Don't lose any sleep over this, I still get random texts from Lowell about a debt that went statute barred 5 years ago

NB Lowell's MO is to actively seek debtors who have moved without informing them, it's so easy for them to get an undefended judgement, meaning that you will get a visit from the Bailiffs at some point in the future. 

On the converse side, if you keep them informed of your address changes, then you will be able to receive all their rubbish and if you ever receive a pre action protocol letter from them you will learn how simple it is to bat Lowell off.

Send them your updated details and sleep easy, if anything should come through of consequence come back to this thread for help

I just got one, or rather my wife did for her defaulted Paypal (with Lowell), or rather the pre action protocol letter they are required to send. Took me 5 minutes to tick a few boxes and write about 5 sentences requesting the information that neither Lowell or Overdales have a hope in hell of conjuring up in order to successfully take her to court. Which is why Lowell only pay pennies in the pound for these things, being fatally flawed.

Let em all default,  priorities are your rent / mortgage , food, utilities council tax.  Nothing will happen except lots of letters. Stop prolonging the misery. Letter of claim isn't a worry for now.

Can you list your debts and approximate amounts owed and to whom? and approximately when they defaulted

The DCA's , the wording, everything is designed to make it sound like this is the most important thing in the world.  In reality all that the likes of Lowell do is purchase thousands of debts for 10p in the £, and their mission is to use any means to sound like they are actually a court or a bailiff to scare you into paying. In reality nothing could be further from the truth.

The reason why the debt is so cheap is because they are mostly fatally flawed and won't stand up to any scrutiny. That's why the Original Creditors don't take you to court and crush you, it's better for them to take a massive loss and sell to the likes of Lowell,

None of this is worth worrying about, the letters will come in fits and starts, the only one you need to worry about is a letter of claim, that may or may not come at some point

It's a waiting game, remember they have 6 years, I had more debts with more creditors , at more value than you, and I ended up with 4, but that's before I found this place, then I wouldn't have any because they are easy to bat away mostly, with very little writing. I could explain why this is, but just take my word for it.

35 minutes ago, JHall2023 said:

I'd be tempted to pay any discounted offers that come due to ignoring... I've got another bank account open for cheap settlements.

Potentially I could settle most of this for £15-25k? It's easier and based on my income increasing it'll be peanuts.

I can see my income improving over the next year so any discounts I'd be welcome to. If I can afford it at some point why not?

On a side note, I'd like a mortgage before 30, I suspect I'd need a VERY high deposit and pay higher interest (if anyone even considers me in the first place with all these defaults).

On the side note, by the time you are 30 all of this would have disappeared whether you pay or not, which is why you would be bonkers to even consider paying a penny. 

As a Site Team member who should be commenting more, and someone who has been in precisely your situation, I can only echo DX100's sentiments.

Paying those debts are a hiding to nothing, and will make zero difference to your credit, and will only serve to put money in the pocket of the DMP.

Let them all default, pay nothing and in 6 years you will be clean, remember paying them even a penny resets the statute barred clock so just ignore their mountain of letters and threat' o grams , phonecalls etc.

Always open your mail though just in case it's a letter of claim, if that happens (and it might never) come here and we can help you bat them off. As for Lowell I have a lot of experience of them, I would say watchful waiting, counts for a lot, always open their letters,  look for anything that's been transferred to Overdales Solicitors, if they send a letter of Claim they are easy to kick to the kerb, as they are very speculative, often relying on people not responding in order to secure a judgement.

As an aside these 'doorstep ' people are a joke, I had one call around on me for an old debt that had gone statute barred, she asked me when the loan was taken out and I told her 2011, she rolled her eyes and apologised, said I wouldn't be bothered again.

Seems like good news they sold it on, it might be months, years or never before you receive a claim form. Just Keep opening your mail, and come back here if it''s a claim form.  

Now it's sold on don't pay them anything, it will make zero difference to your credit, and you will keep setting the statute barred clock each time you make a payment.

They are making an educated guess as to your current address, based on the Electoral register etc. Under English law you have zero redress if the Claim form went to your old address, and are issued a CCJ by default without your knowledge (AKA a backdoor CCJ). It will be assumed that you tried to run from your debt by not informing your creditor. 10 minutes spent on a simple written one liner, could prevent this and save you a further 6 years ruined credit. This is the best advice you will get anywhere.

Also bear in mind that most DCA's base their business model on the fact that most people don't bother correcting their address if they move, because an uncontested CCJ is nice easy money for them. Capquest included.

Yup old council tax , even from many years ago can suddenly come back to bite you, although when you talk to them you should ask them to send you a statement first.

Type 2 lines on a piece of paper ' My current address is xxx xxx' Signed your name.

Then put in an envelope, send to the address on the letter they sent you

Go to post office and post, making sure you get proof of posting.

It's that simple, then you can put this to the back of your mind. Just make sure you open your mail in case you receive a letter of claim, but that might be 1, 2 5 or never years away.

Ellie, in my experience, sadly that has been of having a considerable amount of debt, and at least 25 different debts, The CCA puts the brakes on all the Calls, letters and other BS.   It is actually better to do it when @dx100uk says, in most cases but if it's stressing you out then do it now.

DCA buys debts for dirt cheap, wants easy quick money, the one's who they can scare into paying, the one's who are trying to hide and haven't given their correct address. Once you send a CCA, they know you will be a far tougher nut to crack, and they know you likely are getting great advice from this place. I've never had a CCJ from a DCA that I sent a CCA to.  In fact I've sent out more than 20 and only ever received 4 agreements back.

