Debt collection agent turned up announced

stayingupright

Hi, I'm asking for a friend, and have searched for an answer, but can't find anything similar.

Mhy friend's ex wife had a lot of debt in her name, and he receives at least one letter a month addressed to her (he has no idea where she is). Despite the threats to come round, he has ignored them, but it has worried his current wife no end.

He did, however, pay for her vodafone account, but cancelled it when she left him (7 years ago), though somehow she still managed to run up charges on it after she left, which he did say he wouldn't be paying when he told them he would no longer be liable for it.

Irrespective of how stupid he was, and whether he was repsonsible for the debt, it is now 7 years since he last had admitted any liability, and paid for it.

He has had letters in the last 7 years, from various debt collection agencies, saying that he could settle for less, or they would call, etc, etc.

Today though he received a card, hand-delivered, from Provident Personal Finance, saying that they had called to arrange a repayment plan, and to start collecting payments.

He is worried about this, having never heard from them, and is worried about what his wife would say/do if they called and it was just her there (she is very cautious, very unassertive, very easily persuaded to sign things).

RAS

Provident have started trying to collect statute barred debt and are using really really sneaky techniques.

The debt is SB which means that even if your friend did make a payment now, the debt remained SB and he could stop paying and defend any legal action on the grounds it is SB.

Provident are asking people to take out new loans to pay SB debt whic means they can circumvent the Statute of Limitations. There was a thread about this recently https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3376564.

You friend needs to send the SB letter and advise Provident that if they turn up, he will call the police.

He also needs to make a formal complaint to the OFT if they turn up again or leave any message other than one confirming that the account is closed.

Mr_Max

Provident are a short-term home lender. You borrow £80, say, in cash and pay it back to the "rep" in weekly lumps. As far as I know, they don't do debt collections for Vodafone.

Have I missed something, or are you sure it's Provident?

stayingupright

Mr_Max, yes I'm 100% sure that it's provident, he showed me the card they left.

Thanks RAS, I'll tell him your advice

RAS

Read the thread to which I linked; they have very much started debt collection in the last year. Because they are already visiting peoples' houses they know they can put extra pressure on them to pay.

They are also trying to collect statute barred debt by offering new loans to cover the old debt, which enables them to circumvent the Statute of Limitations. there have been several threads about this recently.