Apex Credit Management

izm

Hi,

I received a letter from Apex Credit Management today saying that I have a £710.26 debt on a Barclaycard credit card that I never used.

We moved house in 2007 and informed all credit card companies of the move. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that Barclaycard sent a new card and most likely the pin number too, to the old address after the unused one expired.

We've never seen any notifications of debts and as far as I know this debt has never shown up on any credit checks since. We thought that they just weren't sending a new card because we'd never used it. It only had a credit limit of £100 on it in the first place.

The letter that Apex sent gives an account number that looks like a credit card number, but differs from the card that we last had. That old card is now cut up and long gone, but we have an old letter from Barclaycard that states the last four digits of our old card and they are different from the account number in the Apex letter.

We never had any debt, or even spending on this card, so I know that there is nothing owed by us.

Does anybody have any advice about what I do now. I haven't heard good things about this Apex company on these boards.

Cheers,

Nige

bottleofred

Hi Nige,

Send them the prove it letter below, but only print your signature, as they've been known to copy signatures!

1 High Street,
Newtown,
Kent
R21 4RH
October 9, 2007

The Loan Company
Company House,
Church Street,
Newtown,
Kent,
R1 7HG

Dear Sir/Madam

Ref: xxxxxxxxxxx

You have contacted us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by ourselves.

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

We are familiar with the ‘Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance’ which states that it is unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

We would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore, ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

We would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above accounts unless you can provide evidence as to our liability for the debt in question.

We await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise we will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

We look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully





Mrs A N Other

izm

Cheers Bottleofred,

I've printed one off and will get it to them tomorrow. I'll post back if/when I hear back.

I have enough real debts to sort by next year without fantasy ones being added to them.

Nige

cobblers_boy

Don't forget to send it recorded as well. They are also not averse to claimimg they never received it either.

CB

izm

Hi, I have an update on this, "non debt" and am looking for some advice on how to proceed.

It seems that the debt was passed on by Apex to a new agency called, "Westcot". I sent them the same letter that I sent Apex, but Westcot have now sent a letter back asking for my last 3 address details. Where, when, etc.

Now, I'm torn with what to do here.

I could send them the details of my previous addresses with dates of leaving as I am sure that what must have happened is that Barclaycard sent the card to my old address after I moved (they were informed about the move) and the new tenant has taken the card and put the debt on it. Telling them the dates that I moved may help to clear my name with this debt.

On the other hand, I don't trust any of these companies and am wondering if I should just ignore this, or send something else instead.

Thanks in advance,

Nige

izm

This is a looonnnggg story now, but it is hopefully coming to a close with all the help that I've received from this sites visitors and advisers. Thank you all. :beer:

The (so called) debt was eventually bought up by a company called Lowell. They were the first to actually attempt to send me any evidence that I owed anything. This evidence turned out to be an old statement that when you did the maths actually showed that anything owing on the card (a grand total of £32.00 spending) was fully paid off in time the month after it was spent. I returned it to them with a lesson in basic mathematics.

They wrote back to appologise and said that they'd sent the wrong evidence and included what they said was the correct evidence.

Now before I go into this so called evidence a very quick refresher on the back story is called for.

Back in 2010 I received the first of many dodgy demands from Apex (yeah we all know them by now) demanding £700 and something for a credit card debt on a card from back in 2006. The card in question only had a limit of around £100 ish. It was our first credit card and was a Morgan Stanley one whos accounts were taken over by Barclaycard.

With the help of this boards members, I drafted letters asking for proof of said debt, but could never get anything from them, so I kept to the line that it simply wasn't my debt. After a few months of threats the debt was passed on to another dodgy collector with the exact same line of questioning and threats.

Back at the beginning, I'd been in touch with Barclaycard directly and suggested the following scenario to them...

Perhaps, even after I'd informed them of our house move in April 2007, they'd sent another card to my old address along with a pin number, the Albanians (that will become relevant soon) that had moved in to our old council house had somehow managed to get past their security questions and used the card and never paid the bill.

This suggestion was scoffed at and immediately dropped by them as ridiculous.

Well, Lowell sent me the evidence that none of the other collectors would. I now believe the previous collectors wouldn't send it because I had told them this suspicion of mine.

Well, it turns out that the bill was from June 2007 (after I'd bought and moved into our current house). It was a nice new card with a new limit of £800. It listed many cash withdrawals made in, wait for it.... ...Yes, you've got it, Albania.

Well colour me not surprised at all.

After this, it was a simple matter of proving to them that I received my very first passport in life in early 2012 and have never left the country since I was five years old.

Now it's all on hold and has been for a while. Lowell says that they are waiting on Barclaycard (even though they actually bought the debt and are not an agent of Barclaycards) and it will be on hold until they get back to them.

We are now waiting in this limbo that I suspect will go on indefinitely with this debt sitting on my credit record. Can anybody suggest how I might hurry this along so that I can put this completley behind us and get on with our lives? Is there anything I can do to give Barclaycard, or Lowell the kick up the !!! to get this finalised?

The pressure is now off as I don't have to deal with them and their threats any more. Thank you all for that :T

I just need to finally stop flogging this horse and let it die somehow.

Nige