Lowell debts letter

[Deano1907]

Hello to everyone reading this

I received this letter this morning I admit I have ignored calls and previous letters before but just need advice what to do now.

the BT debt is from around 2 years ago the talk talk debt around 3 and 1/2 years ago and the catalogue debts are definitely over 5 to 6 years.

if you can read the letter (sorry I did rip it up to ignore it )it states if I don’t contact they will decide whether to take legal action.

i have been on ESA for over 3 years and have 2 young children 5 and 2 money is tight at moment and just don’t know what to do next any advice appreciated thankyou

[Amethyst]

Well, firstly well done for thinking again and sticking it back together.... things are usually better dealt with than ignored xxx

So there is about £1500 overall - settling at 40% discount would be around £900. However that sounds like it would be a huge challenge in current circumstances, instalments would only be able to be token payments by the sounds of it, and just prolongs the issue ( in my opinion) so possibly start looking at whether the debts can be challenged at all.

The catalogue debts sound like they are close to being statute barred - in which case they are likely to be the ones action is taken on first. As they are running credit accounts and regulated under the Consumer Credit Act I think you could send a CCA Requestfor each of them to Lowell. They know that if they can't produce the original agreements they won't be able to obtain a court judgment ( and also it lets them know you won't be just letting them get a default judgment against you )

TalkTalk and BT are phone contracts - do you know if they are house phone or mobile ? They are quite recent so you should be able to gather the information on those quite easily and see if there is anything you can challenge on them - do you remember the reasons they went to default ?
I think a Subject Access Request Letter to TalkTalk and BT will be in order. Might as well send one to Grattan/Freemans as well to see what they hold too ( only need one to cover both accounts as it asks for everything they have on you )

Once you have done those and got responses you can look at the documents available and see if you would be happy to defend the cases through court ( eventually when Lowell take action ) or if you want to negotiate some kind of settlement or instalment payment ( if token payments are what is affordable that's all you can offer, and if they see you're unlikely to be able to pay more even after court action they might not bother ). They shouldn't just bundle them together so they'd all be too low to secure on your property, so other than having a CCJ on your credit file for 6 years ( which could be a pain depending on circumstances ) there's not a huge amount they could do if you sorted out affordable payments set by the court. But first see if the debts are valid xxx


Have you got much in the way of other debts or is this Lowell lot it? Have you spoken with Stepchange or CAB or anyone about your overall situation ? Might be an idea generally so you aren't simply fire fighting and have things back in your control. There might be other options to deal with things.
Do you own your house?

[Deano1907]

Thanks Amethyst for your response and advice.

the Bt account was fibre broadband and calls from house phone,I was with them for just over a month and had nothing but trouble with the broadband service kept losing connection running really slow and was very frustrating.

i made several calls to them to try and rectify the problem but it still persisted.i told them I wasn’t happy and would be moving to another service provider which I did and cancelled my DD.

the same applied to talk talk which was also broadband and calls numerous problems and complaints to them,so went back to sky.

when my contract ended with sky I thought I would try BT as they raised about there broadband and WiFi after 6 weeks I returned to sky.

The CCA request letters do I have to send one for each account or can I do one letter for them for the catalogue debts ?.

with regard to the subject access request letters do I just send them to head office for each company ? I would imagine I can get there address via google

thankyou

[Deano1907]

These are all my debts I did have mobile accounts and received letters from Lowell also regarding these I ignored these too

but then I got letters over a few months from Lowell saying £0 balance and accounts closed

I don’t own my own home I rent it from local housing association

thanks

[Deano1907]

I have just looked At the CCA template do I put Lowell as the creditor and there address ? Sorry for all questions I have never done anything like this before

thanks

[Amethyst]

Good ( on the house thing ).

Yes on the CCA put Lowell as the creditor ( they have purchased the debt so are now the creditor)

but then I got letters over a few months from Lowell saying £0 balance and accounts closed

interesting, do you think you ripped and binned these letters or still might have them somewhere ? Might actually be worth doing YET ANOTHER subject access request to Lowell see if they turn up.

[Deano1907]

The complaints to BT and talk talk where done over the phone

I don’t gave any letters from them with regard to this

With the subject access letters do I need to refer to Lowell and use there reference number ?.and do I just send these to the company’s head office.

also do I need to ring Lowell and advise of my actions or just wait for there response to my letters and do I need to send 2 seperate CCA letters for the catalogues and if so could I enclose these in one envelope ?

would it be better to send these letters recorded signed for too.

thankyou for all your responses appreciated

[Deano1907]

The letters that were from Lowell with regards to accounts closed I saved these as proof

[Amethyst]

No don't ring Lowell, keep everything in writing. If they are going to actually take court action they will send a formal letter before action, so this is really just a bit of a precursor look at what you want to do should they get to that point, and hopefully put them off a bit.

The SAR to Lowell, just your name and address and Lowells reference, and yes Head Office ( Ellington house? ) you don't need to refer to each account as you want everything they hold about you, not a specific debt, so you should find out if they have any others as well.

If you made complaints to BT and Talk Talk then they should come back with the SAR information from them

The CCA requests are worth sending recorded, but 1st class with a posting receipt is fine as well. Two separate letters for the catalogues - separate envelopes if poss.

[Amethyst]

The letters that were from Lowell with regards to accounts closed I saved these as proof

Nice one. Any chance you can do a pic of one and post it up ( cover personal details ) ( or email me admin@legalbeagles.info )

[Deano1907]

So the subject response letters I send to Lowell also not to the company’s debt was originally from

thanks again

[Deano1907]

I have 5 in total all same Same 3 are three mobile one is shopacheck and other is BGL which I don’t know what that is

[Deano1907]

[Amethyst]

So the subject response letters I send to Lowell also not to the company’s debt was originally from

thanks again

Send one to each of the original creditors, and one to Lowell. ( Don't have to do them all at once, I'd do the catalogues first ) Thankfully now, since GDPR came in, it won't cost a tenner a go, just the stamp and envelope.... if you have a look on their websites they might accept them by email... I'll see if I can find out.

[Amethyst]

Freemans is FGH ( Otto Group ) - and seems you can send your SAR to the

Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@freemans.com or write to him at our headquarters: 66-70 Vicar Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD99 2XG.