Historic fine debt

*Hello all, could someone please put this in the right place?*


I'll keep it as brief as possible, although perhaps not as brief as you'd like!

I married my husband in May last year - he was in a bad place for 23 years and has been healthy and happy for a year. As such, he had a few legal problems that we've resolved as soon as they arose.

In November, we returned home from holiday to find a letter on the mat from Bristow & Sutor (for a debt for an old electricity bill of his £131 - paid) and another from Nottingham magistrates court, dated 2006 for historic fines. The amount was for £811. Rather than mess about with payment plans, I called the central office to enquire about paying it off and asked them to check for anything else while we were at it. They found another fine from Lincs magistrates court for £691. They gave me two reference numbers, the automated payment telephone number and I paid them both off that same day (12th Nov).

At the end of December, I had a visit from an agent from Collectica. Knowing that we had no outstanding debts and as it was bucketing down, I invited him in to discuss and show him my bank statement proving payment.

He said that unfortunately, Lincoln magistrates court had forwarded the £691 on to Collectica, as it had been paid 10 days after the enforcement date had passed. I explained to the man that the first I had known about the Lincoln fine was when I had called to pay the Notts fine, and that I had received no letters from them regarding the matter. I reasoned that we obviously weren't avoiding debts as they had both been paid off in full. Alas, he stuck me with a £75 compliance fee and £235 for calling that day. He said he didn't have to prove that they'd written to us about the fine prior to him turning up, and that I should take it up with Royal Mail. He also informed me that as I'd invited him in, he could now gain access whenever without my permission. He left me a notice to remove goods, but took no inventory.

I called Lincoln HMCTS immediately and asked why they had sent the money to the DCA when I had paid in full, and why nobody had informed me that that was what had happened. They said that was the procedure and they weren't prepared to discuss it further. I explained that I now had been blindsided by a debt collector, who flat out refused to set up a payment plan (even after I explained the fines had cleared out our savings) and who was threatening to take everything he could, unless I could provide receipts to show it all belonged to me. Essentially they (Lincoln) said that while the payment had been accepted initially, upon them sending it to Collectica, a warrant was re-issued. This seems incredibly unfair.

So, now Collectica have only paid the courts £616 back, they are still chasing us for the fine, rather than just their enforcement fee - I presume this enables them to just get back into my home as and when? I don't know when they'll turn up next and add another extortionate fee to the current balance and this is all becoming too much. Complaining to Lincoln HMCTS again today got me absolutely nowhere, in fact, when I questioned them re-issuing a warrant for a fine already paid, he said he refused to discuss it with me further, and he would be adding notes to ensure nobody else in his department did either. I have to deal solely with Collectica.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to hopefully contact Collectica by tomorrow, as I'm just so worried that they're going to turn up here.