Overdales is a specialist law firm, regulated by both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, providing debt recovery and litigation services to a number of UK Clients.

You may have been contacted by Overdales or Overdales Solicitors, both of which are trading styles of Overdales Legal Limited.

Overdales has taken conduct of a number of cases previously handled by Lowell Solicitors Limited.

If your case is now being handled by Overdales, you will be contacted directly.

One of your creditors has asked us to contact you in relation to an outstanding debt.

You now need to either register to manage your debt online or contact us to discuss your options and agree a suitable solution.

The easiest way is to Register an online account and Login to use our Budget Calculator to check what you can afford, view your transaction history and make payments including setting up / amending a payment plan.

You can also make payments without logging in from our Make a Payment page.

Alternatively, you can Contact Us to discuss your options and agree a suitable solution.

The processing of personal data is governed by the Data Protection Act 2018 and we are obliged to protect your personal data.

We complete security checks to ensure that we are speaking to the correct person before sharing any personal information.

If you have had a missed call or received a letter/email from us, Register online to find out why we are contacting you. If you cannot find the information you need, Contact Us as soon as possible.

If you have any queries or require further information about your account, you can Contact Us through a variety of methods. 

Online

If you want to know the status of your account, the outstanding balance or view your Overdales transactions history, you can Register and Login to manage your account online without having to pick up the phone. You can also make payments and use our helpful Budget Calculator to check what you can afford. 

Telephone

You can speak to a member of our helpful team by calling the telephone number on our Contact Us page. 

Calls from a landline will be charged at a local rate. Mobile phone charges can vary based on your network provider. 

Email

You can also email us at help@overdales.com

When you email us for the first time, you will be asked for some security information to verify that you are the account holder. 

If we are trying to contact someone who does not live at your address, please let us know by calling the relevant number from our Contact Us page or emailing us at help@overdales.com. 

Unopened mail can be returned in the post by crossing out the delivery address and marking the envelope "No longer at address – please return to sender".

Yes. Register online and Login to view your latest balance.

We offer a range of convenient methods to make payments.

Pay online

The easiest way is to Register an online account and Login to check what you can afford, view your transaction history and make payments including setting up / amending a payment plan.

You can also make payments without logging in from our Payments page.

Other payment options

We also accept a range of other payment options which are available here.

We strongly recommend that you do not send cash through the post.

Get in touch

We have a range of contact methods to suit you. Go to our Contact Us page for details on how you can get in touch with a member of our helpful team.

If you are struggling with your budget or unable to make a scheduled payment, please Contact Us to discuss your circumstances with one of our helpful team.

Our aim is to work with you at all points of contact in a professional, understanding and timely manner so that where possible, an amicable solution can be agreed.

If you are concerned about existing or proposed legal action, you may wish to seek independent advice through a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.

If you are concerned about your debts, you may wish to seek free confidential and impartial advice through organisations such as:

• StepChange Debt Charity provide free and independent debt advice throughout the UK. 
• National Debtline provides debt advice and information.

You will have received a notification from our client that Overdales Solicitors has been instructed to recover the debt you owe.

You will have received a Letter of Claim as you have not responded to the above notification by:

• repaying the amount you owe; or
• maintaining an agreed payment plan; or
• contacting us to resolve this matter.

The Letter of Claim (enclosing a Pre Action Protocol Response Pack) details how you need to respond within 30 days of the date of the letter to avoid a County Court Claim being issued against you.

We sent you a Letter of Claim detailing how you could avoid a County Court Claim being issued against you.

You had 30 days to:

• pay the debt in full; or
• maintain an agreed payment plan; or
• contact us to resolve this matter; or
• send the relevant response to us using the Response Pack.

As you have either failed to respond to the Letter of Claim as above or your response did not resolve this matter, a County Court Claim has been issued against you to recover the outstanding debt. 

The County Court Claim pack will specify the time the court has given you to respond.

The Claim Form sets out the options available to you, which are:

• paying the full amount
• admitting you owe the full amount but request time to pay
• admitting you owe the full amount but want to pay at a later date
• completing the Part Admission if you believe you owe some of the amount claimed
• defending the claim (if you do not think you owe any money or you have already paid)

The Claim Form also states that failure to respond to the claim within the timescales provided could result in a County Court Judgment (CCJ) being entered against you.

If you are unsure how to complete the response pack and/or require guidance, you can seek independent advice.

If you do not respond to the claim in the time specified, we may be instructed to make an application to the court for a County Court Judgment (CCJ) to be entered against you.

Solicitors costs are intended to cover any costs incurred by engaging a solicitor to take action through the court. You may be asked to pay these costs and if so they will be added to your balance with our client.

When action is taken through the court, a court fee may be payable to the court. You may be asked to pay this court fee and if so it will be added to your balance with our client.

The right to claim solicitors costs and court fees, as well as the amounts due, is set out in the Civil Procedure Rules.

Where our client claims interest this amount will be added to your balance with them. The County Courts Act 1984 allows a creditor to claim interest at 8% when issuing proceedings. Sometimes, our client may claim interest at a different rate when this is allowed under your agreement with them.

