Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

[Lowell Hater]

Hello to all,
I am new to this so I am sorry if this is in the wrong place, please bear with me and any help or advice is truly appreciated. I in turn will try to help others in here if possible.

Back in late Sept. 2010 I took out a phone contract with Vodafone, everything went well and so I upgraded and agreed a new contract. This I believe was late Dec. 2011. Early 2012 things started to go wrong, I was not getting what we had agreed. I would like to point out at this time that when I upgraded I insisted that I would pick up the phone from my town centre Vodafone shop. I wanted to question the people about the new contract prior to signing. I was reasonably happy with the offer so signed the contract in the shop. I assume that means a CCA exists with my signature or is it a SERVICE AGREEMENT?
Lowell contacted me via email (obtained from Vodafone I guess). I wrote to Lowell (using a template letter) requesting a copy of the CCA and enclosed a £1 P.O. A letter came back from Lowell with the P.O. saying that I did not have a CCR with Vodafone (who they refer to as "OUR CLIENT" but a "SERVICE AGREEMENT". The letter goes on to say that their client has no obligation to to provide a a signed agreement. The letter continues with the usual stuff I guess until the 2nd to last paragraph. This says "When Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd purchases a debt from a client we issue a letter of Assignment to the customer which fulfils our legal obligations under the Law of Property Act 1925. This letter was sent to you on the 20th August 2014. We would not normally issue a specific Deed of Assignment unless the matter had progressed to Court action.
I feel Lowell has lied to me by pretending to act on behalf of Vodafone (the client) and then saying they have bought the debt. Lowells name appears on my credit file as me being in debt to them and using the title Telecommunications Supplier in the account name on the default they put on my credit in Aug. this year. I use NODDLE to check my credit file. nothing else shows, no CCJ's nothing.
Can Lowell do this?
Am I entitled to ask Lowell for a copy of the agreement I signed with Vodafone?
Are Lowell allowed to pass themselves off as a Telecommunications Supplier on my credit rating when clearly they are not?
Any help anyone can give me to get these parasites off my back would be appreciated.
Also if requested I would be happy to put up the letters from Lowell and my letter if it would help.
I truly hope someone here will be knowledgeable to help me.

Thanks in advance

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

As it is a mobile phone contract it isn't covered by the relevant bits of the CCA I'm afraid so they are right in saying they have no obligation to give you a copy under the CCA.

However when it comes to evidence the debt exists and is yours, they should supply the agreement you signed, statements of the account and so on.

Lowell have bought the debt off Vodafone - the debt shows on your credit file as Lowell as they now own the debt, they change the name of the owner of the debt on your file, but it remains the same debt, and should have the same dates on as originally (date of default etc), and the same type of debt (from telecommunications supplier)

The notice of assignment is all you are entitled to. Did you ask specifically for a DEED of assignment ?

[Lowell Hater]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Hello Amethyst
Thanks for the quick reply. I did ask for it as it was part of a template letter I found to send to them. Was that a good or bad thing? I guess they will not send a deed of assignment to me, so not really bothered about that error (oversight). Would you suggest I contact them and ask for a copy of the agreement that I signed to prove the debt is mine? Where do I stand if they refuse or Vodafone does not give it to them? I know I signed it when I picked up the upgraded phone. Can that fact be disputed by them if they fail to give it?

Thanks.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Not sure, what did the rest of the template letter say?

[Lowell Hater]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Hi Amethyst,

Sorry for the late reply but I had to venture out lol. I have copied and pasted the letter I sent after deleting my personal details. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

Lowell Financial Ltd.
Ellington House
9 Savannah Way Leeds LS10









Dear Mr James Crabtree
Re:- Lowell Reference Number
I do not acknowledge any debt to your company.
With reference to the above Lowell Reference Number, I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond with you further on this matter.
1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement, under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974.
2. A full statement of account.
3. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.
4. A copy of any other documents referred to in the agreement.
I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Sections 77-79), I am entitled to receive a copy of the alleged credit agreement on request. I enclose a payment of £1.00 which represents the fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act. Please note that under no circumstances should this payment be set aside against any alleged debt. If you are unable to supply any of the documentation requested, this fee should be returned.
I understand a copy of our credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days.
I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act creditors are unable to enforce an alleged agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.
I look forward to hearing from you.



Yours faithfully


Furthermore, I have now viewed my credit file and notice that the original default date was Oct. 2012 but Lowell has chosen to put the default in as Aug. 2014. thats where the red circle with white "D" is located. Is this right? Can they do this to the status history and balance history?

Again thanks in advance for any replies here

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Ah that's okay, nothing fatal in it xx

If you deny the debt is yours then they will have to evidence it is, the statements of account might be enough, but a copy of the agreement with the terms would be better - as you need to check those to know how the agreement worked and why you ended up in a default.... so yes I would write back to them along those lines - the request for the agreement won't barr them from enforcement if they don't have it, just normal contract law would apply so rules of evidence (and civil it's balance of probabilities) You should certainly ask for a full statement of account from the time you stopped payments at latest to date to see how the debt is made up.

[Lowell Hater]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Hi Amethyst

Thanks for the reply, glad to know nothing was damaging in the template letter lol.

I was hoping you could have commented regarding the actual vodafone default date and why lowells put it as nearly 2 years later on my file. Any help on this please?

Thanks in advance

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Hi there,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

So I can get things looked into further, email me with your details via the Contact us form here and quote the code WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line.

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post back with this and I’ll check I've received it.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Comms

Vodafone UK

[concernedperson]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

I will watch this with interest as I have a similar thing going on where Lowhells claim to be a Telecommunications Supplier who I allegedly defaulted on in 2012 (with a small amount) but only appeared on my credit file as a default in 2014 with an amount five times the size. A bit annoyed my perfect (for years) credit rating has crashed and have thought about writing to them but a company with a PO box address seems a bit strange to me?

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Lowells aren't claiming to be a telecommunications supplied, the credit file entry was made by a telecommunications supplier, and the debt ( to a telecommunications supplier) was sold to Lowells who just amend the entry to be in their name.

Regarding the dates - they shouldn't change the date of default, so it should still be removed from your file in 2018.

[concernedperson]

Re: Lowell DCA / Vodafone Demanding payment of an alleged debt

Lowells aren't claiming to be a telecommunications supplied, the credit file entry was made by a telecommunications supplier, and the debt ( to a telecommunications supplier) was sold to Lowells who just amend the entry to be in their name.

Regarding the dates - they shouldn't change the date of default, so it should still be removed from your file in 2018.

Really, guess I was confused by the fact that when I clicked on the history (on credit file) it showed it as starting in 2014 and the fact that no bad credit file entry was made by anyone in previous years 2012/3 were all perfect