Select the option that best describes your situation to find out more
What happens when I pay my debt?
If your circumstances mean that you’re able to start the journey to becoming debt free, we’ll make sure that the payment plan you set is affordable and suitable
Before you set up a payment plan, it’s a good idea to understand what’s affordable for you. You can do this with our budget calculator. It looks at how much money you have coming in and how much you have going out, making it easy to work out what you can afford to pay.
Personalise your payment plan so that it works for you. You decide how much you want to pay, how you want to pay it and how often.
Once you’ve set up your payment plan, we’ll send you a letter confirming the details. Then, you’ll generally only hear from us once every six months for as long as you're making payments. When we check in, it's just to make sure your plan still works for you. But remember, you can get in touch with us and change your plan at any time.
If your debt is showing on your credit file, we’ll update your credit file every 30 days from when you start making payments. This will show that you’re working towards clearing your debt and could help to improve your credit score.
Once you’ve made your final payment, we’ll send you a letter to let you know that you’ve paid off your debt. You’ll never pay more than what you owe. So, if your balance was £407.26 and you’ve paid £407.00, your last payment will only be £0.26.
Once you’ve paid off your debt, we’ll tell the credit reference agencies who will update your credit file. If your account has already defaulted and you paid your debt off without a discount, your credit file will be marked as ‘satisfied.’ If you paid your debt off with a discount, the default will be marked as ‘partially satisfied'. This will show any future creditors that you took responsibility and cleared your debt. |f the account hasn't defaulted yet and you clear the debt in full, the status of the account will show as 'settled' on your credit file, which shows that you cleared the balance and closed the account before it defaulted.
There are lots of reasons why it’s worth starting to pay off your debt. You could feel peace of mind knowing that you’re taking control of your finances, and you might improve your credit status. Get started by registering online.
What happens if I don't pay my debt?
We understand how overwhelming debt can be, especially if you feel you can't afford to pay it. But, if you ignore your debt, it can cause a more difficult situation. It's always worth getting in touch and telling us what's going on
At Lowell, we have a team of people who make sure the details we have for our customers are correct. Before we try to get in touch, this team will check to make sure the details we’re contacting you on are up to date.
We’ll try to contact you by phone, email and letters. If you get in touch and tell us what’s going on, we can help you find the right support. If you don’t respond when we reach out, we can’t help you find a solution to your debt with Lowell.
If you don’t get in touch to set up a payment plan or tell us about your situation, your account could default if it hasn’t already. We’ll get in touch if your account is at risk of defaulting by sending you a default notice. If we don’t hear from you within a set time the account will then show as a ‘default’, which will be visible on your credit file for at least six years.
Missed payments and default markers are shown on your credit file and could have a negative impact on your credit score. We update your credit file regularly, so if you make payments towards your account your credit file will reflect that. This can have a positive impact on your credit score.
If we’ve tried to contact you but received no response, we may pass your account to a solicitor. Just as we did, the solicitor will try to get in touch with you. If you don’t respond, they may take legal action on your account. This could result in a County Court Judgement (CCJ) which may impact your creditworthiness and possibly lead to enforcement action such as bailiffs.
If you’re ignoring your debt because you’re worried about speaking to us or feel you can’t pay, please know that we want to support you. Our team are specially trained to help you find the right support, whether that’s pausing your payments or putting you in touch with organisations that offer free advice. Please let us know what’s going on, so that we can help.
Tell us what's going onOnce you’ve set up an online account, you can use it to manage your debt. Set up a payment plan, view your balance, or make a one-off payment whenever it’s affordable for you.
What happens if I can’t pay my debt?
We understand that everyone’s situation is different and that for some people, setting up a payment plan doesn’t seem possible. So long as you get in touch and tell us about your situation, we can help you find the right support
No matter what your situation is, we’ll always take the time to listen and understand. Our friendly team are trained to be considerate of your situation and help you find the right support.
