Lowell Financial

[lou-lou-68]

Hi, this is the first time I have posted anything so if I mess up please bear with me.

A few weeks ago a letter addressed to my eldest son was delivered to my house, he does not live here and has not done so since 2003 and I couldn't pass it on to him as we have not seen or spoken to each other for almost 6 years, so I just wrote on this letter "not living at this address, please return to sender" popped it back in the post box and thought no more of it until another letter arrived on 18th June, again addressed to my son but not sealed, I noticed it had the same return address as the previous letter, I might add I have had a few letters, phone calls, and even debt collectors calling in person a couple of times over the years, so I decided to read the letter, with the intent of letting the senders know the situation. It was from Andrew Bartle of Lowell Financial regarding debt with Capital One, saying they had sent previous letters (only one) and as my son had failed to enter into a repayment plan they may instruct an agent to visit to discuss repayment, they said if he didn't make contact within the next five days their agent would contact him to arrange a visit, I obviously don't want the worry of all this so I wrote to them stating that he does not live here, that we are not in contact and even giving them the last address I had for him I also told them that as I had now informed them in writing that he doesn't live here, I did not want any more letters sent here regarding this as I will consider taking action against them for harassment, to be honest I don't know if that was the right thing to say or not, a friend advised me to say it and it sounded good at the time, although I don't have a clue how to go about anything like that and I hadn't discovered this forum at that point. I sent my letter recorded delivery and on checking track and trace found it had been signed for on 22nd June, so I thought that would be the end of it, stupidly, I now realise after having read so many posts on this forum. On 2nd July another letter addressed to my son arrived with the same return address on the envelope, marked private and confidential yet unsealed again, I didn't bother to read it at first, I just thought I have told them the situation, they can't do anything to me, I'll just ignore them. Can I just say at this point I have a younger son who still lives at home, both my sons obviously have the same surname and even unfortunately have the same initial of their first names, so tonight about 8.00pm my phone rang I answered and a male voice said "is Mr ***** there"(he didn't actually say an initial) so I handed the phone to younger son, he said hello and male voice says "is that Mr *****", younger son says yes and with that the phone went dead, did 1471 but it was a withheld number, now I feel sick with worry, I am thinking it's Lowells agent ringing to check my son is here before paying a visit do you think I may be right, I keep trying to tell myself to relax they can't do anything to me but I can't stop fretting, what happens if these agents call, does anyone know. Please can anyone advise me as to what to do to try and stop this once and for all, I would be very grateful for any help.

Lou

[Halibutt]

Lou Lou, welcome to the site and first and foremost, don't worry!

 

I have had alot of dealings with Lowell and have been reliably advised by members here that they are, at best, incompetent peanut eaters.

 

If there have been no payments or acknowledgements of ownership of this debt in the last six years, which may be the case, then the debt is statute barred.

 

Have you spoken to your son to find out if the debt is actually owed and if so, what it is for? As it's Capital One, then presumably, it's an alleged credit card debt.

 

If Lowell are dealing with this, then you may benefit from having a look at all the kind advice that people have given to me in my thread, which you can read here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/263764-lowell-portfolio-capital-one.html

 

Don't answer the phone to these people, keep things in writing.

 

If you can establish with your son(s) exactly what has transpired, then your best approach is to set out exactly what has happened - here - in chronological order.

 

It's unlikely that they will visit your home, but even if they did, they have no right to be on or enter your property. You can simply politely tell them to go away and they are obliged to do so. The only circumstances in which they are allowed to visit you at home are if you or your sons are in breach of a court order - which you are not. That would have to be judged by a county court and you would have to be in breach of the judgement.

 

If they do keep hassling you, then send them one of the letter templates on this site. They include an instruction not to phone, one to not make doorstep visits and several that require the creditor to prove that the debt is owed. All of these are completely legal and Lowell are obliged to comply with them.

 

Everyone here is happy to help and there are some wonderful, intelligent members here.

 

So, remember, don't fret, don't lose sleep, check back here for reliable and sympathetic advice. You'll get it.

 

Do sleep well, things are never as bad as they might seem.

 

P.S. If you have a word with your son and it is his debt, be nice, be calm, be kind - we all make mistakes, especially when we're young!

Edited July 7, 2010 by Halibutt

[Pinky69]

The poster is hardly likely to ask her son if it his debt - she hasn't seen or spoken to him for 6 years. Don't speak to them on the phone and return all the letters unopened - to their Complaints Department. If anyone does come to the door, which is highly unlikely, tell them they have 30 seconds to get off your property or you will call the police - they are trespassing. Don't lose any sleep over Lowells - they don't know what day of the week it is.

[unclebulgaria67]

 

I have been in this situation in the past and have managed to contact the complaints department at Lowells. It came to this, as I was continually being ingored by them and was receiving correspondence about someone who had never lived at my address.

 

Anyway in the end I emailed Lowell with full details of the situation and it was resolved. No further contacts.

