Thank you all for the advice. I have read a lot about Lowell and their treatment of people profiled on here and other sites, they are appauling. My solicitor friend has taken a copy of our documents and agreed to send these to the OFT, I am told that the OFT have set guidelines on how creditors (or their agents) are supposed to communicate with debtors and Lowell are in clear breach of these rules. He has also agreed to litigate through another firm if we wish to go that route, I think he is a little shocked at how the debt collection industry operate.

Dear Halibutt & firstship Many thanks for your kind help which is much appreciated. The cards were taken out around 2001/2, I will look back at our records for the specific date. We have some charges to reclaim and have gone through the FOS route which is slow. I have read around this site a few times since I know someone who went through court action a few years back, the case was dropped since there was a problem with one of the agreements, not sure what/why since they moved away. I will send off this letter and report back.

My OH has defaulted on his two credit cards, one Capital One and the other Barclays. The Cap1 is now with a company called Lowell Portfolio I Ltd. We managed to get a repayment plan with NCO but Lowell wrote two letters to us today (both identical?) They state:- We have been instructed by our client Lowell Portfolio I Ltd to write to you in connection with your outstanding balance as described above. Our objective is to help both you and our client find a solution to this problem. We urgently request that you contact us today before our client instructs us to take further action to recover the balance. - By sending us payment in full - By contacting us to agree a method of payment over an agreed term. In previous letters sent to you it was made clear that unless offer of repayment was made, we woule take appropriate steps to recover the amount owing. As you have failed to enter into a repayment plan we may instruct an agent to visit your home to discuss repayment of your account. Unless you make contact with us within the next five days our agent will contact you with a view to arrange a visit. ------------- They do not state when they will visit us and we never recieved any details of a repayment plan offer, this is the only letter my OH has recieved. What is going on? We asked a friend of ours who is a solicitor and he found a copy of the OFT guidelines on another site and he has agreed to write to the OFT and complain about this firm. He looked at our letters and is surprised at how they are acting, however he has no direct experience in consumer credit. What else can we do? We do have some funds but not the whole amount they want us to pay. We are at our wits end.

My good friend is being sued in Aberdeen, Scotland in an Ordinary Cause action by a big (anon for now) bank for a credit card debt. The amount is >£10,000. The case is proceeding toward an options hearing and the Pursuer has sent the Defender an Inventory of Productions which contain all of the credit card statements, purported agreement (an application form), a set of terms and conditions and a copy of the default notice. My friend had originally stated (in her defence) that she neither admitted or denied that the default notice was ever received or in the correct form as defined by the CCA 1974. The proof was placed on the Pursuer to prove in this instance. My friend has actually found the original default notice for the account and moreover it is substantially different from the "copy" that the bank has produced within its evidence to the Sheriff Court. Specifically: 1. The dates on the "copy" and original differ by 1 day. 2. The default remedy amount differs by £90 between the two. 3. The original DN states a Clause (reference to min payments etc) that does not relate to the purported Terms and Conditions that the Bank has produced within its inventory of productions (which it claims are part of the agreement). The "copy" has a different clause than the original in this respect. I don't wish to address the "agreement" at this point, only the default notice and more importantly the implications of submitting to a Sheriff court what appears to be a fraudulent document or one that has been substantially modified in order to obtain a decree (judgement) against my friend (the Defender in this action). Questions: 1. What are my friend’s options with respect to this? 2. Should they report this to the Police/FSA/OFT/MSP? 3. When should my friend report this to the Sheriff Court, they have an options hearing imminent where they could include it as part of a Rule 22.1 submission (this is to request the use of preliminary pleas such that they cannot be repelled by the Pursuer and will force a proof before answer (presenting of evidence) or legal debate (the same but they mix it with a bit of Latin up here). All advice greatly appreciated.