Lowell Portfolio 1 LTD. Help!

[mikkg86]

Firstly who on earth are these people? Iv read they are some sort of DCA.

 

Heres my problem...

 

Im looking at my credit file which is all fine except this one default from 2006. It states that they are the company name and the account type is communications.

That means nothing to me as iv never heard of them or know what communications could possibly be.

Even worse its for nearly £1000 and its classed as a default which i dont want on my credit file for obv reasons.

 

Should i get in contact with them to find out what its for? The things iv read about them suggest they are not the most honest people and i should tell them to bugger off.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Thanks

[craigers]

Communications means something like a mobile phone contract. I'd send them a subject access request.

[mikkg86]

Iv never ever had a contract phone as iv always preferred pay as you go.

What excatly is a subject access request??

[craigers]

Basically, a subject access request is where an individual requests to see information an organisation holds about them in their files. It is a legal right to request to see this information, and legally organisations must comply.

[mikkg86]

ok thats great thanks. Does this site have a template of one? im sure iv came across it somewhere.

How much does it cost?

[Bazooka Boo]

Im looking at my credit file which is all fine except this one default from 2006. It states that they are the company name and the account type is communications.

Should i get in contact with them to find out what its for?

Thanks

Lowell Portfolio I are a Debt collection agency as you thought, if you look about the site, mainly in the http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/ forum, and you will see that Lowell/Mackenzie hall/Red debt collection services appear to be having a run on with claiming "debts" being owed to various mobile phone companies, 3G, O2 etc etc.

Pretty certain that they have done a search and it may say "unrecorded search" ?

Have they contacted you about this yet? Are you 100% that you have never had a mobile phone contract? What is the date they did the search? October 2008 by any chance? If they do, or you have already, been contacted by them about this a simple letter that you do not acknowledge any debt to this company.

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Account no:

 

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to ******* Mobile

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

 

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

 

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

 

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

 

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

 

I/we look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

(Your Name) Print do not sign

 

Your next course of action should be to question why they have done a search on your credit file without your permission, whilst this is not illegal it is very underhand and you might like to report the matter to the credit reference agency.

If it is a genuine error on your credit file then you should be able to get it removed.

Remember unless you can record your phone conversations, NEVER EVER TALK TO THEM OVER THE PHONE, put everything in writing and tell them to do the same.

[mikkg86]

hiya thanks for the advice.

It is in October so i take it im not the only one who has an issue with them.

I dont have any ref number or account number or anything from them and i have never recieved a letter or phonecall from them ever. They just appeared on my credit file.

[the_shadow]

hiya thanks for the advice.

It is in October so i take it im not the only one who has an issue with them.

I dont have any ref number or account number or anything from them and i have never recieved a letter or phonecall from them ever. They just appeared on my credit file.

 

 

Get the "I do not acknowledge this debt" letter above off to them asap then and wait to see what they respond with

[mikkg86]

How does this look to send off to them????

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam

After receiving my credit report I have noticed that your company are on it reporting a default.

You are claiming a debt of £* with a default of £* on 25/05/2007.

I do not acknowledge this debt as my own.

I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to yourself or another company which you may or may not be connected to.

I am familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

I would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Get the "I do not acknowledge this debt" letter above off to them asap then and wait to see what they respond with

Sorry I disagree, but am open to comments

I don't think you need to send a letter to them saying that you do not acknowledge any debt, the prove it template I posted earlier in the thread. If they have not approached you for payment, why jump the gun and give them the opportunity? Does your credit file definitely say "Default" and is the entry by Lowell for "communications"? If it is then send the clowns this:

Dear Sirs,

 

I have discovered that you are illegally processing my data without proving any debt exists between your company & myself.

 

Please note you may consider this letter as a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect.

This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies.

 

Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data.

It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends.

Should you not respond within 14 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data.

