Lowell Claim form - old CAT 'debt'***Claim Discontinued***

[hellsbelle]

Hi there;

In a nutshell

 

I have two seperate debts with Lowell,

one for 2k

and the other 1k (shop direct accounts)

 

I got into difficulty paying them and rang them prior to interest being added to my account

to say I'd struggle to pay if they added it and they didn't want to know.

 

Long story short,

I had double to pay for the items and extra fees added for each month payments weren't made.

I didn't pay again,

 

since, my debts have been passed to various collection agencies, marstons etc but finally Lowell.

 

They call me constantly and write letters to which neither I've responded.

Some may say this is foolish but I guess I didn't want to the reality of my situation to hit me.

 

I have had the usual threatening letters

and "offers" of payment plans and deductions but I've never made any contact with them.

 

I got a letter today staying they are considering passing my account on to a solicitor

and that I should please work with them.

What do I do?

 

This debt has been since sept 14.

I cannot afford to repay the huge amounts they are asking for,

I am currently unemployed and

 

I know they are stubborn when it comes to paying low amounts that's why I've never bothered to ring them.

[Stigman]

Hi,

 

When did you start the accounts with Shop Direct?

When was your last payment on each account?

 

Have you checked your Credit File? Noddle & Clearscore are free, this will show the owner of the debt.

 

First of all send Lowell a CCA request for each account, enclose a blank £1 Postal Order & see what they come back with.

 

Hopefully you will have all statements from Shop Direct, if not send Shop Direct an SAR to obtain these, please enclose both account numbers on your SAR Letter, that way you only pay one £10 fee.

All fees and any PPI are reclaimable, do not get a Company to do this, you can do it for free, any help or questions on this just ask away.

 

If you ever have to pay Lowells, because of you being unemployed you pay only £1 per calander month per debt.

You only ever pay a DCA by standing order as well as this way you are in complete control, NEVER pay via Direct Debit or Debit Card as these can be amended and payments taken without your consent.

 

DCA's are a greedy bunch so any offer of a reduced settlement always set alarm bells ringing that something somewhere is amiss.

 

Stigman

[dx100uk]

well passing it to their fake/tame solicitors...

 

truth is

its the same prointer with a different letterhead.

 

or the next bloke

at the next desk

in a diff coloured skirt.

 

don't forget

if you've had discount letters

then its odds on a lemon debts.

[hellsbelle]

They are both showing as default with Lowell from Feb 15.

 

I remember making my last payments around June 14.

 

I often get letters from them offering discounts

"for today and today only we can offer you a 30% discount if remaining balance is paid or payment plan set up" etc etc.

 

I've never acknowledged either debts,

never answer my phone to them

and they had slowed down calling me

but I get letters every month or so.

 

It sounds silly but in some ways I don't want to acknowledge the debt

as it will mean I've admitted its mine right?

 

Isn't that what they want you to do so they have more of a hold on you?

I know it sounds careless realty and it's my own predicament

but I really did try with shop direct and offered to pay what I owed

but they were so nasty and rude and it was a tough luck were adding the 50% interest

and £20 each month for late payments.

 

I was never going to be able to keep up with that which was a shame

as I was always paying what I owed like clockwork

but that one late payment was due to serious financial difficulties on my part.

[dx100uk]

well; no it doesnt give them anymore hold on you

 

the bottom line is

a DCA IS NOT A BAILIFF

and has

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS

 

they cant do anything more than you or I can do

and that's try for a CCJ if someone owes us money.

 

if SD sold the debts

and going by your story

then the debt is prob 90% penalty charges/ppi/ and the interest they cost you .

 

sar time? get all the statements

 

 

as stig says

[renegadeimp]

Send a CCA to them. It will give you time to breathe.

[hellsbelle]

I was just looking via a credit check about my payments to shop direct

- all were up to date until the one month I fell behind and interest was added,

 

 

in a nutshell I owed them 400 on one

and 160 on the other- that's it.

 

 

Now it's rounded up to almost 4K in charges.

[martin2006]

You must get a sar sent to shop direct.

 

All of the charges and ppi can be reclaimed which will obliterate anything they claim you owe them.

 

Send a sar now and hit them with a claim before they hit you with a ccj

[dx100uk]

I suspect your items were buy now pay latter

[hellsbelle]

Yes the items were buy now pay later.

 

I'm not really in the know how with the terminology on here

 

- what is an sar and who do I send it to?

[Stigman]

what is an sar and who do I send it to?

 

An SAR is a Subject Access Request, this costs £10 and you must include both account numbers on the letter as this means you only pay one lot of £10.

 

You will get back everything from the account including all Statements to history notes, internal screenshots etc.

 

The Subject Access Request goes to the Original Creditor (Shop Direct), you do need to sign it and enclose a £10 Postal Order, it can take up to 40 days to receive.

 

Link to the SAR letter is here... http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387306-Full-Subject-Access-Request-**Updated-January-2015**

 

Stigman

[hellsbelle]

Thank you for that; i will get that done this week.

 

Is the ppi with shop direct a seperate monthly cost you had to pay for coverage?

 

All I ever used my account for was buy now pay later items which were always paid since I had my account (2007)

- I haven't worked since I had this account due to having children

and also illness so I never took out any extra insurance

or coverage due to lack of funds.

[silverfox1961]

Hi

Can I just add to this thread by saying, if you have never paid any of the charges then you will not be reclaiming them but getting them removed from the balance. Once the account was defaulted, all interest and charges should have ceased.

What should be left is what you owed when you fell into difficulties and then that gives you the option of discussing a Full and Final settlement with Lowell.

 

If you did have PPI on any of the accounts then that can be reclaimed with interest that could wipe the debt. Some PPI is front loaded (not a monthly payment) so it is worth checking.

