Mackenzie Hall chasing debt owed by old tenant.

mattgad

Hi all,

I've received quite a few letters addressed to someone else at my address (which I moved into in August 2011). They were all eventually being marked as 'Urgent', so I decided that maybe I should open one.

It seems that they are chasing a previous tenant for money owed, but states on the letter that if I am not person named above, then I am to contact them to stop any further communication.

I've been reading some threads on this forum, and the general advice seems to be, don't contact them and tell them you are not the person wanted, as they won't believe you anyway.

The most recent letter says that 'field collectors', Meritforce, will be sanctioning a 'doorstep visit to the property'.

Just after a bit of advice really - what is a field collector and what can they do? If they do turn up, should I just show them some ID and my tenancy agreement and get them to go away, or should I not even open the door to them?

Thanks very much.

tallyhoh

its a doorstep visitor & thats all, they cant do anything. Show them your tenancy agreement if you want.

Deep_In_Debt

Door step collectors have no legal rights so you don't even have to answer the door to them but it may be worth showing them your tenancy agreement just to confirm that you are not the person they are looking for and hopefully they will then leave you alone.

It may be worth writing to them anyway and telling them and enclosing a copy of your tenancy agreement with the letter.

LLouiseR

If the letters are not for you - don't open them.
Just mark 'return to sender' and 'not at this address' on the envelope and put them in the Post Box.

bottleofred

Agree with above post, return to sender and ignore these pond life.

vax2002

All good advice is NEVER enter in to a dialogue, they will assume you are the person they want pretending not to be and start harassing the life out of you.
At present they do not have YOUR name, if you are foolish enough to give it to them then you will spend lots of time regretting it.
As for doorstep collectors, worry about them if they turn up.
DO not show them YOUR id, they will then begin harassing you, just state you are not the persons they seek, they are trespassing and their behaviour is causing you alarm and distress, leave immediately or the police will be called and they will be reported for using behaviour likely to cause alarm and distress.

Dizzy65

Do not let the bailiffs cross the threshold of your property - if they say they need the loo/to phone their boss etc, they're lying!

In any event, you are not the person and should have sent the previous letters back marked return to sender with as much info as possible about when the previous tenant left/where they went etc. This would probably have stopped it getting to this point.

If you call them, they may/may not believe you. They will not harass you as they have no reason to. The only thing they may do is send the bailiffs to ensure that you are who you say you are in which case they will want to see evidence of your occupancy (council tax bill is perfect if it's in your name and shows single occupancy) but a tenancy agreement is almost as good. They may continue to attend even then if they think you are shielding the debtor, just repeat what you've already told them and they will eventually go away. If they don't, find out who to complain to at that company or call the police.

There really is no reason why you shouldn't show them who you are. Refusing to show them just makes it appear that you have something to hide!

VitaK

If a box standard debt collector/field-collector (not bailiff) turns up at your address for a debt that isent yours. Tell him he got the wrong person, show him some ID to prove you are not the debtor, ask him to update there records and ask him to leave.

Gordon_Hose

The only advice you need here was given by LLouiseR.

Don't know why people are bringing up the subject of bailiffs??

RobertoMoir

Dizzy65 wrote: »

Do not let the bailiffs cross the threshold of your property - if they say they need the loo/to phone their boss etc, they're lying!

Lets just clear this one up before we go any further.

While it is always good advice not to let bailiffs in, doorstep visitors from a debt collector agency are not bailffs, and therefore have precisely zero powers to do anything, regardless of whether they are allowed into the house, and even regardless of whether or not they actually find the debtor, or not. If a 3rd party (or again even the actual debtor) writes to them and withdraws any consent to a visit then they can't even knock on the door.

Dizzy65 wrote: »

In any event, you are not the person and should have sent the previous letters back marked return to sender with as much info as possible about when the previous tenant left/where they went etc. This would probably have stopped it getting to this point.

Some of them would stop, some of them would not, but yeah I agree with this.

Dizzy65 wrote: »

If you call them, they may/may not believe you. They will not harass you as they have no reason to. The only thing they may do is send the bailiffs to ensure that you are who you say you are

No. They won't send bailiffs.

Dizzy65 wrote: »

in which case they will want to see evidence of your occupancy (council tax bill is perfect if it's in your name and shows single occupancy) but a tenancy agreement is almost as good. They may continue to attend even then if they think you are shielding the debtor, just repeat what you've already told them and they will eventually go away. If they don't, find out who to complain to at that company or call the police.

There really is no reason why you shouldn't show them who you are. Refusing to show them just makes it appear that you have something to hide!

The debt collectors have no right to ask for identification - it is up to them to prove they have found the person they are looking for, not up to random people the debt collectors decide to harass to prove that they are not the debtor.

The OP may decide that showing ID to any debt collectors that do happen to call is the easiest way forwards, but if they value their privacy or simply don't want to help debt collectors then that is entirely up to them. If the DCA decides this means they have "something to hide" then the DCA needs to file that feeling under "Things that are the DCA's problem, and which the OP needs care nothing about at all".

RobertoMoir

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

The only advice you need here was given by LLouiseR.

Don't know why people are bringing up the subject of bailiffs??

Because people still don't know the difference between debt collectors and bailiffs. And it isn't like the DCAs are going to correct this, as any fear people have of them works to their advantage.