Lowell - threaten to bankrupt me & then offer me discount?!

[LeedsGirl25]

Hi,

 

Long story, back in early 2007 i bought a car from carcraft, altogether it was around £10k. Repayments were maintained and I changed my car in 2009, the new debt was added to the old amount and totalled £16,300. Shortly after I unexpectedly lost my job and was unable to pay.

 

when this happened it came to my attention that carcraft had tucked in a loan of approx £2000 to cover a warranty that i was told would be for free. I queried this with carcraft as when i went through all the paperwork I found a sheaf of papers stapled together so I had to break them open, inside was details of this 'loan' and of course none of it signed.

 

anyhow, that was passed to redcastle, the debt for the cars (approx £16k) has been passed to Lowell in the last month or so.

 

I initially received a letter informing me they were dealing with my account. I had one or two further letters asking me to contact them to pay. I didn't contact them as I'm worse off now than I was before financially.

 

Then I received a letter from Red threatening to make me bankrupt and that they were researching my credit report.

 

as it is, my credit report is completely messed up with pretty much everything in default.

 

then approx 2 weeks ago i received a letter offering me 25% off or £60pm..I found this very strange - why don't they just bankrupt me? it seems off that they have made this threat but then backed off and playing all nicey-nicey with me?

 

I went online and offered £10pm fully expecting them to reject my offer and bankrupt me (I can't deny that I felt some relief when I read they would look into bankrupting me, as I struggle a lot with my debts and they are running and ruining my life)

 

today i receive a letter accepting my £10pm - on a debt of over £16,200.

 

Could it be there's a reason they are not pursuing bankruptcy and have offered an amount that will take me 135 years to pay off?!

 

Is there some sort of letter i can send to find out information? I've seen that there are lots of templates but I don't understand which one would be best? also, have I complicated things by offering £10pm?

 

any help would be very much appreciated..! :violin:

[Bazooka Boo]

Lowlifes can't bankrupt you if they don't own the account and all the rights to it under the law of property act.

 

Their letters are simply designed to be psychologically threatening and con people out of money, what other debts do you have and what is the current state of play with them.

Can you realistically afford to pay this amount to lowlifes for the foreseeable future?

Have you done your own income&expenditure sheet?

[LeedsGirl25]

1 account with Littlewoods - approx £350 - no payments being made, debt is increasing every month as non-payment fees are added (it was down to approx £200 before I lost my job in Aug) has had odd payments here and there since

 

1 Very account, approx £1000 - no payment being made, debt increasing as above with missed payment fees - was being paid regularly until I lost my job, had odd payments here and there since

 

1 nursery debt of £360, held with solicitors, payment arranged at £20pm

 

1 debt to BT, approx £60.. line has been cut off and has apparently been passed to DCA - no payments made

 

1 debt of approx £1200 held with Red Castle (the warranty loan mentioned in my post) - no payment being made, was paid regularly on an arrangement until losing my job

 

1 debt to Virgin Media of £80 - no payment ever made - with DCA

 

1 debt to Santander (store card) of approx £250, no payments being made, was being paid regularly til i lost my job

 

1 debt to barclaycard, approx £500, was paid regularly til i lost my job, no payments being made - with DCA

 

1 debt to Philips, £100 remaining, currently being paid £50pm after they called at the house.

 

I also have personal debts to friends/family.

 

I've done income & expenditure and my expenditure without any payments to debts is already more than my income. I receive child tax credits and child benefit (approx £330pm) I'm entitled to other benefits but due to a lot of confusion with my application it is still being processed (yes, 3 months later!) my income at the moment is less than the gov. actually say I need to live. things are very dire. realistically no i can't afford it, i can't afford any of them but i am trying to do what i can.

 

so Lowell/Red won't bankrupt me? they did mention Hamptons Legal - I have the letters here..is it a possibility that they don't have correct paperwork hence not hounding/pushing me?

Edited November 18, 2011 by LeedsGirl25

[casper1963]

hamtons are part of red just one desk nearer the toilet as far as i am aware child benefit does not have to be included in an ie not sure about child tax credits

[kurvaface]

I'm always suprised by companies that deal with cowboys like Lowell.

 

Carcraft should realise that one's friends and associations say more about you than anything else.

 

Carcraft now on my list of DO NOT DEAL WITH companies!

[LeedsGirl25]

is it worth me doing a CCA request?

[kurvaface]

It's worth gathering together all the paperwork....you know what they say about second hand car sales men Seriously, there is a good chance you might find some mis-selling issues......

[kurvaface]

Worth checking what kind of commissions were paid out on that 2 grand "Warranty"!

[kurvaface]

Perhaps do a SAR too to carcraft and get all data in relation to this deal...

[kurvaface]

I'm trying to learn about the Misrepresentation Act 1967 at the moment.

 

I would ask myself if I would have gone ahead with contract if I had been told that the warranty was an additional £2000. Would you have gone ahead?

