Noob vs Red/ Lowell Financial

[indovation]

Hi everyone, its great to be here to actually have the support of a community to help through what were before very confusing and rough times. This is my first post here, and I hate to be one to offer nothing and ask for help straight away but I guess thats a reason why we join in the first place. So thank you all.

 

So I have a problem with Red Debt Collection Services/ Lowell Financial that I could use some help with. So I shall begin..

 

On 10th July 07 I received a first letter from RED saying I owed Abbey National 3631.37 saying that the matter has been passed to their specialist recoveries team to decide the best form of action to take. And I should phone them.

 

So not knowing any better I did, they claim the debt dates back to 1998. But this I don't remember, and believe me I would remember a three and a half grand debt! However they didn't want to have any of it so I just told them I would take what they said under advisement and put the phone down.

 

I then received a letter from RED stating that they were going to reduce the amount from the original amount to 1800 pounds only if I can settle within 7 days, to which I replied by letter that I had no recollection of this debt and found it highly suspicious that not only a company whom I'm unfamiliar with writes to me asking for money, but then reduces the amount by half for speedy payment, I don't trust what they say is genuine and I wont be sending any monies, furthermore any and all future correspondence should be made in writing.

 

The debt went back up to 3631.37 and then now Lowell Financial continued to write demanding I call there offices.

 

I then found this site, and saw the template letters, looking through to see what I could use for this situation, I found the template to request a CCA from them. I went ahead and sent that off to them including a pound coin and I received this letter back:

 

"We are in receipt of you request for a copy of the executed credit agreement in accordance with section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

The agreement to which you seek is not a regulated consumer credit agreement and is not governed by the terms of the above act.

 

Our client therefore has no obligation under the provisions of the Act to supply the information requested by you.

 

We would therefore request you contact us on the number below to put forward your proposals to settle the outstanding debt."

 

finally, this morning I receive another letter from Lowell Financial stating that it was made clear that I should have phoned them, which I hadn't and now they would be appointing a local area agent to call round to my house with a view to discussing payment, unless I make contact with them within the next 48 hours.

 

Now I'm not sure what to do? A part of me feels that due to their response of the CCA request, it was perhaps the wrong letter send in these circumstances? Anyway not much more I can say. Any help would be appreciated. I will be away until Thurs next week so wont be able to thank you all until then, but to those that can help, many thanks in advance.

[djdave]

A few questions:

 

What are they claiming the debt it? Credit cards and loans would be subject to the CCA, overdrafts would not. Even if the alleged debt is not covered by the CCA, you're right to insist that Red prove that a debt exists before you enter negotiations to repay it.

 

Have you claimed any charges back from Abbey which could reduce this amount?

 

Don't worry about their "threat" of a visit. 99.9% of the time it's just a bluff, and even if they did turn up they're got absolutely no right of entry. Politely but firmly tell them to go away, otherwise you'll call the police.

 

The most important part is if this debt does indeed date back to 1998 and isn't subject to a CCJ then it will be statute barred and legally unenforceable. Red have probably bought a job lot of old debts and are trying it on.

 

You could send a SAR to Abbey, it would cost you a tenner but would reveal full details of any debts, along with any potentially unlawful fees which you could claim back (although be aware most banks are halting repayments pending the outcome of the test case).

 

You're doing the right thing by not phoning them, no matter how tempting it may seem.

[diskmandave]

they claim the debt dates back to 1998

Then regardless of anything else, it is Statute Barred (providing no CCJ exists).

 

Here is the Statute Barred letter;

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html#post162366

 

There's also a section in the OFT debt collection guidance...

(But well worth reading it all!)

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

 

Best wishes, Dave.

[indovation]

Hi. Apologies for not getting back sooner but I have been away. The current situation still stands as it was although now seems to have esculated into the following 2 letters recently recieved from both Red and Lowell which in itself seems to be a no no in the OFT. Thanks for that by the way.

So, after reading the 2 letters which I shall write here, if you would advise me of my next most important step take that'd be a great help. Should I find out if I have an unknown CCJ? Or just write to Abbey to get a S.A.R (is there a standard letter for this? Any help would be great. Here are the letters:

 

Red is just another threat of home visits if I dont call them, I recieved this just after my initial post here. So thats around a month old now.

 

Lowell is as follows dated 20th september, waiting for me on the doormat on return from hols, how nice!

 

"Our agent has failed to make contact with you and as a legal requirement we must now inform you that 7 days from the date of this letter we intend to instruct our Legal Department to review your account.

 

This may involve applying for a County Court Judgement to be registered against you, if successful, dependant upon your circumstances we will enforce the judgement by one or more of the following steps:

 

1. Instructing a bailiff or sheriff to remove good from your premises

2. Obtain a charge against your property

3. Deduct payments directly from your salary through your employers

4. Obtain payments directly from your bank account

5. Request attendance at court for examination of your financial means.

 

As a FINAL attempt to resolve this matter, in order to avoid the possible need to take LEGAL ACTION you MUST contact us NOW

 

You will be given no further warnings."

 

Ok, so now I am pretty worried, we have only just moved into the area, got settled etc so if this is all true then things could get difficult and no doubt stressful for the family so what honest advise can I get please. I am very tempted to phone them to just smooth things over while I look into this more. I wont until I get some replies here first however.

[make them aktiv runners]

Looks the same as Aktiv's letter with a few different words. The majority of the text relates to after a judgement that they have not even got!

