Hiya mate, no it has been with a solicitors firm called Cohen Cramer up until this point acting on Lowell’s behalf

Hiya! I received a letter today from the claimants solicitors stating that as the claim is being defended it has been transferred to Lowell’s internal legal team - what are your thoughts? Is this good or bad news?

Hi All, So I filed my defence on Monday - when would I expect to hear back around next steps etc? Thank you

The agreement is mentioned in paragraph 2?

Thank you mate - what do you think of the below? 1. The Defendant contends that the Particulars of Claim are vague and generic in nature. The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made. 2. Paragraph 1 is accepted. I have, in the past, had a contractual relationship with Orange Limited, however I do not recollect the details nor am I aware of any outstanding balance that the claimant refers to and have therefore sought clarity from the claimant given that that they are the assignee of this alleged debt and have very little knowledge of what they are claiming and have not disclosed further details in response to my request under CPR 31.14. 3. Paragraph 2 is noted, again I do not recall any breach and I have requested the claimant send me the agreement mentioned which they have failed to do despite this being requested twice, once in response to the claimants letter before action and again in my CPR 31.14 request. Both requests were ignored by the claimant. 4. Paragraph 3 is denied. I do not recall having received a Notice of Assignment, as stated by the Claimant. They have sent an alleged copy dated 10th January 2015 from my cpr31.14 request. This is the first time I have seen this letter. 5. The claimant sent a word document as a “statement of account” in response to my CPR 31.14 request which is vague and does not include any traceable payment data and has address that I have not lived in for four years prior to the date on the statement of account. This has made it impossible to verify the information contained therein. Therefore the Claimant is to provide strict proof to: (a) show how the Defendant has entered into a Agreement/ Contract; and (b) show how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for; and © show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim; 6. As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is required that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed. 7. As the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim, due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act. 8. Subject to the above, should the alleged amount claimed include an early termination charge(s) amounting to the total balance of the remaining contract, OFCOM guidance clearly states that any Early Termination Charge, that is made up of the entire balance of the remaining contract, is unlikely to be fair, as it fails to take into account the fact that the provider no longer has to provide and pay for their service. 9. By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed, or any relief

They sent a letter of claim, which prompted my initial letter to them asking for more details. They haven’t refused to send the agreement per se, it’s just that I have asked for it twice and both times they’ve completely ignored the request. If the claim was raised on the 29/03 What is the last date to submit my defence? I heard it was 33 days however other places say 28 days...

Hey guys, Please can someone help me with writing an appropriate defence? Thank you!

Thank you mate. I don’t intend on filing early, I just want to have it ready

Thank you mate, I am so glad that you guys exist or I would have just rolled over. How much of that defence is applicable in my case? Some of it I don’t really understand. Obviously would amend to suit my case but is any of it irrelavent? Paragraph 1 is accepted. I have, in the past, entered into a contract with O2, however I do not recall the exact details, nor do I recall any outstanding balance. I have requested the claimant verify the exact details of this claim by way of a CPR 31.14. The claimant has refused to provide me with a copy of the agreement, stating he is not obligated to do so by virtue of the consumer crediticon Act 1974. To date, no statement of the alleged account has been received. Paragraph 2 is noted, again I do not recall any breach and I have never received the stated Default Notice. The Claimant has stated, by letter, that he is not obligated to provide a copy of the Default Notice, again by virtue of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Paragraph 4 is denied in regards that the claimant is misleading the court in its pleadings and has never made contact or made requests prior to issuing this claim. Its sole purpose in purchasing this debt was to litigate and secure a county courticon Judgement and therefore Pre Action Protocol was never attempted and should be considered in deciding the outcome of their claim Therefore the Claimant is to provide strict proof to: (a) show how the Defendant has entered into a Agreement/ Contract; and (b) show how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for; and © show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim; 5. The Claimant has stated that he has made several requests for repayment, yet I do not acknowledge any debt to the Claimant. 6. As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is required that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed. 7. As the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim, due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act. 8. Subject to the above, should the alleged amount claimed include an early termination charge(s) amounting to the total balance of the remaining contract, OFCOM guidance clearly states that any Early Termination Charge, that is made up of the entire balance of the remaining contract, is unlikely to be fair, as it fails to take into account the fact that the provider no longer has to provide and pay for their service. 9. By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed, or any relief.

Do you guys think I should just pay them or is there any way to defend this?

I think I have made a terrible mistake. The payment is showing on an old account I stopped using in 2012-2013. I don’t recall taking out any contract with Orange but it seems I must have signed up for something otherwise how would they have my bank details.

02/09/2013 was the last payment recorded on the account. Payment was made via direct debit.

Just rang EE, gave them the account number and they wouldn’t give me any information and referred me to Lowell.

I believe so. I do not have any reference to this on my credit file, they can’t produce an agreement. I had accounts with associated companies and as far as I can see this account was set up and no payments were made to it at all so that does suggest it was set up fraudulently, however because I had accounts with associated companies perhaps it relates to one of those, hence why I don’t want to just bare face deny it, I don’t want to be accused of perjury. I have billions of things going on right now which is why I just want to get this boxed off so I don’t have to worry about it. When do you think it is an appropriate time to start formulating a defence?

