Help please Lowell solicitors 😓

[Vicxzy]

Thanks Amethyst.
No the statement is a table that say Lowell at the top.
£1 per month for 12 months up to 2015. I’m really not sure that’s right. I thought I asked for an original statement though? This looks like it’s just been cobbled together on excel?
They had already replied a while ago to say no statute. At red as I made payments in 2015.
I will send it all through to you. Thank you.

[Amethyst]

Thank you. Just going through them.

What's FDR ? ( on the statement )

The account was opened before April 2006 ? ( noting the £25 default and late payment charges ) and you opened it in a branch ?

[Amethyst]

They may well accept a settlement without going to court if you can make installment payments - this would avoid it coming up on your credit file or as a CCJ and prevent it scuppering your house purchase. If statute barred is out because of those £1 token payments ( assuming FDR is some kind of financial debt recovery thing) .... you've sent a SAR to Halifax directly haven't you already ? Any way of checking your bank statements from those dates at all see if this £1 goes out ?
A single £1 can be argued regarding the CCA request, but 12 months of token payments is much harder unless you have evidence to the contrary. And documents are likely to be okay - the agreement does look fine, unless you actually dispute ever having the account when an evidence issue would arise - but that isn't the case here.

Might also be worth getting yourself an appt at CAB - I know you need to avoid a CCJ, so it would be worth going through your Income/Expenditure stuff and figuring out what you COULD offer by way of instalments to Lowell to keep this from going to court ( IF it looks like it's heading that way depending on what they respond docs wise etc )… always best to be prepared.

They'd likely get £50 or £100 a month if they went to court and got a default judgment ( seems to be the going rate) so if you can ( and it is affordable long term) offer more than that it is likely to stave any court action off.

[Vicxzy]

Thank you Amethyst.

They haven’t actually told me what the account is except to say a Halifax credit card.
I don’t remember it. I had a Halifax bank account and personal loan but I don’t know about this one?

The agreement looks pretty generic, no product name or limit etc that I can relate to...obviously it was a long time ago. It’s all a bit strange.

Lowell say it was taken out in 2006. It would have been in branch if I did it because I only ever used the branch back then.

Assuming that statute barred is out of the question...
I don’t want to pay something I’m not sure if I owe.

I’ve not had statements from them to show the account ever existed or how the debt was accrued.

I just feel like they’ve rocked up and said ‘Give me almost 4K, we aren’t sure what for and you don’t need to know but give it to us anyway or you are going to court’.

How can I defend something so vague?

Still no reply to CCA request from Lowell.

The info I email through was sent in response to my letter of claim request for docs from Lowell solicitors who have said that they are waiting for the default notice and notice of assignment from Halifax (but doesn’t that have to be a deed of assignment rather than notice?).

Very confusing. I have been up all night worrying about this again. No doubt I will fall asleep exhausted just before my alarm goes off.

[Vicxzy]

Also Amethyst sorry I have no idea what the FDR thing is ?
When I got this claim originally I was confused thinking it was for one of the accounts I did have with Halifax and did default on but the more info they send me (with less info on) the more I’m questioning what this actually is.

There’s no signed agreement just a copy of vague T&Cs no name of type of account, no limit, no statements to show any spending... it has my address printed onto the terms but I banked with Halifax then so they have that info anyway.

How can I be sure I owe it in the first place and if I do how can I be sure that I should pay to Lowell?

x

[Amethyst]

Have you sent a subject access request to Halifax ? If not, do that now, as that Should answer some questions.

Also it's worth getting a copy of a bank statement from the time those FDR £1 payments were made to see if they show up.

Do you recall what happened with the loan and bank account ? It could be a case that the products got merged into one at some point and Lowell have guessed it was a credit card ( they only get very limited information from the creditors) In your first post you say it was for a credit card that defaulted in 2011 and you mentioned earlier that you opened it in branch - was that the loan ? or just assumption because you used the branch generally? ( should all show in the sar in any case)

The agreements you have received ( one for 2006 and one for possibly 2014 ) do you know which is which ? I note one has a 21% APR and one a 15% APR.... neither seem to be complete but that could be just as you haven't scanned the entire document for each? ( eg. is the last term on the first agreement 7.2 ? or is there more ?)

[Amethyst]

Something along these lines?

Dear Lowell

Reference xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/2018.

I do not recognise nor acknowledge any debt owed to yourselves or to Halifax. I have reviewed the documents you have sent me and they have not assisted at all. The agreement you have sent me appears to be generic terms and conditions for a Halifax Credit Card, however I do not recognise them and they are not signed by myself. I have had previously had products with Halifax, and they were my bank for many years, however I have no recollection of having a credit card with them at all.

The 'Statement' you have sent is a basic list of £1 payments. I do not know what 'FDR' is and I do not recall making any such payments to either Halifax or yourselves. The 'Statement' does not show how the alleged debt has arisen or been calculated to be in the region of £xxxxxxxxx at all.

I await copies of the Default Notice and Notice of Assignment which you state you have requested directly from the Halifax.

In my response to your letter of claim I also 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

and I have, to date, only received two copies of generic credit card terms and conditions from, it appears, 2 different years ( neither of which appears to be complete) and a short list of alleged payments. I am happy to look at sorting out any debt that may be owed but to date I have received no evidence that convinces me this debt exists. I am investigating my own records however to date can find nothing which relates to this alleged account at all.

I expect that any collection activity on this account will be put on hold until such time as the relevant evidence has been produced.

Kind regards

xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Vicxzy]

Amethyst thank you, you are so lovely.
Sorry first post was so confusing I was so anxious I wasn’t making much sense.
I should have said Lowell told me it was a Halifax credit card taken out in 2006 and that defaulted in 2011.
If it’s genuine there should surely be 5 years of statements knocking about somewhere...?
The Halifax loan still shows on my credit file as I only finished paying that off in 2013 and that was fine (loan didn’t default).
Overdraft defaulted in 2011 due to excessive charges on account so I stopped using it. Cabot bought that so I’m really not sure what this one is.
There are £1 payments on my bank statements to Halifax up until about 3-4 years ago but they could have been to the overdraft that defaulted rather than this mystery account.
I have no idea which agreement is which and that’s all they sent me a couple of pages with generic T&C’s on.
Can’t see any dates on the agreements so it’s not possible to know whether the addresses are correct
so sorry for all the waffle x

[Vicxzy]

Amethyst Hi sorry I’ve been quiet there hasn’t been much action!
For the last few months I have received a letter every few weeks from Lowell solicitors saying they are still looking into things...
Yesterday I received a letter to say their client (Lowell) is unable to provide me with a response and so has asked that the matter be passed back to Lowell and Lowell solicitors will no longer be dealing.

is this good news?

xxx

[Amethyst]

Should be positive, it would usually go to Lowell Sols for them to bring a court claim against you, they still haven't provided any information and are sending it back to Lowell, so one would hope that means a court claim won't be issued and it's gone back to the pile for standard debt collection.

All you can do is play it by ear I'm afraid but for now it seems the threat of a court claim is diminished somewhat.

Did you get anything back from Halifax from the SAR ?

More importantly, how did you get on with your exams ?

[Vicxzy]

Thank you.
results are tomorrow very nervous!

[Amethyst]

And..... ? ( you don't have to say btw, so long as you're okay )