Lowell/Red Debt Collection/Hamptons Legal - Advice and Help Required Please

[wales01man]

Re: Lowell/Red Debt Collection/Hamptons Legal - Advice and Help Required Please

My wife is getting threatograms from these mongrels and their buddys 31 in a year all threat no action
they would get zero even if she acknowledged them jokers?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell/Red Debt Collection/Hamptons Legal - Advice and Help Required Please

They are getting in touch with me sporadically. Not since May on one (the highest) debt, August on one and 4 times within the last month on the final debt. However, none of these are particularly threatening and are offering discounts etc. The most threatening one was from Hamptons Legal in May and I haven't heard anything since then on that particular debt. Do you think I have anything to worry about for the forseeable future? Also, they must know my current address as they are sending letters, but these letters have followed me around the country and nothing (touch wood again!) has happened yet.

As long as you are receiving letters, you should be fine. In particular, Hamptons Legal are a part of Lowell, who are well known for serving statutory demands. :mad2: Celestine :yo: is even better know for gettimg them set aside but you need to keep them informed of your address so you'll know *if* you receive one (they are usually hand-delivered), as you only have 18 days to apply for set aside, otherwise they can proceed to petition for bankruptcy. :scared: :scared:

I have not touched any of the debts since June 2008. However, as two of these are overdrafts does this make a difference?

With overdrafts, the SBd clock starts from the date the overdraft is officially recalled by the bank. :clock:

Does the SB clock start from the last payment made into a current account or is it when they deem it to be defaulted? One account is defaulted 2009 and the other 2010 on my credit file, although as I say I have not made any payments into these accounts since June 2008.

Your credit file has nothing to do with Statute Barred, creditors don't always default as soon as you break the contractual agreement, sometimes they default much later.

Below is what the ICO Guidance notes on filing defaults say about current accounts: http://www.ico.org.uk/~/media/docume...%20%20doc.ashx

15 Current accounts

Breakdowns on current accounts will happen in relation to overdraft facilities. We recognise this is a complex area because of the range of factors affecting the relationship with the customer, and the indicators in paragraph 10 above are of limited relevance.

On these accounts the following are indications of a breakdown.

• The customer has had an unauthorised overdraft for at least three months and the lender has demanded they put their account in order but the customer has failed to do so.
• The lender has closed the account (or would have done so if extenuating social considerations had not dictated otherwise) because the customer has failed to use it according to the original terms and conditions. (This includes situations where an account has been opened for fraudulent purposes).
• As a result of the way in which the account has been conducted the lender has asked for the return of the cheque guarantee card.
• The account has a debit balance (within or outside overdraft limits) but there have not been any or enough credits to service the debt for at least three months.

Also, the credit card is not showing on my credit file at all. Is this good/bad/indifferent?

It may be they neglected to file a default, or if you are just checking one CRA, it may have been reported to another one - not all creditors report to all CRAs. As long as no default appears later on, you should be OK.

[osbourne]

Re: Lowell/Red Debt Collection/Hamptons Legal - Advice and Help Required Please

Thanks again for your detailed reply, FlamingParrot. If I could buy you a drink I would! :tea:

"you need to keep them informed of your address so you'll know *if* you receive one (they are usually hand-delivered), as you only have 18 days to apply for set aside, otherwise they can proceed to petition for bankruptcy"
I'm pretty confident they know where I'm residing due to to the letters. They probably find me through my phone contract. Thanks for letting me know that it's best they know where I am though because I was going to try and use 'bamboozle tactics' on my credit file. I'll just sit tight and hope for the best based on your advice.

"Your credit file has nothing to do with Statute Barred, creditors don't always default as soon as you break the contractual agreement, sometimes they default much later."

• The account has a debit balance (within or outside overdraft limits) but there have not been any or enough credits to service the debt for at least three months.

Am I right in assuming that if the last payment was made in June 2008 that at the very latest these accounts will be SBd by next September?

Also, how can I check that something is SBd so that when the time (hopefully!) comes I can issue the 'leave me alone!' letter?

Thanks again for your valued help.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell/Red Debt Collection/Hamptons Legal - Advice and Help Required Please

Thanks again for your detailed reply, FlamingParrot. If I could buy you a drink I would! :tea:

Cheers to that!

I'm pretty confident they know where I'm residing due to to the letters. They probably find me through my phone contract. Thanks for letting me know that it's best they know where I am though because I was going to try and use 'bamboozle tactics' on my credit file. I'll just sit tight and hope for the best based on your advice.

In theory, SDs have to be hand-delivered using a process server, and most of the ones issued by Lowell are hand-delivered, however, the law allows for substituted service, meaning if they can't find you to serve you with one, they can send it by post. There's someone on here who had a SD sent to a place that was under refurbishment or something like that, and the SD had fallen behind something or other, then a BR petition was sent and that when he found out. :scared: When it comes to Lowell, it definitely pays to let them know where they can find you, especially when Cel is so good at getting them things set aside. :clap2: :whoo:

Am I right in assuming that if the last payment was made in June 2008 that at the very latest these accounts will be SBd by next September?

Also, how can I check that something is SBd so that when the time (hopefully!) comes I can issue the 'leave me alone!' letter?

Thanks again for your valued help.

With overdrafts, it all depends on when the bank decided to call it in, i.e. ask you to pay the O/D in full as opposed to waiting for you to pay money into your current account. It could have been soon after you stopped paying in, it could have been months later. It's not an exact science, you won't find a record of statute barred debts. For this reason it's always wise to wait a few months after the date you think it will be SBd, to be on the safe side. :thumb:

[osbourne]

Re: Lowell/Red Debt Collection/Hamptons Legal - Advice and Help Required Please

Thank you once again FlamingoParrot. You've really helped me to see everything clearly. Without your help I would have probably entered into negotiations with them, which I now know would have been financial suicide. Based on your advice I will wait it out and see if they do escalate things. Hopefully they won't, but if they do I'll be armed and ready.

"When it comes to Lowell, it definitely pays to let them know where they can find you"

This reminds me of Kevin in Home Alone: "I'm over here you big horse's ass, come and get me before I call the police (Legal Beagles)"

I will post up the next letter that they send me to see what you make of it. But in the meantime I cannot thank you enough.

Osbourne