 

"Our agent has failed to make contact with you and as a legal requirement we must now inform you that 7 days from the date of this letter we intend to instruct our Legal Department to review your account. All the legal department is going to do is a REVIEW

 

This may involve applying for a County Court Judgement to be registered against you, if successful, dependant upon your circumstances we will enforce the judgement by one or more of the following steps: The big clue is MAY. The rest is immaterial as without actually going to court with a non-statute barred debt and getting an actual CCJ they can do nothing.

 

1. Instructing a bailiff or sheriff to remove good from your premises

2. Obtain a charge against your property

3. Deduct payments directly from your salary through your employers

4. Obtain payments directly from your bank account

5. Request attendance at court for examination of your financial means.

 

As a FINAL attempt to resolve this matter, in order to avoid the possible need to take LEGAL ACTION you MUST contact us NOW Again POSSIBLE is the only word to read

You will be given no further warnings." Really???? Before going to court they must follow court procedure rules which requires a Letter Before Action. Yes you may get one but there is a set criteria it must include and the ones we have seen so far do not conform. You may well get further letters on proper solicitor paper, well it comes off their own threatomatic printer anyway.

 

Personally I thinkthey are not worth the stamp as it is statute barred. If you do want to reply just send the letter recommended by Dave.

[Curlyben]

I assume that you sent the Statute barred letter, did they respond to this at all ?

Now rather than protracted letter writing I would get Trading Standards involved with this for starters as they are chasing a barred debt.

[Kwakahumdrum]

I assume that you sent the Statute barred letter, did they respond to this at all ?

Now rather than protracted letter writing I would get Trading Standards involved with this for starters as they are chasing a barred debt.

 

I totally agree with Curlyben here, the actions they are taking are against the OFT guidlines:

 

2.14 In the past we have dealt with a number of statute barred debt cases governed by the Limitation Act 1980, which applies to England and Wales. Based on that experience our position with regard to England and Wales remains:

b. it is the methods by which the debt is collected that can be

unfair as follows:

• it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from

the creditor during the relevant limitation period

 

That time being 6 years:)

[Erroll]

Hi Everyone !!

this is my first post on the forum, and i must admit i joined the forum specifically to obtain advice and information on Lowell Portfolio and RED.

I am currently preparing a file which will hopefully be of use to other members, which will be available shortly.

[ODC]

Hi. Apologies for not getting back sooner but I have been away. The current situation still stands as it was although now seems to have esculated into the following 2 letters recently recieved from both Red and Lowell which in itself seems to be a no no in the OFT. Thanks for that by the way.

So, after reading the 2 letters which I shall write here, if you would advise me of my next most important step take that'd be a great help. Should I find out if I have an unknown CCJ? Or just write to Abbey to get a S.A.R (is there a standard letter for this? Any help would be great. Here are the letters:

 

Red is just another threat of home visits if I dont call them, I recieved this just after my initial post here. So thats around a month old now.

 

Lowell is as follows dated 20th september, waiting for me on the doormat on return from hols, how nice!

 

"Our agent has failed to make contact with you and as a legal requirement we must now inform you that 7 days from the date of this letter we intend to instruct our Legal Department to review your account.

 

This may involve applying for a County Court Judgement to be registered against you, if successful, dependant upon your circumstances we will enforce the judgement by one or more of the following steps:

 

1. Instructing a bailiff or sheriff to remove good from your premises

2. Obtain a charge against your property

3. Deduct payments directly from your salary through your employers

4. Obtain payments directly from your bank account

5. Request attendance at court for examination of your financial means.

 

As a FINAL attempt to resolve this matter, in order to avoid the possible need to take LEGAL ACTION you MUST contact us NOW

 

You will be given no further warnings."

 

Ok, so now I am pretty worried, we have only just moved into the area, got settled etc so if this is all true then things could get difficult and no doubt stressful for the family so what honest advise can I get please. I am very tempted to phone them to just smooth things over while I look into this more. I wont until I get some replies here first however.

I could paper the walls with the number of these threatomatics I have got from Clownells/Hampton iLegal/Red

 

 

Same sh!t different notepaper

[indovation]

The only thing I still have to question though is from my very limited understanding learned from these boards in the short amount of time I have been here, a debt is only statute barred if it has not been before the court and received a CCJ. As I was abroad for 10 years I have no way of knowing if things originally progressed to that point, as I wasn't around at the time they state this debt goes back to, I wasn't here to dispute it and I have no recollection of it.

 

So really what should I do now? Do I need to try and find out if this debt exists as a CCJ? Or should I just send a Statute Barred letter since the only letter I have sent them so far is the request for a copy of the agreement to which they state,

"The agreement to which you seek is not a regulated consumer credit agreement and is not governed by the terms of the above act.

 

Our client therefore has no obligation under the provisions of the Act to supply the information requested by you."

 

So I probably sent the wrong one and made a fool of myself and I really don't want to look completely incompetent by taking the wrong course of action for a second time. But either way, I'm not happy to just sit on it and do nothing. So whats the next step do you think?

[Curlyben]

IF you had a judgement Lowell would be VERY quick to tell you that fact, so don't worry in that score.

We'll wait and see what they have to say for themselves.

[indovation]

Ok, I'll send them the statute barred letter and then write here what happens once I know. Thanks for all the ongoing help