Lowell Solicitors / Halifax Personal Loan now Court Claim Received ***Claim Discontinued***

[Spamalot]

Hi all,

 

I'm being threatened with litigation by Lowell solicitors for an old Halifax loan that I defaulted on in 2008.

I was paying the Halifax a reduced amount up until 2018 when my circumstances changed and I could no longer afford it and stopped paying.

 

After a time I received an assignment letter from the Halifax saying that they had assigned the loan to Lowell but here's the issue.....

the assignment had a completely different account number on it,

one of which is never mentioned in any of my paperwork

I have completely ignored Lowell and let them run their course.

Neither account number is on mycreditfile as the original dropped off years ago.

 

I recently received the pre litigation form which I completed and disputed the account/ alleged debt and requested a copy of the agreement, default notice, assignment and statements for the account number that they have been assigned.

 

I was sent a copy of an application form for the original loan (account number completely different to the one assigned.),

 a computer screenshot of when a default notice was sent.( account number completely different to one assigned,)

and a computer printout of a list of figures with no identification of an account number or customer.

not one document they have sent has the assigned account number on.

 

Along with the rubbish they have sent me, they have asked me to contact them with my intentions towards the account.

I'm tempted to let them run with it and sue the Halifax for Data protection breaches just for jollies, but I need to be sensible

 

 

Any suggestions on how I should go forward with this? 

 

Thanks.

 

[AndyOrch]

Topic moved to  Halifax Bank and Bank of Scotland Forum...please continue to post here.

 

Andy

[BankFodder]

Start off by sending SARs to Halifax and to Lowell. Keep them very widely worded. Use our SAR template with minimum of changes.

Separately, you should also ask for CCA agreement. Do this all now

[Spamalot]

Will do, thank you  

[Spamalot]

So I sent a SAR and CCA to Lowell and the Halifax. 

I am awaiting the result from the Halifax who say it could take until March.

Lowell provided me with exactly the same documents as before and completely ignored the CCA request. When I informed them that they had failed to provide what I had requested their response was to issue me a  County Court Claim for an account number bearing no resemblance to the paperwork they have in my name. 

Happy days.......

[AndyOrch]

What date is the court claim ?

 

Andy

[Spamalot]

Hi Andy, it's 27th January, .... arrived today.

[AndyOrch]

I've moved you to Financial Legal Issues Forum Spam in view of the court claim.

Read the following link and then copy the Q,s and your responses and post back here for further advice.

 

 

 

[Spamalot]

Name of the Claimant ? Lowell Portfolio Ltd

 

Date of issue –  27.Jan 2021

 

Particulars of Claim

 

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

 

1) Defendant entered into an agreement for a Halifax (Unsecured Loan) account under reference XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (the agreement)

 

2) The defendant failed to maintain the required payment and the service was terminated

 

3) The agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on xx/xx/xx and notice given to the defendant.

 

4)Despite repeated requests for payment the sum of 2,600 remains due and outstanding

 

And the claimant claims

a) the said sum of 2,600

b) costs

 

What is the total value of the claim? 2,800
 

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? yes
 

Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred? Yes
 

Did you inform the claimant of your change of address? Halifax were notified of my change of address

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? Unsecured personal loan
 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ? Before
 

Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ? in branch
 

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) ? NO ..... account they are quoting never has been, the account number not assigned dropped off a couple of years ago.
 

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. Assigned to debt purchaser
 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? I received a notice of assignment of an account number I don't recognise
 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Not for the account number assigned
 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ? No, not for the account number assigned, up until November 2015 for Halifax Loan
 

Why did you cease payments? I have never paid anything to the account number assigned.... The loan that I did have with the Halifax I had an arrangement with and failed to transfer the standing order when I changed bank accounts... Then life got in the way and I forgot
 

What was the date of your last payment? I believe it was May 2018, but not certain as bank account is now closed.
 

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 management plan? Yes
 

What you need to do now.

 

Answer the questions above

 

If you have not already done so – send a CCA request to the claimant for a copy of your agreement (If Applicable)

[AndyOrch]

 So no need to CCA again...just CPR 31.14 now they are litigating. When you get chance scan redact and upload copies of what Lowell sent in response to your earlier CCA request.

 

Andy

[Spamalot]

Thanks Andy,

I've uploaded the docs they sent as a result of PAPDC notice request and SAR. 

There is another sheet of 'statement' but I don't think it adds anything to the mix.

On all the documents provided the account number format is x/xxxxxxxx-x 

the account number they have been assigned and are claiming for is a bank account number format xxxxxx xxxxxxxx 

I'll crack on with the 31.14 asap 

 

Lowell_docs.pdf

 

 

 

 

[Spamalot]

Hi Andy or any other knowledgeable beings out there... 

 

I have completed my AOS online and am currently prepping my CPR 31.14. Can I safely assume that as the default notice wasn't mentioned in the POC that I am not able to ask disclosure of it?

 

Thanks in advance 

Spam 

[dx100uk]

On 28/01/2021 at 13:52, Spamalot said:

2) The defendant failed to maintain the required payment and the service was terminated

is the dn.

