Hi, after reading all the stories of Lowell, and informing my son and others that after six years the debt becomes statute barred = unless you actually admit to the debt and/or start paying Lowell which is a bad thing to do = I have now got my solicitor to write to them and to Red Debt (same company). You can consult Citizens Advice if you don't have your own solicitor -most solicitors will do a free half hour interview if you are still uncertain as to your position. Hope everyone is successful in getting rid of this company. I have also emailed Watchdog, so if a few more of you do the same, maybe an investigation will be started.

Hi DulsieMae, good luck with your case. If Lowells continue to harrass you, write to your local council Trading Standards office. Lowell are being closely monitored by West Yorkshire TS, who very quickly respond to complaints from other councils. They will take up your complaint, and have an advsior who is in regular contact with this company (what a surprise). In my case, this caused Lowells to back off very quickly :-)

Hi to all regarding Lowells.

I received a letter from Lowells approx. five months ago about a debt which I had not dealt with from the HSBC in 2003.It was my overdraft of around £1300,at an address I have not resided at since then.

As it was a debt I recognised and one which I consider to be a 'live' debt,(within the six year time frame to affect my credit rating),I arranged a monthly repayment plan to avoid any adverse affects to my credit status as I have slowly built it back up since that year because of circumstances in my life and changes that have happened and could not afford any further financial knock backs if I was to finally get a mortgage application accepted.But on viewing my credit file I have a big black D in a newly appeared HSBC file entry.

Have I done the right thing honouring my debt and responsibility to pay with these people OR have I made a big naive mistake of acknowledgement at the time and they have struck lucky with me,bearing in mind the debt was not six years old.And should I continue to honour it or not and question their hard evidence.(I knew about the six years old its dead thing before I received any correspondence,been here once before many years ago).

Hi JH07. To be honest, I think i would have done the same in your position. You knew the debt existed, and considering that Lowells actively pursue debts they know they cannot recover, I suspect they would have really come after you. It is still worth questioning the exact amount owing, and they are obliged to provide you with this information. Good luck :-)

I'm interested in reading your comments as I was contacted by a debt agency the other month (ECI) stating that they have taken over a debt from another debt company (Cabot), who had previously taken on the debt from Barclaycard. The problem is I've already contacted them and agreed a monthly payment. This debt dated back over 6 years as well. I have written to them though asking if they could contact Cabot to find out how much interest has been added, as I'm concerned that Cabot couldn't find me by ECI have - literally within 2 months of them taking on the debt. Could I write to them asking for a copy of the agreement, etc. and mention that until they provide a copy of that agreement I will not be paying the debt? Any advice very gratefully received.

Many thanks

Hi Pammy1972. Yes, I would certainly write to ECI asking them to forward you a copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement (not the original application for credit, as some of them send). It is important to know exactly what they are saying you owe.They should forward you that within 12 working days, and until they do,it is common practice for the alleged debt to be put on hold. Hope this helps, let me know how you get on :-)

I had some defaults that dropped off after 6 years. Just had a letter about a debt from 2000. Can these debts be put back on my CRA? thanks

Hi all i have received a letter from these people too only it was sent to my parents address where i have never actually lived!!!! I've no idea why they have contacted me there but i spoe to my dad and he rang them and told them he has never heard of me. Apparently the woman he spoke to says there will have to be an investigation by the relevant department the cheeky b*******!!!!! I also have no idea why they have contacted me full stop, it would seem to me that these people are just using scare tactics in the hope that someone will pay them some money.

I've just spoken to someone at the National Debtline. She said that if a debt is over six years old, and no contact has been made (and you have made no written contact back or any payments within that period) then the debt is statute barred and there is nothing they can do, simple as that. If you go onto the National Debt website (www.nationaldebtline.co.uk) then there are sample letters on there that you can send to the creditor stating so and asking that no other communication is made. If you know 100% that you have not made any payments within that six year period or had any communication with them, then there is nothing they can do - they have to prove otherwise.

Spread the word - there are so many people out there that do not know this - I even started paying my debt after the six year period (I have made two payments) but even the lady at the National Debtline said that still doesn't matter because the original debt is over six years old and was statute barred. I won't get any money back, but I have certainly cancelled any direct debit I had set up - what a relief!

Good luck all!

My wife received a letter from Lowell Portfolio I/Red Debt Collection Services (dated 13/08/2008) on Monday, alleging that she owed T-Mobile just under £200.

We do not believe this to be correct, as the only dealings she has had with anything to do with T-Mobile was around 7 years ago, when she had a mobile phone contract with one2one (who were subsequently taken over by T-Mobile) but which she insists that she settled in full over 6 years ago and has not heard anything from T-Mobile or anyone else relating to that account since, apart from the letter from Lowell Portfolio I on Monday.

