Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

[WoZLinGToN]

Hi All,

What a great site, I've had a look around the forum before posting this and have a rough idea of what sort of route I should perhaps be heading with this but just could do with a bit of reassurance that what I respond with would be suitable in my particular case.

So I had a bank account with Lloyds about 13 years ago and got into financial difficulty, I ended up with unarranged overdraft charges on top of charges which sent my bank account into arrears and due to being ill advised by someone at Lloyds I ended up nearly 1000 pounds in debt.

The account was defaulted on 21/04/2010 and I have not acknowledged the debt or paid any from well before that date so it is most certainly statute barred.

This debt has been passed from pillar to post and ended up with Lowell Porfolio and subsequently Lowell Solicitors, I have now received a 'letter of claim'.

Here is the letter:



As you can see the letter is dated 02/02/2016 so 4 days old, I understand I now have 10 more days to respond to this prior to a claim being submitted by the claimant.

What sort of documentation should I be asking them for with a CPR 31.14? Or is there another template I should follow to simply ask them to prove that this debt is not statute barred?

Any Help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Warren

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Hi and Welcome

Thanks for posting the letter - that's the first one I've seen from the new shiny 'Lowell Solicitors'.

21/04/2010

wouldn't necessarily make the debt statute barred - about 2 months off - unless you are in Scotland ? As it is an overdraft it is a lot harder to argue statute barred as there is no breach of terms if you just stop using the account. ( unless it's an account into which you must pay a certain amount each month and have 2 active direct debits etc ? then there could be an argument the cause of action was earlier)

I ended up with unarranged overdraft charges on top of charges which sent my bank account into arrears and due to being ill advised by someone at Lloyds I ended up nearly 1000 pounds in debt.

Could you explain this a little bit more pls. Is most of the debt made up of charges on charges on charges ? What did Lloyds advise you ?

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Hi thanks for your reply,

I am in England so from the date of default you are right it being a couple of months off :tinysmile_cry_t:

The debt itself was originally from a direct debit coming out of my account when there were insufficient funds, so I got an unarranged overdraft charge of around 30 pounds I believe. Then I didn't have funds to clear the initial charge so more of my direct debits attempted to take money again and it ended up nearly 100 pounds in arrears over my overdraft.

The whole amount is inclusive of my overdraft that they wanted me to clear as well when I couldn't make payments, after speaking to someone at Lloyds they quoted an incorrect figure to reduce the amount owed on a payment plan and after 3 months or so they amount owed had increased because of this error.

When I tried to sort this out one the advisers hung up the phone after half an hour, so I kind of gave up trying and switched my banks and ignored it.

Regards,

Warren

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

So charges wise you only have a couple hundred included within that balance and the rest is 'spends' ?

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Yes that's right

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Okay so you may only have a defence reliant on non provision of documents. -- do you want to defend it through court or sort out some kind of arrangement / settlement with them? It really depends how important not having a CCJ is for you - the default should be falling off your credit file shortly if it hasn't already.

You should respond to that letter either way requesting the notice of assignment, default notice, copy of the original agreement and terms of the account and details of how the amount they are asking for has been calculated. Tell them you are seeking advice from someone like CAB. you can include that you contend the debt is statute barred, as the onus is on them to prove that it isn't, but it is likely they will be able to if they have the date of default.

Do want to draft something and post up ( there's not really a template for replying to LBA's as everyone is different ) and we can give you a hand with it.

( oh ref settling/arrangement argue its made up of charges etc and possibly offer 50%? )

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

I definitely don't want a CCJ on my credit file, I got caught out years ago when I moved address for £200 and that has stuck so I would ideally like to ensure that I don't have another one.

Would acknowledging the debt and attempting a settlement reset the clock?

I have looked at a couple of similar posts and modified a letter for me although not sure how suitable this is in my case:

Your reference:

Dear Sirs

Re: Account number:

Thank you for your letter dated 2nd of February 2016, the contents of which have been noted. As you have headed it Letter of Claim, I would like to refer you to paragraph 3 of the Practice Direction Pre-Action Conduct, which states: “before commencing proceedings, the court will expect the parties to have exchanged sufficient information to (a) understand each other’s position; (b) make decisions about how to proceed;”

Paragraph 6 of the PD states “the parties should exchange correspondence and information to comply with the objectives“ and Paragraph 6(c) refers to “the parties disclosing key documents relevant to the issues in dispute.” My request refers to the documents I require to obtain the necessary information to assess my position in this case.
I require copies of the following:


1. The original Lloyds agreement and terms of the account;
2. The Default Notice;
3. The Notice of Assignment to your clients;
4. Statements of account;
5. Details of how the amount has been calculated;

These documents would be expected to be supplied if proceedings were issued and would likely be in your possession if you were issuing a claim. If you consider that there is difficulty in providing a copy of a document, please identify that document and the reason.

I am seeking advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau regarding this matter and would also like to contend that this debt is statute barred.

In accordance with the PD, I shall be able to provide you with a full response to your letter within 14 days of receipt of the documents listed above and also reserve the right to refer to the contents of this letter if proceedings are issued without first providing copy documents to me.

Yours faithfully,

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Does this letter seem the appropriate things to be asking for?

Thanks

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Also one more thing,

I am certain that the date I defaulted from Lloyds was in fact around 4 years prior to Lowells adding this default date on my credit report, any help is much appreciated,

Regards,

Warren

[Kati]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

:bump: for [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] xx

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

anyone?

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Morning, having a read back xxx

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Your reference:

Dear Sirs

Re: Account number:

Thank you for your letter dated 2nd of February 2016, the contents of which have been noted. As you have headed it Letter of Claim, I would like to refer you to paragraph 3 of the Practice Direction Pre-Action Conduct, which states: “before commencing proceedings, the court will expect the parties to have exchanged sufficient information to (a) understand each other’s position; (b) make decisions about how to proceed;”

Paragraph 6 of the PD states “the parties should exchange correspondence and information to comply with the objectives“ and Paragraph 6(c) refers to “the parties disclosing key documents relevant to the issues in dispute.” My request refers to the documents I require to obtain the necessary information to assess my position in this case.
I require copies of the following:


1. The original Lloyds agreement and terms of the account;
2. The Default Notice;
3. The Notice of Assignment to your clients;
4. Statements of account;
5. Details of how the amount has been calculated;

These documents would be expected to be supplied if proceedings were issued and would likely be in your possession if you were issuing a claim. If you consider that there is difficulty in providing a copy of a document, please identify that document and the reason.

I am seeking advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau regarding this matter and would also like to contend that this debt is statute barred.

In accordance with the PD, I shall be able to provide you with a full response to your letter within 14 days of receipt of the documents listed above and also reserve the right to refer to the contents of this letter if proceedings are issued without first providing copy documents to me.

Yours faithfully,

That sounds absolutely fine.

[WoZLinGToN]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

Good morning,

Thank you I feel better now I have a bit of reassurance

I'll get that letter sent out today, recorded delivery and see what they throw back at me.

Thanks for your help!

Warren

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell Solicitors / Lowell Portfolio / Lloyds Letter of Claim

With regards settling - IF you wanted to ( see what their response is on your letter first ) - if you make a no liability, interests of goodwill, without prejudice full and final offer then it should not affect the stat barred status. This letter you are sending for more information also will not affect the statute barring clock as you are not acknowledging the debt simply asking for more information with regards a letter before action they have sent you.