Lowell Claim help please

[MIKE770]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

their site it came from - update more often - glad you rang them

- - - Updated - - -

strange it did not bounce as not delivered? if that was the case! least you got on them

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Update:

Received a reply from the court yesterday confirming receipt of the defense. Due to the tight time frames this all runs on I was quite concerned that the letter was dated the 21st September and post stamped the 22nd yet it didn't arrive until yesterday!

Also received a letter from Lowell with a copy of their DQ in it. Is this just Lowell jumping the guns or trying on scare tactics as we've not received a DQ to fill in from the court?

We have still not received a reply to the CCA request although they cashed the cheque for a £1 on the 15th September. They have obviously way exceeded the 12 working days allowed to reply to the CCA so what can I do about that?

[charitynjw]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Hi nobog

Did the court confirmation re receipt of defence also include an instruction for the Claimant to reply to your defence within 28 days?
If so, & your defence is based (for the time being) on no disclosure of documents by the Claimant (esp the CCA request), unless the Claimant can comply it is likely that the case will be stayed.
You are not usually informed of this, so if you have heard nothing by then, contact the court to find out the status of the claim.

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Hi nobog

Did the court confirmation re receipt of defence also include an instruction for the Claimant to reply to your defence within 28 days?
If so, & your defence is based (for the time being) on no disclosure of documents by the Claimant (esp the CCA request), unless the Claimant can comply it is likely that the case will be stayed.
You are not usually informed of this, so if you have heard nothing by then, contact the court to find out the status of the claim.

Yes, the court reply letter says:

"I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or claimants solicitor). The claimant may contact you direct to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.

Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed the claim will be stayed The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay."

[charitynjw]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Yes, the court reply letter says:

"I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or claimants solicitor). The claimant may contact you direct to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.

Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed the claim will be stayed The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay."

The ball is now in the Claimant's court (no pun intended!).
They have to reply to the court instruction within the timeframe, & also fully comply with the CCA request. (If they don't do the latter they cannot proceed with enforcing the claim).
It is possible that the Claimant might send you a letter offering to settle out of court (usually offering a discount).

[Diana M]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Also received a letter from Lowell with a copy of their DQ in it. Is this just Lowell jumping the guns or trying on scare tactics as we've not received a DQ to fill in from the court?

Well perhaps Lowells were being a little hasty by sending you their completed DQ. They were probably sending out an early signal that they intend to continue with the proceedings.

You'll get your DQ direct from the court. Ring MCOL to ask if there's one on it's way in case it's got lost in the post.

The court likes parties to try to settle which is why the 28 day window to attempt this is offered. In practice solicitors know that they may have the opportunity to settle at the Mediation stage (if both sides want that) which will give them a legally binding agreement.

Sometimes they do this because they know they'll have difficulty obtaining a CCJ when they don't have the relevant paperwork.

Di

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Update:

We received the DQ from the court yesterday. It's pretty straightforward from what I can see although there was a separate sheet included that explained the mediation system. It asked 2 questions, one about flexibility to reach an agreement and the second asked if we had enough information about the claim to allow us to enter into negotiations. It says that mediation is not suitable if you answer no to either question. Now bearing in mind that they have still not replied to the CCA request how can we agree to mediation?

It also says on the letter that we should serves copies on all other parties. Who do we send it to? The solicitors or to Lowell Portfolio ltd or both?

What can we do about the fact that they've exceeded the 12 days allowed for replying to the CCA request?

The solicitors, in reply to the CPR request, sent a copy of the assignment letter but have still not supplied a copy of the default notice.

How can they still be trying to proceed with this case when they have not supplied the CCA or the default notice?

[charitynjw]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

The N180 asks if you agree to referral to mediation.
Tick 'yes'
Mediation Service will contact you; you can then advise lack of documentation disclosure.
1 copy to court, 1 copy to solicitors, 1 copy for you.
Get proof of posting if you send via land mail.
The court clock ticks on regardless of the antics of the other party; just ensure that you are compliant with any court order & time limits.

