Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

[patters1978]

Hi everyone

Many thanks for reading this and helping if you do

So the story lloyd's over draft of around £1500 - £1800 back in 2010
Lost my job so charges just went through the roof on this account, when i did get into work i used another account as this can peeked at around £3000 with charges etc...

Lloyd's let the account get upto £6000 in charges of which i have in the past tried to reclaim due to hardship but with no luck... even went to a claims company to see if they would get any further but they also hit a brick wall, when it hit the £6000 mark it was sold on and various companies have been trying to get the money back none of which i have bothered to contact and kinda stuck my head in the sand..

The latest have been lowell they have offered in previous letters to settle the debt for £3000 which i have been for the past few months saving to achieve and have around £700 ( I will say at this point i have other debts totaling 18k and im also trying to pay off little debts first while hitting this one last as its the biggest ) anyway friday i get a hand delivered letter in my name ( not my wifes )

Here are the letters i have obviously blanked out the bits that are personal

http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...psc3315a04.jpg
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1c506082.jpg
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0ddafd7f.jpg
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6d85aa94.jpg
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1b71f4ef.jpg
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7d1acc92.jpg


Now i need help as this seems very more official than previous letter's BUT ... the whole thing is addressed to me and only me but the account in question was a joint account with my wife? dunno if this document is legit if it don't contain both names? originally it was my account but i added the wife to it years before and trouble arose.

I don't want to shirk my responsibilities of this debt although i do feel kinda bitter as it is mostly made up of the dreaded bank charges so feel i shouldn't pay the full amount, but i obviously don't even have half of the money saved yet so need to put them off a while. or something

any help please?

thank you

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Yip, that's a Statutory Demand so I'm glad you don't have your head in the sand any more. It needs to be set aside within 18 days.


You need to have a read of this thread - you can't send the CCA request as it doesn't apply to overdrafts - http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...533#post386533



So this is for an overdraft, and mostly made up of bank charges applied when you were in financial difficulty. Insane that it reached £6k from a £1500 overdraft.

Joint account wise - it is usually joint and serverable which means basically they can chase whoever they think is most likely to pay it.

Do you have any bank statements etc from that time to show how the charges escalated ?

Was the account a package account of any kind (where you paid a monthly charges and got useless 'perks' like mobile phone insurance ?

Which claims company did you use to try and reclaim charges and when abouts was that ?

[patters1978]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hi thanks for the replies

I shall have a read now

Lloyds kept on adding to the overdraft and as i was in trouble i just kept extending it at points i was being charged £100 + for just my account and overdraft access fee

I have i think all statements from 2005 with lloyds
The account was a GOLD account
And finally i used claims financial in 2009 my claim even then was £2400 since that ammount has obviously doubled my last statement from them
was me paying in £780 for the month and them charging me the following

O/Draft interest £35.87
unplanned O/D fees £165
returnee D/D £20
Premier account £25

total £245.87

no wonder i struggled

[patters1978]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hello again

Can someone please help me by answering a few questions/concerns!

As it stands right now i have 2 years left until the defaults drop off my credit file. obviously the people i owe money to are gonna come calling before that happens so my questions....

1. If i setup a repayment via this letter will my credit rating get better after the 2 years? or does it kick start it all off again or repair my credit quickers?
2. Is it plausible to offer say 30 x £100 totalling £3000? or will they refuse this?
3. If i was able to obtain the money i owe and clear all outstanding debts how long after my defaults fall off would it be plausible for better credit (this is a question regarding family member lending me the money and me getting a loan to pay off the rest when i was in a better situation, i owe more than just this 6k)
4. Regarding question 2. if this is an option what letter template do i need to use to send them this offer?

Me and the missus have sat down and worked out i can afford around £300 per month but i owe around 18k in various loans etc all have been delt in the same way of just ignoring them

cheers

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Okay deal with the stat demand as a priority.

The Gold account was a fee paying account http://www.lloydsbank.com/current-ac...ld-account.asp

The price of a Gold Account for existing customers is £12.95 a month.

Gold Account features

• AXA Worldwide and UK travel insurance – up to 80 years of age. Cover for you and your partner for up to 45 days per trip*.
• AA Breakdown Cover – UK roadside assistance whether you’re in your own car or someone else’s.
• Mobile phone insurance from LSG – worldwide cover for loss, theft, accidental damage, breakdown and unauthorised calls.
• £150 interest and fee free overdraft subject to application and approval.
• Sentinel^® card protection – convenient cover for your credit, debit and store cards. One policy covers everyone in your household.

You seem to have been paying £25 a month - maybe to cover both of you on a joint account? Did you ever benefit from any of the 'features' listed ? People have been able to reclaim these account charges if it wasn't something they wanted/asked for/knew about /benefited from at the time. Do you have any memory of why you particularly wanted a Gold / Premier account ?


If you contacted Lloyds in 2009 about bank charges while in financial hardship then they should have taken action to stop them increasing - by closing your account and organising a repayment facility - obviously it depends what the claims company actually did.

I think you should be able to get the majority of those charges taken back off the account - when did you stop using the account ?

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hello again

Can someone please help me by answering a few questions/concerns!

