Death, debt collection agency / catalogue being very sneaky...

dap_3

Person died in december, in janurary received letter from debt collection agency (intrum justia) - after sending death certificate etc saying:

"Dear ... We confirm that this account has now been removed from our files and no further action will be taken. Yours sincerely."

Now, in july, been passed back to the catalogue company, asking for their money.

Rang catalogue company, they said that the "no further action will be taken" meant simply by intrum justia, (They rang them and checked...)

Any ideas if this is against OFT or similar? Seems like they are really taking the mick...

MrsTinks

If the person the debt was for has passed away and the debt was unsecured then I am not sure they can do anything at all...
I would call the CAB or maybe a solicitor for definite advice on this but I think they can whistle for it

dap_3

Yes, you are correct, it is unsecured, and a catalogue debt, so probably no credit agreement. I'm not worried about this side of it.

What i'm wondering is the above - letter as above from debt collection agency, then 6 months later, from the catalogue company. It doesn't seem right for them to do this. (Causing distress for my dad).

MrsTinks

Hmmmm well if they weren't informed then the fault is with the DCA for not passing on the message... HOWEVER I would write a letter of complaint explaining the distress caused to your dad and yourself over this matter. Explain you informed Interim Justia peeps and you have a letter stating that they have dropped it etc. Also explain to phoned them to explain this and was deeply distressed by the unsympathetic attitude of the staff and that you look forward to a personal appology from the Customer Service Director at the very least. Make sure you give them a time limit on when you wish to hear from them and send recorded to the highest person you can find in the company by name.

If they don't respond with an appology then pass it on to the BBC watchdog - It's amazing how some companies who couldn't care less suddenly get concerned when they think things like this will get published on primetime TV

dap_3

Update: A different debt collection agency written another letter, addressed to the deceased...

"Please note we have confirmed with a major public utility that you are in occupancy at the above address.

Contact us now."

Oh dear. Considering she died last year...

Broken_hearted

Hugs they really don't care do they.

AGB863

In this case, where there is a death, the debt does not go away, what has to be looked at - was there any estate left, ie money funds etc that could be used to clear the debt. If there is not then the debt "dies" and there is no further action that can be taken.

dap_3

Technically there is an estate; half the equity in the house...

All the other creditors dropped it (About 5-6 of them)

AGB863

dap wrote:

Technically there is an estate; half the equity in the house...

All the other creditors dropped it (About 5-6 of them)

I have just checked my debt book about this - "the deceased's share in a jointly owned property is not part of his/her estate and passes directly to the other co-owners - regardless of whether the deceased made a will or died intestate - and so is not available to creditors"

There is a loophole "since 2nd April 2001 - if a creditor presents a bankruptcy petition against the deceased's estate and an order is made, the court can require the surviving owner to pay the value of the deceased's share as at the date of death"

In my opinion it will be unlikely that they will go down this route - but you never know.

davek1

i know this is an old post but im curious to know the outcome??

I cant believe that organisations could be so heartless. Of course they want their money but we are hardly talking thousands and thousands surely they could and morally should just write the debt off.

I would also write to the local press/and any one else who would listen and make their life a misery.

Sorry for the rant i hate people like this

Dr.Shoe_2

AGB863 wrote:

I have just checked my debt book about this - "the deceased's share in a jointly owned property is not part of his/her estate and passes directly to the other co-owners - regardless of whether the deceased made a will or died intestate - and so is not available to creditors"

There is a loophole "since 2nd April 2001 - if a creditor presents a bankruptcy petition against the deceased's estate and an order is made, the court can require the surviving owner to pay the value of the deceased's share as at the date of death"

In my opinion it will be unlikely that they will go down this route - but you never know.

In the 1980s, my mother-in-law paid half towards a house for my brother-in-law in which she lives in a "granny annexe". Does this mean that when she dies that her share of the house automatically passes to him without my wife and her other siblings seeing any of it?

At the time when they bought the house, she promised the others that they'd each get a quarter share of her interest in the house.