Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

[nikkisim]

Hi all
I was wondering if you can help me as i have no clue of what to do. I received a letter on the 19th Jan 17 from Lowell which is a letter of claim. I have been ignoring letters from them about this debt but just lately they have persisted in writing to me. I had a notice of acting on 13th jan then the letter of claim. I have looked at my credit score online and notice this debt (originally vanquis) is dated as being closed in 2013, the actual words are you closed your account with Lowell portfolio 1 LTD, the amount showing is the same as on this claim letter. What do i do now? I admit i am not to good when it comes to paperwork and dont know when i last paid my vanquis account or defaulted, I cant even remember if i ever made a payment to Lowell for this debt, nothing shows on my credit score apart from my O2 account i have now (in good standing) and this Lowell one from 2013. Do i try and arrange a payment plan as i dont want a CCJ or do i write to them? Please help as i really dont know how to proceed with this.

[charitynjw]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi nikkism & welcome to LB.

As this is for an alleged debt originated via Vanquis I'm guessing it's a credit card matter; could you confirm?
How much is currently being chased, & are solicitors currently involved?

[nikkisim]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi yes it is a credit card debt. Currently being chased for £2932. The only solicitors are Lowell Solicitors and they are the ones who have sent the letter of claim notice.

[charitynjw]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

If it were me, I'd send a CCA request + £1 fee to Lowell Portfolio, & a covering letter to the solicitors with a copy of the CCA request (no fee with this one) for their info.
I'd also SAR Vanquis for all data held.
I'd also do a bit of sleuthing to find out exactly when payments or written acknowledgement was last made.
Your bank (which you were using at the time) may be able to provide some clues.

CCA
http://legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?751-Consumer-Credit-Act-1974-Basic-Request-for-Original-Copy-of-Agreement

SAR
http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...ur-information

[nikkisim]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

I have sent the letters off so will see what happens thanks

[nikkisim]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

hi I recieved today from Lowell Solicitors, This is what it says.
We can confirm the receipt of your request for details relating to the above account. We can confirm the outstanding balance relates to a former vanquis account that was taken out at the address we hold on file for you. The agreement start date was 14 june 201` (thats what they put) and the last payment was made towards the account on 20 june 2013 due to non payment the account then defaulted on 31 dec 2013 and was registed on your credit file. We have requested the copy of the agreement and statements from the original creditor vanquis and will forward these to you upon receipt. The account is currently on hold until we recieve these.

So what will happen next and what do i have to do?

[charitynjw]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi nikkisim

Apart from trying to obtain historic data from your bank or from your own records, there's nothing much that you can do other than wait & see what turns up as a result of your requests.
That letter does not require any response from you; keep it on file for possible future reference.

[nikkisim]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi, I finally heard something today, from lowells solicitors, they have sent me a copy of the agreement with vanquis saying the account was taken out on 14 june 2011 and the last payment recieved was on 20 june 2013, they have said vanquis are unable to send me statements. They have given me 14 days to act on this before they may issue a claim form and they may apply for a CCJ. The copy of the agreement was printed on 15/4/17 and there is a letter from vanquis stating i did open the account with a digital signature. As lowell didnt respond within the 12 day deadline but 3 months later what happens now?

[charitynjw]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi, I finally heard something today, from lowells solicitors, they have sent me a copy of the agreement with vanquis saying the account was taken out on 14 june 2011 and the last payment recieved was on 20 june 2013, they have said vanquis are unable to send me statements.
If this is the case, then they cannot comply with s78 CCA & so cannot enforce any court claim.........
They have given me 14 days to act on this before they may issue a claim form and they may apply for a CCJ. The copy of the agreement was printed on 15/4/17 and there is a letter from vanquis stating i did open the account with a digital signature. As lowell didnt respond within the 12 day deadline but 3 months later what happens now?
.........hence all the 'mays'?

###

[nikkisim]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi, Well Lowell have gone ahead and issued a county claim, what do i do now, do i fill it in with an offer of payments?

[warwick65]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Hi
can you post up exactly what the particulars of claim are

From that the best course of action can be looked at.

What is the date on the claim form ?

The first thing you need to do is acknowledge the claim and tick defend all BUT do not put anything in the defence box

Final question, did you send a SAR to Vanquis as suggested by [MENTION=5553]charitynjw[/MENTION]

[nikkisim]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

particulars of the claim are
1. the defendant entered into a consumer credit act 1974 regulated agreement with vanquis under account ref ********* (`the agreement`)
2. the defendant failed to maintain the required payments and a default notice was served and not complied with
3. the agreement was later assigned to the claimant on 31/12/2014 and notice given to the defendant
4.despite repeated requests for payment the sum of £2382 remains due and outstanding
and the claimant claims
a. the said sum of £2382
b. interest pursuant to s69 county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of issue accruing at a daily rate of £0.621 but limted to one year being £226.59
c.costs

Date on claim form is 25 may 2017,

I didnt send a Sar to vanquis, have i shot myself in the foot by not doing so? I sent off a cca to Lowell and copied it to their solicitors who didnt reply in the given time frame but about a month later.

[warwick65]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

You haven't shot yourself in the foot but I would get a SAR sent to Vanquis as soon as possible

You then need to send a CCA request to the claimant - need to send a £1 fee

A request under CPR 31.14 to the solicitor asking for
1) the agreement
2) The default notice
3) the Notice of assignment


Then a part 18 request asking specifically for the deed of assignment
CCA Request
CPR 31.14 Request

I am sorry but I don't have a template for a part 18 request
@charitynjw @MIKE770


All letters should be sent by Royal mail signed for ( costs about £1.70 ) and copies kept as well as the receipts the post office give you


You have until 13th june to acknowledge the claim but the sooner the better then until 27th June to file your defence

[MIKE770]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Adjust to your situation I found this one from a while back:--

With reference to your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx in reply to my request made under the provisions of
CPR31.14 for inspection of documents and your request for disclosure of documents you
assume/state may have under my control.

Please note any such documents I may or may not have received from any party in the past
have no relevance to my request, and such documents will be disclosed if necessary at the
appropriate time during the progress of the claim.

You are requested therefore please forward the requested documents (which of course should be in the possession of your " client" prior to the issue of the claim.) by return of post.

You are reminded that the provisions of CPR 31.14 apply to this claim until it is allocated to the small claims track.

I would also like to remind you about ‘Practice direction 18 – Further information 2.2 (2)
Such a letter should identify itself as a response to the Request and deal with no other matters than the response. Therefore in your response please provide the documents requested rather than making any assumption about the documents.

Failure to comply with my request will be brought to the attention of the court.

[charitynjw]

Re: Letter of Claim from Loweel solicitors

Part 18 requests are tricky to template, as they are virtually always going to be unique.
However, there are rules to follow in making a Part 18. The following links should give you the gist.
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/PDF/Re...nformation.pdf
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...rt18/pd_part18

It is important that the request should not be a fishing excercise & that it should only be used for the dedicated purpose of asking for further information. It should not be part of a letter dealing with other issues