Help Lowell taking me to Court - **WON**

[ohhlala]

I have to file my bundle with the County Court by Monday Lowell Portfolio are taking me to court for a statute Barred debt.

I have been reading this site for a while, well since Lowell found me about a year ago.

The debt they are taking me to court for was until recently still listed at an address I lived at 6 years ago and I certainly have not made any payment on it since I came out of hospital and moved in October 2002.

Prior to their court claim I went through the motions of SAR and CCA etc and was completely ignored by Lowell so I put this in my initial defense and the court ordered that Lowell supplied the info

when Lowell eventually sent me there evidence on 19/11/2008 they should of had it with me by 27th of October it has given me 5 days to return my bundle.

Lowell included a letter they say they sent to me that they call a notice of assignment it is just signed by Nigel Beaven a Lowell collections supervisor and dated September 2006 is this a deed of assignment????

I thought that a deed of assignment had to be from Capital One my original credit card issuer please someone tell me as I can not see any proof that I owe Lowell anything I could just as easily write a letter stating Lowell owe me money call it a notice of assignment and take them to court or am I missing something.

Also as far as the credit agreement goes they have sent me a copy of my original application form is this acceptable or does a proper credit agreement need to state interest rates etc.

Lowell have also included statements they do not have any of my details on them just the account number they show no payments other than one in July 2004 by standing order I know I did not pay this.

I have my bank statements to prove I did not pay this.

Is it common for debt collectors to fabricate evidence in this way?

I am very worried I have never been to court before and Ill health has left me in a situation were I am unable to pay the £4700 they are claiming luckily it is only a small claim so I am hoping they won't be able to add massive charges but I am worried they will try to get a charging order and force me to sell my home I am disabled and have been seriously Ill for many years so money is very tight so I have no choice but to fight this please help me.

[abroadgirl]

hello i had the same with lowells

heres what i did with the help from here

i sent them a letter i think i faxed it to them anyhow i sent them a letter saying i had no idea what they were talking about and could they send me any documentation regarding this they couldnt so again i stressed then i got a letter from them they wrote it off get this in an gogw

and you say 6 yrs ago well i will find it and get back to you

in the meantime send that letter off to them again

[42man]

Hi Ohlalal....welcome to the CAG forums.....you MUST fight this....

 

Have a look at these cases, they are very similar...

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/163506-county-court-claim-received.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/162456-help-statute-barred-debt.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/161323-statute-barred-question.html

[ohhlala]

Thank you very much my court date is December 2nd I am so nervous I can't sleep but this site has been a huge help all of my letter defense etc have come from here I do not know if it will work as I am sure I will not even be able to speak in Court but at least now I have a chance.

I have been told in no uncertain terms that when they win they will be putting a charging order on my house and then forcing me to sell ( this is the only thing Lowell have ever told me) I know I have not made that payment and had no contact in over 6 years but as I have seen for myself the only one the Courts orders applies to is the defense, Lowell have sent me nothing at all, they sent information to the Court very late and ignored half of the judges instructions leaving me just 5 days before I had to summit my bundles before I got any information other than the original claim and when I spoke to the Court the first lady even refused to send me copies as the letter from Lowell confirmed they had posted me a copy! No they had not!

 

To be honest I would never have believed the dirty tricks of Debt collectors if I had not been on the receiving end.

[abroadgirl]

hello please go and take a look at the threads

debts 6yrs old

it tells you what to do abg

[abroadgirl]

heres the thread hope it helps you but get the letter of to lowells asap

Have you been threatened with court action over a debt more than 6 years old

[ohhlala]

Today I went to court and Lowell sent a solicitor who did not even have the claimants evidence with him, I was shaking like a leaf but the judge was really nice and he immediately asked the solicitor for a copy of the credit agreement and letter of assignment as otherwise there was no case to answer.

Lowells Solicitor did not have them so the judge gave him a break to take instruction and get the agreement he went off and phoned Lowell Portfolio who just faxed a copy of the claim to the court the solicitor was charged £20.50 for the fax and I just sat there for 2 hours while he ran round like a headless chicken it was like a court version of Faulty Towers needless to say the judge was not amused and dismissed the case putting Lowell to strict proof but giving them the right of appeal.

 

So I would like to thank everyone on this site and move on to my next Question does anyone think Lowell will appeal this is a small claims case but it is for £4700????

 

Thank You in advance

[42man]

Well done Ohhlala....was it not addressed at the hearing about the statute barred aspect ?

[ohhlala]

Nothing was addressed at all, Lowell only provided my original application form for the Capital One Card and the account number did not even match with the statements they sent in, the judge questioned this I did not even notice it and he asked for the credit agreement and as they could not provide it or any notice of assignment he gave them a break and a chance to provide them and when they could not he gave the solicitor a telling off and dismissed the case he commented they had 6 months to get a claim in order and it would be unfair on me to adjourn as they had done nothing.

I think I was pretty lucky but the only thing I said was Thank You to the Judge on my way out.

[postggj]

THEY ARE NOT CALLED LEEDS LOOSERS FOR NOTHING

 

well done

[surfaceagentx20]

An appeal? I doubt it.

 

The Claimant can not complain where a court dismisses a case for lack of essential documentary evidence and the court is free to sanction sloppy practice. you may describe yourself as lucky but to be honest, an allowance of 2 hours after the case was called on for hering to get the esential documentary evidence together is something of a concession to the Claimant. If the appeal was ever based upon the fact that the essential documentary evidence is now available, the appeal court is likely to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the essential documentary evidence is not 'new' evidence but evidence which might, with reasonable diligence on the part of the creditor, have been available at the court hearing.

 

CPR 52.11(2) says:

Unless it orders otherwise, the appeal court will not receive-

(a) oral evidence; or

(b) evidence which was not before the lower court.

 

Further at appeal, the appeal court will limit the appeal to grounds previously argued before the trial Judge. The apeal court will not hear new arguments not raised in the lower court. It is an appeal court and deals with appeals from decisions of lower courts. By all account there was precious little argued in the lower court because without the documents the case never got off the ground.

 

This case will stay where it is and is going no where. Well done for being brave!

 

x20

[rory32]

Well done

[popeye1]

Well done ohhlala