Hi, today I recieved a letter (with two letters inside one from 3G mobile other from Lowell).

The 3G mobile letter says that they have now passed my debt with 3 to Lowell and that I have to pay £264.90 or they will take action.

In the copy of Lowell letter it says: We write to inform you that your 3G mobile account, reference ****** has been sold to Lowel portfolio I ltd on the 30/06/2008...

so basically I have to pay £264.90 or they will take action.

Now, I haven't dealt with 3G mobile for years now, I remember us having a 3G mobile account but we don't remember if it was on my Mothers name or mine, the letter that came today is on my name though :/ but anyways, my Mother canceled a 3G mobile account years ago (had difficulty doing so as well as they didnt want to let go) and now out of the blue this letter comes! It has been about 4 years since we left 3mobile! :|

I have loked online regarding similar cases and so far have found two posts on different forums by people that have recieved the same letters asking for money. I have also read a lot on the Barclays debt on this forum: http://www.moneysupermarket.com/COMMUNITY/forums/t/lowell-portfolio-1-16516.aspx - and by the sound of it it's all falls and they are just trying to rip some people off?

has anyone had any similar problems with 3mobile and lowell?

I have just finihsed uni and am in debt over my head as all students are after they leave uni! and now this comes out of the blue!

Any help is appreciated :(

PS, sorry bout spelling mistakes, just stressed :(

Hi -- The first thing you need to do is to determine if this debt belongs to you or your Mum or if indeed it is even valid at all, you can do this by preferably writing to both of them, recorded, disputing that this debt is actually yours and requesting them to forward the relevant copies of the agreement onto you for confirmation.

Once you are satisfied who or even if either of you are liable you can either make arrangements to clear it, or dispute the old debt if you don't agree, or you have the details of how and when it was legally terminated, if it appears valid.

You may also like to ask them why it has taken them so long to send this alleged overdue demand onto you. ?

I don't think we owe them any money at all as everything has been paid for when the account was closed. This is just some randomness.

I think I need to write them a letter asking to prove that I owe them money and proved any evidence.

With so much going on in my life at the moment I don't need this on top of everything! And I'm guessing this will take some time to clear up :/ - where do they get all these debts from? This is bizzare! We owe no money at all.

And thinking about it, we canceled a 3G Mobile account 4 YEARS ago, never recieved any letters asking us to pay this money or any money at all from 3G Mobile, never recieved any letters saying that we owe them money. And today bam! out of hte blue this comes and is asking me to pay £264.90 - what the hell?!

I think I need to write them a letter asking them to prove that I owe them money and provide any evidence.

Yes, that must be the first course of action in order to stop it progressing any further, it will save you a lot more hassle by nipping it in the bud, although your life is hectic at the moment....it will save aggravation later for the sake of writing a relatively simple Five minute letter now.

Note send it recorded...especially to Lowell, the debt agency. !

Hi Sapnas,
I just read your post regarding a letter from Lowell in connection to payment owed to 3G mobile services. I too have also received a letter from Lowell requesting £60 for outstanding balance with 3G network, but my contract with them ended in 2005! Again I was totally unaware that I owed any money to them.
Did you get any further with it? I will contact 3G tomorrow to enquire about this.

Regards
Benkel

Well, after doing some research and reading all these posts about them, I kinda relaxed and forgot about it and just ignored it. I have recieved another letter from RED on the 4th of this month saying I I have until the '4th' (LOL! same day) to pay them or they will have to take me to court and/or send someone around to take some of my stuff. Well I will have to reply to their mails now - I think I will send both of them a letter saying that I do not own any money and just to prove it if they have any prove. *** them.

Anyone got any suggestions what to do now that I've got two letters?

Hi sapnas,

I too am currently in a battle with Red / Lowell portfolio over a 3Gmobile bill that was cancelled and resolved back in 2005.

I have researched this a fair bit like you and have come to the opinion that it is most definately a scam. Fortunately I have been able to obtain records from the carphone warehouse where the phone was bought stating that it was returned 11 days after the account was started. I remember all too well what happened with 3G back in 2005. My husband got the phone and after a week of not being able to make or recieve calls he returned it as per thier 14 day return policy. we paid the bill for the calls he'd made and thought that was it until 3 kept billing us. we were told at the time this was a computer glitch and it would be written off... then nothing for 5 years...suddenly now a letter like you giving us 10 days before they "send field agents" aka bailiffs ...LOL...