[Diana M]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Yes, doorstep loan. January 2013. First 10 or so payments collected ok by visiting collector then he ran off with the money!

Despite several promises of a new collector visiting to collect the payments they never sent anyone. Provident also said that they had inaccurate records of what payments had actually been collected and requested the payment book be returned for them to check. They never returned the original payment book and sent her a new one with no records of payments entered into it. After a few more failures of a collector to attend her address they seemed to stop contacting her.

I've read back through your thread for the first time and saw this post which may be relevant.

If a Claimant wants to enforce a debt in court they have to prove that they not only have the legal right (own it) but that the amount they are claiming is honest and accurate.

It's not your fault if the doorstep collector "ran off with the money" (i.e. stole it). From what you say your partner made those payments and that was noted in the payment book. What happened after that is not her responsibility. She paid what she had to pay.

What evidence can you gather to prove this? Was it all reported over the phone or was there an email exchange?

I would suggest a SAR to the original creditor to see what's been recorded on their files/transaction/call log. My firm always suggests sending a SAR to the original creditor the minute a claim is received because you'll never know what will turn up to help your case.

I don't know what you've included in your Defence. In post # 19 you seem to have posted it up and PMd Amethyst to check - but I can't see it on the thread.

Have you asked for any statements or been sent anything at all by Lowell solicitors in response to your CPR 31.14 Request?

Without seeing the paperwork it's difficult to comment but I would think the 'theft' is relevant to your Witness Statement.

Does your partner having any idea how much she paid up until that point and how much she reckons was still owed when you say the creditor failed to send a replacement collector even though they said they would?

Is there a possibility that the creditor stopped collecting because they were aware of the 'theft' since you've referred to them admitting that they had no accurate record of repayments?

Or maybe she had paid it off in reality and everything else is interest and charges added since?

Did your partner have any other means of paying this loan at the time other than by cash to the collector? I'm not suggesting she should, but if the creditor's Ts & Cs said that they would collect then they should collect.

There will be legal stuff to put into your WS but sometimes a human story such as yours will catch the ear of a DJ.

In the meantime the Claimant hasn't produced the CCA so they'll be in some difficulty enforcing this in court if the paperwork isn't found prior to then

Di

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

I've replied to your questions in red below.

I've read back through your thread for the first time and saw this post which may be relevant.

If a Claimant wants to enforce a debt in court they have to prove that they not only have the legal right (own it) but that the amount they are claiming is honest and accurate.

It's not your fault if the doorstep collector "ran off with the money" (i.e. stole it). From what you say your partner made those payments and that was noted in the payment book. What happened after that is not her responsibility. She paid what she had to pay.

What evidence can you gather to prove this? Was it all reported over the phone or was there an email exchange?

Everything was done on the phone

I would suggest a SAR to the original creditor to see what's been recorded on their files/transaction/call log. My firm always suggests sending a SAR to the original creditor the minute a claim is received because you'll never know what will turn up to help your case.

I don't know what you've included in your Defence. In post # 19 you seem to have posted it up and PMd Amethyst to check - but I can't see it on the thread.

No one replied and I ran out of time so just sent it. I'll add it as attachment below

Have you asked for any statements or been sent anything at all by Lowell solicitors in response to your CPR 31.14 Request?

Didn't ask for statements, they sent a copy of the assignment notice but nothing else. My partner has no recollection of ever receiving it previously.

Without seeing the paperwork it's difficult to comment but I would think the 'theft' is relevant to your Witness Statement.

Does your partner having any idea how much she paid up until that point and how much she reckons was still owed when you say the creditor failed to send a replacement collector even though they said they would?

Not really. I found an old statement of account the other day in some paperwork but there's no way of ascertaining of it's correct as they had the original payment book back and never returned it.

Is there a possibility that the creditor stopped collecting because they were aware of the 'theft' since you've referred to them admitting that they had no accurate record of repayments?

I don't know. They knew that the collections agent had stolen his last lot of collections and kept promising to send someone else. They made several appointments but no one ever turned up despite my partner calling them repeatedly to arrange collections.

Or maybe she had paid it off in reality and everything else is interest and charges added since?

