Lowell/Overdale Court Claim - can I negotiate a settlement at this stage?

[scohu21]

I have received a court claim from Lowell/Overdale for a debt from 2018 for around £540.
Over the last few months, there have been various communications threatening this (pre-action letters). I have asked them multiple times for information regarding the debt, most of which they have provided.
My financial position is much improved since this debt was incurred and I am able to pay it.
I have seen threads where people have been able to negotiate a much-reduced settlement amount.
Given the stage we are at with the court claim letter, am I in a position to negotiate it down? And if so, how do I go about it?

[echat11]

Hi scohu21

Welcome to LB

What you need to do is write 'Without Prejudice' on the Full and Final Settlement Offer letter, that way they can't use your Offer letters in Court. If it gets to Court.

They bought the debt for 'pennies', start low, something you feel comfortable with e.g. 5%, 10% etc.

Amend the following, remove anything that's not factual, add your personal circumstances, e.g. health, job etc

Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://nationaldebtline.org/sample-...tlement-offer/

[scohu21]

Thanks Echat11, that's very helpful.

And how should I respond to the claim form? It says I must respond within 14 days and gives multiple options. Is a settlement negotiation to them considered as a response to the claim form?

[echat11]

As they've lodged a Court Claim, I don't think they'll accept Offers, unless they can't provide the requested documents.

Fill in the following, copy and paste back to this thread, leave out personal details.

Received a claim? Yes/No:
Issue Date:
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?:
Total Amount Claimed : ( approximately please do NOT use EXACT figure given on the claim form, round up to next £100 or £1000)
Claimant’s Name:
Solicitors Firm:
Original Creditor:
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) :
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?):
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ):
Any Other Information or Background Details:

As they've lodged a court claim against you, you need to deal with it, best think to do is Defend it. As some of the paperwork you requested is outstanding. You might also have the option of mediation.

a) First Acknowledge the Claim, you can do this online via MCOL, this will give you 28 days (plus 5 days postal) in total to work on your defence, you've done this.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ledge-a-claim/

b) Send a SAR request to the original creditor, they have 30 days to provide all the data they hold on the account. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

c) Send a CCA request to Lowell, they have 12 days to provide a copy of the original agreement. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...etter-example/

d) Send a CPR 31.14 request to their Overdales, they have 7 days to provide all the documents they are relying on to make the claim against you, again get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-of-documents/

e) This is an example Defence, start looking at it, don't fill or file it with the Court or their solicitors yet.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-court-claims/

Don't speak to creditors, solicitors etc over the phone, everything in writing. Keep on top of this, especially dates for filing defence etc. Workout when your Defence is due, 28 days from the date on the claim form. If you can post on the thread 5 days before it's due we can help with your Defence.

[scohu21]

Thanks Echat11,

Received a claim? Yes/No: Yes
Issue Date: 22/04/2024
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: Not yet
Total Amount Claimed : £600
Claimant’s Name: Lowell Portfolio Ltd
Solicitors Firm: Overdale Solicitors
Original Creditor: PayPal
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Credit Card
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ): The claim is for the sum of £600 due by the defendant under an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for a PayPal account with an account reference [account number]. The defendant failed to maintain contractual payments required by the agreement and a Default Notice was served under s.87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which has not been complied with. The debt was legally assigned to the defendant on 01-09-2021, notice of which has been given to the defendant. The claim includes statutory interest under S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue of these proceedings in the sum of £0.00. The Claimant claims the sum of £600.
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): Last communication from PayPal was April 2020.
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): All I have sent so far is response to the pre-action letter prior to the claim form. In that I requested:
A copy of the written contract for the debt; A full statement of account, including details of all interest and charges included on the outstanding balance of the debt, explaining how they have been calculated, and any payments already made toward the debt; a calculation of the interest claimed; the annual or daily rate of interest; a description of the nature and amount of any administrative charges included in the debt; a copy of the notice of assignment of the debt. A copy of the default notice.
Any Other Information or Background Details:
So far, all the information that they have provided is:
- 6 x PayPal Sum of Arrears letters
- 4 x PayPal Notice of Default Sums
- Copy of the PayPal credit agreement with Jan 2019 agreement date
- A copy of a letter from Lowell 2021 stating that they had bought the debt
- A plain un-letterheaded letter that appears that is apparently PayPal stating that they have transferred the account and any outstanding balance to Lowell. This letter has no PayPal branding whatsoever and could have been typed up by anyone. In addition the letter states that the agreement with PayPal started in December 2018 despite the copy of the credit agreement being dates Jan 2019.
- Also they have sent what looks like an excel print out of transactions. It contains just transaction amounts and no cumulative balance. Assuming this is their attempt to provide a statement of account?
- In their covering letter with all that paperwork they stated "We would also like to note that we are unable to comment on interest added by the original creditor"
- I also received a letter from Overdales yesterday dated 26/04/24 stating "Our client can help you avoid a CCJ on the condition that the outstanding balance is paid in full within four months from 22-04-2024. To take advantage of this offer and to agree to the exact terms of agreement, please contact us on [phone number], within the next 10 days.
However, if you dispute all or part of the amount claimed, you should respond to the County Court by the date set out in the Claim Form.
If you do not contact us to resolve the matter or respond to the County Court Claim within the time specified, we may enter a CCJ against your default. This means that the CCJ will be entered for installment amount(s) stipulated by our client.
We want to assure you that wherever possible we will work with you to ensure a suitable solution to your situation, but we cannot help you to resolve this matter if you do not engage with us."

Do you think that considering the lack of all documents and questionable documents as well as this latest 'offer' letter gives me good grounds to try and negotiate a reduced settlement with them?

Be glad of any advice on how to proceed.

[echat11]

The Courts encourage parties to try and settle the matter without the need for a Hearing.
So if you want to make Settlement Offers, then write 'Without Prejudice' on the Offer letter, that way the letter can't be used against you in the case. Remember you'll have the opportunity to mediate a settlement i.e. make Offers with the Mediation Service etc.

Because they've lodged a Court Claim that needs to be dealt with (don't ignore it).

What you need to do 100% now, is Acknowledgement of Service (that can be done via MCOL), that gives you time to send out the letters and lodge your Defence.

[scohu21]

Thanks Echat11,

So just to confirm, once I have done the AOS I should send CCA and CPR?
And once I have done the AOS I can send them a settlement offer? Is it ok to send settle offer by email?
Very sorry for my ignorance but what is the settlement mediation that you also mentioned?

[echat11]

a) So just to confirm, once I have done the AOS I should send CCA and CPR?

Correct, make sure you get Proof of Postage.

b) And once I have done the AOS I can send them a settlement offer? Is it ok to send settle offer by email?

The AoS gives you an extra 14 days, so 28 days in total, to lodge your Defence, do other things you want to get done. The Settlement Offers aren't dependent on you doing the AoS. Yes you can email the Settlement Offers.

c) Very sorry for my ignorance but what is the settlement mediation that you also mentioned?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/small-cl...iation-service

[scohu21]

Thanks Echat11,

Sorry more questions but this is all rather new to me, so please excuse my ignorance.

I have been traveling the last couple of days so I am sending the CCA and CPR letters today.

On the CCA template where it says account number, should I put the Lowell reference number to the original PayPal reference number?