Being chased for a 2 year old united utilities bill

icclealice

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me?

I recently received a debt collection letter from Advantis Credit on behalf of United Utilities for £111.46. As the water is in my partners name, I rang United Utilities and asked them what it was for, and they told me it was for an unpaid bill at my previous address (which I left in October 2006).

I vaguely remember at the time when I moved properties that I was disputing the amount that I owed from my previous address, but I'm sure that I eventually paid the bill. What convinces me that I must have paid the bill is that they have made no contact with me for the alleged outstanding amount for over two years, and they have my address on file, so there is no excuse for not being able to contact me.

Could anyone help me as I am not sure what to do. I have rang my credit card company (if I did pay it off, then it would have been on my credit card) and asked for copies of my statements, but they say that it will cost £5 per statement, but as I am not sure which month I would have paid it, I am reluctant to pay for a few months statements.

What should I do?

Thanks in advance!

Mel

bluewire

I know that UU are in the process of chasing up accounts that they had previously "written off" as uncollectible. This could be to many reasons as to no forwarding address left etc.

You should contact UU and request a full breakdown of bills and payments in relation to all accounts that you have held with them.
Write a letter and include the word "complaint". This will ensure that it is handled by someone in the complaints team in Warrington UK and not Manila.
It may well end up that you do owe them some money but you need them to prove it to you.

icclealice

Thanks bluewire.

Although they have always had my new address, so there is no excuse for not requesting it earlier.

Does anyone know a way around my credit card company charging me £5 per statement? (as I'm still convinced that I did pay it off).

kavid

Hi

My husband has had exactly the same thing happen with UU asking for £400 for a house he lived in back in 2003 (even though he had an account in the last house he lived in before we met!), again by way of Advantis Credit.

We sent a letter of complaint as we settled up the bill from his last house and why didn't they advise that there was money outstanding on a previous account?

Anyway, they replied yesterday to say that there is a conflict of dates but we now have to find documentation to prove from what dates my husband lived at these properties over 5 years ago!

How many years have to pass before a debt can be legally written off?

Cardew

kavid wrote: »

How many years have to pass before a debt can be legally written off?

Six years!

However that is if they haven't tried to make a claim.

So as they have made a claim, there is no time limit by which it will expire.

kavid

So in relation to my previous post, we are still trying to work out the following:

A.) Were UU wrong to pass the debt onto a collection agency without first advising us?
B.) Will UU just say that they did advise us (but actually they sent it to an address that we haven't lived at for over 5 years?) Is this a valid excuse?
C.) Do companies make concerted efforts to track people or do they hand this straight over to a debt collection agency?
D.) Do we have any grounds for the debt to be reduced (as even they agree there are conflicting dates on the account) or to have the debt completely wiped?

We are still waiting for our former council to provide dates of council tax payments to the previous addresses - what's the best way forward from here?

Any advice - much appreciated!!!

bluewire

Hi,
In answer to your questions I would say:

A:UU will have tried to contact your husband by what ever means they had. However if for what ever reason they did not have a forwarding address for him (I know that he had an account later but that would not have been linked in any way to the old account). If they do not have a forwarding address they would have passed it out to an agency who has the knowledge of how to "track people" and chase the balance.

B:Most probably they will say that they had sent letters and will most probably have records to back this up. This will not have been the first agency that the balance has been with, just the first that has found your husband.

C: UU will make efforts "in house" to collect the balance as that way they get all the money. If they have to pass the balance out to an agency they will pay a high % of this to the agency (Better to get some money)

D:If you can prove to UU that they closed the account to the wrong date then they will re-calculate the account to the correct date.

Your best option is to wait on your council for the move dates and then contact UU with this information (go direct with a letter of complaint so as the issue is handled in the UK).

foxwales

I had exactly the same thing just the other day, a letter from Advantis stating they were writing to me on behalf of one of their clients for an outstanding balance, they did not state who they were acting on behalf of or the balance owed.

I contacted Advantis and told them clearly that I was disputing liability of this debt as it has taken them 2 years to find me, even though I have a mortgage and am on the electoral role etc.

I found out the debt was with United Utilities and I again stated to them that I was disputing liability of the debt and asked for a breakdown, they told me that payments had been made to the account by BACS, I have never used BACS and always use Direct Debit, they could also not tell me if and when I provided notice that I was leaving the property and that they just closed the account. Which is rather strange.

The balance is only for £88.00 but my landlord was responsible for paying water and now they are asking for a copy of my tenancy agreement from over 3 years ago from a private landlord"!

Bloody crazy if you ask me.

Rushy

My advice would be to not pay these people, I think they are trying it on!

I recieved a letter yesterday saying I owed money, but didn't have my full name, who to, or what the amount is!

I googled the company and a lot of people who know (like myself) that they owe nothing have had these letters. Whilst they may be making some real claims, it sounds like they are also making false claims in an intimidating way (mainly when you phone for details)

The advice I've seen is not to ring them at all, only ever write asking them to prove the debt, which it is their duty to do, not ours to prove otherwise. Also advised to never sign any letters, and give more detail than they give you, i.e. they only knew my last name, so I won't tell them more than that. Apparantly these kinds of companies have been known to copy your signature onto letters fraudulently.

Google them for yourselves, I'm going to just ignore for now, as I've only ever lived here and have always paid my bills.

Cardew

Rushy wrote: »

My advice would be to not pay these people, I think they are trying it on!

I recieved a letter yesterday saying I owed money, but didn't have my full name, who to, or what the amount is!

I googled the company and a lot of people who know (like myself) that they owe nothing have had these letters. Whilst they may be making some real claims, it sounds like they are also making false claims in an intimidating way (mainly when you phone for details)

The advice I've seen is not to ring them at all, only ever write asking them to prove the debt, which it is their duty to do, not ours to prove otherwise. Also advised to never sign any letters, and give more detail than they give you, i.e. they only knew my last name, so I won't tell them more than that. Apparantly these kinds of companies have been known to copy your signature onto letters fraudulently.

Google them for yourselves, I'm going to just ignore for now, as I've only ever lived here and have always paid my bills.

I have no time for the tactics of DCAs and would agree with much of the above IF you are certain that you do not 'own' the debt. In particular never phone.

However I really don't think it is plausible that they are simply making false claims - they would be risking lengthy custodial sentences and it would be easily proved.

Administrative error by UU is possible, but how does any firm 'prove the debt'. They(UU) raise a bill which you can dispute or say you have paid; but at the end of the day if any company makes(and pursues) a claim against you for any goods or service, eventually you have to prove the claim is invalid - you cannot simply say "I paid it" in defence.

Obviously that 'defence' might have to be in court. However the stupidity of our system is that you can find yourself with a black mark against your credit record.