Depending on the length of time your payment offer takes to pay the claim in full, a County Court Judgment (CCJ) may be entered against you.

You can Contact Us and speak to a member of our helpful team who will get an understanding of your circumstances and explain your options.

You may fill in the Part Admission form - which is where you admit to owing an amount less than the claim amount. You should also explain why you dispute the remaining balance and your response must be filed at Court.

You may fill in the Defence and/or Counterclaim form contained in the response pack. You should explain why you dispute the claim and your response must be filed at Court.

If we have obtained a County Court Judgment on behalf of a client, this is registered with the Registry Trust Limited, who maintain the Public Register of County Court Judgments, and report this information to credit bureaus.

A CCJ is recorded and will remain on your credit file for 6 years and may make it difficult for you to obtain credit, such as a mortgage, credit card, car finance or mobile phone contracts.
The judgment will be sent to you by the Court and will explain:

• how much you owe
• how to pay (in full or in instalments)
• the deadline for paying
• who to pay

If you believe there is an error with any information recorded on your credit file, you can raise a dispute through any of the major credit bureaus directly.

A CCJ could have been entered against you because you:

• failed to respond to the County Court Claim as directed to do so; or
• failed to maintain your agreed payment plan; or
• failed to contact us to resolve your debt.

If you pay your debt in full within one calendar month from the date the CCJ was entered, we will notify the Court who will notify Registry Trust that the CCJ should be cancelled. Once cancelled, Registry Trust will notify the credit reference agencies that the CCJ can be removed from your credit file.

If you do not make full payment within one calendar month of the CCJ date, the CCJ will remain on your credit file for 6 years and may make it more difficult for you to obtain further credit, such as a mortgage, credit card, car finance or mobile phone contracts.

If you make full payment after one calendar month of the CCJ date, we will update the Court and the status of the CCJ will be marked as ‘satisfied’ which may improve your credit rating and help you get your finances back on track.

If you have not made payment as per the terms of the CCJ or you have not contacted us to resolve this matter, we may be instructed to take the following enforcement action (where relevant) to recover the debt:

• Warrant of Control
• Attachment of Earnings 
• Charging Order

Our application to the court would increase the amount you owe due to the addition of costs and fees.

A Warrant of Control authorises a bailiff to visit you at your home to recover the debt either by arrangement with you or by taking control of your goods to be sold at auction to settle the debt.  

When we apply to the court for a Warrant of Control, costs and fees may be added to your debt and therefore increase the amount you owe. 

To prevent this from happening, you need to either Contact Us or contact the court to resolve the matter.

The court may not have processed and updated their records in time to inform the bailiff that they are no longer required to attend your property.

If you have made the relevant payment to us and the bailiff is at your property, inform them of this and the bailiff can Contact Us to confirm this.

An Attachment of Earnings Order instructs your employer to deduct an amount determined by the court from your wages to pay your debt.  

When we apply to the court for an Attachment of Earnings, costs and fees may be added to your debt and therefore increase the amount you owe. 

A Charging Order secures your debt against the interest which you hold in a property either as a sole or a joint owner. This security would only be held against your interest and would not affect the interest held by any other party.  

When you sell or re-mortgage the property the proceeds would be paid to our client to pay your outstanding debt once payment of any existing mortgage and previous charges are paid.  

When we apply to the court for a Charging Order, costs and fees may be added to your debt and therefore increase the amount you owe. 

We cannot deal with correspondence from a nominated third party such as a friend/relative unless you, as the account holder, authorise them to act on your behalf.

You can provide authorisation as follows:

Post or email

You need to provide signed written authority which confirms the third party’s full name.

Post this to PO Box 1399, Bradford, BD5 5GA or scan the letter and email this to help@overdales.com

You may be required to complete an authorisation form.

Telephone

You need to:

• call us using the number from our Contact Us page;
• complete security checks with a member of our team;
• confirm the name of the person you would like to authorise.

The nominated third party will need to confirm their name and your security details (your full name, address and DOB) each time they contact us on your behalf.

We will communicate with a debt management company where you give us permission to do so and where the debt management company has agreed to act and continues to act for you.

We require a letter from your solicitor which includes their Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) number and confirms that they are acting on your behalf. 

Post this to PO Box 1399, Bradford, BD5 5GA or scan the letter and email this to help@overdales.com

It is important that you provide the authorised third party acting on your behalf with our contact details and your Overdales reference number as soon as possible.

It is possible that your debt management company is unaware of this debt.

You should provide them with our contact information and Overdales reference number as soon as possible so that they can include this debt in your plan.

If you don’t keep up with payments for an account (for example on a bank account, a mobile phone contract or a utility supply), your creditor may tell you that the agreement has been broken and the account will default. This default may be recorded on your credit file. If a default is recorded, this will remain on your credit file for 6 years and could affect your ability to borrow money in the future, as well as other things. Defaults are not registered by us. The default and any updates to them will be managed by our client.