Hopefully that will give you some context. Whatever decide you do , do not pay them another penny 

As long as they have your current address in writing (Link Financial), I don't think you have a lot to worry about. Just wait till you receive a letter of claim, it might be next month, next year or never.  Oh and I back up DX100, the debt charities give some appalling advice.

Just sit tight and open all of your mail, come back here if you receive anything that looks worrying.

Yup, @dx100uk that's why I suggested sending the CCA now. Certain to put the brakes on collection activity, i.e letters, phone calls etc You or I would brush this off without a second thought but the OP is clearly not able to.

Postage stamp, was referring to sending the CCA letter.

As for the CCA, being successful... Well you should know that I was in afar worse debt situation than yourself, and it certainly worked for me. I can't show you the paper trail of one of my debts, but if I could you would instantly understand what I mean.

To get to the root of the matter you need to think about why whoever the original creditor was didn't take you to court and crush you instantaneously? Why did they instead, pretty much write it off and sell it to a Debt Collection agency for likely 10 p in the pound (yup your £3k debt cost the DCA £300).

The actual reason is because the debts are flawed in one way or the other, and they are sold in batches to DCA's, usually without paperwork, your debt  likely just a number on an Excel Spreadsheet. The DCA's job is to try and get you to pay, any which way. Fortunately they have no actual legal powers to do this, just fear tactics, that is what @dx100uk is trying to get across to you.

The CCA letter is the easiest way to exploit the weakness of the debt, because in your case, it's likely everything has been long disposed of paperwork wise. Think about it, who keeps records for 16 years lol..

Just do as I say and you will be back here in 2 weeks thanking us.

That's Why in your case I'd send a CCA letter now if you read my post, I think they are in the letter library on here still

Yup read DX's last post, you can either totally ignore them and keep your powder dry, keep reading up other threads, and do this later, what I am about to suggest.

Personally , because your debt is so ancient, I doubt whether, they would ever come up with the goods,

You could send a CCA letter now, via Royal mail,

They will either not bother replying, or will send you a letter telling you the debt is now unenforceable, and we will be back in touch. Either way after 12 business days there is stuff all they can do.

I'd put the chances at very , very low of them digging up your 16 year old agreement, which is why they brought the debt for so very little in the first place.  Oh and before you go worrying bout your credit file, this debt would have disappeared long long ago.

The advantages to you of sending one now, is for your health, no more collection letters or calls, plus very likely a written acknowledgment that is no longer enforceable.

There are organisations that have a legal right to ask for your budget, they include HMRC, Tax Credits, DWP, Customs & Excise, Council Tax. A bunch of cowboys that brought an old debt of yours for 10 p in the pound isn't one of them, that in essence is what a Debt Collection Agency is.

You are quite welcome to keep paying them every month, that is your choice, but I assure you it's like flushing money down the toilet. If you want to listen to me, I can tell you how to stop this in it's tracks, for the price of a first class stamp. Are you interested?

I'll give you my own experience with link,

I owed them £8k from an MBNA Credit card defaulted in 2008, I wrote to them with my latest address in 2009 (this is all you need to do if you have moved since). For about 3 years I received avalanches of letters and phone calls, then it all went quiet.  I never heard anything from them again, and the debt went statute barred 9 years ago now. I never paid them a penny!

It's pointless paying them anything, your already defaulted, the damage has been done to your credit file whether you pay them or not, and every time you pay them it re sets the 6 year statute barred clock. It's very much in your advantage to ignore them unless you receive a claimform, , in which case we can advise you here.

But like I said that never happened to me.

Just one thing to get out of the way .DO NOT PAY THEM ONE PENNY

When was the last time you made  a payment?

I don't know your financial situation, but I'm guessing it isn't great, after all you are posting on this forum.  This is why I am trying to explain along with other members of the site team, who myself included have been through all this, that all that you should be worrying about are your priority debts eg mortgage / rent, Council Tax Energy Bills etc.

Paying anything to a DCA is a waste of your money, and is actually detrimental in that it keeps the Statute barred clock resetting. You fretting at this point about whether it's EU or UK Juristriction is at the very best a waste of your time and energy, because nothing is going to happen any time soon.

If Paypal were so sure that they could crush you in a court of law, don't you think they would have done it by now?  They have effectively written your £23k  off by selling it to some cowboys for 10p in the pound. Does that seem to you like they are confident it would stand up?

And lets get to the DCA who make their money by sending off speculative claim forms, hoping that they won't be defended, and thereby winning by default. You have found this place where there are all the tools you need to defend if the issue comes up.

Even if you ended up one day with a CCJ on this, honestly your world will not end, welcome to half the UK population! A judge will look at your income and expenses, worst case scenario £50 per month.

Yet here you are worrying yourself sick about a complete non issue. Stop!

The DCA can be ignored until you receive a Claim form, at that point you can defend the claim. Debts usually get sold on to DCA's for pence in the pound because there is something wrong with them. When / if the time comes , get back to this thread and we will help you.

Stop worrying about this, it's, keep it at the back of your mind , ignore all the idle threat letters from the DCA. The one you are looking for is a Claim form, so make sure you open all of your mail, but as I say it may never happen.

Whatever happens do not make any payments to the DCA either.