Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

[Mark999]

Hi All ,

Not sure how whether anyone can help me but worth a try.
Bit of background first .
Back in 2010 I went through a real tough period losing both my job and our rented accommodation .
My family and I went into emergency accommodation and onto the housing list.
As you can imagine whilst all this was happening my finances went into meltdown , I paid most things off but couldn't afford to pay off my Vodafone mobile bill which at this point was £527.29 made up of usage above the inclusive allowance of £71.84 and the rest was because of terminating the contract mid term which was another £455.45

My last actual payment date was 23/04/2010

Since that time I have been slowly getting my life and finances back in order and my credit rating is now reasonably good.

Over the years it became apparent that Vodafone had sold my debt to Lowell Portfolio.
They sent me the usual letters asking me to get in contact which I never did especially after reading all the horror stories about there agents on the various forums.

Anyway this year they went with the tact of taking me through the small claims court and I went through the process of discussing mediation and as I felt this debt was statute barred I said this so it went to court instead.
on 7th July this year I showed up as required with the hope of getting the case set aside as I hadn't requested a full SAR to see exactly what there records showed.
Lowell's didn't show up and had asked the judge the give them more time to find the documents needed.
They hadn't told me this so i wasted a day and spent money on travel and parking which I thought was really rubbish .
The judge said that whilst he felt that Lowells were probably stalling he thought it correct to give them the opportunity to source the missing paper work.

Since then I sent the SAR and received back , Copies of my old Vodafone bills , A print out of Lowells internal systems detailing that they had no contact with me at any point and sheet of paper saying "Data provided by Vodafone"
Interestingly on this form it has my last payment date as 23/04/2010 but the default date as 2/12/2010 which is a good eight months after I stopped paying.

I am due in court with them again tomorrow and have received their claim paperwork through today .
The main crux of their claim is that the default date is within the six year window to still be claimable.

Do I have any defence or is this a lost cause ?


Cheers for any advice that may be forthcoming

Mark

[Kati]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

tagging [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] xx

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

Hi All ,

Not sure how whether anyone can help me but worth a try.
Bit of background first .
Back in 2010 I went through a real tough period losing both my job and our rented accommodation .
My family and I went into emergency accommodation and onto the housing list.
As you can imagine whilst all this was happening my finances went into meltdown , I paid most things off but couldn't afford to pay off my Vodafone mobile bill which at this point was £527.29 made up of usage above the inclusive allowance of £71.84 and the rest was because of terminating the contract mid term which was another £455.45

My last actual payment date was 23/04/2010

Since that time I have been slowly getting my life and finances back in order and my credit rating is now reasonably good.

Over the years it became apparent that Vodafone had sold my debt to Lowell Portfolio.
They sent me the usual letters asking me to get in contact which I never did especially after reading all the horror stories about there agents on the various forums.

Anyway this year they went with the tact of taking me through the small claims court and I went through the process of discussing mediation and as I felt this debt was statute barred I said this so it went to court instead.
on 7th July this year I showed up as required with the hope of getting the case set aside as I hadn't requested a full SAR to see exactly what there records showed.
Lowell's didn't show up and had asked the judge the give them more time to find the documents needed.
They hadn't told me this so i wasted a day and spent money on travel and parking which I thought was really rubbish .
The judge said that whilst he felt that Lowells were probably stalling he thought it correct to give them the opportunity to source the missing paper work.

Since then I sent the SAR and received back , Copies of my old Vodafone bills , A print out of Lowells internal systems detailing that they had no contact with me at any point and sheet of paper saying "Data provided by Vodafone"
Interestingly on this form it has my last payment date as 23/04/2010 but the default date as 2/12/2010 which is a good eight months after I stopped paying.

I am due in court with them again tomorrow and have received their claim paperwork through today .
The main crux of their claim is that the default date is within the six year window to still be claimable.

Do I have any defence or is this a lost cause ?


Cheers for any advice that may be forthcoming

Mark

Hello Mark,

From reading what you say:

Did you plead that the alleged what statute barred in your defence?

I picked up on the date the default was placed as a point that could be used e.g. the default was placed outside the Information Commissioners Office Guidance on placement of defaults i.e. registering a default within 6months of the cause of action in this case the cessation of payments.

A reasonable view I think would be to say the default should have been placed after the 3 missed payment.

My guess is that Lowell's legal representative will put forward an argument based on an Appeal Court Decision in BMW Finance Ltd. - v - Hart, which determined that the date of termination was the point when a relevant 6 year period in accordance with the Limitation Act 1980 would start.

However that case was an Hire Purchase Debt not a simple contract and you could argue that in fairness the judgment does not hold in this case.
Put forward as said above the default was unfairly late and you aver the debt is statute barred.

It's down now to the judge to determine but at least you will give him/her something to think about.

Is Lowell Solicitors Ltd handling the claim?

nem

[Mark999]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

Hi Nem ,

Thanks for coming back to me .
And yes you are absolutely correct with your comments.
I have plead it was statute barred and they have used the BMW-v- Hart argument.

Lowell solicitors are handling the claim.
With regards to my defence based on the default being placed outside of the ICO guidelines can I use this argument on the day ? ( Tomorrow )
Or would I be expected to have already given this as my defence prior to the court date ?


Mark

[Mark999]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

[MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] ,

Just to say that I would imagine that Lowells would argue that even if it was registered at the latest date of six months allowed by the ICO after cessation of payments this would still mean the default could have been October 2010 , In which case this would still not be statute barred ?

