HELP- receiving debt letters for sister in law who has never lived with us!

juicygirl

Please help, i am worried sick!

About 6 months ago we received a letter from Capquest addressed to my sister in law ( who has never lived with us) advising that a credit card debt has been passed on to them for payment. I called and told them she had never lived at our address and gave them her address ( she had previously ignored letters at her address or sent them back so apparently they had searched for linked names to her and chanced their arm by trying us). i was told this would not affect me as it was not my name but I was still concerned about my address being blacklisted. Again I was reassured.

Fast forward 6 months and now another letter has arrived, this time from Frederickson International FOR THE SAME DEBT!! Again I called them this morning and gave them her address.

Now i am really worried. Am I going to have baliffs at my door?? Is my credit rating going to be affected. Is my home blacklisted?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

rising_from_the_ashes

First of all - you shouldn't be opening any mail that's not addressed to you.

Simply mark the envelope with "Return to Sender" and "Addressee not known at this address" and pop it back in the post.

vax2002

Sending debt letters is to relatives is a known tactic used by shark debt collectors to put pressure on debtors.
Which it has done, it has worked a treat, you are doing exactly what they require you to do, become an unpaid debt chaser for them.
They KNOW she does not live there !

DVardysShadow

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

First of all - you shouldn't be opening any mail that's not addressed to you.

Simply mark the envelope with "Return to Sender" and "Addressee not known at this address" and pop it back in the post.

If it comes through OP's door with OP's address on it and the name of someone who does not live there, it is very reasonable for OP to open it in these days of ID fraud.

On a legal point, it is OK provided OP does not use the information to act to the detriment of the addressee. You would probably get away with it in court if you passed the debtor's address to the DCA. But I don't think it is OP's place to do this - and as it seems the DCAs are playing her for a mug, it possibly only causes more problems. I suspect Capquest have told Fredrickson "We can't tell you her actual address, but if you write to her at juicygirl's address, juicygirl will probably tell you". So juicygirl, by passing on her address you could be bringing more of this down on yourself,

magpiecottage

Clearly debts need to be paid but this is a blatant breach of the OFT's debt collection guidelines. Your sisters debts are not something that should be disclosed to third parties and I imagine she will be upset that you know. There are clear ground for complaint against both the DCA and the credit card provider.

I would suggest the following letter is sent to the card company


Dear Sirs

Account number ### - Complaint

I have recently been told by my sister that a company called Capquest, acting on your behalf, has written to her address regarding an alleged debt on my account.

This company is clearly acting on your behalf
Regardless of whether a debt exists or not, the OFT debt collection guidance makes it clear that unfair practices include "disclosing or threatening to disclose debt details to third parties unless legally entitled to do so" (paragraph 2.6i) and "acting in a way likely to be publicly embarrassing to the debtor either deliberately or through lack of care, for example, by not putting correspondence in a sealed envelope and putting it through a letterbox, thereby running the risk that it could be read by third parties"

By disclosing this debt to my sister you are also in breach of the Data Protection Act and I demand redress for the considerable distress and embarrassment that your unlawful action has caused me.

I would remind you that, under the FSA's DISP rules, you are required to acknowledge this complaint in writing promptly and issue me with a final response indicating what, if anything you intend to do to rectify my grievance. You must also provide me with a copy of the booklet "Your Complaint and the Ombudsman" and inform me of my right to take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully



[name]


Then send the following one to the Capquest

Dear Sirs

Account number ### - Complaint

I have recently been told by my sister that you have written to her address regarding an alleged debt with [name of card provider].

Regardless of whether a debt exists or not, the OFT debt collection guidance makes it clear that unfair practices include "disclosing or threatening to disclose debt details to third parties unless legally entitled to do so" (paragraph 2.6i) and "acting in a way likely to be publicly embarrassing to the debtor either deliberately or through lack of care, for example, by not putting correspondence in a sealed envelope and putting it through a letterbox, thereby running the risk that it could be read by third parties"

This has caused me considerable distress and embarrassment and I demand redress for this.

I would remind you that you must now treat my complaint in accordance with the DISP rules of the Financial Services Authority. This means you must issue a prompt acknowledgement and, within 8 weeks of receipt, a final response indicating what, if anything, you intend to do about my complaint, that I may take the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service if I remain dissatisfied and enclose a copy of the booklet "Your Complaint and the Ombudsman".

You may make no charge for this.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours faithfully



[name]

juicygirl

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

First of all - you shouldn't be opening any mail that's not addressed to you.

Simply mark the envelope with "Return to Sender" and "Addressee not known at this address" and pop it back in the post.

I opened it the first time because ALL details except the first name were correct. i opened it the second time because I knew what it would be. I think I have a right to know what my address is being used for. if any further correspondence is recieved I shall send it back.

I think I will go to The CAB and ask for some advice and see what I can do to remove husband as linked to that address. He hasnt lived there for 6 years! I am in the first trimester of my 1st IVF pregnancy and really dont need this stress! And when we called SIL about it she just told my OH where to go. Well he certainly isnt oing on holiday on Monday for the second time this year like she is!

juicygirl

Thank you for that magpie. Unfortunately s-i-l does not care. Her attitude the first time was 'well I'm not paying it' and her attitude today was to tell my OH where he could go. I really dont care about her at all in all of this, i just care about me, my OH, our baby and our home and what us to be in the clear.

crazyguy

Agree 100% with post's from DVardysShadow and Magpiecottage here you will not go wrong following either or both.

DVardysShadow

juicygirl wrote: »

I opened it the first time because ALL details except the first name were correct. i opened it the second time because I knew what it would be. I think I have a right to know what my address is being used for. if any further correspondence is recieved I shall send it back.

I think I will go to The CAB and ask for some advice and see what I can do to remove husband as linked to that address. He hasnt lived there for 6 years! I am in the first trimester of my 1st IVF pregnancy and really dont need this stress! And when we called SIL about it she just told my OH where to go. Well he certainly isnt oing on holiday on Monday for the second time this year like she is!

More worrying is the possibility that your OH is financially linked to SiL. If they ever shared any financial product or account, the association could still be in place. I am not sure of the procedure for disassociation, but I would suggest that he pays £2 to each of the 3 main credit referencing agencies for his own credit records and starts by checking that there is nothing wrong there.

katsu

juicygirl, please don't panic. Magpie cottage has some good letters about how the debt collectors are wrong to write to her at your house.

You don't have to prove that your SIL doesn't live with you. Your credit record is personal, so unless you are linked to another person by joint finances (as you probably are with a mortgage to your DH, or could be with a loan or joint bank account) then it doesn't matter what debt they get into. Debt is not attached to your house.

The people who used to live in our house ran up debts and it wasn't nice as I got a bit scared at first - especially over the high court baliffs and over getting letters from an "adult" products store chasing "the occupier". We did prove to both of these that we weren't Mr and Mrs Don't Pay, but other than that I returned to sender saying not at this address. If you want to give them your SIL's address that is up to you, but it is not something you have to do.

We have been able to get credit, have a mortgage etc even tho Mr and Mrs Don't Pay seemed to stick with the not paying.

I suggest you get Mr Juicygirl to get his credit report from the CRAs and then check he is not linked with her on them or shown as living at her address.

Try not to worry too much and concentrate on you and the juicy bump.

juicygirl

Katsu,

Thank you so much for that, I am just so angry and upset. Mr juicy has never had any products with her, only that they shared an address. I will get him to get his credit reports and see what can be done.

Thank you.