Lowell portfolio court case.

[Inneedofhelp73]

Hi, I'm in dire need of advice about a court case on Friday 23rd Sept. It's about a welcome finance contract from 2003.

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

I thought that my car finance agreement had ended in 2007 until I started getting letters from Lowell portfolio and other associated companies. I ignored all the letters until I was issued with court proceedings. I sent in my defence letter stating that I knew of no debt outstanding with welcome finance and that it was passed the statute barred date in any case but I'm still on in court on Friday.

[Kati]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

tagging [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] xx

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Hiya,

So you had a 5 year credit agreement with Welcome Finance and you paid it all as far as you know?

How much approx is the claim ? Have they provided you any documentation / statements showing how the claimed amount has accrued ?

With Welcome it could be late payment charges / letter charges - anything really - or possibly a final payment was missed ? I think we need to know a little more to be able to help at all.

What did you put as your defence? Just statute barred and straight denial of debt ?
Did you send a CCA / CPR request to the claimant at all ?
Have witness statements been exchanged?

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Hi amethyst, the amount they are claiming is around £4400. Witness statements have been sent and the court date is 2pm Friday 23rd Sept. My last payment to welcome finance was march 25th 2007. I had lost my job and was paying reduced payments that I had agreed, I had a payment protection plan with the account but when I tried to claim they refused saying I had missed a payment. Anyway I paid what I thought was my last payment and heard no more until 2012 when Lowell portfolio attempted to contact me by various letters which I ignored. In this time I moved house but have always been on the electoral register so easy to find. Lowell are trying to say that the account wasn't defaulted until Jan 2011 but have supplied no documented evidence to prove this fact. My experian credit report shows no defaults in the last 6 years. Lowell are using a court case Hart v BMW as an example of default timing saying that it's not the date of last payment that sets the default date, they claim its whenever a company decides to default the account as in the case above. I think in my case Lowell have made up a default date which is still within the 6 Year period thus not being statute barred yet. As this case is so old if welcome finance did default my account it won't show up on my credit profile as its over 6 years ago. Back in 2005 when I lost my job I made an agreement with welcome finance to reduce my payments and they also agreed to waiver the ppi and add hoc fees on my account, I can only assume that these are the amounts that are in dispute. My defence is that 1 in my opinion I have paid in full and 2 the debt is now statute barred. Sorry that this is so long winded by this is a 13 Year old account that I thought was long gone. Not sure if this is relevant either but I owned the car that I had the finance for up until 4 years ago and it was hpi clear when I part exed it in on my current car, surely it would have been repossessed if there was money owing on it?? The only problem I have is that I have no documentation to prove any of my claims because this was so long ago. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Thanks Did you put all that in your defence and witness statements ?

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Yes, initially in my witness statement I just denied the debt, I have been to court once and the judge adjourned the case so that I could give a more detailed amended statement of fact which I have now done, in reply Lowell have said I have no reason not to pay the money owed and that it is not statute barred.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Okay and court is on Friday. You may need to respond to Lowells response to your statement of case. You could submit a skeleton argument to court and claimant now to do that, otherwise you will just have to argue it on the day - take as much evidence as you can get together - bank statements showing payments ending etc, anything you have. Presumably you didn't request a copy of the credit agreement and statements etc from the claiamnts - or assignment / default notices etc ?
Even if you can't get a skeleton in to court tmw then get everything written down so you have all the facts written down.

Any chance you can post your last detailed statement of fact and Lowells response?

Back in 2005 when I lost my job I made an agreement with welcome finance to reduce my payments and they also agreed to waiver the ppi and add hoc fees on my account, I can only assume that these are the amounts that are in dispute

Assume that was on phone or you've lost any letters about it. Evidence showing you lost your job at that point maybe helpful - ummm - copy of your credit file showing this debt doesn't appear.

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

I can get a print off of my credit report, but all other docs or letters have been lost or binned over time. Lowell sent me a copy of the credit agreement and an account statement from welcome finance showing the last payment and a balance outstanding of £3700 or so. This still has the ppi and add hoc payments on it, the judge did tell Lowell's solicitor to be aware that there is a claim for ppi on that amount last time we were in court but they seem to have ignored the fact. I do have copies of my statement and Lowell's reply but have no idea how to post them as I'm using my mobile phone.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Okay can you email it to me - admin@legalbeagles.info

The last payment showing on the statement was march 25th 2007.

For BMW v Hart - when was the original loan taken out ? 2003 ? and what was the original period of the loan ? 5 years ? so it would have ended in 2008 had all the payments been made anyway, so BMW v Hart argues that the cause of action can't be until after the loan period has ended (in certain kinds of loans) - which in your case would have been in 2008 thus that argument fails. Plus they have shown no evidence of any default occurring in 2011. If you stopped payments in March 2007 and they didn't default you until after the original loan period that would still be 2008 and still statute barred.

If it was a 10 year loan then it's trickier.... but you do have the PPI element ( have you actually put in a claim for that missold PPI which was paid before 2005?)

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

It was a 4 Year car finance loan taken out in 2003, I have never claimed for any ppi so it would still be outstanding. The ppi and add hoc feed would amount to £2000. Lowell have tried to say that I was given time to pay before a default was put on the account in 2011!! I definitely had no contact with welcome finance since my last payment, Lowell have entered copies of letters that they have sent me since 2012 but have no letters from welcome finance even though they insist that welcome finance tried to contact me on numerous occasions.

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

I have emailed 2 separate pics to you of Lowell's response letter, hope they shed some light on the matter.

[Inneedofhelp73]

Re: Lowell portfolio court case.

Hi Amethyst, I've just left court after having the case dismissed!! It was dismissed on the grounds that no default notice has been produced. Thanks for your advice, it gave me the ammunition I needed to win the case, the right to appeal was denied too so I hope that will be the last of it.