 

The address to email is

 

[email protected]

 

No doubt people on here will tell you not to do this, but it worked for me. The complaints department are independent of the collection agents and they actually admitted that mistakes had been made and made some recompense for this. I can't say anything more, but give it a go, as you have nothing to lose by doing this.

[lou-lou-68]

Hi Halibutt,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

I am afraid I can't speak to my son about this matter as we are unfortunately not in contact, and haven't been for around six years, so I am on my own with this one. I have tried to contact him but had no luck as yet, and I do realise that we all make mistakes so I am not judging him to harshly over this, I just wish I didn't have to deal with it, I am afraid I am a worrier by nature and these Lowell people seem evil to me. I have a feeling that this debt may well be statute barred as I can vaguely recall my son speaking to Capitol One on the phone a few times when he last lived here in 2003 and I know he couldn't pay them as he had lost his job, so that was 7 years ago, but obviously I can't do anything about that.

 

The thing that is bothering me most at the moment is the phone call, I am imagining them (Lowells), gleeful because they assume they have got one over on me, that I was lying in my letter to them with regard to my son not living here, but surely they can't assume that there is only one male with the same surname living in every household. I could kick myself for not asking WHICH Mr ***** they wanted to speak to, but they were not on my mind at that time, obviously I will have to be on my guard at all times now.

 

If you have any other advice please post it, it helps a bit just being able to share it with other people and knowing someone else has had first hand experience of these creatures.

Thanks again

Lou

[Bazooka Boo]

TBH Lowlifes really are nothing to worry about, stop beating yourself up over the phone call, it matters not, let them continue barking up the wrong tree if they are foolish enough to think they have the correct person.

 

All their hilarious missives send back in the post, RTS not known at this address, and keep a diary of events.

 

Unfortunately as Lowlifes are one of the bottom feeders of the DCA world, they don't have enough staff, least of all qualified staff, to check that they have the right person.

 

Send them nothing as it only encourages the poor darlings, if the harassment over the phone gets too much, then consider reporting them to your local Police station for the offence, and show them your diary of events.

[NailPost]

Send Lowell the "don't call again" letter which you'll find in the tmeplates. If they do tell them you are reporting them to Ofcom for harrassment. Its as easy as picking up the phone.

 

Send any letters not addressed to you back to Lowell. I would be tempted to put the letter in another envelope and conveniently forgetting to put a stamp on it. That'll cost them more than a £ but serves them right.

 

You should also consider contacting the trading standards department of your council and making a complaint about Lowells. They are out of order in employing tactics better suited to spies and the regulators, although often spineless when it comes to taking action against these bullies, won't even be able to consider it if no complaints are made.

[Guest Lowell CRT]

Hi lou-lou-68

 

I have just seen your post about Lowell and am very sorry to learn of the difficulties you have experienced, regarding the contact we have made in reference to your son. I would be grateful for the chance to help put things right

 

I work in Lowell’s Complaints Resolution Team, specifically I monitor web sites such as The Consumer Action Group to identify and resolve any issues. Complaints Resolution is a separate team within Lowell, we sit outside of Collections and our primary concern is addressing customer’s specific complaints.

 

To ensure your enquiry gets straight through to one of our trained Complaints Resolution Officers, please use our bespoke contact details 0800 542 0058 or via email at [email protected].

 

We appreciate that you may have concerns about talking to us, especially as you haven’t had the best of experiences until now. Please let me assure you that our small team of professional and empathic Complaints Resolution Officers are here to help. We will work with you to address any concerns or issues you may have. Our aim is to make the experience as positive and stress free as possible.

 

It’s always easier to talk things through, so please do give us a call or send us an email and let us try and put things right.

 

Thanks.

 

James

Edited July 8, 2010 by Lowell CRT

[Bazooka Boo]

(Removed) further investigation reveals that it is from one of lowlifes complaints resolution team, confirmed by the site team.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Bazooka Boo

[Bazooka Boo]

How hilarious! Like the use of 'Bespoke' and 'Trained'....don't make me laugh. Ignore the 'bespoke trained' troll.

[lickthewallfatboy]

wonder if the complaints dept can advise them to go out of business due to terminal irrelevance?

[cashins]

How hilarious! Like the use of 'Bespoke' and 'Trained'....don't make me laugh. Ignore the 'bespoke trained' troll.

 

Yeah, they are pretty hopeless

 

David

[Bazooka Boo]

By all accounts, it is generated by Lowlifes complaints resolution team, confirmed by one of the site team (alanfromderby)

 

The email address would be the best course of action.

[lou-lou-68]

Thank you all so much for your replies, they are a great help.

I think I will send them another letter using the templates on here as a guide, as they don't actually fit my circumstances I will just use relevant points such as OFT guidelines etc, do you think that would be the best thing to do?, I don't really want to answer that post on here from their complaints dept as I doubt that people who work for different depts of the same firm can be helpful, in fact it makes me feel uneasy that one of that lot has been reading my post.

