There is a form of Debt Collection Agency (DCA), which preys on the uninformed and attemps, via all kinds of devious means, to extract money from you to which they are not entitled.
Today I received a letter from one such agency, Lowell Portfolio I. Please click on the image above to see a larger copy of the letter. They specialise in purchasing old debts from Banks and other insitututions, and then trying to obtain payment for said debts, which are normally 'Statute Barred'. For a debt to be statute barred, for a period of six years there must not have been any written acknowledgement to the debt, no payment made towards the debt, and no legal action for the debt taken against you.
Lowell Portfolio rely on you not knowing this, and will attempt many means to get you to pay up. For the informed consumer, the tables can be turned.
This blog will track my dealings with Lowell Portfolio over the coming months.
If you have received such a letter then first of all, no matter how tempting it is to telephone them, do the following:
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Simply wait for the next letter, and I repeat, do absolutely nothing, apart from file that letter away. Do not, under any circumstances telephone them. If they call you, hang up. You are under no obligation to speak to them.
And we shall await the next letter, stay tuned viewers...
[UPDATE 07-MAY-2008]
Sorry for the lack of news kids. My advice continues to be, ASSUMING YOUR DEBT IS STATUTE LIMITED, to do nothing.
Don't answer the phone to them or reply to their letters. They've since passed my debt to JB Debt Recovery in Glasgow, but the advice remains the same.
I'll follow up later on with the various letters I've received.
