Lowell bankruptcy and charing order threats on almost statute barred debts

[mitty68]

Hi, great forum! Hopefully someone can help me.

I have two debts with a bank. One was a current account with overdraft and debts of £3k. The other was an unsecured loan with debts of £9k. I hit hard times in 2008 and defaulted on them both, and haven't heard anything since then until recently. I think I received letters saying the debts had been bought by Lowells but I'm not 100% sure of this. I've ignored the letters and they're saying the smaller debt will soon be transferred to Red Collection - I'm not too concerned about that one. The other debt seems to be more serious as this has recently been passed to Hamptons Legal and I've got my first letter off them. They've done a Land Registry search so they know that I'm a home owner. I also had a home visit a while back, but my girlfriend answered the door when I wasn't in and as the guy at the door seemed dodgy, she fortunately said I didn't live there - I'm pretty sure that that visit was connected to Lowells.

From my research on the internet, I think it's likely I will get a Statutory Demand from Hamptons very soon. I have no assets (just debts!), no job and although my home had £15k equity when I bought it, it now has zero equity or even negative equity due to house price falls. I don't know how Hamptons work, but they might just see my house as having £15k equity on paper and might try for bankruptcy?

Whats my best option? Should I dispute the debt now before they send a Statutory Demand and then try and drag it out for 10 months until it is statute barred? I'd rather not lose my home, because obviously it would be a load of hassle, but also my interest only mortgage is very cheap which will be beneficial when I hopefully find a new job.

[PlanB]

Re: Lowell bankruptcy and charing order threats on almost statute barred debts

Your story has all the symptoms of Lowells planning to issue you with a SD any day soon You've ignored their letters in the past but do so now at your peril. Dig out the last letter for each account and send a s.78 CCA Request to Lowells for each one asap with a copy to Hamptons and/or Red. The CCA Request is probably not relevant for the OD (only the loan) but at least it should stop them in their tracks while you evaluate the situation.

Post up more details of these two debts to see if we can help. The date the accounts were opened will be important. Do a seperate post for each debt.
You need to get your skates on because Lowells don't hang about when it comes to issuing SDs :fear:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell bankruptcy and charing order threats on almost statute barred debts

Hi, great forum! Hopefully someone can help me.

I have two debts with a bank. One was a current account with overdraft and debts of £3k. The other was an unsecured loan with debts of £9k. I hit hard times in 2008 and defaulted on them both, and haven't heard anything since then until recently. I think I received letters saying the debts had been bought by Lowells but I'm not 100% sure of this. I've ignored the letters and they're saying the smaller debt will soon be transferred to Red Collection - I'm not too concerned about that one. The other debt seems to be more serious as this has recently been passed to Hamptons Legal and I've got my first letter off them. They've done a Land Registry search so they know that I'm a home owner. I also had a home visit a while back, but my girlfriend answered the door when I wasn't in and as the guy at the door seemed dodgy, she fortunately said I didn't live there - I'm pretty sure that that visit was connected to Lowells.

Lowell, Hamptons and Red are all part of the Lowlifes group: http://www.lowell.co.uk/who-is-red-debt.aspx

From my research on the internet, I think it's likely I will get a Statutory Demand from Hamptons very soon. I have no assets (just debts!), no job and although my home had £15k equity when I bought it, it now has zero equity or even negative equity due to house price falls. I don't know how Hamptons work, but they might just see my house as having £15k equity on paper and might try for bankruptcy?

Whats my best option? Should I dispute the debt now before they send a Statutory Demand and then try and drag it out for 10 months until it is statute barred? I'd rather not lose my home, because obviously it would be a load of hassle, but also my interest only mortgage is very cheap which will be beneficial when I hopefully find a new job.

I would be sending them a CCA request A.S.A.P.:

Dear SirsAccount No: xyz

I hereby formally request a copy of my Consumer Credit Agreement, pursuant to s.77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA1974).
If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties. Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b), 6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).

The OFT has stipulated that 'sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 outline the information creditors must provide to debtors under fixed-term, running account & Hire Agreements'. Under these sections a debtor can pay £1 to get:
· a copy of their agreement
· copies of some of the other documents mentioned in their agreement
· a statement of account

If this information is not provided within 12 working days the debt becomes unenforceable. This means a creditor cannot:
· make the debtor pay the debt before they're supposed to
· get a court judgment against the debtor
In line with the above, please find attached my £1 payment, which is the statutory fee - note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose. I look forward to hearing from you within the statutory time limit (12 + 2 days).
Yours faithfully,

The letter should be sent recorded delivery so you can track it, with a PO for £1 and signed using a computer font rather than your real signature, to be on the safe side. They have 14 days to respond. Given that Lowells are debt purchasers, they will have to request the document from the original creditor, so they are unlikely to comply within the timescale. You say one of the accounts was an overdraft, there wouldn't be a credit agreement for that one but you say the other one was a loan, there should definitely have been one for the loan, which is the larger debt.

Cel successfully fought a Lowell SD :cheer2: a couple of weeks or so ago, on the basis that they were unable to provide documents to back their claim, a compliant agreement (CCA) for starters. Lowells will also be liable for costs. :dance: I'm unable to link to that thread because it's in the VIP area and, unless you subscribe, you wouldn't be able to access it.

In addition to the agreement, there are other documents that should have been sent to you and should be compliant. One is a Notice of Assignment (NoA) showing that Lowells are, in fact, owners of this debt, the other is a Default Notice (DN) that the original creditor should have issued when you broke your contractual payment agreement. Have you got any of these?

It would also be useful to have a few more details with regards to this debt. As you say you got in trouble in 2008 (like many of us, thanks to the banks! :mad2, I assume the accounts would have been taken out before 2007.