Lowell Financial/Red debt collection services

[langhar]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and have been reading about many peoples experiences with Lowell Financial Ltd. I have similar problems to everyone else and would like some advice if anyone can help.

 

Back in late 2000 i had a very messy divorce which left me in all kinds of debt. I couldn't afford to make mortgage repayments that resulted in me being repossesed and i fell into £10,000 arrears with the CSA which i am still paying back and i defaulted on a Capital one credit card (amongst other things). Due to my repossesion i have only been able to rent houses and have moved approx. 6-8 times in the last 6 years. In that time i have not heard anything from Capital One with reference to the debt (to be honest if i had i would probably have ignored it as i have been concentrating on paying CSA to avoid prison). The lenders from the repossesed property are asking me to pay back approx. £16,000 which they say they lost when house was auctioned.

Just recently i settled into my current home and to my horror received a letter from Lowell saying that they had purchased the debt from Capital One and they wanted me to pay £840 to them to clear the debt. I must admit i have not replyed to them yet. Yesterday i received a letter from RED Debt Collection Services saying that they where acting on behalf of Capital One and unless i contact them and agree to repay the debt they will advise their clients to make a claim in the County Court which could ultimately result in a petition for my Bankruptcy. Interestingly at the bottom of the letter in very small writing is "Red Debt Collection Services is a trading style of Lowell Financial Ltd".

 

What is my best course of action? Is the debt Statute Barred? Is there any way of finding out how much of the £840 debt is charges and interest? Am i best to try to reason with them and make an agreement to pay an amount which i can afford?

Please any advice will be much appreciated. Sorry that thread is so long.

[kennyparkroad]

Ok how long has it been since you made any payment or acknowledged the debt to capital one?

 

if its 6 years or more then yes it will be statute barred.

 

You would do well to send them a CCA (Consumer Credit Agreement) and a £1 postal order (make sure the part about the £1 is for the CCA AND NOT TO PAYMENT is in the letter), make sure and post it recorded delivery and obtain proof of postage.

 

the CCA can be found in the templates section, make sure you DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEBT or MAKE ANY PAYMENT TO IT as this would reactivate the debt and it would no longer be statute barred.

 

If anyone else can help you with this, they will reply, im not an expert but am going through similar things, and from reading other posts on the forum sending the CCA seems to be the first step!

 

Hope this helps.

[langhar]

To the best of my knowledge it has been over 6 years since making a payment to capital one but i cannot be 100% sure of this.

 

Thanks for your advice.

[kennyparkroad]

i would send them the CCA as soon as possible (recorded delivery and obtain proof of postage)

 

do that and see what they come back with, chances are they wont come back with anything, also, keep everything they send (even the envelopes as it can prove dates) make a log of calls etc.

 

send off the CCA and post here when you have done it

 

Kenny

[langhar]

I will keep you posted.

 

Thanks very much for the advice.

[langhar]

Sorry if this sounds a little dumb, but as i am not 100% sure if debt is over 6 years (it is definately very close, if not) would i be better going down the CCA route or statute barred route.

[kennyparkroad]

CCA first.

 

hope it helps!

[langhar]

Thank you:) kennyparkroad

[kennyparkroad]

Thank you:) kennyparkroad

 

 

no problems, keep us posted on anything you do! and make sure and send it recorded.

 

tell them you DO NOT acknowledge the debt, its up to them to prove you do, not for you to prove you dont.

 

and if my answers have helped, please increase my reputation by clicking the scales (under my name!)

 

thanks and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE KEEP US POSTED

[langhar]

Slight delay in posting CCA. I have been ill. I can confirm that the letter was posted along with the £1:00 postal order on Friday 16/03/07 by recorded delivery.

 

I suppose it is just a matter of waiting for the reply.

 

What happens if they do not respond within the 12 days??

 

I will keep you all posted on the outcome.

 

Thanks to everyone who has advised me.

[kennyparkroad]

if they do not respond in the 12 days, they are in default and you can legally stop payments.

 

if then after the 12 days they send you nothing in a further 30 days (calender month) they would then have committed a criminal offence and would need to go through the courts to re-start the debt (which would then raise questions of why they did not comply)

[langhar]

Thank you for all the info you have given me.

[langhar]

Just to let you know i have checked on the post office website and the letter was delivered to Lowell on the 17/03/07.

[langhar]

Hi,

Received a letter from Lowell on Saturday 24/03/07 (letter dated 22/03/07). Letter content as follows:

 

Dear Mr Langham,

 

Our ref: xxxxxxxxxxx

Original creditor: Capital One

Balance Outstanding:£xxx.xx

 

We are in receipt of your request for a copy of your credit agreement in accordance with section 78(1) of the consumer credit act 1974.

 

We are also in receipt of the prescribed fee from you.

