advantis letter requesting confirmation of identity

janew09

i received a letter recently from Advantis Credit saying they were verifying the current whereabouts of someone.

the person they are looking for could well be me as we share the same name and i did once have an account with the utility company they are working for.

i wasn't going to phone them but it does say if i don't contact them they will assume i am the correct person and will contact me again.

what should i do?

Tixy

Hi Jane

I would wait until they contact you again with more details of the debt. Then if (when) they do you would need to send them the 'prove it' letter (basically asking them to prove you owe them money - there is a template on here when you need it).

How long ago did you last have an account with this utilility company? could it be over 6years (5 in scotland)? do you think you may have not paid the last bill?

DarkConvict

Just worth poiting out, OFT Guidelines on debt collection

2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
a. sending demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that
they are the debtor in question, for example, threatening debt recovery
action to 'the occupier' or sending a payment demand to all people sharing
the same name/date of birth as a debtor in the hope that contact with the
correct debtor will be made.

b. disclosing debt details to an individual when it is uncertain that they are
the debtor in question, for example, disclosing details to 'the occupier' of
an address.

They shouldn't send out this fishing letters, best advice is to ignore them.

DarkConvict

I forgot to add,

2.8 j. requiring an individual to supply information to prove they are not the
debtor in question, for example, driving licences, passports, full name,
date of birth, signatures

They shouldn't send out fishing letters, because it is upto them to prove they have the right person, not the other way round. If you continue to get letters, it maybe worth contacting the OFT over them.

janew09

Thanks for the advice, I'll wait to see if I get another, more detailed letter before responding at all.

It was all a bit vague - I assume most people will have had an account with the major utilities at some point in their lives!

I've lived in my current house for several years (though not over 6) but prior to this I lived in shared houses and I guess this is where the potential for bill problems can arise! It could be related to one of those properties but I can't be specific or sure unless they give me more information. In the meantime perhaps I should just wait.