Overdales: what a letter means and what to do

A letter from Overdales is about a debt, usually one that has been unpaid for some time. It may be a first letter, a formal Letter of Claim, or correspondence about a court claim that has already been issued. Each needs a different response, so check which one you have. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Overdales Solicitors, and why are they contacting you?

Overdales, Overdales Solicitors and Overdales Legal are trading names of Overdales Legal Limited, registered at Companies House under number 07407310. The company was incorporated on 14 October 2010 as Lucas Credit Services Ltd and changed its name to Overdales Legal Limited in March 2021. It is active, with its registered office in Leeds.

It is part of the Lowell group, which buys portfolios of debt and also collects debts for other businesses. Companies House shows Lowell Finance Ltd took control of the company on 13 July 2019, and since 17 December 2019 it has been owned by Metis Bidco Limited, registered at the same Leeds address as the Lowell companies. Overdales’ own privacy notice says it “is part of the Lowell group of companies”.

How Overdales is regulated

• SRA: Overdales Legal Limited is a licensed body authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority since 11 February 2021, SRA number 806769. Its trading names on the SRA register are Overdales, Overdales Legal, Overdales Solicitors and Lucas Credit Services.
• FCA: it has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority since 5 November 2015, firm reference number 691793, with permission for debt collecting. It cannot hold client money.

The Lowell Solicitors connection

Overdales says it has taken over a number of cases previously handled by Lowell Solicitors Limited, and that you will be told directly if your case has moved. Lowell Solicitors Limited changed its name to Lowell Legal Limited in April 2024 and is now listed as dormant. If you had letters from Lowell or Lowell Solicitors before, a letter from Overdales may be about the same account.

Who Overdales acts for

Overdales says it contacts people because one of their creditors has asked it to. The creditor could be the company you originally owed, or a company that has bought the debt, such as a Lowell company. The letter should say which. If the debt has been sold, you should have been given written notice of the sale. Our guide to Lowell explains how debt purchase works.

Is the debt yours, and is the amount right?

Old debts change hands, so errors happen. Check before you pay or admit anything.

1. Compare the letter with your records: the original creditor, account number, dates and balance.
2. Ask Overdales in writing for the original creditor’s name, who owns the debt now, the date it was sold (with the notice of assignment), and a breakdown of the balance including any interest, fees or costs. See how to ask a creditor to prove a debt.
3. For a loan, credit card or catalogue account, ask the creditor that owns the debt for a copy of the credit agreement and a statement, with a £1 fee. It has 12 working days to reply and cannot enforce the agreement while it fails to do so.
4. Check your credit file with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
5. If you have not paid or acknowledged the debt for a long time, check whether it is statute-barred. In England and Wales, most debts cannot be recovered through the courts once 6 years have passed from when the creditor could first sue.

If you dispute the debt, say so in writing with your reasons. For a credit debt the firm must suspend collection, investigate and tell you the outcome, and it must not keep pursuing someone it believes may not owe the money.

What can Overdales do, and what can it not do?

As solicitors, Overdales must not take unfair advantage of anyone or mislead them. The SRA says special care is needed with people who are not represented, and gives exaggerated threats about costs and artificially short deadlines as examples of poor conduct. For credit debts, the FCA’s rules also apply, including the ban on falsely claiming legal powers.

Overdales says that if a judgment is not paid as ordered, it may ask the court for a warrant of control (county court bailiffs), an attachment of earnings order (deductions from your wages) or a charging order (a charge on property you own). Judgments on regulated consumer credit agreements can only be enforced in the County Court.

What should you do at each stage?

A first letter

Reply in writing. Check the details, ask for anything you need, and if you are getting debt advice, say so: for credit debts, the firm must then pause active collection for a reasonable period.

A Letter of Claim

Overdales says you get a Letter of Claim if you have not responded to earlier contact, or have not kept to an agreed plan. It is the formal warning required by the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims before a business sues an individual. It should come with an information sheet, a reply form and a financial statement.

• You have 30 days from the date at the top of the letter to return the reply form. If you do not, the creditor can issue a claim.
• If you say you are getting debt advice, the creditor should not start court action until at least 30 days after it receives your reply form, or 30 days after it sends documents you asked for, whichever is later.
• If you ask for documents, the creditor must provide them, or explain why it cannot, within 30 days.
• If you offer payments and the creditor refuses, it should tell you why in writing. If you agree a plan, it should not start court action while you keep to it.

A court claim form

If a claim form arrives, court action has started. Respond by the date on it. You can pay in full, admit the debt and ask for time to pay, admit part of it, or defend it, and if you are not paying in full you can ask for another 14 days. See received a Money Claim Online claim form? for each option.

If you do not respond, the creditor can get a default judgment. A county court judgment is removed from the register if you pay in full within one calendar month. Otherwise it stays there for 6 years, marked satisfied once paid.

After a judgment

Pay as the court orders. If your situation changes, contact Overdales before you miss a payment, and get debt advice about asking the court to vary the payments. Overdales says that if a bailiff calls after you have already paid, you should contact it straight away.

How do debt solutions affect Overdales?

• Breathing Space stops creditors contacting you about included debts, adding interest or charges, or taking enforcement action, for up to 60 days (England and Wales only).
• A debt management plan is informal. Creditors do not have to accept it, and can still take court action even if you keep up payments.
• An IVA is a legally binding agreement under the Insolvency Act 1986. Creditors bound by it cannot take further action to recover the debts included in it. Protocol IVAs usually run 5 or 6 years, fees come from your payments, and it usually stays on your credit file for 6 years from the start. See does an IVA stop debt collectors?
• A debt relief order is for debts under £50,000, less than £75 a month spare, assets under £2,000 and a vehicle worth less than £4,000. A creditor owed a listed debt has no remedy for it during the order without the court’s permission.
• After a bankruptcy order, creditors owed debts in the bankruptcy have no remedy against your property or you personally for those debts.

Each has costs, conditions and long-term effects. The debt solutions comparison sets them side by side. IVAs are available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland.

How do you complain about Overdales?

1. Complain to Overdales first, using the complaints details on its website or your letter. Its procedure says it will acknowledge a complaint within 7 working days and aims to send a final response within 8 weeks.
2. For a credit debt, if you are unhappy with the final response, or 8 weeks have passed, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You normally have 6 months from the final response.
3. You can also complain to the creditor Overdales acts for.
4. Serious concerns about a solicitor’s conduct, such as dishonesty or misleading you, can be reported to the SRA. It can take action against a firm but cannot award you compensation.

Our guide to dealing with debt collectors sets out your wider rights.

Is this letter really from Overdales?

• Check Overdales Legal Limited on the FCA register (firm reference number 691793) and the SRA’s register (SRA number 806769).
• Use contact details from your own paperwork, the creditor’s official website or those registers. Do not rely on a number or link in an unexpected text or email.
• Overdales has warned about scam texts claiming to come from “Overdale Enforcement”, which it did not send.
• Be wary of anyone pushing you to pay at once into an account you do not recognise. If you are unsure, ask the creditor directly before paying anything.

What to do next

1. Work out whether you have a first letter, a Letter of Claim or a court claim form, and note any deadline.
2. Reply in writing, asking for documents if anything is unclear, and return the reply form within 30 days if you have a Letter of Claim.
3. Get free, impartial debt advice from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline. See where to get free debt advice.
4. Keep copies of everything you send and receive.