Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

[Ninjabred Man]

This is regarding an old mobile phone contract from 2014. It went first to Moorcroft for a year it would seem from our paperwork but in 2016 we received an official notification from Orange and also a letter from Lowells saying the debt had been sold on.
We are confused at to why Moorcroft were involved before any official sale of any debt. Theyre letters state that they are acting 'on behalf' of their client?
The contract was not paid as we were in financial difficulty at the time and we agreed with them to pay it back but to give us time to which we had a positive response. However pretty much immediately after this debt recovery companies started to contact and harass us by phone.
We received a Claim Form on the 27th Nov.
Can you advise if there is any way to fight this claim realistically? We do not have this kind of money- we are a struggling working family with 3 kids, one of which has special educational needs which complicates our financial situation considerably.

[Ninjabred Man]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

The debt is for £380. The court fee is £35 and The representative cost is £50.

[Ninjabred Man]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Hi- any responce would be helpful- i know you guys must be busy but the old clock is ticking on this one for us and my partner is getting sick with worry...

[Kati]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

tagging [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION]

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Moorcroft will just have been acting for Orange before Orange sold your debt on to Lowell.

we agreed with them to pay it back but to give us time to which we had a positive response

Was any of that in writing and did you keep to anything you'd agreed with them ?

Have you acknowledged the claim ?- it is worth doing that first regardless of whether you decide to go on to defend the case or not.
| Acknowledge a Claim

And then send the CPR 31.14 letter to Lowell solicitors from | First Steps | - if you think the phone contract included a handset then also send the CCA request to Lowell.

How much is the debt for?

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Hi,

Moorcroft are debt collectors and will be commissioned by the original creditor and as such cannot start legal action.

What exactly has Lowell sent you? Can you post suitably redacted copies please?

What is the date of issue on the claim form|?

How much is claimed?

Is Lowell Solicitors Ltd. involved?

Did you receive a letter of claim from Lowell?

Always remember Lowell cannot have what you cannot afford!

Acknowledge Service of the claim online at the MCOL site ( instructions are on the forms) .
State your intention to defend but do not enter any defence at this stage.

When/what was the last transaction on the account?
When was the account defaulted, a quick free check on credit files may give an indication. ( No Noddle and Clear Score are free online.

nem

[Ninjabred Man]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Moorcroft will just have been acting for Orange before Orange sold your debt on to Lowell.


Was any of that in writing and did you keep to anything you'd agreed with them ?


No- i believe it was just a conversation between my partner and Orange.

Have you acknowledged the claim ?- it is worth doing that first regardless of whether you decide to go on to defend the case or not.
| Acknowledge a Claim

And then send the CPR 31.14 letter to Lowell solicitors from | First Steps | - if you think the phone contract included a handset then also send the CCA request to Lowell.

OK- will do

How much is the debt for?

I realised id forgotten that, so i have posted it above for you. Its not a huge debt, but to us it is- we live on the bread line as my partner is a full time carer for our daughter (she is high functioning autistic) and cannot work.

[Ninjabred Man]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Lowells have sent us a letter saying they had bought the debt (that was last year) and the papers served are from thier solicitor with then as a claimant. Its a court summons basically but i will post copies of all this when i get home (at work atm). The last transaction was back in 2014/2015, so the Statute of Limitation wont apply unfortunately

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

The debt is for £380. The court fee is £35 and The representative cost is £50.

Yip completely missed that, sorry .... Okay not a massive amount, but tbh a £15 court claim is as stressy as a £5k court claim to most people xxx

[Ninjabred Man]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Its basically our Christmas money pretty much. the timing of this is so shitty on their parts.

- - - Updated - - -

this is only one of a few debts Lowells are holding over us. Most are more substantial than this, one is a catalogue one thats about 6K. We are worried that they are just testing us with this one first. Could that be the case?

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Really don't worry, you won't need to pay it this month... it can wait for Jan/Feb time and then you should be able to negotiate paying by installments under a consent order ( so no court order ) if you can do it at say £50 a month or near that.

But make them work for it, and don't put yourself in poop over Christmas when there is no need.

So what happens with a court claim - guestimates mostly but generally this is how it goes ;

27th November - you received the claim
11th December - you should have acknwoledged service ( if you still haven't do that now) with intent to defend
Monday, 25 December 2017 ( ha sorry !) - Your Defence should be in ( so submit it on the Thurs/Friday before will be fine if you do it online via MCOL

Then there's 28 days for the claimant to response, you get directions questionnaires and have a couple weeks to return those to the court... so we're mid February already ....

Then wait for a mediation appointment, then potentially get a hearing date ( likely won't be until April )....

Then if you lost at hearing you'd have 28 days to pay without having a CCJ applied ( although you might have extra costs added to it if you do go that far )

and all that time you could chose to negotiate or settle the debt IF you don't feel you have a defence.

So hopefully that helps you a little ?


On the catalogue debt - I thought similar when I had a claim against me December 2016, I ended up settling it at a reduced amount after they sent all the documents about 6 months later .... and they still haven't done anything on my catalogue debt ( which I'm saving towards settling if/when I have to )

One thing at a time

Will give you a hand once you 've posted the court papers up later with letters and whatnot xxxxx

[Diana M]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

How much is claimed?

nem

The OP has already said £380 in post # 2

The debt is for £380. The court fee is £35 and The representative cost is £50.

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Can you advise if there is any way to fight this claim realistically? We do not have this kind of money- we are a struggling working family with 3 kids, one of which has special educational needs which complicates our financial situation considerably.

Its not a huge debt, but to us it is- we live on the bread line as my partner is a full time carer for our daughter (she is high functioning autistic) and cannot work.

Maybe @Debt Camel can make some suggestions on your overall financial situation.

Di

[Debt Camel]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

Do you have any idea what your total debts are? Are you buying or renting? If renting, private or social?

Do you have any priority debts: council tax, utility bills, rent arrears etc?

[Ninjabred Man]

Re: Lowells court claim re: mobile phone contract.

OK. So its now 24th of December and Lowells didnt resopond to our request for details of the account they are taking us to court for. We have no details at all to submit a defence against, they provided none even though we sent the request template in from this site.

What do we do now?