Consequently, we have written to them stating that we do not acknowledge the debt, and citing Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 (i.e. any debt - which we allege does not exist anyway - would by now have become "Statute Barred" and they would hence be unable to take any legal action against us to recover the alleged debt).

I've also found an item on the BBC's "One Show" website about a report which Dominic Littlewood made into debt collection agencies in which the Lowell Group are explicitly mentioned as having allegedly contacted the wrong person - who did not owe the debt in question - http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/article/2008/06/dld_debtletters.shtml - click on the video link for the report in which Lowell Group are mentioned.

We are particularly concerned that the letter my wife received threatened home visits from "licensed field agents" and legal action in the County Court - definitely not what you want to read when you are disabled and suffering from a painful kidney infection - my poor wife was severely shocked and intimidated by that letter, especially since it arrived out of the blue with no previous contact regarding this issue!

Given that you have made payments on a debt that was statute barred, you may want to check if the way your case was handled by the debt collection agency was in keeping with the Office of Fair Trading's guidelines, http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

In particular, section 2.14 of this document explicitly relates to statute barred debt:

"2.14 In the past we have dealt with a number of statute barred debt cases governed by the Limitation Act 1980, which applies to England and Wales. Based on that experience our position with regard to England and Wales remains:

a.we accept legally the debt exists

b.it is the methods by which the debt is collected that can be unfair as follows:

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

(ii) if a creditor has been in regular contact with a debtor before the debt is statute barred, then we do not consider it unfair to continue to attempt to recover the debt

(iii) 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, and

(iv) continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that theywill not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount toharassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration ofJustice Act 1970."

If the debt was definitely statute barred, then I would be inclined to carefully check the wording of any letters you may have received from the debt collection agency. Should the letters mention "legal action in the County Court" then this could possibly be seen to contravene point (iii) above and may therefore give you reason to complain to the Office of Fair Trading.

Refer to the following link on the OFT's website for more information, http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection and note that a complaints form which may be used to contact the OFT is available to download from http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/DebtCollectionComplaintForm.DOC

I Have received a letter stating -

We are writing to you regards the address ****** which was supplied by experian.

experian hold inforamtion on over 43 million uk consumers.

they have informed us that you previously resided at the above address.

it would be appreciated if you would contact us immediatly to confirm this information is correct.

What should i do? having been reading about them sounds like i should not call them.

please help

I would recommend not to call them.

From what you are saying, you imply that they have not specified any legal requirement for you to do so, only that "it would be appreciated".

It may well be in your interests to delay any contact, as this may be in your favour if a debt exists which is close to reaching the 6-year time limit specified in the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5, after which a debt becomes "statute barred" and unable to be enforced by law (even though it is legal for a creditor to request payment for a "statute barred" debt although they would then be unable to take legal action against you).

Note also what the OFT deems to be "unfair practice" in their debt collection guidance document http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf :

2.2 (b) "leaving out or presenting information in such a way that it creates a false or misleading impression or exploits debtors' lack of knowledge"

2.2 (c) "those contacting debtors not making clear who they are, who they work for, what their role is, what the purpose of the contact is"

As you imply that they have not mentioned the existence of a debt in relation to their contact with you, but are seeking only to confirm your address details, this may also give you grounds for suggesting that they have been "leaving out" information under 2.2 (b) above, and/or not making clear "what the purpose of the contact is" under 2.2 (c) above. However, whether this is or is not the case would be up to the Office of Fair Trading to decide, should you wish to contact them regarding this matter.

Thank you for your advice, I thought as much i will wait and see what develops.

Many thanks

Hi,I recieved a letter from Hamptons Legal on behalf of Lowell last week regarding a debt to barclayloan.I have already fully payed this debt to a previous recovery company (forget the co name) but last year I recieved a letter and numerous phone calls from a second company stating that I still owe £152.99 of the initial £750 debt.

I informed them that this debt was from 4 years ago and had been paid in full and after many contacts they got the message that they wouldn't be getting any cash from me.Now it looks like the 2nd firm has sold my acct details to Lowells who are chancing there arm at getting me to pay.Oddly this was the first contact since clearing the debt,which if memory serves,final payment was made approx 2 years earlier

Could I ask what people suggest I do? I'm retired and on a low/fixed income and just cannot afford to pay this (regardless of the fact that it has already been cleared).

Sadly the debt is only approximately 5 years old now so the 6 year rule doesn't cover me but I would like to get this matter cleared up and equally importantly I'd like to ensure that I won't recieve any more of the threatening letters.Unfortunately after this length of time I don't have correspondance from the first debt recovery firm.