 

 

[Spamalot]

Thanks dx.

 

I have sent off the CPR 31.14 request.

 

Whilst going through my papers I believe I have discovered what the mix up is.

 

Back in the day, when Blair Oliver and Scott were 'collecting' the bank account number they were asking for repayments to go into is exactly the same as that which has been assigned to Lowell.

 

This might seem a stupid question, but does that mean the Halifax have assigned their own bank account?

I'm assuming that If I'm paying into it to pay off a loan it wouldn't belong to me.....

 

Happy to stand corrected if anyone out there knows how mechanics of these things work.

 

Anyhoo, I have received my SAR from the Halifax today and can't find anything so far in relation to that bank account number other than it's been sold, but I've got a lot of papers to sort through, so watch this space.....

 

Spam 

 

[AndyOrch]

States purpose of loan " Consolidation " on the application form so its possible that there are two agreement numbers being mixed up here.

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

urm.. notice of assignment could be interesting then...

[Spamalot]

Andy.... I have been through my SAR and none of my ex account numbers tally with it.

 

I have however found a sheet referring to that account number, and I would definitely say that it is a 'receiving account' because as I have  been repaying my loan instalments the balance in that account has increased by that amount. So if I've read it correctly, the Halifax have sold the account that I have been making my repayments into and not the actual debt. 

 

Again, I could be totally wrong, but I can find no other reference to that account.

 

I guess it will all come out in the wash when it reaches court.

 

I also know from the SAR that there is no default notice on the system, so if one magically appears I can challenge its authenticity.

I've yet to find a copy of the assignment, but I shall keep on looking.

 

dx.... definitely interesting!

[AndyOrch]

Sounds messy ...the only explanation could be that it was given a new number when it hit collections before assignment.

[Spamalot]

Maybe.....either way I wasn't informed, so they'll have some explaining to do  If I hadn't got my SAR I would never have known that account number existed or was linked to my personal loan account ..... I'll let the DJ sort it out.

 

[AndyOrch]

Well either way they will have to come up with the copy agreement with that reference number and what it refers to.

[Spamalot]

Exactly! I’m looking forward to their response to the 31.14.

[AndyOrch]

Doubt you will get one.....with regards to the agreement they will just role out the same one you have already uploaded....its not very sharp but what I can see is that it was taken out 17th March 2005 ?   The amount of loan for consolidation purposes was £13K over 7 years and assume although you have blanked it out it contains your signature.

 

I cant read the default screen grab...but the statements show payments from 16/5/2008 to 16/10/2012 and 19/03/2018 to 11/09/2018.

 

Does any of the above ring a bell ...payments of £100 per month over 3 years ?

[Spamalot]

What they have sent is the application form for the original consolidation loan taken out in March 2005. It does have my signature.

 

After it was defaulted, I paid regular arranged instalments on that loan to the Halifax until I changed bank accounts and failed to set up a standing order with my new bank.

 

Although not particularly affordable, I probably would have paid Lowell’s if the assignment had been for the account number I recognised but I genuinely had no clue what the account number they had been assigned was so I ignored them.

 

As I also hadn’t had any statements for a couple of years I couldn’t say for sure that the amount assigned was right either.

 

So all the stuff provided relates to a loan I had with the Halifax, but none of it has the account number assigned to Lowell’s on it.

 

The default screen grab just says that a default notice was sent out in March 2008, quoting the account number that Is on the loan agreement.

 

The Halifax confirmed to Lowell that they don’t have a copy of the original in their records. ( this information came from the SAR I sent to Lowell and was also mentioned in the SAR from the Halifax.)

 

Should things go pear shaped for me, I’ve discovered through the SAR that a bunch of unlawful charges were added to the loan before it was defaulted so I’ll see if there’s anything I can do about those .

[Spamalot]

Mystery solved!

 

The original loan was written off in November 2015, ( last arrears notice and statement dated around then all sent to my correct address) 

 

the Halifax then wrote to me at an old address in February 2016 (the one where I lived when the loan was taken out) and informed me that the debt was being transferred to Westcott because a suitable repayment plan hadn't been arranged..... this is despite my regular monthly payments to them...... shady tactics!....

 

In this letter (only seen because of SAR) it quoted another number as the account number..... this I have now discovered is my customer ID with the Halifax.

 

I never paid Wescot, who managed to write to me at my correct address too, because they used my 'customer ID as the account number, and I'd never received the letter from the Halifax. 

 

because I had continued to pay the Halifax by standing order for a debt they'd written off and the loan account no longer existed, they transferred the repayments to the account that they eventually sold to Lowell.

 

the upshot is, the loan account I originally had, according to the Halifax is fully paid.... in fact overpaid due to their less than transparent actions.

 

Apologies if I have confused everyone, but I know what I mean! 

 

Spam.... with a headache...

[AndyOrch]

Quote

The original loan was written off in November 2015

 

And you have that in writing ?  Very rare for a Original creditor to write off a defaulted debt......normally its set to zero balance when its been assigned to a DCA.....but that does not mean its been wrote off...the balance is set to zero and the amount transferred to the new legal owner.

 

 

.