 

Misrepresentation is a contract law concept. It means a false statement of fact made by one party to another party, which has the effect of inducing that party into the contract. For example, under certain circumstances, false statements or promises made by a seller of goods regarding the quality or nature of the product that the seller has may constitute misrepresentation. A finding of misrepresentation allows for a remedy of rescission and sometimes damages depending on the type of misrepresentation.

 

 

Types of misrepresentation

Four types of misrepresentations are identified with different remedies available:

• Fraudulent misrepresentation occurs when one makes representation with intent to deceive and with the knowledge that it is false. An action for fraudulent misrepresentation allows for a remedy of damages and rescission. One can also sue for fraudulent misrepresentation in a tort action. Fraudulent misrepresentation is capable of being made recklessly.[15]
  
• Negligent misrepresentation at common law occurs when the defendant carelessly makes a representation while having no reasonable basis to believe it to be true. This type of misrepresentation is relatively new and was introduced to allow damages in situations where neither a collateral contract nor fraud is found. It was first seen in the case of Hedley Byrne v Heller [1964] A.C. 465 where the court found that a statement made negligently that was relied upon can be actionable in tort. Lord Denning in Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd. v Mardon [1976] Q.B. 801 however, transported the tort into contract law, stating the rule as:
  

if a man, who has or professes to have special knowledge or skill, makes a representation by virtue thereof to another…with the intention of inducing him to enter into a contract with him, he is under a duty to use reasonable care to see that the representation is correct, and that the advice, information or opinion is reliable

• Negligent misrepresentation under Statute, enacted by the Misrepresentation Act 1967. When dealing with a negligent misrepresentation it is most lucrative[16] (joint with fraudulent misrepresentation, Contributory Negligence notwithstanding[17]) for an action to be brought under statute law as the burden of proof that is required passes to the person who made the statement. So it is for the person who made the negligent statement to prove that the statement was either not one of fact but opinion and that "had reasonable ground to believe and did believe up to the time the contract was made that the facts represented were true"[18] - the so-called innocent defence.
  
• Innocent misrepresentation (Derry v. Peek)occurs when the representor had reasonable grounds for believing that his or her false statement was true.[19] Prior to Hedley Byrne, all misrepresentations that were not fraudulent were considered to be innocent. This type of representation primarily allows for a remedy of rescission, the purpose of which is put the parties back into a position as if the contract had never taken place. Section 2(2) Misrepresentation Act 1967, however, allows for damages to be awarded in lieu of rescission if the court deems it equitable to do so. This is judged on both the nature of the innocent misrepresentation and the losses suffered by the claimant from it.

Misrepresentation is one of several vitiating factors which can affect the validity of a contract. A misrepresentation occurs when one party makes a false statement with the intention of inducing another party to contract. For an action to be successful, some criteria must be met in order to prove a misrepresentation. These include:

• A false statement of fact has been made,
  
• The statement was directed at the suing party and
  
• The statement had acted to induce the suing party to contract
  

.

[LeedsGirl25]

I don't think I have the original paperwork anymore, I complained the carcraft about it and said I didn't agree to have the warranty on a loan at all - both me and my partner were there when the salesman said the 5year warranty would be free.

 

they produced the agreement where i had signed - the loan amount was on there but i was told this was simply a 'top up loan' because the original lender didn't feel able to lend me the full amount :/

 

how would I go about chasing up the mis-selling?

[kurvaface]

Get all paperwork and history to start with. Do a cca request to creditor and sar.

[luluspice]

It costs money to bankrupt someone - I was told around £1500 last year here in Scotland and even at that the courts would look at if it was worth it. If there is no chance of getting their money i.e forcing sale of house with no equity etc whats the point?? Lowell keep send us these 'begging' letters offering various discounts, been doing so for years & I ignore them, debt expires in 3 months! Not proud of debt, but disability, redundancy came along & am going to lose home so got my priorities!

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Check your credit file to see which company

is now updating your files, it may be Lowell

have bought the debt.#

Did you receive a notice of assignment from

the original creditor or Lowell???

[hessey50]

one thought all the time you are payimg the 6 year period for it to become statute barred is not starting, I wish one of my creditors would make me bankrupt though it seems you have to have quite a bit of money to be poor enough to go bankrupt

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Too true, but bankruptcy is the most serious method

of debt collection and should not be seen as an easy way

out of debt, it most certainly is not!!!

You would need at least the £750.00 threshold for BR

and a lot more, unless a creditor sues the costs of this

will of course be added into the debts.

[luluspice]

Had business dealing with person who routinely declares bankrupt, but in meantime puts all debt through the business, names wife as director, he runs the business then BRs it himself, then when discharged forms new company starts again - he got discharged after a year - twice!

As I cannot get anymore credit due to defaults having to run 6 yrs, Bankruptcy makes no difference - Can't take what I've not got!

[dx100uk]

anyone offering a discount knows there is an issue

 

stop paying

check you cra file

any debt that does not show

consider stopping payments esp this debt!

 

as for phillips

 

what is the debt.

 

they are WELL KNOWN for pretending to be acting as a bailiff when they are infact they are ONLY acting as their DCA wing on the debt...

...tell us about it the debt please.

 

dx