Think my only hope today is to show up and hope Lowell have an off day and decide not to show up !
I will put across the argument above and see what the judge says .


Mark

[piratepeter63]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

hi mark,
just come out of court today, with lowells over a vodafone account, just had it stopped on the basis i did not submit a witness statement, i told the judge , with all the paper work, offer of mediation, court threats,harassment,from lowells i thought i had submitted one,
i also explained to them that both partys should submit all paper two weeks prior to the court hearing ,so why have i received lowells witness statement two days ago, the judge as given me two weeks to submit a witness statement, happy days, another bite of the cherry, ok granted its cost me £210, for there solicitors ten minutes in court, so now lowells have shown me there hand,, actually the judge helped me on this and basically told me the way to do things, because he could see i was getting frustrated with not having submitted a witness statement, and still lowell cant produce t/c cca/ and invoices, the whole justice system is a total joke, bogus courts, fraudulent paper work, fake solictors, the lists endless.

[Mark999]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

Hi Peter ,

I came out of court about an hour ago and I am so happy right now !
Was looking quite bad initially as the judge was agreeing with the solicitor on all his points with regards to the default date and it not being statute barred so I was probably looking at over a thousand pounds with all the costs added .
Then the best thing happened , The judge said as I was representing myself he was going to level the playing field.
He proceeded to completely tear apart the Lowell's guy with reference to the £454 termination fee that Vodafone had initially added to the bill.
As Lowell's count not provide evidence of length of contract agreed or where this figure came from or how it was made up the judge would not let it stand .
He would only let the initial £70 outstanding bill stand plus costs which all totalled came to £281
Judge then turns to me and I say i will happily pay that Sir :-)

Solicitor goes into meltdown panic mode

Solicitor "Could I have an adjournment to call my client and see if I can get a breakdown of those costs ?"
Judge "No"
Solicitor " Could I have leave to appeal "
Judge "No "
Solicitor "We have asked for interest costs to be added "
Judge "Interest costs will not be added "
Solicitor "Could I add my fee "
Judge " No , The fees will stay as set at £70"


Lowell's guy was gutted and I go to sit there and enjoy every moment of it !
Ok I am annoyed that these scumbags are getting a penny out of it but I think that mornings entertainment was well worth it !!
:taunt:

[Diana M]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

What a great DJ. We need more like him!

Well done you for fighting your corner.

If you are able to pay the £281 within 28 days of the Order there will be no CCJ showing on your CRA files.

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

just come out of court today, with lowells over a vodafone account, just had it stopped on the basis i did not submit a witness statement, i told the judge , with all the paper work, offer of mediation, court threats,harassment,from lowells i thought i had submitted one,
i also explained to them that both partys should submit all paper two weeks prior to the court hearing ,so why have i received lowells witness statement two days ago, the judge as given me two weeks to submit a witness statement, happy days, another bite of the cherry, ok granted its cost me £210, for there solicitors ten minutes in court, so now lowells have shown me there hand,, actually the judge helped me on this and basically told me the way to do things, because he could see i was getting frustrated with not having submitted a witness statement, and still lowell cant produce t/c cca/ and invoices

That's a great result too!

The DJ definitely gave you a helping hand as he could have ruled against you because you didn't file a WS and so didn't offer any evidence for him to consider.

It must be 'Be Nice to LIPS Week'

Di

[Mark999]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

Hi Diana ,

I was so pleased.
He really was brilliant and I was really surprised as it could have been so much worse.
Every time the Lowell's guy tried a different tact the judge just shut him down wonderfully.
There was no reason for the DJ to even question the amount being claimed , he could have just agreed that it was with the six years but instead he started drilling down into the finer detail of the claim and seemed to find every question that Lowell's just could not answer, It was a thing of beauty !.
I have the funds to pay off the £281 within 14 days so no problem there and that should be it all done and dusted I guess ?

Mark

[R0b]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

Hi Mark, looks like a good result but I do have one question. If the bill was for £70, how did the judge come up with remainder as costs since costs are capped in small claims or have I missed something?

[Mark999]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

Hi Rob ,

To be honest at the point that the judge added it all up and it came to under £300 I was pretty much just saying yes and trying to get out of there as the Lowell's guy was desperately trying to find ways to increase any payment such as adding interest etc.
I will come back onto this thread with the full break down of the costs in the next week as and when the letter comes through.
As i understand it think it was £70 for the outstanding debt with Vodafone , £50 for the court hearing ,and the rest was Lowell's costs
which they tried jacking up by charging the solicitors rate but the judge wouldn't allow it .
Sorry I am not being clearer , As I said I was just chuffed that what was looking like over a thousand pounds worth of fees ended up below £300 and a very disappointed lawyer so my thoughts were elsewhere !! :-)

Mark

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell Portfolio court date tomorrow Any help gratefully received

@nemesis45 ,

Just to say that I would imagine that Lowells would argue that even if it was registered at the latest date of six months allowed by the ICO after cessation of payments this would still mean the default could have been October 2010 , In which case this would still not be statute barred ?

Think my only hope today is to show up and hope Lowell have an off day and decide not to show up !
I will put across the argument above and see what the judge says .


Mark

Yes of course you are correct, but Lowell solicitors are proving a trifle naïve.

nem