Hi, I don't think they necessarily need to give you a breakdown if they purchased the debt. How much is this debt? Is it £100 or £1000? Lowell's are a debt collection agency. I dealt with them 10 years ago and had more dealings with them a year or 2 ago. Their tactics seem to have changed over the years, as with many collection agencies I think. Previous tactics used to be threatening letters and nuisance phone calls. Nowadays they seem much more willing to accept what you can actually afford as repayments. If you write to them detailing your income & expenditure, they will probably accept what you can afford to repay even if it's only a few pounds a month. If you do nothing they won't go away, but if you set up an agreed repayment plan they probably won't bother you if you stick to it.
When you do your expenditure you can include a lot of things outwith food, rent, mortgage, council tax etc. IE: fares to work, motoring expenses, dental expenses, clothing expenses, pet food, vet fees, insurance policy costs, etc etc.