Mackenzie Hall

just_me_ok

hi iv recieved a letter from these people this morning saying i need to contact them.regarding a personal matter. whats the best thing to do.
any advice welcome im now really worried as its in my maiden name and i cant think of anything i would owe anyone

fermi

Moved to it's own thread.

RAS

just_me_ok wrote: »

hi iv recieved a letter from these people this morning saying i need to contact them.regarding a personal matter. whats the best thing to do.
any advice welcome im now really worried as its in my maiden name and i cant think of anything i would owe anyone

How long have you been married.

Hannah_10

Don't contact them. These letters are often "fishing" trips. If they can't find the Sandra Smith from Sunderland they want they will write to every Sandra Smith in Sunderland and see who responds. People end up finding that because they were conciencious people and called back about a letter that they get chased for a debt hat isn't even thiers. Sounds like it should be illegal doesn't it, it is, doesn't stop it being widespread though. The phone is thier favourite way of making you contact them because they know that you almost certainly can't record it and if you do record it you have to tell them, so they know you're not. Even if you really did record it, who would you play it to exactly? So they love the phone. On the phone they can say things that are totally and utterly untrue as if they were facts that you are an idiot for not knowing. Gems of the debt colelction agency call centre repetoire include that they can take your car away, force you to lose your home and get you fired, or that they have a legal right to xyz, or that it's your job to prove you don't owe it, all total tosh.

Ignore this letter, get a cheap file folder from Tesco for 50p and shove it in there. If they have anything worth persuing they will write to you about it again. Nothing bad is going to happen without a good 2-3 dozen letters yet and any subsequent letters will say what the "personal matter" is.

Gordon_Hose

Have you checked your credit file to see if there's anything on there?

I suspect it's just them phising, but it's worth checking just in case.

fatbelly

Hannah_10 wrote: »

Don't contact them. These letters are often "fishing" trips. If they can't find the Sandra Smith from Sunderland they want they will write to every Sandra Smith in Sunderland and see who responds. People end up finding that because they were conciencious people and called back about a letter that they get chased for a debt hat isn't even thiers. Sounds like it should be illegal doesn't it, it is, doesn't stop it being widespread though. .

Absolutely correct (except they probably wouldn't limit themselves to Sunderland!) - their industry refers to this as 'tracing' and these letters as 'soft letters'

http://www.csa-uk.com/media/editor/file/Trace%20Factsheet.pdf

We call it 'fishing' and 'trying it on'

FTW

fatbelly wrote: »

Absolutely correct (except they probably wouldn't limit themselves to Sunderland!) - their industry refers to this as 'tracing' and these letters as 'soft letters'

http://www.csa-uk.com/media/editor/file/Trace%20Factsheet.pdf

We call it 'fishing' and 'trying it on'

Keep the letter to one side, but don't react to it by contacting the company concerned - trust me, it does absolutely no good to contact MH.

fatbelly

FTW wrote: »

Keep the letter to one side, but don't react to it by contacting the company concerned - trust me, it does absolutely no good to contact MH.

I agree - it just encourages them!