Mackenzie Hall debt collectors - Help!

linsalina

Hi everyone,

I would really appreciate some advice from any of you who know about these things. I had a text message today that did not include my name, asking me to contact Mackenzie Hall, providing me with the phone number and giving a reference number for me to quote.

Confused, and before doing any research on the company I phoned the number. A woman answered; at no point did I provide the reference number but I think she knew my name from the phone number I was ringing off. She asked me to confirm this as my name which I did. She then asked that I confirm other details, such as address. At this point I refused until she explained further what the call was regarding. She stated that she could not give this information until I had provided her with further information to verify my identity. I said that I would not do this as she could be anyone, which she accepted, and we terminated the call.

Now having done further research I see they are a debt collection company. I am now very confused and have been wracking my brains to think of any unpaid debts I may have. All I can think of is a student account I took out with Barclays 11 years ago on which I ran up an overdraft of £200. I never used the account since, have moved address many times since then and have not thought about it for years; indeed, I no longer have any details of the account. I have never been contacted by Barclays about it.

Any advice as to what I should do now? Do I get back in touch with them or await a nasty letter, as received by many others from this company?

Many many thanks!!!

matttye

Await a nasty letter. Sending you a text message asking you to contact them without providing any further details is inappropriate. Wait until they can be bothered to contact you properly.

If they're chasing a debt that you haven't acknowledged or paid for eleven years it's unenforceable.

Sagz_2

Have you checked your credit files? http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score

There may be something on there that you've overlooked, or is on there in error.

fatbelly

They're trying to pin something on you that might not even be yours. It's not your job to speculate why they are chasing you. They must clearly set out in writing why they say you owe them money.

This may now happen as they have probably got enough bits of the jigsaw. Ignore text messages and phone calls but if they make a clear assertion in writing, send a prove-it, with a statute barred letter to follow if appropriate.

linsalina

Thanks everyone - that's all really helpful. I will try everything suggested and will await a letter.

I'll keep you posted. From everything I've read about Mackenzie Hall they seem to be pretty vile to deal with.

linsalina

Hi again everyone,

As suggested by Sagz I've checked my credit report and there is nothing on there about a debt I am unaware of. The Barclays account I referred to before also does not appear in the 'Account Information' section - does that mean it has now expired? The only mention of it is in the 'Linked Addresses' section where it shows that I changed the address on the account in 2009. Does that mean I acknowledged the debt at that time?

Mackenzie Hall phoned me again today and left me a voicemail asking me to call them.......I imagine this is start of a long period of being hounded daily......

fatbelly

You still don't know whether this is anything to do with the Barclays account.

The linked address info is provided by the creditor to the CRA. They could have got that info in a variety of ways so it does not mean that you acknowledged anything at that point.