wescot illegal search?

roachy

Hi guys.

over 3 years ago while living with my ex, i signed up for a premium channel on sky but when i sobered up in the morning, i cancelled the subscription. I think i paid £n for the first month but then nothing was taken out of my account.

My ex called week before last to say that she had recieved a letter from wescot demanding £159 ballance of the account. I did a quick search and sent her a templet to reply "not at this address, now F-off".
I have just received a letter from wescot stating" the above address was provided by experian as a possible forwarding address for you"

i am a member of experian so i have emailed their support team over data protection (if wescot are telling the truth) and im waiting for their reply.

in the meantime, are wescot telling the truth? i have heard that they use ebay and amazon accounts to illegally track people? And, what should i do about the letter. i'l pay if i have to to avoid the default but i feel i dont owe the money as i never recieved the services.

rimme

that sounds very familiar
only since i signed up to credit expert last week have i had an old debt( 5 years) resurface.
if this is the case then i will cancel it and seek advice like yourself.

roachy

i signed up a few months ago after having trouble getting credit. They have actually been very useful sorting out (the many) errors on my file, and their "best deals" search helped me get the sort term credit i needed at the time, now paid off ;0) so i would be prepared to recommend them, eventhough a few weeks after signing up i did get a demand for a 13 year old student loan, that turned out to be statute barred.
However, Im sure that wescot are telling porkies so the email was to "stir the hornets nest" so to speak.
Good luck with the 5 year old loan, im no expert but if you can hold it for a year it may become statute barred.

DarkConvict

You can only do credit checks on people if you have a valid reason. And even then you need their permission and details (such as current address)
If they did get it from there, it would be in breach of data protection, if not the law as well since obtaining credit reports without the above is illegal (as experian tell you when you sign up)!

Debts are barred after 6 years from the last payment you made to it. So don't be tempted to pay a small amount towards it to keep them away as the clock resets back to 0.

You could always state you do not knowledge this debt, as some companies are bottom feeders and buy up debts, and randomly chase and hope to catch someone out. Even if the debt doesn't exist.

smsfrancis

roachy wrote: »

eventhough a few weeks after signing up i did get a demand for a 13 year old student loan, that turned out to be statute barred.

Was this the "out of your wages" type or the "pay it yourself" type?

DarkConvict

Don't even the pre-1998 student loans loans have a 25 year limit on them before expiry. As well as the the post-1998 loans are not cleared by bankruptcy.

Student loans are different to 'normal' loans.

http://www.saas.gov.uk/student_support/repay_loan.htm

smsfrancis

Ah okay, it's just that I've been working for 4 years, graduated July 2005, and not had a single payment taken from my BACS payments/wageslip or any letters.

Anyway, will stop hijacking the thread! Just interested as I am also a member of Experian !!

DarkConvict

smsfrancis wrote: »

Ah okay, it's just that I've been working for 4 years, graduated July 2005, and not had a single payment taken from my BACS payments/wageslip or any letters.

Anyway, will stop hijacking the thread! Just interested as I am also a member of Experian !!

Ill drop you a PM.