Urgent Lowell offering Tomlinson agreement??

[Halligrace]

Dear all I have been contacted about an old orange debt by Lowell’s I submitted a defence and received notification from Lowell’s offering a Tomlinson agreement. Is it worth doing or do I continue to fight? They say they can’t provide agreement but that they don’t have to! They said orange communicated with me in June 2013 and I last paid £10 off the debt back then. I believe my contact back then was with orange to challenge the debt and was bullied into making a payment! Have I therefore admitted liability from back then or do I allow the case to proceed to court? Happy to provide the letters/content of communication with Lowell’s I’d that helps. Never heard of this agreement before being offered not sure if they’re trying to just bully me I would really appreciate any advice you can offer!

[Halligrace]

My defence was:
i have no knowledge whatsoever of the said debt. I was a customer
of Orange for many years and they transferred me to the services
of EE within their merger - I did not request to move they
transferred my account. There was no balance due on the account ad i remain a customer of EE with the same details and have never had a debt with them.
In light of this claim I made contact with Lowell Solicitors in
writing and have today received a letter acknowledging my contact.
Defence (continued)
They tell me that there was a legal assignment of debt on or
around 21 December 2016. They have also advised that this is not a Consumer Regulated Act account and therefore they have no legal obligation to provide any copy of agreement and there is no
Default Notice. They have further said that they will request documents in support of this claim from their client but at the moment these are not available! According to Lowell Solicitors i
am not entitled to see a Deed of Assignment as this is
confidential I dispute this claim in full there was no monies outstanding to Orange at the time THEY transferred my account to
EE and i remain a customer of EE with a 0 balance! I await proof

[Halligrace]

THEIR LATEST LETTER : 15 May 2019
we confirm receipt of service of your defence to the claim dated 4 January 2019, the contents of which are duly noted.
our client has been advised by the original creditor and assignor of the debt, orange, that they have a record of contact from you several times in relation to the account and that the last payment was made by you on 4 June 2013 in the sum of £10. The assignor has confirmed that the amount outstanding at the time they legally assigned the debt to our client, Lowell portfolio was in the sum of £1003.64.
our client is satisfied that the full balance is due and outstanding, including court costs and fees incurred as a result of legal proceedings being issued. However our client is keen to resolve this matter amicably and to avoid further legal action which would incur further costs and fees. Our client therefore advises us to offer a Tomlinson order agreement if necessary for you to maintain a payment arrangement if you are unable to clear the balance in one payment. A Tomlinson order is where both parties agree to a monthly instalment amount which will put the case proceedings on hold. Court fee for Tomlinson agreement £100 which would be added to outstanding balance on account.

[Amethyst]

Some info on Tomlin ( rather than Tomlinson ) orders - https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...-credit-claims - but as things stand you don't know if you owe the debt and Lowell don't appear to have proven it to you that you do.

What date was the claim issued ?

Have you asked EE about this at all ? Over £1000 debt to a mobile phone contract seems excessive. If EE have no records then it may be worth putting in a formal Subject Access Request ( Subject Access Request Letter )

Is the text in your post #2 exactly what you entered as your defence?

[Halligrace]

Hi yes that is my exact defence copied from the form online it was 4 jan when they forwarded court claim. I argued the amount with orange back in 2013 which is I presume where they have stated the contact I have had the same mobile number for 12 years plus and have no debt with ee at all this I believe was caused by the merger from orange to ee and I have always argued it and never had it explained I just thought I could stitch myself up with the Tomlin agreement when I still don’t believe I owe the money

[Halligrace]

Thank you so much I just don’t know what to do for the best they just seem to bully people with no explanation

[Amethyst]

SAR EE https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

And respond to the claimant asking for evidence of said £10 payment and a copy of the final bill, notice of assignment and any termination notice.

last payment was made by you on 4 June 2013 in the sum of £10.

You don't seem to have pleaded the debt is statute barred in your defence though - but they don't seem to have provided any documentation at all and offering a Tomlin at this stage says to me they don't actually have anything.

[Halligrace]

So just an update .. I actually did nothing further as I’ve been at uni working on major project (knowing I had until end Aug on the court papers) anyway today I received a private and confidential letter from Lowell’s solicitors advising their client has instructed them to discontinue the claim and sent a notice of discontinuance. This has been sent to the court and request any hearing that may have been listed is vacated. This brings the legal proceedings to an end. Would anyone be able to comment on what happens to my credit file following this?? I am guessing there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue as I had repeatedly asked for details of the debt which I disputed! This has been years of arguing is this now closed?! I am hoping to apply for a mortgage next year and don’t want to be affected by Lowell’s! Seems they tried to bully me and failed thank you for all your help

[MIKE770]

well done