 

Get the SAR to Shop Direct ensuring you include lots of proof of ID and address. Many companies will delay providing due to their silly rules on ID.

 

As mentioned, CCA Lowell for both accounts. you state the account was opened in 2007. Was this before or after April of that year?

[hellsbelle]

It was after April.

 

I just feel at such a loss with it

- I can never realistically pay what they want and it'll hang over my head for a long time.

 

Just such a ridiculous amount of money to pay back for an original balance of less than £600.

[martin2006]

Send the subject access request and when you get the information back we can go from there.

CCA as suggested to lowells for the agreements, if nothing else, it will stop them taking any further action until the agreements are supplied, this may well be enough time to get the statements via the sar and be ready to start claiming those charges and insurances back

[hellsbelle]

I owe a catalogue debt (2.5k) and it was passed onto Lowell portfolio.

 

I will be honest I ignored their letters of offers of discounts and payment plans and they have sent me a CCJ pack which I just got today.

 

I am on benefits and cannot pay what they want.

 

I discussed a dro with step change who advised me I should be eligible after doing an expenses form....but what do I do now?

 

Do I admit the debt and fill in the part where I admit to it all and offer a £1 repayment whilst I sort my dro?

 

I'm just worried sick I'm going to be made to pay something back I can't afford and that I'll have bailiffs knocking at my door (I have an 8 year old so really don't want this to happen)

[AndyOrch]

Hi Hellsbelle

 

I have moved your thread to the Financial Legal forum in view of the claim form you have received.

 

If you would read the following link and then copy and paste the Qs and your responses back here for thebest advice on how to proceed.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?419198-You-have-received-a-Claim-What-you-need-to-do.-**UPDATED-2016**

 

Regards

 

Andy

[hellsbelle]

Name of the Claimant ? Lowell portfolio ltd

Date of issue – 11 Jan

 

What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim?

 

1) defendant entered into consumer credit act agreement with shop direct acct no: xxxx

2)defendant failed to maintain required payments and default notice was served and not complied with

3) agreement was assigned to claimant 05/2015 and notice given to defendant

4)despite repeated requests for payment the sum of £2.5k (rounded up) remains due and outstanding

5)claimant claims,

A) said sum of 2.5k

B)interest pursuant to s69 county court act 1984 at rate of 8% per annum accruing at daily rate of £0.49p but limited to one year being £180

C) costs

 

What is the value of the claim? Original debt was for £450 but mounted to £2.5k

 

Is the claim for a current account (Overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Cat

 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? After (2009)

 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor

or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Debt purchaser

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Can't entirely remember

 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Not sure

 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ?

From the debt collector? If so then yes

Why did you cease payments? June 2013

 

What was the date of your last payment? June 2013

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No

 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt managementicon plan? I explained my financial situation asked for an extension on my buy it now items but was declined and interest was added

[AndyOrch]

Many thanks hells.

 

Okay so back to that link...next job is a CCA request to the claimant and a CPR 31.14 Templates can be found in the Library and instructions are included within the template.

 

Then you need to register to use MCOL (instructions are provided within the claim pack) you can deal with this on line.

 

You must acknowledge the claim within 19 days (day 1 being the date on the summons) and state your intention...I would advise defend all of the claim.

 

You then have a further 14 days to submit your defence ...so 33 days in total.

 

Once you have completed all the above I would advise you start to read other similar threads from the same claimant and debt type and then you will get this into perspective and see how the game is played.

 

Forget about making any admittance and £1 offers and DROs for now....long way to go yet.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[hellsbelle]

Thank you for getting back to me,

 

I will get on doing that tomorrow,

the letter printing/typing I'll have to do at the library as I don't have access to my own pc/laptop which is a pain at a time like this.

 

Do I just sent a copy of each recorded delivery with nothing else added? (I.e postal order)

 

Many thanks with the advice so far,

I'd be completely at a loss without forums such as this.

[AndyOrch]

All the instructions for each form are provided in the relevant PDF

[dx100uk]

pop up on the MCOL website detailed on the claimform.

.

register as an individual

note the long number given

then log in

.

select respond to a claim and select the AOS box.

.

then using the details required from the claimform

.

defend all

leave jurisdiction unticked.

click thru to the end

confirm and exit MCOL.

.

get a CCA Request running to the claimant

get a CPR 31:14 request running to the solicitors

[if this is a Bank Account use the other version in the library]

.

don't sign anything

leave the £1PO blank and uncrossed

.

dx

[dx100uk]

old and new threads merged

 

shame you didn't send that sar off to get reclaiming as this would most probably have wiped most of this debt out.

 

as for bailiffs

 

I doubt your previous worry that marstons were anything to do with this debt

and as its never been to court to date then they'd have no powers anyway.

 

as for what bailiffs could do

well lowells have gotta win first!!

and as its a civil debt, theres no right of forced entry either.

 

I also question your need to do a DRO too

but p'haps that better addressed in another thread if you want to start one.

 

just please always remember

a DCA like lowells are NOT BAILIFFS!!

[hellsbelle]

Thanks for replies so far guys.

 

 

I'm just filling in my cpr form,

I've mentioned in the particulars of claim for proof of,

1. Agreement,

2. Notice of assignment,

3, default notice and

4 statement of account.

 

 

didn't put anything else but it has a section saying the claimant claims I owe xxxx amount b, interest pursuant to s69 county courts act etc and c , costs.

 

 

Do I need to mention anything relating to this?

 

 

Also lowells only have a PO box address for the CCA request to be sent to

- will this matter when sending recorded delivery?

[AndyOrch]

Section 69 is only awarded at the discretion of the court if they get judgment...so irrelevant at this stage.