Walsh1's UE Diary

[cymruambyth]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

They are,aging mind games and hope you will cave in; so what if they bought it before the SB date, it doesn't stop it being SB as they have paid money, not you!!!

[Walsh1]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Yes Cymruambyth they are my thoughts. Think I will ignore them and see what hapens.

[PlanB]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Think I will ignore them and see what hapens.

I wouldn't ignore them if that letter dated 29th December says they will issue legal proceedings in 7 days if they don't hear from you, because there's every likelihood that Lowells will go ahead with their threat on Monday 5th January.

They state if I do not contact them within seven days to make arrangement to repay the debt that they will start legal action without further warning.

Here's a letter which Scabhunter composed for another member in a similar situation where Lowells were arguing the SB date related to a Default Notice date and had used the £1 fee for their s.78 CCA request as a payment on the account. See if you think this would be relevant to your situation (I think it may be, but I don't know the full history of your account). You need to edit it to suit your specific situation but the thrust of the letter is appropriate. If you make a Formal Complaint they should take your account out of collections while they investigate it.

I wouldn't be messing about with this one.

If I was in this situation, my next letter would have two objectives. I would be attempting to get Lowells to acknowledge and accept the statute barred status of this alleged debt. Failing that, I would want to have the last letter on the pile, so I could demonstrate to any judge that I had done everything possible to avoid unnecessary legislation by making Lowells aware of the facts of the situation. I would also make it a formal complaint, as I would want the ability to escalate this to the relevant authorities should they not immediately back down and accept reality.

This is what I would send -

FORMAL COMPLAINT

Ref : [xxxxxxxxx]

Dear Sir,

I am in receipt of your letter dated [xx] November 2014, and note with extreme concern that you either do not seem to be aware of the legislation governing your own purported business, or are deliberately misquoting it to obfuscate the facts regarding this present situation.

In the interests of avoiding costly and unnecessary litigation, and of expediting a reasonable conclusion to this matter, I therefore feel obliged to make you aware of the following -

Limitation Act 1980, Section 5

I draw your attention to Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, which states -

“An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”

This is relevant for two reasons. Firstly, it states the length of time which must elapse before an alleged debt becomes statute barred under this legislation, and, secondly, it gives the determining factor for the starting date of the six year period as the date of the cause of action.

Your letter of xxxxxxx mistakenly asserts the following - “please note the last payment date as per the Limitations Act only applies after the default date.” On the contrary, the date of a default, or its registering with the credit reference agencies, is entirely irrelevant to both the Limitation Act 1980, and the accrual of any cause of action. Indeed, neither defaults nor credit reference agencies are even mentioned in any section of the Limitation Act 1980.

The six-year limitation clock begins to run from the “date on which the cause of action accrued.” In the case of this account to which you have given the reference [xxxxxxxx], that date would be date of the first missed payment. A payment was made to the account on xxxxxxx. Therefore, as xxxxxxxx issues bills on the 30th of the month, the first missed payment would have been for the bill issued on 30th xxxxxxxx. Consequently, the date at which this alleged debt became statute barred is xxxxxxx.

Consumer Credit Act 1974, Section 78

I also draw your attention to Section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which is the prevailing legislation for this running credit account. This states -

“The creditor under a regulated agreement for running-account credit, within the prescribed period after receiving a request in writing to that effect from the debtor and payment of a fee of £1, shall give the debtor a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any other document referred to in it, together with a statement signed by or on behalf of the creditor showing, according to the information to which it is practicable for him to refer,—

(a) the state of the account, and

(b) the amount, if any currently payable under the agreement by the debtor to the creditor, and

(c) the amounts and due dates of any payments which, if the debtor does not draw further on the account, will later become payable under the agreement by the debtor to the creditor.”

Note that this section of the Act prescribes that a statutory fee of £1 is payable with any request in writing for information regarding a running credit account.

