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(This probably could go in the debt collectors thread but I always feel weird necro'ing a thread and that thread seemed to be mostly about the US rather than the UK anyway so...) I have a friend in the UK, she just received a scary letter from a company called Lowell Financial claiming that there was a T-Mobile UK account in her name that owed something around £400. She has no idea what they're talking about, however it's in theory possible that her husband opened a phone account in her name some time before he died a year ago. I asked her to take a picture of the letter so I can post it here but in the meantime here's what I know: It was titled the very scary-sounding "pre-legal assessment," punching into google gives a bunch of other results from people getting the same letter from Lowell, and a suggestion that you reply with this template letter: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2607247 According to her, it says: A T-Mobile UK Limited account remains unpaid and they are deciding whether to transfer my account to their solicitors to take legal action against me to recover this debt. quote:This means that So is that template letter I posted above a good idea, or should she just not respond, or what? She's got very little money in the first place since she's on disability and can't work, by the way.
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Jul 12, 2017 15:46
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Phone t-mobile and ask what's going on. Odds are, it's a scam.
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Jul 14, 2017 02:46
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Lowell is a legit debt company (doesn't mean they aren't scumbags, just that it isn't an outright "Nigerian Prince left you money" type scam). Like their counterparts in the US they buy debt at pennies on the dollar (or Pence's on the Pound as it were) and then aggressively go after it. This doesn't mean the debt they bought is accurate, of course. I am not familiar enough with UK debt collection laws (they have gotten a lot tighter in the US in recent years) but you can start with T-Mobile and work your way from there.
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Jul 15, 2017 18:13
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Ok, she's gonna call T-Mobile on Monday (not sure why I didn't think of doing that first before having to ask the internet  ), thanks for confirming it's not an outright complete scam though.She forgot to send me the picture of the letter so I'll bug her for it more later 
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Jul 16, 2017 00:08
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If they are legit, maybe it's a mistake? I once had a legit collections agency hassle me for a debt that didn't exist and was simply a bureaucratic mistake. And if your hunch is correct that her late husband set it up without her knowledge, that sounds like identity theft to me.
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Jul 16, 2017 19:10
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So a couple of things she needs to find out firstly. I've dealt with a couple of things like this in the past, and usually they are pretty easy to deal with, as long as you understand how these companies operate. Lowell will as other posters have said, specialise in buying old debts. They will literally pay pennies in the pound, in the hope that by sending a scary sounding letter to as many people with the same name as possible, that someone vunerable enough will pay. Usually the letter contains the following:
The important thing to do is don't contact them about any form of payment. The form letter should state that you dispute the account, and have no knowledge of the account, and as such they need to provide proof that you took out the account in the form of a signed credit agreement (unless it was opened online!). In 99% of these, the debt recovery company will not have any of this information, and almost certainly won't have a credit agreement. Make sure to send the letter via recorded signed for delivery, and give them 14 days to reply. If they don't, then they stand no chance of it ever resulting in a CCJ. The other important thing to note is that there is almost a statute of limitations for most civil debts in the UK. That is 7 years. If the account has had no activity for 7 years or more (as in payments etc) then legally it cannot be enforced in a county court. Companies will still try and coerce you into paying, but they can't do poo poo other than send you a letter every now and then. Any other form of contact is classed as harassment, and most of them wont even try, because then you can counter claim against them for damages. They certainly can't put it to the court, as they'll lose, and again, you can counter claim. Same if they try to do anything to your credit record. Ask your friend to find out the details above first, and then go from there. Tell her to get in touch with citizens advice. There's usually a bit of a wait, but they'll be able to help her and guide her in the right way. One very vital last point - DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CONFIRM ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE ACCOUNT - if it's not legitimate, they will try and catch you out so that it strengthens their case. Make no mistake, these companies are utterly and entirely scum. Their whole business model is based around going after the most vulnerable members of society to basically try and "legally" extort money from them via threats and coercion.
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Jul 28, 2017 10:17
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Thanks for bumping this thread (and the super detailed helpful reply!), it reminded me to check on her and she hasn't called T-Mobile yet (because she's got serious anxiety problems.) I'm trying to get one of her friends there to call for her, or maybe I could call but I live in America so I don't know how that would go down. So let's say for a moment he did open an account in her name. Does the fact that he's, you know, dead now nullify that at all? To the person who said it was identity theft, there's complicating factors: He was legally her caretaker at the time (since like I said she's disabled) and as far as I know had power of attorney (or whatever the British version of that is) over her, which would make that completely legal wouldn't it? e: Oh wait did you mean identity theft, as in someone else stole his or her identity and did it? Seems possible, is there a way to look into that? I assume Britain has some form of credit reporting service right, should she get a copy of that? Shame Boy fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Jul 28, 2017 |
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Jul 28, 2017 14:47
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In the UK, you usually have to call for yourself about bills due to The Data Protection Act. If she can't manage her own financial affairs due to anxiety, you and her friends and family need to work on someone responsible to be given Power of Attorney for her. All these good ideas that people are having are worth nothing if her anxiety prevents her from doing them.
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Jul 28, 2017 16:05
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Get the death certificate out and at the same time check if the will has been settled probate should have identified outstanding liabilities. If it's indeed legit I'd be looking to palm it onto the lawyers for missing it.
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Jul 28, 2017 18:55
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ate all the Oreos posted:e: Oh wait did you mean identity theft, as in someone else stole his or her identity and did it? Seems possible, is there a way to look into that? I assume Britain has some form of credit reporting service right, should she get a copy of that? Yeah, there's three main ones. Best bet is to sign up for Clearscore to get her Equifax credit data and MoneySavingExpert's Credit Club to get the Experian data, they're both free. I think Noddle uses CallCredit data, and is free, so you could get all three credit reports that way without paying anything.
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Jul 31, 2017 12:56
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