Lowell/O2 Default

[Guy1002]

Good morning.

This may be long winded but I appreciate those who read, and those who reply even more so!

 

My partner noticed a default on her credit file, which was placed on the 24/03/2013.

The defaulted/delinquent balance is showing as £1.

The current balance is £1,095.

The account was opened on the 10/05/2006.

 

She has emailed both Lowell and o2 trying to obtain more information, because she cannot actually ever remember having an o2 contract.

 

From Lowell we have received the following information:

 

The last payment on the account was on the 27th August 2012 for £65.55.

The balance is broken down as £409.93 for Airtime debt

and quote 'any additional usage from the last payment up until the account was disconnected'

 

£604.43 Early Termination fee again

quoted 'calculated to reflect the remaining months of your contract which remain unpaid from the date of account closure'.

 

The account was disconnected on the 22nd October 2012

 

My questions are:

If the contract rolled forward, this would be from May 2012.

Making the outstanding months of the contract around 7.

This means that the monthly contract would be £86!

This seems to me extremely high, but ok, if, the last payment amount hadn't been £65.

 

do telecommunication companies not 'bar' you from making outgoing calls if your payment is overdue?

Which leaves me to wonder how the usage charge is so high.

 

 

Even if for arguments sake £160 of it is line rental charge.

Therefore, is my partner within her rights to request a bill/statement of exactly how these charges have been made up?

and are o2 responsible for providing this information?

 

If a delinquent or defaulted balance is reported as a £1 on a credit file can the amount being chased be disputed?

 

Lowell have also informed us that because this is a service agreement o2 have no legal right to provide my partner with a signed agreement for the contract.

 

She also requested confirmation from o2 informing her that the debt had been sold to Lowell.

Lowell have provided this information by way of pdf in reply to her email. But the letter is not on any letterhead from o2.

 

They have also advised that a notice of termination (which is being requested from o2) is sufficient as it will also note an intent to file a default. Is this correct?

 

They have stated that they have a 'large' number of documents relating to Lowell corresponding with yourself requesting payment of the account and are willing to provide these, which we have requested.

 

So far the only reply we have from o2 is that the debt has been sold to Lowell, and therefore will be chased under their normal circumstances.

 

Any help on how we can obtain the information we need would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to read

[dx100uk]

SAR o2

[fkofilee]

They are correct, they dont have to supply a written agreement as its not underwritten with the CCa 1974 Act in mind UNLESS!!!

 

It had a contract for a handset included which that part would be underwritten with the CCA 1974 Act.

 

Getting the info from O2 is probably the best way to go but... Could this be possibly be fraud?

[Bazooka Boo]

Ignore lowlifes, hammer O2 and do as DX says, fire off a SAR to O2.

[Guy1002]

We haven't wanted to go down the fraud route until we can confirm exactly what the contract is and was for.

My partner can barely remember what she did yesterday let alone in 2006

 

Thanks for the bit about the handset, that would give us the actual information we need.

 

Below is the letter Lowell provided to me, supposedly from o2.

Although the copy they provided is not on any form of headed paper.

The main bulk reads as follows:

 

We closed an account you had with us on 22/10/12.

But you still owe £1095.36.

Details of what that amount is for are on the other side of this letter.

 

On 28/06/13 we transferred your account and the money you owe over to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.

They’re a debt purchasing company who can help you find ways to repay the money.

 

To start clearing your debt, or if you have a query about the money you owe call them as soon as possible on . (this number is missing on the letter they provided)

 

As well as this letter, you’ll have had a letter from Lowell Portfolio I Ltd too.

It’s called a notice of assignment.

This tells you that we’ve legally assigned your account to Lowell.

From now on, make sure any questions or payments go straight to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.

 

Their address is

 

Lowell Portfolio I Ltd

PO Box 172

Leeds

LS11 9WS

 

Yours sincerely

 

Debt Assistance

Telefónica O2 UK Ltd Contacting us

 

Is it me, or does this read rather pooly for such a large company who will structure all correspondence to within an inch of their lives?! Or am I being overly pessimistic lol

[Bazooka Boo]

Typical lowlifes puerile threatogram .

[Guy1002]

I just wanted to add more to my post as my partner has managed to get hold of her bank statements and can see that she was making direct debt payments to o2 up until the last payment date on the account.

 

 

She thinks that maybe her husband (ex now) was using the phone because for the last 5 years her job has provided her with a company phone.

 

 

So there is no way of disputing the validity of the contract as it does in fact seem genuine.

But it still doesn't change that we would dispute the amount of the debt and the amount filed as the default amount on her credit file.

 

Also, Lowell on their email suggested that o2 may not be able to provide the information requested.

I have read somewhere though that for agreements pre 2007 they have to be able to provide and prove everything.

I didn't really understand, so any enlightenment on that would be great.

[dx100uk]

there's no Consumer credit agreement with mobiles, unless yours is different.

so the Pre/post Apr 2007 doesnt enter into this sadly, CCA does not apply.

