Warning and advice about LCS Utility Investigation Civil Enforcement Debt Recoveries

fatbelly · 26 January 2017 at 12:46AM

Probably worth re-posting the notice that the OFT issued to their parent body in 2009:

1st Locate (UK) Limited (Consumer Credit Licence Number 468413), registered office address:
3 Leodis Court, LEEDS LS11 5JJ.
The OFT require as follows:
1) That 1st Locate (UK) Limited shall not require an individual to supply information to prove that they are not the debtor and shall not engage in any business practices that misleadingly suggest or imply that it is in the individual"s interests to supply such information.
2) That 1st Locate (UK) Limited shall use only those trading names which are specified in its consumer credit licence.

and a reminder that CONC 7.14 is a rule, not guidance:

A firm must suspend any steps it takes or its agent takes in the recovery of a debt from a customer where the customer disputes the debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds.

Where a customer disputes a debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds, the firm must investigate the dispute and provide details of the debt to the customer in a timely manner

A firm must provide a customer with information on the outcome of its investigations into a debt which the customer disputed on valid grounds.

Where a customer disputes a debt and the firm seeking to recover the debt is not the lender or the owner, the firm must: (1) pass the information provided by the customer to the lender or the owner; or (2) if the firm has authority from the lender or owner to investigate a dispute, it must notify the lender or owner of the outcome of the investigation

Johnd1275 · 8 February 2017 at 11:53AM

Can anyone help me.
Im paying off a bill from LCS on belalf of HMRC. Do i continue to pay this every month or should i stop?

adusiiaa · 17 February 2017 at 11:17AM

Hi,

Having read this thread i was hoping someone would be able to help me. I also received this letter from LCS. My dates are from the beginning of my tenancy to my last day. I was a student living with 5 other people in the property, my name was not even on the bill. Now i call them up and this rude lady wanted me to pay very quickly, i think she also took advantage of me tearing up on the phone. She said i am the one liable for the bill, even though there were 6 tenants. Now this was 7 months after i moved out of the property, and even though the dates are correct on the letter i have never received a bill. I believe if the bill exists it must have been sent to the previous address or my letting agency, which i was not informed at all...
My question is... Am i really the only one liable for this? and if i never received a bill or any sort of contact about the outstanding amount, am i legally right?

What do i do now? email them? i emailed SSE energy and my letting agency already. I am just so worried about getting the default even though the process of receiving this bill will take more than the 7 days i have to pay.

fatbelly · 17 February 2017 at 3:20PM

adusiiaa wrote: »

Hi,

Having read this thread i was hoping someone would be able to help me. I also received this letter from LCS. My dates are from the beginning of my tenancy to my last day. I was a student living with 5 other people in the property, my name was not even on the bill. Now i call them up and this rude lady wanted me to pay very quickly, i think she also took advantage of me tearing up on the phone. She said i am the one liable for the bill, even though there were 6 tenants. Now this was 7 months after i moved out of the property, and even though the dates are correct on the letter i have never received a bill. I believe if the bill exists it must have been sent to the previous address or my letting agency, which i was not informed at all...
My question is... Am i really the only one liable for this? and if i never received a bill or any sort of contact about the outstanding amount, am i legally right?

What do i do now? email them? i emailed SSE energy and my letting agency already. I am just so worried about getting the default even though the process of receiving this bill will take more than the 7 days i have to pay.

Hi

Now you've read this thread you know that these people are pond life who should have their FCA licence revoked.

Do not believe their lies; do not phone them; take no notice of their timescales.

What you need to do is send a prove-it and see if what evidence (hard evidence, paperwork) they come back with. Send it by old-fashioned mail.

Cozx · 10 March 2017 at 12:04PM

A letter from LCS just arrived at our property today. I'm hesitant to contact them because of what has been written previously. In the letter we received, no company has been named with regards to the debt. No dates have been mentioned. They don't use our names and have their registered address as being on Woodhouse Lane in Leeds. They ask for all the info mentioned in previous posts. However, this is an owned property, so there is no landlord. Well, there is... as this is a pub.
The previous owners of this property have several debt collecting agencies chasing them and I have contacted each and every one and to be honest, I'm fed up of contacting them and passing on the previous owners' details. I know this debt isn't ours as I have been in contact with both energy suppliers that were connected to this property this week and have received a refund from the one and am getting a new meter from the other. We also pay bills by DD!
I get enough nuisance calls as it is and don't want any more.
What do you think?

sourcrates · 10 March 2017 at 12:44PM

Cozx wrote: »

A letter from LCS just arrived at our property today. I'm hesitant to contact them because of what has been written previously. In the letter we received, no company has been named with regards to the debt. No dates have been mentioned. They don't use our names and have their registered address as being on Woodhouse Lane in Leeds. They ask for all the info mentioned in previous posts. However, this is an owned property, so there is no landlord. Well, there is... as this is a pub.
The previous owners of this property have several debt collecting agencies chasing them and I have contacted each and every one and to be honest, I'm fed up of contacting them and passing on the previous owners' details. I know this debt isn't ours as I have been in contact with both energy suppliers that were connected to this property this week and have received a refund from the one and am getting a new meter from the other. We also pay bills by DD!
I get enough nuisance calls as it is and don't want any more.
What do you think?

Hi,

Advice is simple.

If its not your debt, and not your name on the letter, then stop right there.
Put it back in the post marked "not at this address".

Thats were your obligation ends.

There are many stories of people been chased by debt collectors for someone elses debt, because they opened a letter intended for someone else.

DO NOT GET INVOLVED is the best advice i can give you.

MrNormal · 16 March 2017 at 12:28AM

I just got a letter from LCS claiming that I owe HMRC X amount of money as they've overpaid me in tax credits, and that I need to repay X amount. Only thing is, I've never had tax credits. Nice try... :rotfl:

AileenQ · 22 June 2017 at 5:33PM

Very happy to find this thread as I've just received a letter from LCS for a debt from Scottish Power from an address in Edinburgh from 7 Feb 2017 - 16 March 2017.

a)I haven't lived in Edinburgh for over three years
b)I have never used Scottish Power to supply my utilities.

The only thing that is semi-accurate is my 'new' address, which is a property I own, but is rented out! The debt is for my 'previous' address, the street number of which doesn't appear to exisit, which is probably why I've never lived there!!

I will 'Return to Sender - Not Known At This Address'

Thanks,
Aileen

fatbelly · 22 June 2017 at 5:53PM

Not heard about this bunch for a bit. Doesn't seem they've improved.

LizzWright88 · 23 June 2017 at 8:03PM

Hi! I am new to this website & joined purely to seek advice about LCS... I received a text message saying;

Please contact LCS today regarding account number IDS000257**** on 0344 411 3254 quoting reference 1626****

I ignored it thinking it was spam then they called me about an hour or so after. When I asked what it was regarding they said they couldn't tell me until I had passed the security questions to which I agreed to. They asked for my name & date of birth which I gave them then suddenly stopped & hung up as for obvious reasons, didn't want to give out my personal info over the phone.

I googled LCS & found various answers about debt recovery, hmrc etc which scared me as I don't have any unpaid debt or receive any benefits etc.

I just want peace of mind to know I should 100% ignore them? The calls were from Scarborough by the way.

Any info would be great thanks.

Warning and advice about LCS Utility Investigation Civil Enforcement Debt Recoveries

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