 

We are requesting a copy of the agreement from the original lender with whom you originally entered into the agreement.

 

While we endeavour to reply to you with the required information within the prescribed 12 day periodunder the consumer credit act, you will appreciate this is dependant upon receipt of the information from the original creditor

 

We will advise you further if it will take longer than the prescribed period

 

Yours sincerely.

 

 

 

How do i proceed? What happens if they do not get copy of agreement in the alotted time? Are they still breaking the law or have they got past that by sending this letter?

regards

[kennyparkroad]

standard letter

 

they have 12 working days to comply, if they dont they are in default and cannot chase the debt UNTIL and IF the request is satisfied.

 

Sit back and wait, come back on when the 12 working days are up.

 

Kenny.

[langhar]

Thank you. Just got a bit worried.

[langhar]

Hi, received a letter from Red Debt Collection Services on 04/04/07. It was dated 02/04/07 and there was copy of the original capital one application form Signed and dated by myself on 03/05/00.

The letter reads as follows:

2 April 2007.

 

Dear Mr Langham,

Our Ref:*******

Original Creditor: Capital One

Balance Outstanding:£***.**

 

We enclose copy of original credit aggrement with Capital One in response to your written request to us under section 78(1) of the consumer credit act 1974.

 

We would also confirm the following information as required by the above act:-

Balance payable against your account: £***.**

Current state of your account: Defaulted.

 

We look forward to your proposals for re-payment within the next seven days.

 

Payment can be taken over the telephone by debit or credit card.

 

Yours sincerely.

**********

 

What would you advise as to my next course of action? As far as i can recall my credit limit with Capital One was only £500 so how do i now apparently owe £840? What would be an acceptable repayment offer?

 

I am currently trying to pay off CSA (approx £16,000 and also have a mortgage shortfall of £16,000 as metioned in my other thread) which in my opinion will take priorty as they can ultimately put me in prison which won't help my partner or 3 yr old son.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

[langhar]

I have attached a copy of the Capital One application form that was sent by Red Debt Collection Services. Please could you advise if this complies with the CCA or not? Also any advice on my next steps would be great. Thanks

[langhar]

Hello,

I received another letter from Lowell Financial on 06/04/07 (letter dated 04/04/07) which said that they "regret to note that despite previous correspondence we have not received payment or a valid reason for non-payment. Failure to respond to this notice may result in further action being taken to recover the monies owed"

 

But as you can see from previous messages left i have contacted them regarding a CCA and received letters from them saying they had received my request.

Should i write to them explaining that they have not sent the correct documents to cover the CCA request or just ignore the last letter sent by them.

 

Please help, I am growwing more and more concerned.

Regards Langhar.

[ICO]

Hello,

I received another letter from Lowell Financial on 06/04/07 (letter dated 04/04/07) which said that they "regret to note that despite previous correspondence we have not received payment or a valid reason for non-payment. Failure to respond to this notice may result in further action being taken to recover the monies owed"

 

But as you can see from previous messages left i have contacted them regarding a CCA and received letters from them saying they had received my request.

Should i write to them explaining that they have not sent the correct documents to cover the CCA request or just ignore the last letter sent by them.

 

Please help, I am growwing more and more concerned.

Regards Langhar.

 

 

Hopefully a mod can check if that is def a CCA and not just an application form !!!!

 

Do you know what the default date is on this debt ???? So you can know for def when statue limitation will apply ????

 

Got the same problem with this lovely compnay

[CG7]

Hi Langar,

 

So many of us on this forum's are fighting lowell, I have tried but I can't read the document at all, even tried saving it to my psp but its to blurred, I wished i could be of more help, hopefully someone will come along soon to help you. cg

[langhar]

Sorry copy of document is so blurry.

It is a copy of the application form that was signed by myself on 03/05/00 when i originally applied for the Capital One Credit Card. As far as i am concerned this only proves that i applied for the credit card but doesn't prove that there is an outstanding debt on it. It also does not prove that i owe Lowells any outstanding monies.

 

Can't remember exactly when i defaulted but it was sometime in 2001. Is there a way of finding out exact date??

[ICO]

Sorry copy of document is so blurry.

It is a copy of the application form that was signed by myself on 03/05/00 when i originally applied for the Capital One Credit Card. As far as i am concerned this only proves that i applied for the credit card but doesn't prove that there is an outstanding debt on it. It also does not prove that i owe Lowells any outstanding monies.

 

Can't remember exactly when i defaulted but it was sometime in 2001. Is there a way of finding out exact date??

 

Yea, if you go to experian or equifax for a copy of your credit file !!! It'll show when you defaulted and then you will know exactly when you defaulted and when it is statue barred . . . it could be helpful to you

[langhar]

Thanks ICO.

[ICO]

Thanks ICO.

 

No problem !!! Hope you win your battle !!!