No, the total repayable was over a grand on a £500 loan!! It was repayable at £10 a week and she only paid the first 10 or so payments before the collector did a runner with his collections. She doesn't remember much to be honest as she was going through a really rough time with her father dying and other mental health issues. She should never have been loaned the money to start with as far as I'm concerned, she was very vulnerable at the time and wasn't really in a fit state to be agreeing to such ridiculous repayment interest on a loan.

At some point she had CAP involved. From what I can see from the CAP paperwork, they had made 3 payments of £1 each to Provident but then it stopped. Unfortunately CAP just made matters much worse by dragging up a load of separate statute barred stuff and it all got too much for her to deal with so I think that's why she stopped dealing with CAP.


Did your partner have any other means of paying this loan at the time other than by cash to the collector? I'm not suggesting she should, but if the creditor's Ts & Cs said that they would collect then they should collect.

As far as I know she was only able to pay by collection, something to do with not being able to set up direct debits from her bank account I think. I don't know about the T's and C's as we can't find anything that she signed to agree to the loan.

There will be legal stuff to put into your WS but sometimes a human story such as yours will catch the ear of a DJ.

In the meantime the Claimant hasn't produced the CCA so they'll be in some difficulty enforcing this in court if the paperwork isn't found prior to then

Di

I'm still somewhat concerned by the letter received from Lowell solicitors in reply to the CPR request that states:

We note the contents and write to advise you that we have requested a copy of the documents relating to your account from our client and will forward these to you upon receipt. Please note that this is for your information only. As far as our client is concerned the outstanding balance is due and owing and no verification of your liability to pay the outstanding balance is required.

How can they state that when it's not supposed to be enforceable without the documents we requested??

I'm also very concerned that, due to her fragile mental state, she won't be able to deal with actually going to court if it gets that far.

I knew nothing about any of this until the claim papers arrived. I rang Lowell to ask what could be done to make it "go away". In the papers I found a letter from them offering a 70% discount so I offered to pay that amount myself. I made a point of not saying that she actually owed them anything but in an effort to help out I was prepared to pay this discounted sum to stop it going any further. Whoever I spoke to was the most irritating, unhelpful person I've had the misfortune to have to deal with and he was adamant that nothing less than the full amount was acceptable.

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

The N180 asks if you agree to referral to mediation.
Tick 'yes'
Mediation Service will contact you; you can then advise lack of documentation disclosure.
1 copy to court, 1 copy to solicitors, 1 copy for you.
Get proof of posting if you send via land mail.
The court clock ticks on regardless of the antics of the other party; just ensure that you are compliant with any court order & time limits.

So we sent off the N180 to both the solicitors and the court.

How long does the mediation service provider normally take to get in touch?

What else can we expect to happen now?

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Still not heard anything from either the court or the mediation service.

Is this normal?

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

Still not heard anything from either the court or the mediation service.

Is this normal?

The HMCTS is very oversubscribed with the judges saying that claims are suitable for mediation it can take quite a while for them to contact you.

nem

[charitynjw]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

So we sent off the N180 to both the solicitors and the court.

How long does the mediation service provider normally take to get in touch?

What else can we expect to happen now?

Still not heard anything from either the court or the mediation service.

Is this normal?

From what I've read, Mediation is pretty snowed under atm.
You could 'phone the court just to check on the progress of the claim.

[Nobog]

Re: Lowell Claim help please

So after returning the N180 we heard nothing until Monday this week when she received a letter from the court stating that she had now got a CCJ with additional costs for "unreasonable conduct of the defendant in failing to comply with the order dated 22/12/16 and failing to attend."

She has not received a single thing from either the court or Lowells since returning the N180.

How can this happen? How can they ignore the defence that supposedly stops Lowells from continuing with the claim until they comply with the CPR request and how can they make an order on 22/12/16 without notifying her of a hearing and then to rub it in further have another hearing on 6th March to add even more costs, all without any sort of notification?

She rang the court and someone rang her back but while going through the list of letters sent to her they cut her off when they got to the N180.

Something stinks here.