Letter from DCA

H.Ed · 19 April 2010 at 11:26AM

Hi All,

This is my first post so apologies if I am unclear, or if any of the content has been repeated.

I have received a letter from a DCA addressed to my maiden name at my current address. (I married Dec 2004 and moved Nov 2006). They said that they had traced me to this address.

Even though I was more careless about debt back in my single days, I am unaware of any outstanding debts in my maiden name.

I understand there is a 6 year limitation on debts and this could well be a possibilty.

Can anyone suggest a template letter or wording to use when contacting them to obtain any information regarding debt, without (at this stage) accepting liability.

I would also be interested to find out how they 'traced' me, so any wordings on that would be great too!

Thanks in advance for you help.
H.Ed

mazza25 · 19 April 2010 at 11:27AM

With the election coming up, have you maybe just gone on the electoral register?

H.Ed · 19 April 2010 at 11:32AM

I have been on the electoral register for 3.5 years in my married name and have never any connection to my current address in my maiden name.

Tixy · 19 April 2010 at 11:37AM

You need the prove it letter first - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11570893&postcount=2

It may be that the debt has recently been bought by this DCA and they have only just tried to trace you. Its usually pretty easy to trace people, if you had any financial product that you changed name on from your maiden name to your married name.

H.Ed · 19 April 2010 at 11:45AM

Thanks Tixy for your reply.

At this stage the DCA have not comfirmed who the debt is owed to or how much is owed. Thay have only given a reference number which should be quoted when contact is made.
Can you suggest a template to get this info from the DCA?

The letter just states that they have traced Miss X to this address. They have not made any mention of my married name at all.

Tixy · 19 April 2010 at 12:12PM

If they have said that a debt is owed then that letter should still do it.

If they have only said they are trying to trace a Miss X and please confirm if she lives there then you could either ignore them or send back a doctored version of that letter to say something like

Ref: xxxxxxxxxxx

You have contacted us with above reference number.

We would point out that we have no knowledge of any debt being owed to The Loan Company.

then the rest of the letter being the same.

H.Ed · 19 April 2010 at 1:27PM

Thanks again Tixy.

Does anyone know where I stand legally in writing back to them in my maiden name and not my married name?

H.Ed · 19 April 2010 at 4:07PM

I have posted this same query on another debt forum and have had the following reply

Every year hundreds of thousands of old alleged debts begin to get near to Statute Barred and the DCAs see if they can revive them before it is too late. These ancient debts were dumped by the original creditor years ago and have done the rounds of being traded between different DCAs possibly up to ten, fifteen times. The DCA are trying their luck and they will without doubt have a few niave people making contact and giving the kiss of life to some old alleged debt the DCA bought for tuppence.

You have been Mrs **** for years so your letter from this DCA is a fishing expedition, if you contact them and take the bait, you will be back on the hook giving them an update of your life since 2004 which will of course get the ball rolling for them and make them very happy indeed.

Be wise and DO NOT MAKE CONTACT with the parasites.

Please can i get some of your thoughts about this.

Also given that this debt has probably been passed through a number of different DCA's, do you think they would have full transaction and correspondence details?

Do you think it is still worth approching them with a letter to ask them to provide these details and ask them to prove the debt? If they cannot prove the debt, can they claim it?

Also I am curious to find out how they have linked my maiden name to my current address, so wouldn't mind asking them about it!

Thanks again

Tixy · 19 April 2010 at 4:18PM

Have you checked your credit file recently? - it may well show your maiden name as an alias or aka on your credit file. Then it should show all the addresses that you lived at in the last 6years so it really isn't tough to trace you.

The response in blue is correct that it could be a statute barred debt or nearly statute barred debt but the prove it letter does not acknowledge the debt. Again if you check your credit file does it show any old debts on your report?

You could not respond and wait to see if they send another letter that does detail the debt and the original creditor.

Or as you don't think you owe anything if you send the prove it letter then either
- you will never hear from the again (as they have no proof)
- or they will send details of the debt & original creditor (which you might then be able to decide if you owe)
If you recognise the debt then you would need to consider if it was statute barred (in which case you have to write to tell them you don't intend to pay) or if it was nearly statute barred - in which case you need to not acknowledge the debt for the next few months and then send the SB letter.
If you recognise the debt, owe it and its not soon to be statute barred (say its only 4years old or so) then you could make a low full & final offer to clear the debt - say maybe 25% of the balance.

And if they have no proof then there is no debt to pay.

First thing I would do is get a copy of your credit file to see if there is anything on there that could be an old outstanding debt (if not then it could easily already be statute barred)