Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

[itsmemario]

Hi all!
I've had a quick look around the website and saw it was an awesome active community, so thought I would reach out.

Today, I received a County Court claim form from Lowells regarding an old Three account.

I've checked my credit file (posted below) and the amount claimed does not match up.
Account type
Telecommunications Supplier

Account number
*****7842 0

Account start date
08/12/2010

Opening balance
£ 50

Repayment frequency
Monthly

Date of default
03/08/2011

Default balance
£ 50

The amount they are claiming is £337, which is the default amounts placed against my credit file since Apr 2013 which is strange because it doesnt match the 'default' date.

The bill was for a dongle that didnt work so I returned it but they still demanded the first payment - which I refused.

I have never contacted or spoken with Lowell regarding this debt and had letters arriving since the start of the year (ive moved twice since the original date) and simply ignored it.

I would simply like some advice on how best to approach this as the majority of threads are regarding financial things and not mobile contracts.


if you need any more info, please ask away.
kind regards!!

M

[itsmemario]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi again!
I've acknowledged the claim as outlined from another post I saw but really would like some clarity on if this debt is now statue barred as I am not sure which date to use.

Many thanks!
M

[Kati]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi again!
I've acknowledged the claim as outlined from another post I saw but really would like some clarity on if this debt is now statue barred as I am not sure which date to use.

Many thanks!
M

SB'd is usually 6yrs from last payment or acknowledgement of the debt in England/Wales, 5yrs in Scotland (altho' many DCAs try to say it runs from the 'default date' on your credit file )

- - - Updated - - -

if you acknowledged the debt (in writing) since it defaulted then the SB'd clock restarts

[Amethyst]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi Mario, Just having a read xx

The default date on your credit file won't necessarily match the date of the default notice, however 2 years is a bit too long between default and CRA reporting to be 'accurate' data - so might be worth taking that up with the CRA.

The bill was for a dongle that didnt work so I returned it but they still demanded the first payment - which I refused.

Do you have any letters of complaint etc / emails etc evidencing the issue with the dongle ?
Do you have copies of the original contract ?

The debt is unlikely to be statute barred however it could be if it was an 18 month contract starting early 2010 and the agreement was cancelled. To know that you need your contract and anything relating to your cancellation of it - so if you can check your records and type anything you recall about it, that would be good.

We can then sort out sending a CPR request, and it might also be benefitical to send a subject access request to Three to get more info.

Get the court claim acknowledged via moneyclaim online with intent to defend in full - this gives us more time to sort out your position and a defence ( 33 days from issue rather than the current 14 days)

[itsmemario]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Thanks for your reply. I haven't actually acknowledged anything until today on the moneyclaim link to state that I will be defending the case.

The default date is 2011 but Lowells only started to add the debt on my credit file since 2013 at £337 - which i saw yesterday.

[itsmemario]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi Mario, Just having a read xx

The default date on your credit file won't necessarily match the date of the default notice, however 2 years is a bit too long between default and CRA reporting to be 'accurate' data - so might be worth taking that up with the CRA.


Do you have any letters of complaint etc / emails etc evidencing the issue with the dongle ?
Do you have copies of the original contract ?

The debt is unlikely to be statute barred however it could be if it was an 18 month contract starting early 2010 and the agreement was cancelled. To know that you need your contract and anything relating to your cancellation of it - so if you can check your records and type anything you recall about it, that would be good.

We can then sort out sending a CPR request, and it might also be benefitical to send a subject access request to Three to get more info.

Get the court claim acknowledged via moneyclaim online with intent to defend in full - this gives us more time to sort out your position and a defence ( 33 days from issue rather than the current 14 days)

Hi there

I've had a dig around and no joy. I've moved twice since the original contract was taken out, and threw out stuff I didnt need. I have completed the steps on Moneyclaim. I also tried to phone 3, to find out more but they couldnt trace my account and the agent said that due to the time, its not on their system - but clearly they didnt want to help. So i will try again and probably send them an email too.

[itsmemario]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi all!
A quick update. I've tried several times to get Three to help - but no luck. I have managed to find what I think was my old account number - so have emailed them this time with an SRA.
thanks!

[itsmemario]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi all!

If anyone can advise on some next steps - that would be great. Three got back in touch today saying that I have to write in for an SRA, pay £10 and it could take up to 40 days!!!
From their email:
The Data Protection and Privacy Officer will charge a £10 fee for the information. We can take up to 40 days’ to send this information after they we get the form and fee

I have 2 weeks to get my defence to the court and was thinking of looking at the statue bar issue due to the time period of when Lowell claimed the default happened - April 2013. Or would like advice on other alternatives because getting the SRA in time doesnt look likely.

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a County Court claim form from Lowells - advice please

Hi all!

If anyone can advise on some next steps - that would be great. Three got back in touch today saying that I have to write in for an SRA, pay £10 and it could take up to 40 days!!!
From their email:
The Data Protection and Privacy Officer will charge a £10 fee for the information. We can take up to 40 days’ to send this information after they we get the form and fee

I have 2 weeks to get my defence to the court and was thinking of looking at the statue bar issue due to the time period of when Lowell claimed the default happened - April 2013. Or would like advice on other alternatives because getting the SRA in time doesnt look likely.

A Subject Access Request made under the provisions of The Data protection Act 1998 requires the recipient to supply all the " Personal " Data is holds on an individual.

Statute Barred Limitation Act 1980 basic: No payments or written acknowledgments is 6 clear years, the debt industry likes to assert that the date the account fell into default ( in their view the date recorded on credit files which imo is wrong) Many telecoms providers default accounts at very late dates. I would suggest that 3 missed contractual payments is the appropriate date for the start of a relevant 6 year period.

nem