1st Credit LTD - Debt collector

LittleSavy

Hi i have received the folowing letter today from 1st Credit

Dear Sir/Madam

1st Credit limited is attempting to contact the above name regarding a personal matter.

Your address has been supplied as a possible address for our subject.

If you are Miss.............

Please contact our offices immediately on telephone number ........... and quote the above 1st credit reference number at which time further information can be provided.

If you are not Miss..............

If Miss....... is no longer resident at this address we would appreciate you calling us at your earliest convenience on ........ This will enable us to update our records and thereby avoid our contacting you unnecessarily in the future.

Any information you provide to us will be treated in the strictest confidence.

If no response is received to this letter within ten days we will continue to hold this address as the current address of Miss ....... and may issue further letters.

Yours faithfully
Gavin Flynn
Head of collections

Now the first thing i would like to point out is that the name they have quoted is indeed correct but the title is Wrong as it should be MRS as my wife only assume this name when we got married 7 years ago. So have they got the name right or wrong. The other point is that my wife has not got any debts what so ever and neither has she had all her life appart from our mortgage which we are overpayed so certainly not underpaid. We are both the sort of people that if we want somethng we save up for it and do not use any sort of credit. Other threads have suggested not telephoning these people as this is the worst thing to do. I am just really worried that we are going to get stung for a debt that is most definitley not ours so it has left us both a bit shaken. Can you please advise?

CAB_Swansea_Bay_representative

Hi Littlesavy, thank you for your query regarding 1st Credit
This sounds like a fishing exercise where a debt collection agency (which is what 1st Credit is) will send letter/phone everyone on their database or electorol role with a similar name to try to track down a debtor who they cannot locate. You could just ignore their letters if you are certain you do not owe the amount but this may not stop them contacting you. You could send them a letter stating you are not the person they are looking for and asking them to stop contacting you unless they can prove you are the debtor. Any letter should be sent recorded delivery and a copy kept. If they keep contacting you after the complaint you could complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Another possibility is that you have been the victim of identity fraud so it may be worth getting a copy of your credit report to see if there is any unusual activity on it. You can find more information about making complaints and getting a copy of your credit report at www.adviceguide.org.uk.
Hope this is of assistance.

LittleSavy

Thankyou very much for your reply and i will certainly follow the advice you have provided. I must say that this is a very good way for contacting members of the CAB as sometimes there is a lot to remember when talking to someone on the phone and to try to take everything down. This way, and i also have done, i can come back and make sure I am doing things in the right order. I must admit I do feel an awful lot better after your response.

We have also been contacted about two years ago reference my wife but it was another debt agency collector and after providing a few details which i would be reluctant to do again they did say that they would not be contacting us again. I'm betting that they were uncessfull in finding the debtor and have sold this debt on and why we are experiencing this again just with a different firm.

Many thanks again to CAB and Money saving expert