Today I wanted to share some thoughts on Lowell and have a bit of a look at some of the debts I had with them in the past. Lowell collected a couple of my debts, one for Aqua Card and the other for Capital One. Well actually it was two for Capital One as it also included their Luma Credit Card as well.
Compared to pre-2010, I noticed that Lowell was a lot easier to deal with. I could contact them by email for example whereas in the past it would always have to be by telephone or letter. Another thing that is different now is they offer an online account which lets you see how much you owe, set up a repayment plan and make an offer to settle a debt.
This makes things a lot easier, especially if you are using your own debt management plan!
Dealing with Lowell
My dealings with Lowell in relation to my debts were not too bad in more recent times but in the early 2010’s I remember that being a different story. In the past debt collection agencies would try and get you to pay as much as they could get out of you, with little regard to your other debts, especially priority debts. Things have changed quite a lot since then in my experience.
I also notice that when you submit an offer of full and final settlement of a debt, they ask you where the money is coming from. They don’t do this to be nosey but more to check that doing so is affordable. How things have changed! For example, if you said I am using a credit card to make the payment they may question why as you will likely pay interest doing that vs just leaving it with them and continuing your monthly payments.
Lowell Capital One Debt
One of my debts was to a credit card from Capital One and this was sold to Lowell a few years ago. When the debt transferred over to Lowell, I was sent a letter to advise of this (notice of assignment) and was asked to contact them to arrange a repayment plan. Because they have their online portal this was pain free, I set up a repayment of £10 per month for the debt which was around £630 at the time. I paid this over a few years then decided to make an offer to repay the rest in full. I did this and the account was paid, and I could tick another debt off the list.
When it came to payment reviews although they asked for them, I never completed those. I don’t recall being hounded by phone and I just continued to pay the £10 per month as that was what I could afford at the time.
Luma is also Capital One and again I set up a repayment easily enough and eventually settled the debt in full. In fact, as a side note, this is the only default I have left now.
Lowell Aqua Card Debt
This was another debt I had and also paid £10 per month to for a few years before settling in full. With this one there was an issue around a default they registered having an incorrect date. This was eventually sorted, and I was given £100 in compensation which went towards paying another debt.
Lowell in Summary
I found Lowell fairly easy to deal with in more recent times. I can’t say the say for back in 2010 as that was a completely different time period. Back then I felt they were more aggressive in trying to get repayment from you although more recently that has definitely changed. Their online portal makes setting up a repayment easy and includes an easy-to-use income and expenditure form.
How about you, do you have any debts with Lowell?