 

 

so, it appears that the ex used the phone afterwards.

but was not paying for it?

 

 

dx

[Guy1002]

Ah ok, thank you for clarifying for me.

 

It does seem the ex (although together at the time of this little time bomb) was using the phone,

although again the costs associated after the last payment date for two months do still remain high, and the monthly amount paid seems to be around £60.

Which would make the early termination fee approx. £420 not the £600 odds Lowell are suggesting.

 

 

So the information we have requested,

bar the credit agreement as it would appear genuine,

is still worth obtaining as far as I'm concerned

so that she can actually ascertain fully the amount being requested.

 

I still can't find any information on how a defaulted amount can be recorded as a £1, if it in fact isn't.

[dx100uk]

I would let the sar run yes

 

 

its not fair to bill a customer the full remaining contract cost

when they could cancel and only pay 1 month in many cases.

 

 

that's why o2 sold the debt on to a debt buyer and wrote it off

 

 

they know they would never win in court claiming that.

 

 

so was there quite a while to run on the contract then?

or did o2 simply roll it over into a new one ...?

 

 

I doubt theres a mobile contract from 2006 that ran for 7yrs till the supposed default.

 

 

somethings not right here

that sar will tell you what

 

 

just remember that a DCA is NOT A BAILIFF

and have

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS

 

 

so don't be intimidated by then.

 

 

pers I think its a load of bluff and banter

and they can be ignored

if o2 wont go near a court

lowells would be rather foolish too as well.

[Guy1002]

Yes we intend to file the SAR with O2.

 

As i understand it the letter supposedly from O2 actually comes from Lowell and they can do this.

But it has to be signed by somebody from O2?

Obviously the letter is signed by nobody.

It's not even on headed paper!

 

I don't know how long the contract length is but I doubt it would be 7 years, so I'm guessing it was rolled over to a new 12 month contract from May?

 

Personally I think the contract had an outstanding balance of £1 so O2 didn't bother with it, but were happy enough to let Lowell purchase it.

 

How else could the default balance show as £1?

Then Lowell have added these made up fees for it to be worth chasing.

Or am I likely miles off?

 

From what I've read I wouldn't put anything past them

[Bazooka Boo]

It's pointless trying to guess what lowlifes have or haven't done, or what they might likely do next, they don't even know themselves.

 

Ignore them for now, and fire off that SAR to O2, then go through what they send you, they have 40 days in which to send you everything they have regarding the account, that is, IF they have anything at all.

[dx100uk]

I doubt lowells added anything.

 

it will be o2

but as they probably knew what they were trying on

they flogged it.

 

historic credit files would have been nice.

 

but they're long gone.?

[fkofilee]

Sorry to drop in again, I need to clarify my point earlier about the Consumer Credit Agreements...

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?425080-O2-New-Agreements-Falling-Under-The-Consumer-Credit-Act

 

As mentioned before (Not clearly - For which i apologize) O2 refresh contracts DO have a CCA under them for the Handset Only. Tesco etc also do this.

Please follow the advice given by DX and co here. ITs very good advice.

[Guy1002]

This is the response my partner received form O2.

20161013103506751.pdf

[dx100uk]

name showing unapproved

[Guy1002]

name showing unapproved

 

 

What does that mean?

[AndyOrch]

What does that mean?

 

You have not obscured your personal identifiable details

[Guy1002]

You have not obscured your personal identifiable details

 

Oh bugger! I have just noticed. I will upload again with that information removed. Thankyou!!

[Guy1002]

I think I have removed everything now. Sorry for being completely inept!

20161013121124680.pdf

[Bazooka Boo]

Is that in response to your SAR?

[Guy1002]

Is that in response to your SAR?

 

This is a reply to the original request of

Info my partner sent to O2 by email (before we knew about this site and SARs. But after reading that I don't hold out much hope of the SAR returning anything of significance that we can use.

[Bazooka Boo]

A SAR might flag up where these payments were coming from, if you can show that they were in fact NOT coming from an account held by you then clearly they were coming from someone else, and therefore eligibility for this should be questioned.

[Guy1002]

A SAR might flag up where these payments were coming from, if you can show that they were in fact NOT coming from an account held by you then clearly they were coming from someone else, and therefore eligibility for this should be questioned.

 

Hi Bazooka

 

Unfortunately my partner has identified that she was paying for this contract from her bank statements.

The only thing the SAR might identify is that from O2s letter this was an upgrade (original contact was 2006) is that there is no CCA for the handset.

 

 

She has gone back through her bankstatement and identified that the bill was always around £50.

So to suggest call charges of around £400 the month after the last payment seems crazy.

 

 

O2s letter states that it is not their responsibility to prove this other than to issue a bill and therefore don't keep this on record.

 

 

So they will surely not send through this information with the SAR. Bit lost as to what to do now

[Bazooka Boo]

Your current partner or your Ex?

 

You're trying to second guess what O2 will or won't do, and self defeating.

 

Send them the SAR, they will send you EVERYTHING they hold regarding this account.