2 years on, debt still not mine!

ibleedred

I wondered if someone would be able to assist me please?

2 years ago, I received a letter from SRJ Debt Recoveries informing me I owed £850 to Grattan. I didn't, as I have never had an account with Grattan before.

I wrote the standard "prove it" letter, 1 week later they wrote back informing me that the "file is no longer open" and they have no interest in the account.

Today, I received a letter from Lowells informing me that they have "bought the debt" from Grattan, and that I owe £650!

I still don't owe this money, and I am planning on sending them that same letter. But, should I? How are they able to buy a debt I don't owe, certainly one that nobody seems to be able to prove?

I kept a copy of the correspondance previously, as I thought it incredibly strange that someone should write to me asking for money, should I photocopy the letter from SRJ and send it to Lowell, asking for an explanation of how they can buy a debt that was closed with another debt collector 2 years previous?

ryuken21

Write the same letter and send it to them. They can not expect you to pay a debt you do not owe! Just think what they are doing here, if they send these letters out to a 1000 people a day, how many do you think will actually panic and pay it? a very few yeah, but that's money they have just recieved for nothing. If nobody can prove the debt then it's not a concern of yours.

fermi

Typical of Lowells.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/01/the_chase_for_debts_not_always.html

DVardysShadow

ibleedred wrote: »

I wondered if someone would be able to assist me please?

2 years ago, I received a letter from SRJ Debt Recoveries informing me I owed £850 to Grattan. I didn't, as I have never had an account with Grattan before.

I wrote the standard "prove it" letter, 1 week later they wrote back informing me that the "file is no longer open" and they have no interest in the account.

Today, I received a letter from Lowells informing me that they have "bought the debt" from Grattan, and that I owe £650!

I still don't owe this money, and I am planning on sending them that same letter. But, should I? How are they able to buy a debt I don't owe, certainly one that nobody seems to be able to prove?

I kept a copy of the correspondance previously, as I thought it incredibly strange that someone should write to me asking for money, should I photocopy the letter from SRJ and send it to Lowell, asking for an explanation of how they can buy a debt that was closed with another debt collector 2 years previous?

What happened was that in writing your 'prove it', SRJ put it on their 'too hard' pile and as they did not get supporting info from Grattan for whatever reason, they sent the debt back to Grattan. Grattan have now resold the debt to Lowells.

I think I would not send another prove it - I would be sending a letter referring to my correspondence with SRJ and stating that it has not been addressed other than to close the file and asking Lowells to address the letter to SRJ. State that the letter should be with the debt, but if they write you will give them a copy.

Rather than write a fresh prove it, just keep going with the old one and state you require that letter to be addressed.