Name of the Claimant ? Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd

Date of issue – 07 July 2017

date to submit defence 8th August 2017

What is the claim for –

1) The Defendant entered into an agreement with Orange under account reference ..... ('the agreement').

2) The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and the service was terminated.

3) The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 21/12/2016 and notice given to the Defendant.

4) Despite repeated requests for payment, the sum of £160.09 remains due and outstanding.

And the Claimant claims

a) The said sum of £160.09

b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.035, but limited to one year, being £6.91

c) Costs

What is the value of the claim? £242.00

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? Mobile phone account

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? After

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor

or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Lowell

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? I was aware Lowell had acquired the debt when they suddenly began bombarding me with communications.

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Unfortunately I can't recall. I've heard nothing from them (I don't think) since Orange was acquired by EE, and that was years ago.

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? No

Why did you cease payments? Actually I cancelled the account in full accordance with the original claimant's cancellation procedure.

As a safeguard I also cancelled the direct debit agreement, knowing that no more money was owing.

Unfortunately they later claimed that more money was indeed owing on the account, which I completely dispute.

However I wasn't able to properly dispute this with them, as they had already referred the debt to a third party, who I beleive was Moorcroft.

What was the date of your last payment? I can't be certain, again because this whole matter has been quiet for so very long, but I think it was circa September 2011. That would place us close to 6 years, which I'm guessing may not be a coincidence.

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Very much so, although I can't evidence this in any way at this late stage, and it's difficult to recall the finer details.

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? No. There were no financial problems. As far as I am concerned the account was cancelled correctly and paid up in full.

Hello all. I've been referred here by a long standing user, and I hope you guys can help...

I have received a claim form from Northampton County Court Business Centre, for a claim issued by Lowell in relation to an old mobile phone debt, the validity of which I question.

They are claiming £167.00 plus costs, fees etc.

I have completed the Acknowledgement Of Service,

and I would very much like to defend the full amount of the claim.

My answers to the standard questionnaire are above

My thanks in advance for any and all assistance you can offer.

Dave

welcome aboard

please note your revised date for defence deadline [the date of the claimform is ONE in the daycount of 33]

you say you've don't AOS on the Mcol website defend all etc?

if you have

get a CPR 31:14 running to lowells solicitors.

Thanks for the reply 8O)

Yes I did enter the AOS on the MCOL website. Next step is CPR 31:14 then.

Cheers,

Dave

I need to ask this question

Claim is for £160.09

States Interest for £6.91 (total £167.00)

Is that correct that to file a claim for this amount is £75

Claim amount Paper form fee Online claim fee

Up to £300 £35 £25

But dont forget Solicitors fee

As advised; CPR14 letter dispatched to Lowell Solicitors via recorded delivery. I await their response, or lack thereof.

Is there anything else I should be doing in the meantime?

Cheers all

yep

read as many mobile claimform threads in the forum you are in

get ypto speed on the process

Today I received a response from Lowell Solicitors to the CPR14 letter.

They sent two documents and a covering letter.

The documents they sent seem to constitute a response to the request for notice of assignment only.

At the top of the letter they say;

"Please find enclosed the Notice of Assignment".

Both documents are basic copies of letters Lowell previously sent to me on January 13th 2017.

On both documents the date of assignment has been deliberately obfuscated for some reason. The interesting bit is the second paragraph of the covering letter which reads as follows:

As this is a telecommunications account it is not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 therefore the original creditor is not obliged to provide you with a copy of the agreement or Default Notice. Inserting the SIM card and usage of the equipment is taken as acceptance of the terms and conditions of the contract.

I have to say this flies in the face of what I thought to be true.

But in any case I'm wondering if they are attempting some sleight of hand,

since I didn't request the agreement from Orange, I requested it from Lowell.

There is no agreement under CCA for a mobile

Hence we didn't say send a CCA request

Fair enough

I'm going to spend some time reading mobile claimform threads as you suggest, but in the meantime I'd appreciate any and all suggestions as to the best way to proceed now.

Cheers

makes no difference to the way you proceed.

if you wish to scan them up please do

I would suggest the bogus amount the claim is for is costs till end of contract terms

even though you did cancel

dx

This is the received claim form:

ClaimScan.pdf

we know what a claimform looks like

and you've left the account number on there so ive hidden it

it was the CPR return we wanted?

Thanks, and sorry,

I was in the process of scanning and uploading everything. Here's Lowell's CPR31:14 response:

Cheers

CPR3114Reply01.pdf

CPR3114Reply02.pdf

CPR3114Reply03.pdf

try and remember to put things in ONE PDF else we are here all day downloading multiple single one page files.

hidden the attachments again..

you've left your name on them.

they are STD NOA's so that part of the CPR disclosure they've met

the rest they haven't yet.

and no you do NOT send anything to them ignore that request.

next thing for you will probably be filing the holding defence

DO NOT MISS THAT DATE.

Sorry about this dx, my first time doing any of this stuff. Hopefully this attempt is better:

Cheers

CPR3114Reply.pdf

So as post 16 then

Could somebody please suggest contents for a holding defence, or point me in the direction of a template? I wasn't able to find anything I thought was suitable, although this is much more likely to be down to my own lack of knowledge than anything else.

use our search CAG box of the top read toolbar

claimform Lowell mobile

dx

For personal reasons I have elected to pay the full amount of the claim. Not what I was intending, but prudent under the circumstances.

I was surprised to see MCOL referring me back to Lowell Solicitors for this action. What do people normally do, just phone them and pay by card?

Yep ring them Monday

Or do it online at the Lowell website

Use their def number

But still ring sols Monday and ensure the claim is withdrawn

Just don't need a CCJ? On your file?

Just thought I'd come back on this so people know how it turned out, although I'm not sure how much it'll actually help anyone else.

I did eventually end up paying the full amount on Lowell Solicitor's website.

I had a knowledgeable friend give me an objective appraisal of the case's likely chances in court,

and it seems clear that things were heading into an uncertain outcome.

On principal I might have proceeded anyway,

but in early August I came into a little bit of money I wasn't expecting,

followed quickly by a need to apply for a fairly sizeable amount of credit.

Changing circumstances and all that.

On balance it seemed better to pay Lowells off,

although I was gritting my teeth through doing it.

I believe I've been inspired by all of this to avoid taking out any more mobile phone contracts.

There seems precious little protection for consumers where these things are concerned.

Regards to all,

Dave