Thanks again, Lou

[unclebulgaria67]

I doubt that people who work for different depts of the same firm can be helpful, in fact it makes me feel uneasy that one of that lot has been reading my post.

Thanks again, Lou

 

Actually I have used there complaints team and after a few days they came back to me, admitting mistakes had been made.

 

This was after years of harassment, with me sending letters by recorded and getting ignored.

 

It is up to you. Write to them normally, probably won't get a reply and continued harassment. Or send them an email with your complaint and you will receive a response.

 

I have worked in financial services for a massive company and I can tell you that the complaints team are a different breed to the rest. The people that work on complaints teams are generally people with a lot more experience and the authority to get things sorted.

 

Put in this way Lou, if you email their complaints people and don't receive a decent response, you can come back on here and shout about it. That would really embarass them!!!!!!!!!!

[Seminole]

If you email them I would use a spare email account to do so (eg set one up specially with a service like gmail). If you given them your normal email address you run the risk of being bombarded with demands for money in the future and it possibly being passed to other parties.

 

Better to be safe than sorry.

[unclebulgaria67]

If you email them I would use a spare email account to do so (eg set one up specially with a service like gmail). If you given them your normal email address you run the risk of being bombarded with demands for money in the future and it possibly being passed to other parties.

 

Better to be safe than sorry.

 

Contact via a 3rd party would be against OFT rules . I don't think their complaints team would allow that to happen, as that would be very embarassing.

 

Make sure that you indentify who you are in your email and that this email address is only to be used for dealing with your complaint.

[Seminole]

Contact via a 3rd party would be against OFT rules . I don't think their complaints team would allow that to happen, as that would be very embarassing.

 

Make sure that you indentify who you are in your email and that this email address is only to be used for dealing with your complaint.

 

I would like to think that's the case. However, I think anything's possible with companies that buy debts and write threatening letters without doing the necessary due diligence to confirm that there is a valid agreement in place between the customer and the original creditor. In my opinion an organisation that does that is institutionally unethical and not trustworthy.

[little_evo]

Just a quick note (or my two penneth worth), personally i would not even go near the telephome to talk to anyone at Lowell or any other DCA. As prescribed all over the forum, it is recommended that everything should be done in writing only, this leaves a good paper trail should any difficulties arise in the future, whereas a telephone call can be quite easily forgotten about or deleted.

[Pinky69]

lou lou - the DCAs read this site all the time but the rest haven't yet had the gall to post threads. Luckily you are anonymous. I think you are right to stick to letters.

 

James - we don't need your help and your softly-softly tactics to try to get money from people aren't working so bog off.

[Guest Cartaphilus]

It is up to you. Write to them normally, probably won't get a reply and continued harassment.

TBH, I think that explains where the problems really lie then. If they don't respond by and in writing or read your letters yet continue to harass you. Also on the other side of things you are, like the rest of these DCAs, expected to dance show tunes to their letters or face the consequences if you ignore them. Yet, conversely, they don't take notice of yours ... but continue to write and harass. Slightly one sided there methinks. As usual. It is this area that needs to be looked into which is clear to many where the problems lie. I can see it, as well as anyone else can. But if they then continue to harass you following the letters ... I think that mostly sums them up. Yet, suddenly, will take more notice of you if you email them. Which I won't be. I will only truly believe good intentions when things change and I see them changing for the better.

 

I think, therefore, they should employ someone who actually reads the letters people send as it's clear where the problem really lies not email. If they truly want to change (I will believe it when I see it).

Edited July 8, 2010 by Cartaphilus

[Pinky69]

A letter keeps them at a distance. I address everything to their Complaints Department - if you just send it to their normal address they don't read it. I always mark the bottom of the letter "Cc The Office of Fair Trading Consumer Credit Licence Fitness Department." The OFT don't have much teeth but DCAs know they are not immune from sanctions. Ruthbridge has been waiting 14 months for their licence to be renewed and Cabot have been waiting for 1 licence since February 2009 and another since last October and it is not a comfortable position for them to be in.

[unclebulgaria67]

When I comment, I can only go on my experience or that of others.

 

I had letters/phone calls etc to my address relating to someone never resident. Lowell ignored letters sent records, even though addressed as a complaint. But they did keep these on file. Obviously they just ignored.

 

In the end I emailed them and I had a response confirming that mistakes had been made not responding to previous letter sent.

 

It is up to the OP. James from Lowell is offering to look into this and if he can resolve this for the OP then great. If James or whoever from Lowell does not help the OP, then they can come back to this thread and provide details of this non help. Then that would be the end of Lowell CRT, nobody would trust any posts from them again.

[Bazooka Boo]

Lowell, and Trust! In the SAME SENTENCE!!!!

 

No-one should EVER trust such a corrupt and rotten to the core business as debt collection least of all LOWELL FARCICAL...

[Pinky69]

No one trusts them now never mind "again" and lou lou has already said she wants nothing to do with them -wise woman.