Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

[Teddward]

Hamptons & Lowell are continuesly sending letters for an old credit card debt of mine to my parents house, the card was originally registered there but I then moved away & that is when I started to get into financial trouble. I did inform HSBO of my new address & they used to send the bills to my new flat for payment but since H&L have been chasing the debt they have always sent them to my parents house.
I now live abroad (& won't be moving back to the UK) but visit my parents occaisionally, they always save the letters for me (for over 2 years!) & I always ignore them because they just go round in a big circle, threatening, then offering helping, then threatening etc but my parents are getting older & as the letters are now saying they may pass them to a debt collector I am worried they may visit the house (don't know why I haven't lived there for years) & this would worry my parents.
I think the debt maybe SB or close to it.

Any good advice greatly appreciated as a new member.

T

[Nibbler]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

the letters are now saying they may pass them to a debt collector I am worried they may visit the house (don't know why I haven't lived there for years) & this would worry my parents.
I think the debt maybe SB or close to it.

Lowells are "collectors". So are their pseudonyms Hamptons, Red Collection etc

I presume you mean they are actively threatening doorstep collection?

[Teddward]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

The last letter I have recieved (25th feb) says I have 3 choices:

Pay 50% balance
Pay 75% in 12 equal payments
Agree to £35 per month on direct debit

It also says:
"This is your finalopportunity to deal with this matter before we look at alternative courses of action that may include passing your account to one of our debt collection agencies who could decide having an agent visit your home is the next appropriate course of action"

As I am not in the UK this is the worry for me.

Thanks
T

[Nibbler]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

So a vague wafty "we might consider xyz"?

Well, they "might" consider an lot of things.

(Including crawling back under their rock)

The chances of them paying for a debt collector to visit an unverified address for an old account no-one has had contact on for 6+ years is going to be minuscule.

I would say your parents are more likely to get a visit from Pixies and Elves.

[Teddward]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

The letter from Hamptons is a bit more forceful, the main part says:

"We are now preparing your account for the appropriate next steps to recover the balance from you, these could include starting legal action or passing your account to one of our debt recovery agents who may arrange to call on you at your home to discuss your reasons for non-payment face to face and access your means to repay what you owe"

T

[Nibbler]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

Again that is a bog standard letter they send out. Lost count of how many of those I heard of.

Could. May. Whatever.

[PlanB]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

I would tell your parents to send back any letters unopened with "Return to Sender - Gone Away" on the envelope because that is the truth. I presume you aren't on the electoral roll at your parents' home since you live abroad so when a creditor or DCA try to trace you through the system you will not show up and your CRA file should be marked "Gone Away" by the creditor.

Do you plan to come back to the UK soon or are you paid in the UK for your current job? I only ask because if a creditor obtained a county court judgment behind your back they could apply for an Attachment of Earnings to take the money from your salary if it's paid into any bank account in the UK. And most importantly do you own any property in the UK because if the creditor is successful in getting a CCJ by default (because you didn't respond to any court summons) they could apply for a charging order on your property. But they can't do anything to your parents or their home.

If you've got no income or assets in the UK you should be fine

[Teddward]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

Thanks for your help.

T

[Teddward]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

I do not have any assets or accounts in the UK & I do not plan to move back to the UK, ot for many years anyway.

My main concern is that they will visit my parents house & get them worrying when I am not about but nibbler has advised that this is very unlikely to happen.

T

[PlanB]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

My main concern is that they will visit my parents house & get them worrying when I am not about but nibbler has advised that this is very unlikely to happen.

It won't happen if they know you don't live there will it :grin:

Debt collectors are not psychic so unless they're specifically told you've "Gone Away" they won't know. No human being at Lowell or Hamptons actually sits down and writes you these letters, they're just churned out as templates from the office database in an escalating process without any thought going into it :typing:

But the longer you go on not replying the more they'll carry on until they issue a court summons or send a SD. If they've had no response to any of their previous letters they'll simply presume you're avoiding the debt and have stuck your head in the sand. A letter returned is a suitable response.

[Teddward]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

OK, I will tell them to return them although the advice I have had in the past is to bin them which is what we have done but will return them with "Gone away" written on if that is the best thing to do.

T

[PlanB]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

return them although the advice I have had in the past is to bin them which is what we have done but will return them with "Gone away" written on if that is the best thing to do.

It's safe to bin letters from some creditors and DCAs but Lowell is not one of them because they almost never give up until they've taken you to court even if you don't know about it, and you quite rightly don't want your parents to have the problem of dealing with them either :fear:

[Teddward]

Re: Hamptons & Lowell hassel pls help

Many thanks, will do.

T