Lowell Portfolio chasing old Welcome Finance debt

A question about : Lowell Portfolio chasing old Welcome Finance debt

I was young and silly and took out a loan for Ј2000 back in 2004 not even realising what APR or interest even meant. In short Welcome Finance saw me coming and pounced! I kept up payments for a few years despite being unemployed etc but then stopped when they passed my account to an aggressive DCA.

I paid Welcome Finance up to April 2009, I made 1 payment to Lewis Debt Recovery in Nov 2009. I also had a default in 2007 on my credit file (that has now gone from my file), there is no mention of WF or this debt on my file.

I have since moved around but this morning had a letter from Lowell Portfolio saying you have not repaid your welcome finance account so they have passed me onto BW Legal.

So I have a few options in front of me, and Id like some advice and opinions please.

Option 1 = Dont respond dont do anything
The letter they have sent me is almost identical to the one theyve sent to my dads house a year ago. My dad called up told them i didnt live there. No court no CCJ, (i checked my credit file). Numerous companies have sent letters there acting on behalf of Lowell or Frederick International, all chasing this - no CCJ has ever come back on me.

Option 2 = Reply asking for proof of the original credit agreement
This debt is from 2004, would they really still have the original documents? Has anyone else heard of Lowell's losing out on welcome finance debts because of this? Especially as WF went bust years ago. As I mentioned above, Ive never had a CCJ issued against me, could this be because they dont have the original CCA.

Option 3 = Claim the debt is statute barred
My last payment was in 2009, does it go from there? or does it go from the default date? If it does go from the last payment would they really be able to prove when I last made a payment, it wasnt to them it was 1 payment of Ј1 to Lewis Debt Recovery and then WF before them. Would they have access to their accounts to check this?

So what do you guys reckon? Thanks in advance!

Best answers:

• Option 1, but if there is a court claim (not just a threat of one) after April 2015 then defend the claim with option 3.
  Option 4 is move to Scotland and the debt will be statute barred in a few weeks!
• Lowells/BW have been issuing a lot a court claims lately, even on some quite dodgy accounts, so I would not assume this is an idle threat.
  If me I would get pro-active and go for option 2.
• Hi Blaz
  It's always tricky when trying to second-guess a creditor. It's worth first asking yourself the following questions:
  Would you be able to clear the debt if the need arose?
  In full, immediately?
  If not, how long would it realistically take you to clear it?
  It doesn't sound from your post as if court action has been explicitly threatened (yet). There is a requirement that a clear "letter before action" be sent to you ahead of any claim being issued.
  Bear in mind also that given the age of the debt and the quite possible lack of detailed paperwork, Lowell may be quite happy to take a reduced one-off lump sum as a "full and final" settlement offer.
  Regards
  Dennis
  Twitter: @natdebtline