If you’re going through a tricky time, we might be able to pause your payments. You can have the space you need whilst things are tough. Once the pause is over, we’ll get in touch to talk about the best way forward for you.
We can put you in touch with a number of debt management companies and organisations. Depending on what’s right for you, they might give you free financial advice or they might manage your debt on your behalf.
We’ll always give you time to get in touch with a debt management company and to work out a plan that suits you. After this time, we’ll contact you to talk about how you'd like to start managing your debt. If you’ve decided that you would like the debt management company to manage your debt on your behalf, they’ll contact us to agree an affordable plan.
If your account has defaulted, either with us or the original creditor, it will show as ‘defaulted’ on your credit file. We don't expect payments to be made towards your account while you're receiving help. During this pause in payments, your credit file will reflect that payments aren't being received at this time. If your account hasn’t defaulted, you won’t be at risk of a default during the time you're looking for help. But, once this time is over, your account may be at risk of defaulting if you don’t respond when we get back in touch. You will receive a letter to tell you if your account could be defaulted.
If you have questions or if you’d like more information, you can visit our FAQ page or get in touch with us and speak to a member of our team. You can also get free help and support through a number of independent organisations.
What happens if my circumstances change?
If your circumstances change and your payment plan isn’t affordable anymore, get in touch with us and we’ll help you find a solution that works for you
We understand that there are lots of reasons why you might miss a payment. Whether it’s because of unexpected bills or your wage was late, it’s always best to get in touch and talk to us about it. If you miss payments without telling us why, we’ll try to contact you so that we can understand what’s happened and your account will show you’re behind on your payments.
If you’re going through a tricky time, we might be able to pause your payments. For example, your benefits might have been delayed. Whatever your situation is, we’ll give you the space and time you need whilst things are tough. Once the pause is over, we’ll get in touch to talk about the best way forward for you.
If your circumstances change and your payment plan isn’t working for you anymore, get in touch with us and we’ll help you choose a more suitable plan. It could be that you have a new job that pays less or has a different payday. Whatever it is, you can change your plan at any time.
If your circumstances change and you feel that you can no longer afford to make payments at all, please get in touch with us so that we can help you find the right support. We can put you in touch with debt management companies, who offer free, independent debt advice, and give you space to agree the best way forward with your debt.
If your circumstances change but you continue to make payments, we'll update your credit file with details of the payments. Creditors will see that you’re still working towards paying off your debt. If you stop making payments completely, your credit file will show that you’ve stopped paying off your debt.
If you want to find out more, you can visit our FAQ page or get in touch and speak to a member of our team.
What happens when I dispute my debt?
We understand that sometimes things go wrong and we’re here to help if they do. If you think something isn’t right about your debt, we’ll investigate your concerns and fix anything incorrect
If you think something about your debt isn’t right, please get in touch and let us know. We have lots of background information for your account and we’ll work with you to identify if something has gone wrong.
We’ll listen to what you have to say and look into the situation to find out what’s happened. To help us fix the problem quickly and easily, we’ll ask you to answer some questions. For example, if you think a payment is missing, we’ll ask for details such as the payment amount and method that was used.
We’ll always try to resolve the situation straightaway but sometimes we might need time to investigate. We’ll pause your account whilst we look into your situation. We’ll only get in touch to tell you what we found in our investigation.
If we haven’t been able to resolve the problem when you first call, we have a specially trained team who’ll investigate your dispute. They’ll send you a letter to let you know the investigation’s outcome. It may be that our team agree with your dispute and amend your account to fix the issue, or that they disagree and explain why.
Disputing your account won’t impact your credit file. If your account hasn’t yet defaulted, it won’t be at risk of default while we investigate, and we won’t update your credit file to state that you’re disputing the debt.
You can register your account online today to view your account details. Or, if you want to find out more, you can visit our FAQ page or get in touch and speak to a member of our team.
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