Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

[larza]

Hi

I received a letter from Hampton Legal on behalf of Lowell Portfolio I Ltd chasing an old overdraft for £1268.32 that i had with Lloyds bank.

I have checked my credit file and a default was put onto my file in April 2008 however my credit file says "settled".

They are offering me a 50% discount if i pay within the next 10 days or if not then they will have no alternative but to commence with legal action against me.

Am i right in thinking that this debt would be statue barred in April of this year (although i have not made any payment since 2006/07). Also what should be my next move.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[jon1965]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

Ok the reason it is showing as settled against Lloyds is because they have sold it to lowells or at least that is what I am assuming.
So the default was put on the CRA file in April 2008? Do you have any paperwork from that time. What I would be looking for is either a formal demand for payment from Lloyds or a default notice under S87(1)

It is likely that come April 2014 it will be SB but if you want to be sure you could send a SAR request to Lloyds . That would show you copies of correspondence and the date the account was defaulted. Remember that the default on your credit file is not always the same as the actual default date. I have cases where the default has been recorded some months after the DN has been sent.

I hope that makes some sort of sense.

With a SAR it takes up to 40 days to respond.

Meanwhile if they start chasing you for payment or threatening action you could write a carefully worded letter saying the debt is SB (make sure there is nothing that could be taken as admitting the debt) and then they would have to prove that it wasn't.

Are you 100% sure that no payments or acknowledgements have been made?

[larza]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

Hi Jon thanks for the quick reply.

I am 100% sure that no payments or acknowledgements have been made.

Unfortunately i don't have any of the paperwork from Lloyds. Would my next step be to SAR Lloyds?

They are definately threatening court action so i would have to write to them saying the debt is SB but how do i do that without actually admitting the debt?

[jon1965]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

SAR lloyds will cost you £10 .

What exactly are hamptons saying (they are part of Lowells by the way) . Have the issued a claim or a letter before action/letter of claim?

I would hold off sending the letter until you have to but maybe something like this

Dear Sirs
Thank you for your letter of xxxxxx
Regarding this account I deny any liability to either yourselves or Lloyds and would require proof of liability before communicating with you. I would like to point out, however, that due to the age of the account I believe it would by now be statute barred as per the limitations act 1980.


Don't send anything yet, I will ask someone else to double check and see what she thinks

[larza]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

Thanks Jon.

The letter reads

Dear madam,

AVOID LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The legal owner of this debt Lowell Portfolio I Ltd would like to make one final offer to resolve this matter.

Pay 50% of the balance, which is £634.16 to settle the account, or
Pay £40 a month until you have paid off your balance, or
Call us and agree a monthly instalment amount that is affordable for you.

If you contact us about settlement of your account within the next ten days, you can avoid legal proceedings. Once you have paid the balance in full, your credit report will be marked as satisfied. If you accept our offer of discount your credit file will be updated to partially satisfied.

If you dont agree a repayment plan with us, we will have not alternative but to commence with legal action against you. This will result in you receiving a summons from the court as we will apply for a CCJ. If we are successful in obtaining a CCJ it will remain on your credit file for 6 years.

We would much prefer it if you contact us and agree repayment without the need of court action. Please call us on 0113 394 6317 to set up a repayment plan that you can afford, our payment methods can be found overleaf.

Alternatively, got to Lowell's website, www.lowell.co.uk, and set up an affordable monthly direct debit.

Should you need free impartial advice, details of the organisations that can provide this are overleaf.

Yours faithfully

Jill Senior
Group Manager

[CleverClogs]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

I received a letter from Hampton Legal on behalf of Lowell Portfolio I Ltd chasing an old overdraft for £1268.32 that i had with Lloyds bank.

It never ceases to amuse me that Hamptons Legal have no understanding of rhyming slang. :grin: (link)

I have checked my credit file and a default was put onto my file in April 2008 however my credit file says "settled".

That will probably be the date it was assigned to Bowells or another debt collecting parasite.

Am i right in thinking that this debt would be statue barred in April of this year (although i have not made any payment since 2006/07).

No - I believe that it may already be SB. For the debt to have been assigned to Bowells, a formal demand would have needed to be issued and the bank would have already tried to collect the money - probably for a year or so before it was written off and assigned to the debt harvesting parasites.

They are offering me a 50% discount if i pay within the next 10 days or if not then they will have no alternative but to commence with legal action against me.

The size of the discount rather suggests that they know the debt is already SB!

Let me put it this way - Bowells are not exactly noted for their philanthropy.

[larza]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

Thanks CleverClogs, so should i just wait and see where they will go with this?

Oh and the rhyming slang thing did make me chuckle .

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

Hi

I received a letter from Hampton Legal on behalf of Lowell Portfolio I Ltd chasing an old overdraft for £1268.32 that i had with Lloyds bank.

I have checked my credit file and a default was put onto my file in April 2008 however my credit file says "settled".

They are offering me a 50% discount if i pay within the next 10 days or if not then they will have no alternative but to commence with legal action against me.

Am i right in thinking that this debt would be statue barred in April of this year (although i have not made any payment since 2006/07). Also what should be my next move.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Statute Barred is 6 years after the CAUSE OF ACTION, not last payment. With an overdraft, the cause of action would be when the bank recalls the O/D. The bank would have sent you a letter at that point. Normally O/Ds are not recalled immediately, since the bank has no way of knowing you won't be making any more payments into that current account, so SBd would be a few months after the last payment into the account.

If no payments went in since 2007, then it should definitely be SBd by now, regardless of the default date on your credit file. You could go ahead and send the SBd letter, which would put the ball on their court.

[larza]

Re: Hamptons Legal Chasing Lloyds OD

Thanks for the reply FlamingParrot.

Do you think I should sent the SB letter now then or should I wait and see if they are going to take things further?