had prior to moving to Spain but like I say that was 6 and a half years ago. So any card or debt would be nearly 7 years old now.

[cheddar]

Thats fair enough like i said i was just confused by you saying you had never had one. I kinda agree wit hthe advice tho nothing they can do as the debt is statue barred anyway.

[HarrasedByLowells]

To be honest it was so long ago I can't really remember.

Regardless, am I right in thinking that they cannot enforce said debt. Also would the next move should they contact me again, be for me to threaten legal proceedings for harrassment.

[cheddar]

Nope they can't you can either ignoe it or send them the letter in the sticky at the top of this forum advising them they cannot chase you as it is statute barred.

[HarrasedByLowells]

Thanks. Is the letter I have written which I have put at the top of the thread ok to send?

[cheddar]

I would suggest letter M here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...templates.html as it is more to the point and I don't see any needs for personal details of what you have been up to. The template letter also states regulations and OFT guidelines.

[HarrasedByLowells]

Thank You!

[HarrasedByLowells]

I sent the letter to Lowell's which I quoted above in my first post in this thread, via email courtesy of my gmail account and also 1st class post last night.

I just received a very strange phonecall. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I suspect it was Lowell's trying to use underhand tactics.

It was supposedly from my local liberal democrats party, who asked to speak to me. They then enquired whether I would be voting Liberal Democrat in the next local elections - I responded that I didn't even know there were any coming up and I certainly had not received my ballot card.

Anyhow, the lady then enquired who I voted for in the last election. I replied that I didn't as I was living out of the country and that the last election I voted in, was the General Election of 97 whereby I voted Labour.

She then quickly finished the call and hoped that I would vote Lib Dem in the forthcoming locals.

Now I have just done a 1471 and the number was with-held

Why on earth would a political party do that? Also, I am not aware of any party being allowed to cold call over the phone, especially as we have signed up to the BT thing, which prohibits us receiving cold calls.

I am now thinking it could well have been Lowells, who could quite easily get my phone number off the BT Site ( we are not ex directory ) - to try and see if I was lying about the fact that I had lived in Spain for over 6 years, prior to our return in October.

Perhaps I am being paranoid. Yet I have not had a response other than an auto generated reply to my email which I sent yesterday afternoon - and by now they would have received the actual letter that I sent yesterday.

This kind of tallies up with a weird phone call I got just over a week ago. Whereby a BT coldcaller phoned up asking if I had broadband. This was after he asked to speak to me and I confirmed my name. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but why would BT phone me trying to sell me broadband, when we have already got BT Broadband

I really do think that the above 2 phonecalls actually came from Lowells. One to check I actually lived at the address and the call just now to get confirmation that I have actually been out of the country for 6 years, having just returned in October 06. Otherwise, why would both calls have been number witheld.

Anyhow, I am chomping at the bit for them to try any more crap with me, having already prepared my next letter which will be fired off as soon as a written response is received from them.

Has anyone else got a view on these calls? Do DCA's stoop so low as to impersonate other organisations to try and coerce information out of people they are harrassing.

Or am I just being overly paranoid?

Thanks!

[dannyboy660]

It could be them....it's certainly possible, but don't get to the point where it actually starts to worry you. It sounds like a very unusual approach if it is them.

An old favourite used to be "You've won a Holiday/Competition/car/ or whatever in our draw, but we need more information before we can process your eligibility for your prize". You may not smell a rat until it's too late.

If unexpected callers start asking for very personal information, it's time to firmly but politely end the call. That's my policy anway.

I could have missed out on some things , but I think it's unlikely.

[cheddar]

Are they ringing on your landline or a mobile? If you've been out of the country for so long i wonder how they have your number unless they've been kept the same as before...? It wouldn't surprise me what some DCAs do these days!

[HarrasedByLowells]

Thanks Danny. I never volunteer much info on the phone to people I dont know anyhow.