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

 

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit. You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint. I therefore request a copy of your official complaints procedure which you are obliged to supply.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Sit back and wait for them to reply, and also make a complaint to the credit reference agency, stating that you are not happy that this unknown debt, which is strongly disputed in light of the fact that it is fictitious, and that they have allowed a search of your file to be made without your knowledge and they have also allowed a fictitious debt to be placed on your file as a default. When/if Lowell reply, make sure you get a copy of their complaints procedure, something which I have been asking them for for three months now! And also get them to remove this default from your file if it is going to affect you in anyway. Somebody else will be better suited to advise you of the necessary action and letter templates you need in order to get this done, or take a look around the other threads to see if you can find the answers. Let us know if you require any thing further? Don't forget, all in writing, recorded delivery, print don't sign or look hereMyLiveSignature - Creating a signature using the signature creation wizard

[mikkg86]

Ok thanks a lot. I have got in touch with my CRA and ill see what they say. It does def say default and communications on my credit report. They have also searched aswell. Ill use this letter above and hopefully get them off my credit file.

Bloody swines!!

[Bazooka Boo]

Ok thanks a lot. I have got in touch with my CRA and ill see what they say. It does def say default and communications on my credit report. They have also searched aswell. Ill use this letter above and hopefully get them off my credit file.

Bloody swines!!

 

Ok glad to help. Don't know how long it takes for them to remove it off your credit file but having not even approached you for the alleged debt and to put a default marker on your credit file without your knowledge is very naughty!

 

Let us Know how you get on:cool:

[mikkg86]

My CRA has now informed me that they are getting in touch with Lowell and are investigating the matter on behalf of myself.

Thats some great service and well worth a few quid a month!

Will keep you up to date

 

[Lon21]

Hi mikkg86

 

Any news from your CRA yet i have just done the same thing, and awating them to respond, indeed a great service:)

 

Lon21

[mikkg86]

yes I received a reply from my cra.

When they got in touch with Lowell they told them i was due them money for a 3 phone account which is weird because iv never had a 3 phone.

They coudlnt remove them from my credit report because of this "outstanding" balance.

Iv since sent a letter to Lowell. One of the drafts from above.

That was 6 weeks ago and still not heard anything.

[Lon21]

Thanks mikkg86.

 

That is crazy, Lowell f*c* up and you still suffer with the consequences. If you dont here back from Lowell how are you going to get it removed from your file ??

[mikkg86]

I really dont have a clue. I dont know of any other way that it can be removed other than from my CRA but they cant remove it without the permission of Lowell.

 

So catch 22 because they are saying its my debt when it isnt.

Very frustrating

[Bazooka Boo]

Did you send them this template?

Dear Sirs,

 

I have discovered that you are illegally processing my data without proving any debt exists between your company & myself.

 

Please note you may consider this letter as a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect.

This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies.

 

Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data.

It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends.

Should you not respond within 14 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data.

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

 

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit. You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint. I therefore request a copy of your official complaints procedure which you are obliged to supply.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

If not, send it ASAP. If you did, then they are in default, speak to the CRA again and tell them that you have had no reply from Lowell, they have not supplied any evidence as to the alleged debt in question, they also have not supplied you with their complaints procedure, nor have they ever contacted you surrounding this alleged debt. The CRA has allowed them to place this default on your credit file, they must remove it, ask them for their complaints procedure also.

I know that the OFT don't look into individual complaints, but it will not harm writing to them to complain about Lowell, the more people that do the more chance of them taking some action:lol:

If you can write to your CRA and send them exactly what you have sent Lowell, so they can see you mean business.

I'll try and find Lowell's complaint procedures, as without having gone throught their complaints process first no-one else will really want to entertain the complaint.

Had a look on the debt buyers and sellers group DBSG website got the CEO's details;

Lowell Group Enterprise House

1 Apex View

 

Leeds

LS11 9BH

 

Contact: Mr J Cornell

Phone: 0854 3009410

Fax: 0845 3009411

Email: [email protected]

Link: www.lowell.co.uk

Activity: Buyer

Services: Consumer Credit

 

And also Credit Services Association (CSA)

 

Might be worth sending them a snot-o-gram about Lowell:confused:

[mikkg86]

That is the letter i sent them couple of months ago. I will tell my CRA that i have not heard from Lowell at all. I will send this letter once more to them and see what happens. Thanks for your advice.

 

And i can think of something a bit more meaningful than a snot-o-gram to send those gits!