The payment which was made to xxxxx on xxxxxxx was just such a statutory payment. It was enclosed with a letter which explicitly stated that those funds were a statutory payment prescribed by Section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and were not to be used for any other purpose. A copy of this letter is retained on record.

Limitation Act 1980, Sections 29 and 30

Finally, I draw your attention to Sections 29 and 30 of the Limitation Act 1980, which cover the issue of fresh accrual of action based on acknowledgment or part payment.

Your letter alleges that the statutory payment made pursuant to Section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 on xxxxxxxx constitutes such a fresh accrual of action, but Section 30 subsection 2 of the Limitation Act 1980 explicitly states, “For the purposes of section 29, any acknowledgment or payment – (a) may be made by the agent of the person by whom it is required to be made under that section.”

For a payment to constitute a fresh accrual of action, it must therefore be made by the alleged debtor themselves, or by an agent acting on their behalf. Obviously, if a statutory fee paid under the provisions of Section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is subsequently misappropriated and applied to the alleged debtor's account on the sole volition of the recipient, that misappropriation has occurred entirely without the knowledge or consent of the alleged debtor.

Consequently, in this specific case, the statutory fee paid on xxxxxxxxxxx does not constitute a fresh accrual of action, regardless of any subsequent misappropriation or misrepresentative accounting.

Conclusion

I assert once again that this alleged debt is statute barred. Consequently, I require -

* An acknowledgement of the statute barred status of the account reference [xxxxxxxxxx], along with a written notice that this account is now permanently closed on your system
* An assurance that I will receive no further harassment regarding the aforementioned account,
* A formal apology for your employees' use of deceit in misrepresenting legislation and attempting to extract money under false pretences
* An offer of compensation for the unwarranted harassment which has already occurred, and the wastage of my own time in dealing with such harassment; commensurate with the prevailing Litigant in Person rate and therefore not less than the sum of £50

Any other response, or no response, WILL result in this case being escalated to the relevant regulatory authorities.


Yours Faithfully,


If you do send this, or anything similar, make sure that you send it recorded. If Clownell were going to attempt court with this, they would love to deny having received such a letter.

I also don't see any point in playing silly buggers trying to shepherd this past 26th November. That date has no legal relevance or importance. Clownell, in their fiction, have already stated that any payment before the default date does not affect statute barring, and 26th November 2008 was before the default date.

When one fairy story expires, they will just invent another one to take its place. What you need is an acknowledgement of the ACTUAL statute barring date, or an ongoing complaint regarding their refusal to accept this actual statute barring date.

[Walsh1]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Thanks Plan B, have edited The SH letter and just been and sent it by recorded deliv. Will let you know the next stage of the saga. Thanks again

[Still Waving]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Might be worth emailing it to them too, to make sure that they receive it in time.

[Walsh1]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Will do, thanks SW

[Enforcer]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Looking at this thread, wonder when I will get the letter from Lowell, over 4 years now with Crap 1.

Statement of account for last 6 months received today. First letter from crap 1 in over 3 years. Wonder what is going on?

[Walsh1]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Hi Enforcer, Seems like they are looking what they can sell on. Perhaps near the end of their financial year. Wish they would all go away lol

[Walsh1]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Just had letter back today from Low. Saying after further investigation they now agree it is SB and that they have closed the account on their system and confirm they will not pass it to any one else. So a very big Thank You to everyone who helped. Thank You!

[nightwatch]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

At last they have seen sense, that's a first x

[IF]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

I'm so pleased too Walsh1, I love good news on AAD, well done all

Best wishes
IF

[Pixie]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

That's brilliant!

[Walsh1]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Thanks again the best valentine card I could get at the mo!

[Enforcer]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Congratulations! Forget about it now.

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Walsh1's UE Diary

Just had letter back today from Low. Saying after further investigation they now agree it is SB and that they have closed the account on their system and confirm they will not pass it to any one else. So a very big Thank You to everyone who helped. Thank You!