Well, I am playing fire with fire.. I have phoned Lowells, stated that the debt is not ours.... also insisted that they noted on my account that I will be charging THEM for any calls and letters they send the sum of £20 for my time and personal/physical time... any letters I send will cost them £20 (to open and read) and should they send bailiffs round (who will get sent away at the door as they dont have the right to enter unless they have a court order) I will be charging them £50 for the privelledge of oppening the door and £10 for every minute I have to speak to them. All this has been backed up in an e-mail and snail mail letter that I have sent to them recorded delivery. Note I have not sent them the proof I have.... They have no right to my persoal records and as the law states they have to provide evidece that there is a debt to answer to.. which there is not. I am saving that documentation for court. (for which I will be charging £150 day rate to attend) . I have the right to charge for my time as long as they are aware before they enter correspondance..much like the way the banks get away with htier "late letters" and associated charges.. just because you are not a bank does not stop you from doing it too.. all you have to remmeber to do is a tax return on it at the end of the year and pay tax on any amount you recieve... not a problem for us as Hubby is self employed anyway! to date they owe us £60.00. I cant wait to see how far they take it... I doubt the will like being on the recieveing end of thier own medicine.

The ball is in thier court... and if you are searching this Lowells.. (you know they are watching the public forums) you have met your match in me....

Hope this helps hun... e-mail me if you want a copy of my template letter and you too can play them at thier own game!

Hi,

I too have recently received a letter from 3 and Lowell Portfolio requesting payment immediately after my account was closed in November 2005??!! i was furious and have since been on the phone to Lowell Portfolio. I told that the account had been paid in full and closed, they agreed but apparently there was still an amount of £23.10 still payable? I told them it was absolutely ridiculous and i refuse to pay it. i know it's not a lot but it's the whole principle of the matter! They argued and argued with me on the phone but i persisted with them. I told them i was disguted that i hadn't been contacted sooner and that i will take it up with 3 as i had had a conversation with one of their representatives who confirmed the account was closed and nothing else was outstanding! Lowell Portfolio told not to contact 3 because i would be referred bck to them and that they would deal with 3 themselves? Well as i obviously don't trust them i WILL contact 3 to give them a piece of my mind if not anything else and Lowell Portfolio said they will write to me within 7 days with an outcome of what 3 have said. I will look forward to it, however i'm so annoyed now that i'm having to use my own phone bill to call them!!!!

I think they should be reported to Watchdog!!! I will keep you posted if/when they write back to me.

I am furious.

how can they have sold my debt and not asked first?

how can the debt letters come with no reference to what they are about. LIke you my letter is about debt in 2005 which i have no idea about.

I like the idea that the person answering you below had, charge them for your time like they are charging us. Inspiring.

i am going to write to them to justify my debt.

Also, what is galling is that I never reclaimed my cashback offer on my account. I was to send in 3 bills and get half my original contract cost back. I never did this - which i think added upto £150. And now they are penalising me for a third of that.

I hate these companies!

rapwicket, they have every right to sell your debt and not tell you. You will find that alot of companies will sell off debt to debt collection agencies to then get this. Sometimes it's older debts that they have not managed to claim back that they will sell off but not always the case. Student Loans company sold 2 of my loans to another company and although its a pain theres not alot I can do about it - I have to pay 2 companies. easier for me tho as I know about my debt and exac;ty what it is for.

Not sticking up for 3 but I'm assuming you got your mobile through another dealer - Phones 4 U / carphone warehouse etc. from what Ive seen in the past 3 dont offer cashback and its all offered through these dealers. i know from experience that it's these dealers that you have to chase for this cashback and many are none too willing to give you it, blaming it on the mobile network, eg 3/O2.

Talking of mobile phone companies and Lowell Portfolio I, my wife received a letter from Lowell on Monday concerning an alleged debt owed to T-Mobile of just under £200.00 - which we suspect relates to a one2one mobile phone contract which she had cancelled and insists that she settled in full - and, in this instance, we know that this was done over 6 years ago, and certainly some time before April 2002.

We have had no contact from one2one, T-Mobile or any other body concerning any alleged debt, until the letter received from Lowell Group dated 13/08/2008 - almost 23 months after they say they bought the alleged debt off T-Mobile (the letter from them states that they bought the debt on 15/09/2006).

As we can guarantee that we have heard nothing concerning this alleged debt for over 6 years (and have therefore by inference not acknowledged it in writing nor made a payment) then we are asserting that the alleged debt has become "statute barred" under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 - meaning that neither Lowell nor T-Mobile are allowed to take any legal action against us to attempt to recover the alleged debt. We have written to both Lowell and T-Mobile to inform them of this.

