Lowell

[Gill40]

Had a letter from lowell saying we owed £3500 for a sofa we brought from land of leather back in 2008/2009. We have never had correspondent from them before! We paid for the sofa before the interest free deal came to the end by cash, we have no relevant paperwork to prove this due to it being so long ago!! Can they demand this amount of us again as the total we would have paid would be £2500 but it obviously had all sort of extra charges now.. Help please

[Celestine]

Re: Lowell

You need to send a Data Protection Act Subject Access Request to Land of Leather, although I don't know if they still have any trading presence due to the administration.
Do you have any bank statements that show a large cash withdrawal around the time you completed the payments.

Lowell will really struggle to 'prove' this debt and they would need to do so to enforce this 'debt'.

[labman]

Re: Lowell

SAR - SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

Dear

Re: Account number:

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to the above accounts held with you since they were opened.

Additionally where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you.

If you are unable to supply data relating to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention then please be kind as to confirm this in your response to this request.


For the avoidance of any and all doubt, I reiterate:

I hereby request that you supply me with any and all historical data in your possession which, in any way appertains to me, including (but not exhaustively) a copy of the original signed executed agreement; statements of account; duplicate statements and/or print outs of all account transactions; all internal and external correspondence sent or received by you including memo’s, logs, notes, screen prints and transcripts; notes of manual interventions such as telephone attendants' notes, copies of stored telephone conversations, internal and external emails; any other information held on any/all types of media in any relevant filing system (microfiche included).

If you have disclosed any information to a third party (with or without my express permission), will you please include details of this in your reply, along with notes of any legal action passed or pending (to include a true copy of default notices, court orders and the like).

Where any information that you provide includes any charges, for example returned payments, late payment fees, and so forth, would you please advise your breakdown of actual costs (liquidated damages) incurred for each charge, and the Term or Condition on which you rely upon to claim such a charge.





I also require that you forward, within the above mentioned time scale, a true copy of the Terms and Conditions that were in force at the time my account was opened, and any subsequent amendments to those Terms and Conditions.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10.00 to access ALL data held by XXXXX about myself. You should be fully aware of your statutory obligations under the Data Protection Act and that any failure to comply with this request will involve a complaint to the ICO as well as potential legal action.

You have 40 days in which to comply with this request.

This communication has been sent Recorded Delivery so I can ensure compliance on these issues within the legislative timeframes.

Yours Sincerely

[PlanB]

Re: Lowell

Had a letter from lowell saying we owed £3500 for a sofa we brought from land of leather back in 2008/2009. We have never had correspondent from them before! We paid for the sofa before the interest free deal came to the end by cash, we have no relevant paperwork to prove this due to it being so long ago!! Can they demand this amount of us again as the total we would have paid would be £2500 but it obviously had all sort of extra charges now.

Why not send Lowell a "prove it" letter. If they want to collect a debt the onus is on them to prove that you owe the money, not on you to prove that you don't (yet). That task may need to come later if they persist. So I would write and tell them that there is no *debt* because you paid for the sofa in full in 2009 and you dispute their claim. That puts the ball firmly in Lowell's court to come up with the correct paperwork layball:

A firm can take up to 40 days to respond to a SAR. In my experience Lowell won't leave you alone for that long if you don't respond to that letter. They maintain that you owe them £3.5k which is not a small sum. Lowell have a reputation for issuing statutory demands for that kind of money so I think you should reply to them directly disputing the *debt* to prevent that from happening asap :typing:

If you've never had any correspondence from Lowell before this implies that they have recently bought the debt. Have you been sent a Notice of Assignment from anyone on this point?

[labman]

Re: Lowell

Prove it letter:

Name/Address:

Date:

Dear Sir/Madam

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

I am/we are familiar with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR 2008) and the Office of Fair Trading's Guidance on debt collection, which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. AND in not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment. I would also remind you, that I/we are aware of the 'MALG' Guidance/Code that you should comply with.

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed.
Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to Trading Standards and also inform the Office Of Fair Trading of your actions.

I/we look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

[PlanB]

Re: Lowell

You've got your work cut out with all those template letters while FP is away on holiday lane:

[labman]

Re: Lowell

You've got your work cut out with all those template letters while FP is away on holiday lane:

Don't worry - I've about five versions of each! lol You might not get the same one twice, but they all do the same thing.

[Gill40]

Re: Lowell

Hi
No we wouldn't have taken it from our bank account as it was cash earned from weekend work!
Thanks

[ODC]

Re: Lowell

At this stage it does not matter if you can prove you paid it or not. The Leeds Losers must first of all prove you actually owe the money and if so that they have a LEGAL right to collect it. If you get a call from any of their threat monkeys do not speak with them or even admit who you are.

[Guest]

Re: Lowell

This most likely originates from Creation Finance who financed the deferred credit agreements for this company.
As said I would send a prove it letter and inquire to the source of the alleged debt, you could also ask for proof of assignment, and then SAR them.