Out of the blue debt collection notice - what to do?

LunarTic

My wife got a letter from them today for nearly £200 that they allege she owes to T-Mobile. Except she hasn't had an account with one2one (later bought out by T-Mobile) for around 7 years (which she insists she had cancelled and paid off in full when she moved mobile provider, which was definitely over 6 years ago) and has not heard from T-Mobile themselves or anyone else regarding any alleged debt until this letter. So we're invoking "statute barred" on them. I've notified BBC Watchdog too. :mad:

LunarTic

That is to say she paid T-Mobile off in full around 7 years ago. Lowell ain't getting a penny from us.

LunarTic

I'm also paying very close attention to the Office of Fair Trading's guidelines for debt management companies, http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf - and will be keeping a very close eye to see if any of these guidelines may have been breached by this case.

LunarTic

worldwheeler wrote: »

I have sent a letter to RED DEBT asking for copies of the invoices and of the airtime agreement. Since sending, I have recieved two treatening letters from LOWELL DEBT, one giving five days to pay in full before court action, and a letter from RED offering a 70% off settlement offer. I am tempted to report a company using two different letter headings to harrass me into paying a debt I have no knowledge of. I have also spoken to them on the phone stating a request for the invoices and airtime agreement. Do you have any advice if reporting this is easy and worthwhile?

You may find the following clauses useful from the OFT's Debt Collection Guidelines document, http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

In section 2.2(e), the OFT deems it unfair practice to fail to "provide debtors or creditors with information on status of debts, for example, not providing requested balance statements when reasonably requested".

In section 2.6(c), the OFT deems it unfair practice to use "more than one debt collection business at the same time resulting in repetitive and/or frequent contact by different parties".

However, as Lowell Group and Red Debt Collection Services are in fact different trading names of the same company, it would be up to the jurisdiction of the OFT to determine if clause 2.6(c) would apply in this instance.

Section 2.6(f) states that it is unfair practice to pressurise debtors to pay "in full, in unreasonably large instalments, or to increase payments when they are unable to do so".

Section 2.6(h) states that it is unfair practice to ignore and/or disregard "claims that debts have been settled or are disputed" and continue to make "unjustified demands for payment".

It is up to you to decide if any of the above clauses (or any other clauses mentioned in the document) apply to your case.

However, if you have reason to believe that any of these guidelines have been broken, then you may have cause to complain to the OFT. The following link provides useful information, http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection - and a complaint form which you can send to the OFT may be downloaded here, http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/DebtCollectionComplaintForm.DOC