Even though we are certain that the debt was statute barred, the letter still contained the wording "if necessary commence legal action against you in the County Court and proceed in any permitted legal method to recover the debt".

As a consequence of my wife receiving this letter, I have undertaken some research. This has led me to the Office of Fair Trading guidelines on debt collection: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

Section 2.14(b) of this document lists (amongst others) the following practices as being unfair when a creditor/debt collection agency is dealing with "statute barred" debt:

"it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period"

"it is unfair to mislead debtors as to their rights and obligations, for example, falsely stating or implying that the debt is still legally recoverable and relying on consumers not knowing the relevant legal provisions"

We therefore believe we would have reason to complain to the OFT citing the two guidelines listed above, and shall be doing so once we obtain documentary evidence confirming that the debt is statute barred.

Hi!

I also received a letter from Red Debt Collection Services who are supposedly acting as agents for Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd claiming that I owe £33.03. The surprising thing is that way back in 2006, my husband transferred his 3G contract to me and earlier this year, I changed from a monthly contract to a pay as you go on 3. I have always paid by direct debit and have never defaulted on any payments. IN fact, the last bill I got from 3 confirmed that I've got £0.00 credit remaining and that my line is a pay as you go. I tried the no on the letter 0844 844 4720 and got a message that their lines were busy and to try again later. After the 10th try this afternoon, I gave up trying to call them and decided instead to call 3G. I called them, got through to the most useless young woman who was not at all helpful. I asked her to put me through to their credit control company so that I could determine where this supposed debt had come from. She claimed that no such department exists at 3!! I then asked to speak to her manager as she clearly was too junior to deal with the matter to which she replied the manager was "busy". She then disappeared for a few minutes, came back and said the manager would call me back on my mobile "within the hour" - 6 hours later, I'm still waiting!!!

I've resolved to write to Red Debt/Lowell, asking them to show me evidence of this debt. Here goes!

Was the alleged bill for £33.03 at your current address or a previous address? Does it quote a "3" account number? If your current address, did you ever receive any confirmation whatsoever from "3" about the existence of any "debt"?

I hope you get an itemised bill, so that you can document exactly how much you have been paying to call "0844 844 4720" and "3" concerning this matter. You've probably already spent more on phone calls than Lowell would have spent purchasing the alleged "debt" in the first place - if the Guardian is correct (http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/02/consumeraffairs) then it would have cost under 17p to buy the debt off 3 (assuming Lowell paying 0.5p per £1 of outstanding debt as the Guardian seems to suggest).

From what you say, this sounds to me almost certain to be a disputed debt anyway. Write to "3" under the Data Protection Act citing a Subject Access Request, http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/html_personaltoolkit/html/access.html - also use the following wording in bold text at the start of the letter, "We do not acknowledge any debt to you or any company or organisation that you claim to be representing".

Be VERY careful if you choose to write to Lowell in writing. If it's a 2006 debt, it won't become "statute barred" for at least another 3 years, 4 months and 9 days (depending on when exactly the phone was cancelled and when you last made a payment to "3" or acknowledged the debt in writing). Even so, any "admission" of the debt in writing could potentially be deemed as resetting the clock under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5, so be sure to cite the following in bold text at the top of the letter just to make it completely unambiguous, "We do not acknowledge any debt to you or any company or organisation that you claim to be representing" and then also cite that you are making a Subject Action Request under the Data Protection Act.

Even though companies may charge you up to £10 for acting upon a Subject Access Request, don't send any money when you first write, and if they do ask you for money in response to your request for the Subject Access Request, then make sure that when you write to send it, your accompanying letter again says "We do not acknowledge any debt to you or any company or organisation that you claim to be representing" and unambiguously states that the purpose of the enclosed remittance is in payment for the Subject Access Request and is NOT to be used as payment towards any alleged debt.

Send all communication by Recorded Delivery and keep a copy for your records.

The alleged bill was sent to my current address and was actually addressed to my husband. It does not quote a "3" account no - it has a reference number which doesn't correspond to any of my "3" bills. I have a copy of all my itemised bills as well as my husbands going back to 2004!! I will most certainly check by BT itemised bill to see how much I spent (should have thought of that instead of ringing and ringing!) - didn't spend more than 2 seconds connected each time though. Thanks for the help. Will do