As it stands right now i have 2 years left until the defaults drop off my credit file. obviously the people i owe money to are gonna come calling before that happens so my questions....

1. If i setup a repayment via this letter will my credit rating get better after the 2 years? or does it kick start it all off again or repair my credit quickers?
2. Is it plausible to offer say 30 x £100 totalling £3000? or will they refuse this?
3. If i was able to obtain the money i owe and clear all outstanding debts how long after my defaults fall off would it be plausible for better credit (this is a question regarding family member lending me the money and me getting a loan to pay off the rest when i was in a better situation, i owe more than just this 6k)
4. Regarding question 2. if this is an option what letter template do i need to use to send them this offer?

Me and the missus have sat down and worked out i can afford around £300 per month but i owe around 18k in various loans etc all have been delt in the same way of just ignoring them

cheers

That £300 a month you have ''available'' should really be shared equally amongst your creditors - a free DMP (DIY with Citizens Advice or managed with Stepchange) might be worthwhile once we've had a look at the status of the rest of your debts, things will start cranking up pressure wise as you come towards 6 years.

The SD won't put a mark on your file if you get it set aside, but if you got it set aside then they took court action it may add a CCJ to your file which would stay on for another 6 years.


1. If i setup a repayment via this letter will my credit rating get better after the 2 years? or does it kick start it all off again or repair my credit quickers?
I don't think it will start things over Credit file wise, and it should still drop off 6 years from the original default.

2. Is it plausible to offer say 30 x £100 totalling £3000? or will they refuse this?
It's worth asking - I'm not sure if you've spoken with Kate but she may be able to speak with BW Legal regarding this on your behalf - worth a chat, if she can't then we can help with letters then.


3. If i was able to obtain the money i owe and clear all outstanding debts how long after my defaults fall off would it be plausible for better credit (this is a question regarding family member lending me the money and me getting a loan to pay off the rest when i was in a better situation, i owe more than just this 6k)
Consolidating your debts is only a good idea if you are in a much more secure position financially, if you paid everything off it would be marked as settled on your file and would still drop off the file at the same time as it would otherwise - but obviously you wouldn't have to deal with DCA's, Stat Demands or court claims over the next couple years while you wait for them to drop off. You'd have to have a spanking clean credit file to get a sensible loan without being forced to go to subprime lenders.

[Celestine]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

As this is an overdraft account, there are limits on what you can do with regard to enforceability. Though an overdraft is regulated by the CCA 1974, there is no obligation for a creditor to supply you with a copy of the original agreement. (You are able to request such a copy for credit card, catalogue, loan and HP accounts under s.77-79 CCA)

So, this statutory demand could be tricky to challenge using the 'standard' routes. There are some other possibilities such as an accurate statement of account, assignment and a default notice, but I'd be surprised if these alone could deal with this successfully.

I'd still recommend an application to set aside however, because they have to pass a very high bar to enforce a bankruptcy under such circumstances. New rules came in on 1/4/14 which have only reinforced this point. Bankruptcy is NOT an appropriate action for small consumer credit debts that could be tackled more fairly.

Now, you say you've only saved 'half' the money? This could be very helpful. I settled a stat demand a couple of weeks ago for a client who could only access 40% of the lump sum quickly.

Given that Lowell probably purchased this account for 5-10% of its face value, they would actually be receptive to a partial settlement even now a stat demand has been served.

I'm in the office tomorrow if you want to give me a call at work or email me on the address below in my signature.

Kate

[patters1978]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hi thanks for the reply's

I don't want to risk my credit file at all with this, so the time has come to deal with it and the rest as and when they hit i guess? or would you tackle them now before anyone else pops to the door?

ill try and answer your questions as best i can.

I believe i took the gold account as it increase my overdraft limit? or was told i needed it because it charged less for an overdraft fee? unsure

The last statement i have with the account was 2010 when my wages were put to another account.

I tried to claim financial hardship by myself and tried with a company at no point did lloyds stop the account getting further into trouble


celestine - i didn't say i had half the money i have £700 ish might be pushed this week into £1000-1200, i could in 2 months have 40% £2500 of the £6000 and i might contact you tomorrow what time does the office close?

[patters1978]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hi again

Been trying to sort cash out to sort this but sadly just cant
They have sent me an extension letter to the 25th so..

Can someone point me in the direction of a template letter to send to them please

many thanks

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hi again

Been trying to sort cash out to sort this but sadly just cant
They have sent me an extension letter to the 25th so..

Can someone point me in the direction of a template letter to send to them please

many thanks

I'd contact Cel before doing anything else:

Given that Lowell probably purchased this account for 5-10% of its face value, they would actually be receptive to a partial settlement even now a stat demand has been served.

I'm in the office tomorrow if you want to give me a call at work or email me on the address below in my signature.

Kate

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Did you manage to speak with Kate (Celestine) last week ?

[patters1978]

Re: Help Lowell - BWLegal statutory demand!

Hi everyone

Just a quick update

My missus phoned Kate (Celestine) last week and she was very very helpfull

will update further when i have info on what she has managed to arrange for us but to anyone else in the same trouble RING KATE

thank you everyone