Lowell Statutory Demand - HELP PLEASE!!!

[nomadsammy]

Hi everyone, I had a statutory demand posted through my letterbox yesterday by Lowell/BW Legal relating to 2 credit card debts - Barclaycard and Vanquis (totalling just under £5000) and just need some advice on what my best course of action should be?

I'm going to send CCA request to Lowell by recorded delivery - does the £1 fee cover both accounts?

 

Unfortunately I'm another 'head in the sand, ignore it and it'll go away' person! - until now. I realise that I can no longer ignore these debts and I really don't want a bankruptcy petition on my head.

 

I've been searching through my paperwork this morning and the points I have noted are that the barclaycard card number on the demand seems to differ (albeit very slightly) from my original card number - missing a digit from the middle and a couple of digits from the end. Also, from reading the forums it seems possible that barclaycard may not be able to provide a true CCA as the account was opened pre 2007. If that is the case, will this be enough to stop them being able to petiton for bankruptcy?

 

Also I have a letter from Lucas Credit Services dated 9th Jan 2013 re: outstanding debt to Vanquis. It says 'we are disappointed that you have not made payment or contacted us to discuss repayment of you debt of £0 owed to Lowell Portfolio Ltd for your Vanquis account' On the right hand side of the letter it lists the Creditor as Lowell Portfolio and the Amount Due as £0. When I received this letter, I thought great they must have written it off as it states £0.

 

I don't believe there is any PPI on either account but not 100% sure on that. There will be charges on the accounts but not sure what counts as excessive? I think my barclaycard credit limit was £2500 but the end figure is over £4000. I haven't got any of the old paperwork to check that out.

 

What should I do next?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Sam

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes it needs to be a separate CCA request per account and £1 per account.

 

You should also SAR the original creditors.

 

Do you know when the last payments were made to these accounts ? If this was to the original creditors, it might be worth finding out, if statute barred is possible.

 

Any charges or PPI ? Any disputes ? Hopefully the SAR will reveal this. Click on SAR for the letter template and amend it to ask for all the documents you need to see. e,g Copies of all statements, default notice, termination of account notice, copies of all system notes.

[unclebulgaria67]

You have 18 days from the date the SD was received, to take completed set aside forms to your nearest county court that deal with insolvency. So you will have a little time to do this. It is worth doing, even if you do not have definite grounds you are 100% sure about. If you don't set aside then they can file a bankruptcy petition at any point after 21 days.

[nomadsammy]

Ok thanks, I'll send 2 separate CCA request to Lowell then - one for the barclaycard and one for vanquis.

 

What reasons would I be able to use to apply for the set aside? I'm assuming that it wont go in my favour as I've not done anything until I got the SD (stupidly I know). Can I use the letter from Lucas Credit re: Vanquis as a disputed amount? Can I dispute the amount owing on barclaycard due to charges added (dont think there is any PPI). Can i use the incorrect barclaycard account no or would a judge just think I was trying it on? It'll take a while to get the SAR and I only have so much time to apply for set aside.

 

Thanks for your help - very stressed at the moment!

Sam

[nomadsammy]

Another question, would it be worthwhile sending an initial offer of payment of £50 per month (without accepting liability while this is all going on)? I haven't got much income at the moment!

 

Thanks

Sam

[unclebulgaria67]

Don't rush at this, as I can smell the fear which is understandable.

 

You don't need to make any offer of payment at this stage. You need to see what the score is with this debt.

 

What you have to consider is that many judges don't like debt companies using bankruptcy threats as a substitute for normal debt collection e.g CCJ. As long as you give reasons for wanting the set aside. e.g. that the debt has a considerable value of charges/fees that will need to be addressed. You could raise the issue that the debt has recently been chased by a third party DCA for this debt for a totally different amount, which should not happen per OFT debt collection rules, as it is confusing.

 

Send the CCA requests and SAR's off. Give it a week to see if anything comes back. See what info you have on file at home.

 

There is no panic. Post back in say a week and you will get help about how to complete the set aside forms. If you get a letter back saying that they won't issue the bankruptcy petition while they are waiting for the CCA details from the original creditor, do not just sit back. You will still need to do the set aside, to stop the threat of bankruptcy hanging over you.

