debt recovery

[beast5680]

all suggestions welcome here

i,ve recieved yet another debt recovery letter for a woman owing £2k from a bailiff company, this woman has not lived at my address for at least 9 years as i,ve owned it for 8 and took vacant possession as the property had been empty for a year, these muppets are obviously either no good at their job or the woman is very good at hiding from them.
is there a body i can complain to about the letters? is there a way of drilling it into these lunkheads that she does not live here anymore short of taking it to there office and stapling it to the managers head

[V8MoneyPit]

We get exactly the same thing so I can fully sympathise mate  :roll:

In the early days, I used to call the debt collection company and they were usually very helpful. But then different companies would chase debts for the same guy. I suspect either the data they use is way out of date or the offending person is still using your address. If it is the same company chasing the debt, give them a call. They should be able to mark the address as out of date.

We don't get so many now, but I can't be bothered with calling them so they just get binned. I have confirmed that it is the person that get's credit black listed, not the address, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

We have never had anyone at the door. In many way's I wish they would. At least that way I could show them who we are and that the guy hasn't lived there for 7 or 8 years.

[LiftedDisco]

Hi Neal

Is it the same debt that they are chasing, or a new one?

You need to check your own credit rating (two main agencies - Experian and Equifax) and see whether there is any incorrect information held there that might link you with this long gone debtor.  You can do this for free currently, but have to lodge a card number so that they can charge you after 30 days - it's a pain, but you can ring and cancel immediately... of course, if there are issues highlighted it might be worth paying for a couple of months.

Who is the debt with - it might be worth writing to them to detail your concerns over their lack of efficiency... put it in writing but then follow up if possible with a phone call and get a name when you ring - insist that they note the correct facts and remove your address from their records.

Do likewise with the bailiff - they are only working on information provided by the client company but if you raise merry hell, you hope that they will go back to the originator with the news.

One tactic my Mother used with people like Readers Digest was to tear the unwanted letter into pieces, making sure that the address and/or reference number were left in one piece and then send each piece back in a separate unstamped envelope...  :clap:

Hope this helps


Rob

[beast5680]

its a different company chasing the same debt, the original debt is a credit card which we contacted who apolgised and said they sorted it , then we got another letter from a debt recovery firm , again we contacted them and the same response, i think this is the seventh different debt recovery firm to date that have sent a letter.
I rang them this morning to be greeted by an answer machine message saying they are only open from 9 til 12 0n a saturday :roll: being it was 10 and today is saturday when i rang :roll: so i,ve emailed them in letters in the biggest font explaining the situation :lol:

[Bob696]

The statute of limition on a debt (of this sort) is 6 years so it is a 'no win, no fee' debt recovery agency chancing their arm with the last known address to try and intimidate someone into paying something :-(

I fear you will keep getting these until the debtor resurfaces.

[beast5680]

if i ever come across her i know where she,ll be getting her debt letters inserted :lol:

[Disco Matt]

Is there some sort of regulatory body for debt collection that you can get on your side? A good slap from the industry regulators might work where a private individual seems to be ignored!

[crazymac]

We had a long running saga with a debt collection agency that started off over 12 pence!

We started an account with Telco for cheap phonecalls which was fine, and we kept this for over ten years. However at the same time this was started, a clone account to my address was also started un known to me!

After about 4 months we had 2 bills, the genuine and the clone one for 12P. I phoned Telco who said no problem, send us the bill back and we'' sort it out! I pointed out that to send the bill back to them would cost me more than the bill was, so I'd be cheaper paying the bill!!

The long and short of this (having never paid the bill!!) was that I had a debt collection agency chasing me for what had amounted to £4.55! Each time I phoned them, I would not talk to the operator but insisted on speaking to a manager, if I got a manager when 1st calling I would ask to speak to THEIR manager!

The debt collection agency were very good over this and understood my position, even getting a 3 way conference call between them, me and Telco! to sort it. I was able to prove that I hadn't rang up the debt, because the clone account was originating from a totally different STD code, and on at least 2 occasions when calls were being made from this clone account to Pakistan I was calling my mum from my real account!

So I really advise chasing and sorting this, record phone calls where possible (remember many mobile phones have a record facility) and TELL them you are recording the conversation! also make sure you log the calls you make to them, the times you make them and most important the names of who you talk to!

Don't bury the head in the sand, cos they will come and bite your butt!

[Niel]

its a different company chasing the same debt, the original debt is a credit card which we contacted who apolgised and said they sorted it , then we got another letter from a debt recovery firm , again we contacted them and the same response, i think this is the seventh different debt recovery firm to date that have sent a letter.
I rang them this morning to be greeted by an answer machine message saying they are only open from 9 til 12 0n a saturday :roll: being it was 10 and today is saturday when i rang :roll: so i,ve emailed them in letters in the biggest font explaining the situation :lol:

The big problem is when the current lot find the debt they've bought is no good they'll sell it on again and the loop will continue, most of the debt recovery companies do this until its repaid or its too old to resell to another company.
It might be worth putting a sign on/near the door naming the debtor and they departure date just incase some knucklehead from the bottom of the debt collection pond appears, atleast then when they try it on you can point it out to the Police who either you, or they, will probably call...If you get doorstepped and they get in, children answering doors are a baliffs best bet often, then things can get difficult unless you've taken all possible steps to inform them.

[The Smiths]

Keep contacting the agency that sends the letter - they will ask for it returning to sender.

They will mark their records - then sell the debt to someone else and so it carries on

Got a bit of experience with this

[Range Rover Blues]

The statute of limition on a debt (of this sort) is 6 years so it is a 'no win, no fee' debt recovery agency chancing their arm with the last known address to try and intimidate someone into paying something :-(

In that case write to the offending company informing them that you will be charging a £200 administation fee/proof reading fee for dealing with letters sent to your address in future and that if they continue to send them, you will take that as their acceptance of your terms.  If they don't pay you can them take them to the small claims court and put the boot on the other foot.

[Bob696]

It might be worth putting a sign on/near the door naming the debtor and they departure date just incase some knucklehead from the bottom of the debt collection pond appears, atleast then when they try it on you can point it out to the Police who either you, or they, will probably call...If you get doorstepped and they get in, children answering doors are a baliffs best bet often, then things can get difficult unless you've taken all possible steps to inform them.

if they do come to the door ask them for a business card, note down the car reg on it then inform them that you will notify the police and the law society that they have called. It is illigal for a debt collection agency to come to your house without an appointment (I believe that it is only court appointed baliffs that can do this).

[Yoshi]

Your quite right Bob,

However they get round this by sending round "account collectors" which are not bailiffs.  Most say they are bailiffs to intimidate people but they arent actually in that position.

Other points to note is that a real bailiff (they will be licensed) is allowed to enter your property without your consent if you leave a window open.  Its an old law which classes it as an "open house".  Also if you invite them into your house once they have a right of entry (forced or otherwise) once they get a court warrant.

Another thing is that if they have get a court warrant to force entry into a property then they can only do it with a police presence.  Its another intimidation tactic they use when they send letters saying that they will get a locksmith to open your front door, but its not at all often that the courts issue these type of warrants for non criminal cases.