Another 3/Lowell/Red default...

[wipeout]

Morning all,

 

Hope someone can give some advice on this, I'm posting on behalf of a relative. Sorry it's a long one. Back in August 2006 they took out a contract with 3 and the phone was subsequently stolen. The last payment was made in December 2006 and she then believed the contract was cancelled (not sure of the exact goings on as it was dealt with by her father who has since passed away).

 

Her credit file shows Lowell Portfolio started 22/08/2006, default balance £463, current balance £679.20, defaulted on 07/10/2007. A statement has been sent through by 3 which literally just reads a list of invoice balances and a £216.70 early termination fee.

 

My thinking is that don't defaults have to be applied according to the ICO within 6 months of the breakdown of the agreement? The last payment was made to a DCA (not sure which) on 6 Dec 2006, but the default wasn't applied until 10 months later. As the default must have been filed by 3 and the breakdown of that relationship (the point at which it was transferred to a DCA) was in fact 2 months before that, it looks to me like it's been left a year which appears to be against the ICO regulations.

 

They don't recall any warning that a default was to be applied (from what I understand certain letters need to be sent) so is it worth a SAR to 3 to find out if this was all done correctly?

 

The debt is now with Red Debt Collection services, what powers do these people have to enforce collection? Their last letter said they would be looking at her credit file to see what assets she has.

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

[PGH7447]

Hi and welcome to the CAG

 

First of send Red/Lowells (same firm) a prove it letter, also I dont believe that they can apply interest or anything to a phone contract so make em prove the full amount, because reading above it seems to have increased by £200ish

[PGH7447]

16 guests, must be a slow day in Lowell towers

[ims21]

Hi there

 

Red is just another desk in LowLife Towers. They have no powers so don't worry about them.

 

I agree with PGH that they can't add charges or interest to the debt.

 

As suggested...get them to prove the debt.

 

ims

[harrassed senior]

Just out of interest, how was the Contract 'terminated'. Was it just assumed that as the 'phone had been stolen the Contract would no longer exist? Unfortunately, in most cases this is not what happens, read the small print and you may well find that the 'extra charges' are in fact the monthly installments due until the natural 'end' of the Contract, and even then because most of these 'roll over' it has to actually be terminated in writing and over the 'phone giving at least one months' notice.

 

IMHO this is a very unfair situation and I would follow the above advice about the 'prove it' letter which should sort out where the 'extras' have come from.

 

I have had dealings with 3 and below is a very helpful e-mail address to contact:

 

[email protected]

[wipeout]

Thanks all.

 

harrassed senior, I would assume it was done over the phone but woudl have to check. A prove it letter sent previously is how we ended up with the 'statement' which is in fact just a vague list of transactions on the account. To be honest I'm not sure exactly what we'd expect to receive back from them - any suggestions welcome?!

 

I was thinking the SAR would help to see if the default was applied fairly but not sure how to go about that.