Lowell

[Lexi]

In 2017 I found a letter at my rental property in a similar name to mine but addressed to a MR. I opened the letter & discovered someone had taken out a credit card in partly my name. I notified Vanquis straight away. After a while Vanquis said they believed it was my credit card and passed the debt in to Lowell. *unfortunately a court date was set & I couldn’t attended. Unfortunately on my part I didn’t correctly notify the court of non attendance and sent a letter to the court disputing the facts. The hearing went ahead in my absence and the judge ruled in Lowell’s favour. I completed form N244 fo ask for it to be set aside, and attended court. The judge didn’t look at my evidence and threw the case out based on the fact I didn’t comply originally with contacting the court and my reason wasn’t valid etc. I’ve now got a CCJ against. In my witness statement with firm N244 I showed evidence it wasn’t my credit card and even provided evidence of who took the card out. However, Lowell are now pushing for me to pay the debt when there is strong evidence it’s not my debt. I feel I shouldn’t have the debt or CCJ against me. However, I’m at a loss now on how to over turn the decision & get a fresh court hearing to fight this. Can you please advise. Lowell NEVER provided PROFF this was my debt it was all circumstantial*

[pt2537]

In 2017 I found a letter at my rental property in a similar name to mine but addressed to a MR. I opened the letter & discovered someone had taken out a credit card in partly my name. I notified Vanquis straight away. After a while Vanquis said they believed it was my credit card and passed the debt in to Lowell. unfortunately a court date was set & I couldn’t attended. Unfortunately on my part I didn’t correctly notify the court of non attendance and sent a letter to the court disputing the facts. The hearing went ahead in my absence and the judge ruled in Lowell’s favour. I completed form N244 fo ask for it to be set aside, and attended court. The judge didn’t look at my evidence and threw the case out based on the fact I didn’t comply originally with contacting the court and my reason wasn’t valid etc. I’ve now got a CCJ against. In my witness statement with firm N244 I showed evidence it wasn’t my credit card and even provided evidence of who took the card out. However, Lowell are now pushing for me to pay the debt when there is strong evidence it’s not my debt. I feel I shouldn’t have the debt or CCJ against me. However, I’m at a loss now on how to over turn the decision & get a fresh court hearing to fight this. Can you please advise. Lowell NEVER provided PROFF this was my debt it was all circumstantial

Sadly i fear that you may be at the end of the road. Cases of fraud often require considerable detective work, while it is right to say the burden should be on the Claimant to prove its case when ID theft occurs, its often expected that the consumer will prove they didnt have the card.

Ive dealt with a number of fraud cases, there is no set way to approach them, it is a case of looking at tthe facts and working out what evidence you will need. Some cases its necessary to get a handwriting expert on board, others you have to obtain the documents used for id checks and money laundering etc, some times you need to look at the transactions to see if you can show that they werent yours, for example if you were on a flight to say america when the card was used in croydon its fair to say it wasnt you .

However ,all these steps are needed to be carried out before they take you to court. Wit ha CCJ and a failed application behind you, its an utter uphill struggle to get this judgment set aside now. You would need the most cast iron case possible to have a hope of challenging this

[Amethyst]

Sadly it sounds like you have been through the court processes and the court has found against you.

Have you ever asked Vanquis for all the information they hold ? Did you do a CCA request for the agreement to Lowell ? What had you put as your defence ? Did you exchange witness statements and evidence before the hearing ?

Once there has been a hearing and judgment made you can't apply to set aside - and it seems unlikely there were grounds for appeal.

How much is the judgment ? When was it applied ? And have you made arrangements to pay with Lowell ?

( oops crossed posts with PT - what he says )

[Lexi]

Vanquis NEVER sent me any information. And Lowell changed the debt into my name. Sadly I know I messed up by not attending court but when I applied with the N244 form I had fresh evidence & a signed statement from the person who committed the fraud in my name. However, I didn’t get to appeal all this evidence as the judge threw my case out based on I didn’t attend the first hearing or follow the correct procedures of informing the court. I feel it’s all unfair as Lowell no it’s not my debt as I sent the evidence to them too, but Lowell requested the court to throw out my appeal. So they won in that basis as the judge agreed with them. It’s so unfair as it’s not my debt.