[nomadsammy]

Thank you unclebulgaria67. You're right, I'm panicking about this, need to take a step back and calm down!!!

I will post off the CCA and SAR requests and see what happens first.

 

Thank you so much

[nomadsammy]

can anyone help me with finding the correct addresses to send the SAR requests to Barclaycard and Vanquis?

I've found these but not sure if it's right, google gives various addresses!

 

Vanquis Card, Customer Service, PO Box 399, Chatham, ME4 4WQ.

 

Barclays Bank PLC, 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 SHP

 

And should I address both to the 'Data Compliance Manager'?

 

Thanks

Sam

[Old Cogger]

Vanquis Bank Ltd.,

1, Godwin Street,

Bradford,

BD1 2SU.

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes addresses seem ok. Send to Compliance Manager/Data Protection Officer.

 

Vanquis appear to be contactable at either the Chatham or Bradford address.

[nomadsammy]

Thanks very much guys, I really appreciate your quick response

[DonkeyB]

You must report Lowell to the OFT for unnecessary use of the bankruptcy laws. It’s getting seriously out of hand now.

[vinegarvera]

Oh not another one... When will Lowells STOP???

[vinegarvera]

The good news is that there are loads of posts with people having previous experience of the same thing on here that you can draw on. mine is here:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?230908-Help!-Statutory-demand-***-WON-COSTS-***-2-years-later-SD-Issued-again-!!

[nomadsammy]

Hi everyone, just an update on this. I'm afraid to say that I've sort of given in to them. Bit annoyed at myself but to be honest I have too much to risk at the moment, just in the process of letting my house out and have had my hours reduced at work so really didn't want to end up with a bankruptcy petition! (Why does it all happen at once).

 

I sent the CCA and SAR requests off last week and I've been taking to National Debt Helpline who basically said they don't believe I have sufficient grounds to set aside. Their response when I said it was Lowell was 'why doesn't that surprise me, we've been getting a lot of calls about them lately. Its a bit naughty of them'. They also confirmed that Lowell have being seeing most of them through to bankruptcy stage.

 

I decided to make a small monthly repayment offer (without admission of liability) by e-mail. They replied to this saying they needed to speak to me for verification before they could respond so I prepared myself and phoned them. They were actually ok on the phone, only asked my name, address and DOB. (I was expecting what's your bank account details, where do you work, who was your first boyfriend...does he owe you any money lol). They said that they have accepted my offer and that they have sent a letter to me confirming this. They also said they had noted my CCA and SAR requests said that they won't be taking any further action until these are sent to me and as long as I continue with the monthly repayments.

 

Will I still be able to report them to the OFT? The sooner they are stopped the better, I don't want to see people in the position I am

Also, as I am not applying to set aside, what happens if they cant provide CCA etc...is it just tough luck?

 

Thanks for your help

Sam

[renegadeimp]

lowells issue SD's to force a debtor to give them money. They have no morals or issues with doing so. There really should be a rule against it, but thats the government for you.

[nomadsammy]

Hi again guys, just after a bit more advice please

 

Lowell received my CCA request on 15th Feb and sent me a letter in response saying they were requesting the documents from Barclaycard. I haven't received anything further from them. As it's now over 2 months, is there a letter that I should send them regarding their failure to provide CCA?

 

I also have a letter from BW Legal which states 'our client has received your request for documents and that until the documents are obtained from the Original Creditor and forwarded to you, your account will be placed on hold and no action will be taken in respect of the Statutory Demand'

 

I'm paying BW Legal a small monthly amount (which I'm happy to continue for the time being) but I'm assuming that if I did stop the payments, there's not much they can do until these documents are provided to me - am i correct?

 

Thanks for your help.

Sam

[scarlettuk]

I had similar earlier this year for a catalogue debt with Shop Direct. I haven't paid anything in some time, but definitely within the last 6 years so not statute-barred. I sent a CCA request to Lowell's, who approached SDG. Neither were able to provide the CCA so no further action has been taken. I still haven't paid them anything. This is by no means advice, just my experience. I hope you get it sorted.