Lowell - Problems

[scott7saunders]

Hey,

I have just gained access to my credit file for the first time and noticed that there is a number of defaults which are all listed under Lowell.

As a tester, I sent a "prove it" template letter to them ref one of the debts and the have replied by giving details of all the debts they hold for me and ignored the whole "prove it" request. The details include the balance, original account number and company the agreements were with.

Whats the best way of dealing with these ?

They all seem to relate to mobile phone services agreements which I believe are not covered by the CCA request.

Also - by asking for details have I potentially "knackered" any possibly statute barred details should that come around.

Many Thanks

Scott

[naveed.desire]

Re: Lowell - Problems

Hi Scott,

I am not sure how much is your debt. First thing you need to do is to see if all the defaults are real or not means that if you really have taken any loans, credit cards or phone contracts and have not paid back. I was in a tricky situation. Lived in UK from 2008 - 2012. Before i left, my friends asked me if i could get them mobile phones as I am leaving so it wont make any difference to me. Stupid me, i agreed and got about 4 phone contracts for them plus i had one of my existing one. I also took a PayDay loan of £200 because in 2010 i had taken a payday loan of £250 in emergency and they ended up taking £450 from me. They didnt explain anything when I took loan and told them i will pay next month. When i went to pay they had put millions of charges on it and i ended up paying £450. So this payday loan was a kind of taking my money back. When i left, i had 2 bank accounts, both had a monthly fees. It never occurred to me to close them down. As a result both went into default. Now I got married to a British girl in 2015 and had to move back to UK. Result was i started receiving threatening letters from Lowell and a couple of other creditors. Once i secured a fulltime job, i called them one by one and explained that i had to leave UK in emergency and couldnt come back. I was quite polite with them and to be fair they were also. My total debts were about £9000. With lowell, it was about £8000. They offered me 40% discount. The first thing i did was looked at the smallest debts (up to £400), managed to negotiate with them to bring it down to £100 and then set up £50 a month for a couple of them, then i had 2/3 more which were less than £100, increased monthly payment to £100. Then i had 2 big ones left (£3200 & £2200, they offered 40% discount after many times negotiating with them). They would call me everytime about it and say lets distribute £100 equally between them but i was firm and said no. At the same time i was very polite and didnt let them a chance to be rude with me. I asked them to give me a discount of 60% on 2 big ones but they wont listen. Once I had some of the smallest debts paid off, i called them again and said see I want to do pay £220 a month provided that you give me a discount of 85%. I was again very polite and told i am being honest with you and i am the one who called you so you have to consider that i want to pay you but the amount you are asking is too much. The lady on phone put me on hold to speak to her manager and to my surprise they agreed to write off 85%. I remember that in the month of December i had a total of £1200 to pay. I have paid them £800 until now. However then i got another letter of a phone contract asking me to pay £1100. I havent answered to this letter yet. I do want to get rid of all the debts, so next month, before my direct debit goes, i will call them and say to them on top of £220 that i pay you, I will pay £200 more and close all my accounts because I am leaving the country and will not come back. If this arrangement is fine with you then good otherwise you can take £220 by direct debit and then i have to cancel the direct debit. I am sure they will agree.

Please note that it took me about 3 months to negotiate with them.

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell - Problems

Hello Scott, welcome to LB
First Question and an important one, are these your accounts do you recognise them?
Did in your " prove it " letter state that you " do not acknowledge any liability for the debts? As long as you did not make an unequivocal written acknowledgment SB will not be affected.

What are the default dates showing on each account.

nem