Just a quick one, I didn’t request a default notice in my cpr letter. Do you think I should ask for one? I lived in this address for a few months in 2010 - obviously moving out way before the suggested start date of this agreement. I appreciate that there are loads of sample defences posted on this forum, however they are full of terminology I don’t really understand, any help writing my defence would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Ok but obviously I still need to defend this claim in the meantime. Any ideas around forming that would be greatly appreciated.

I’m not sure. I have had accounts with EE in the past but I don’t recognise this account. I had an account with t mobile back in 2005-2006 but I don’t know anything about this one.

I have never made any payment in respect of this account. The date of the last payment on the statement they sent is 02/09/2013

Hiya, Please find attached all documents so far in relation to this. The statement of account they sent is very vague and doesn’t allow me to verify anything at all. They’ve not sent the agreement, which they will need in court? Thank you for taking the time to look at this for me! BBBAAA files.pdf

Thank you for the prompt replies. I sent a CPR request but not a CCA as I didn’t think mobile phone accounts were regulated by the CCA? How do I upload documents?

Yes I stated my intent to defend. I spoke to someone at EE and asked for a SAR but it’s not going to be done for 40 days

Hi there, Please find info below. I have had a mobile phone with Orange but way back in like 2005-2006 and it was disconnected and moved to another network. I have said I was going to defend the claim on MCOL. Name of the Claimant ? LOWELL PORTFOLIO Date of issue – 29TH MARCH What is the claim for; 1.The claim is for the sum of £xxx.xx due by the defendant under an Orange account with an account reference xxxxxxxx 2.The defendant failed to maintain contractual payments required under the terms of the the account agreement. 3.The debt was legally assigned to the claimant on 23/12/2014, notice of which has been given to the defendant. 4.The claim includes statutory interest under S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue of these proceedings in the sum of £xx.xx 5 The claimant claims the sum of £xxx.xx” Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? YES What is the value of the claim? £330 Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? MOBILE PHONE ACCOUNT When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? AFTER Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. DEBT PURCHASER Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Not originally however this has been sent in response to my CPR letter Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? NO Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? NO Why did you cease payments? I AM NOT AWARE OF THIS ACCOUNT. What was the date of your last payment? UNKNOWN Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? NO Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management planicon? NO

Hi there, I need some help please. I have been receiving letters from Lowell portfolio about a mobile phone debt that I do not recognise. I wrote to them and asked them to supply information including the agreement so I could understand where this debt came from. They did not send me the agreement, they only sent me some figures typed out which had my name and an old address at the top. A couple of months pass and I receive a letter before action from Cohen Cramer solicitors, which I sent a CPR letter in response asking for proof of the debt. I again received no agreement. I received a claim form a couple of weeks ago which I acknowledged. I am really really worried about this now - can they actually get a ccj against me even though I’ve disputed the debt and asked them for proof. If I pay the amount now will it still go to court. Will they discontinue the claim if I pay now? Thank you!

Thanks peeps!

Sorry I’m being needy but is the below good to send. If I’m disputing ownership should I ask for the documents or just deny ownership outright? Dear Sirs, Reference; Lowell Portfolio Account EE Limited (account numbers redacted) I am in receipt of your letter, dated 6th December 2017. I do not acknowledge this debt and I am not aware of any amount owing to either EE Limited or Lowell Portfolio. I require that you send me; A copy of the original contract for the account with EE. A full statement of account, including all interest and charges included on the outstanding balance of the debt explaining how they’ve been calculated. The notice of assignment. The notice of default. I am familiar with the Consumer Credit sourcebook of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which states the following rules. "A firm must not ignore or disregard a customer's claim that a debt has been settled or is disputed and must not continue to make demands for payment without providing clear justification and/or evidence as to why the customer's claim is not valid." 7.5.3 "A firm must suspend any steps it takes or its agent takes in the recovery of a debt from a customer where the customer disputes the debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds." 7.14.1 "Where a customer disputes a debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds, the firm must investigate the dispute and provide details of the debt to the customer in a timely manner." 7.14.3 "Where there is a dispute as to the identity of the borrower or hirer or as to the amount of the debt, it is for the firm (and not the customer) to establish, as the case may be, that the customer is the correct person in relation to the debt or that the amount is the correct amount owed under the agreement." 7.14.4 "A firm must provide a customer with information on the outcome of its investigations into a debt which the customer disputed on valid grounds." 7.14.5 "Where a customer disputes a debt and the firm seeking to recover the debt is not the lender or the owner, the firm must: (1) pass the information provided by the customer to the lender or the owner; or (2) if the firm has authority from the lender or owner to investigate a dispute, it must notify the lender or owner of the outcome of the investigation." 7.14.6 In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods. Furthermore, ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment. I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question. Yours Faithfully,