Lowells £30 offer

[Smee]

Hi Everyone
New to the site and all help appreciated - greatly
I have a debt that was bought for Lowell's and they have been chasing for around 3 years through various collectors with no success. the debt is for £18,000 through an original bank loan.
I have just received a letter offering a compromise of £30 per month.
A couple of questions arise
1. should I do this !
2. if I do, does this stop any future litigation for a bigger amount of money per month
3. How much does it cost someone like Lowell's to take an £18000 debt to court and is it likely after chasing for three years. Is it too costly ?

Any help would really help
Thank you in advance to any one who replies
Smee

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Hi Everyone
New to the site and all help appreciated - greatly
I have a debt that was bought for Lowell's and they have been chasing for around 3 years through various collectors with no success. the debt is for £18,000 through an original bank loan.
I have just received a letter offering a compromise of £30 per month.
A couple of questions arise
1. should I do this !
2. if I do, does this stop any future litigation for a bigger amount of money per month
3. How much does it cost someone like Lowell's to take an £18000 debt to court and is it likely after chasing for three years. Is it too costly ?

Any help would really help
Thank you in advance to any one who replies
Smee

Hi welcome to LB

It is odd that Lowell has not issued a claim before now especially with a debt of £18K.
Something must be holding them back!!

Once you accept an offer like this from Lowell thus admitting liability it will not be
long before they push for increased payments.

I doubt it is the cost of litigation would put Lowell off if it had the documents to support
a claim as the cost would be added to the debt.
Who was the original creditor? When did payments cease? Is this account still on your credit files?
When was the loan taken out?

Have you sent a CCA Request Lowell at any point?

It's well worth doing a £1 statutory fee is payable for this it requires Lowell to supply
a copy of the agreement for the loan and they have 12 + 2 Working Days to comply.

nem

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Hi Everyone
New to the site and all help appreciated - greatly
I have a debt that was bought for Lowell's and they have been chasing for around 3 years through various collectors with no success. the debt is for £18,000 through an original bank loan.

Hi Smee
Who was the loan with? It's rather odd that the should just have chased for three years without issuing court action for such a large amount.

When did you default on this loan and when did you last make a payment? When did you take out the loan?

I have just received a letter offering a compromise of £30 per month.
A couple of questions arise
1. should I do this !

If you've not made any payments or acknowledged the debt in writing in several years, I wouldn't recommend it, sounds to me like an attempt at getting you to acknowledge the debt. :scared:

2. if I do, does this stop any future litigation for a bigger amount of money per month

No, informal repayment arrangements are not legally binding and they can still issue a claim even if you keep up your agreed repayments.

3. How much does it cost someone like Lowell's to take an £18000 debt to court and is it likely after chasing for three years. Is it too costly ?

For claims over £10k that are issued electronically, the court fee is 4.5% of the amount claimed, however, creditors like Lowell who issue lots of claims can pay lower fees by issuing claims in bulk. There are also solicitors fees and further fees to pay such as hearing fees, etc. :wof:

Do bear in mind they'd have paid 10% or less of the alleged outstanding amount for the account though.

Any help would really help
Thank you in advance to any one who replies
Smee

I would hit them with the CCA request and ignore their £30 offer to avoid acknowledging the debt.

Once you've sent the CCA request and the 12+2 working days are up, you can dispute the account on the basis of non-compliance with s.77 of the CCA.

They'll have to go back to the bank to get the documents and the bank will be in no hurry to dig them up as they have sold the debt. if you get something in response, do post up here, that's the best way to find out how enforceable (or otherwise) this loan is. :thumb:

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Thanks to everyone for their advice.
A couple of answers
The loan was taken out around 4 years ago. I stopped payment about three years ago and they have used various agencies to chase the debt of which I have ignored and not reply to a single one
If I go down the CCV route and they do manage to produce the original loan document where would I stand then.
If their letter now states that they are offing me to pay it off at £30 a month surely that would be a new payment agreement and they could not move away from that in the future. If I write to them accepting their offer does this not form the contact of their offer and my acceptance and could only change upwards if I agreed at a later date.
I am now away till sunday and will reply then to any replies And thank you all again for your help in this matter. Smee

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Thank you so much for this.
Regarding the CCV, I am away for the whole month of November and so do I have enough time if I send it out next week - and then they respond - whats the time restraints after that.
Also if they do come up with a copy of the original document would I then have to go back to paying the original amounts as per the original agreement, or would it be negotiation time?
My thinking here is I don't mind £30 a month moving forward, but only if it stays at £30 a month and they can't increase it as they made the offer.
I am away now till Sunday afternoon and will respond then if you reply. Once again many thanks for your help and advice. Smee

[Kafka]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

This is unusual for Lowells, who are normally very aggressive at taking court action and it's rare for them to offer a generous pre-court deal like this. At that rate it would take 50 years to clear, so it's most surprising and I suspect they would push to increase this as soon as they get you to cooperate.

If this was an old debt I would think it was because they know they can't produce the required paperwork for the court, but that doesn't seem likely for such a large debt only 4 years ago.

Follow the advice already given to get more details and remember never to trust Lowell or to speak to them on the phone!

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Such an offer from Lowell must be viewed with the greatest suspicion.
Lowell must be aware I think that there is some problem it's hard to guess
just what that might be.

CCA request is the way to go and don't get involved with Lowell by phone.

nem

[MIKE770]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

do you own your own home?

[Mr $quanda£ot]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

If the loan was taken four years ago, sadly it will be enforceable as the law changed in April 2007.

However, no harm of sending a CCA request.

If you have not made any payments in the last three years and acknowledged the debt, you are half away through to statute barred.

Very strange that those Leeds losers haven't issued a claim.

Personally, I wouldn't accept their £30 offer as that won't prevent them from issuing a claim and you would acknowledge the debt.

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Thank you to everyone and your advice ;-)

Still one question - If I go down the CCA route and they uncover any paper work for the original loan where would that leave me in terms of repayment, would it revert back to the original repayment of 300 or would it be re negotiable.

Also if they have made me an offer to repay at 30 per month surely that would stand as the new term and could only change if I agreed . . . confused !

Any advice on the above questions would be great if possible.
Sorry if these are questions that get asked all the time.
Thanks again Smee

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

The offer from them says -
In an attempt to demonstrate how flexible we are willing to be we would like to offer you a monthly repayment plan, so that you no longer have to worry and to stop any further action, such as litigation. We would like to suggest a payment plan of £30 per month, this means you can repay your account by Direct Debit for the equivalent of £1 per day. If you cannot afford this, please call ...... where one of our advisors will be able to discuss further options with you, or you can visit ........ and either pay your balance by debit card of set up an affordable monthly Direct debit.
Would this not be binding as an offer.

[wales01man]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Be Very careful with them once you start paying it will not be statute barred until 6 years after you stop paying very doubtful they are in the business of being nice

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Can anyone help and tell me where do I find the CCA forms to send

Thank you
Smee

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Yes I am sure your right,, they are not nice people.
I am stuck between a rock and a hard place ! If I dont acept the offer I am running the risk of a court summons in the post which would kill me, as there is no where to go from there but into court

[Smee]

Re: Lowells £30 offer

Be Very careful with them once you start paying it will not be statute barred until 6 years after you stop paying very doubtful they are in the business of being nice

Sorry just getting used to how this works and responding properly. hope this works and its right
Smee