Another Capquest Thread

Mega_Maniac

Sorry to open up yet another one of these threads, I have already read the great advice on here about requesting all the legal information from Capquest but they all differ a little from my letter so I am a little stuck.

Basically I have a letter that says I owe Capquest money, the 'Account' is due to 'Capquest'.

After looking them up I discover they are in fact the debt collectors. As far as this letter reads they are trying to collect a debt owed to themselves, there is absolutely no information whatsoever about where this debt came from. As such I am unsure as to if I can request a CCA, or even if I should bother...

Essentially the 'debt' they have plucked out of thin air is for £33.44, we all know the cost of a bailiff visit is way more than this, so to say they will visit me is an empty threat. Is there much, if any, point in me even replying to these vultures? I will happily ignore these letters if there is no adverse affects to me, I cant imagine this debt they have dreamed up can affect my credit?

Anyway, thanks in advance for the advice :beer:

matttye

Send a "prove it" letter.

fermi

Have they put anything on your credit files?

fatbelly

There can be no bailiffs without a court order, and they won't be getting one on a £33.44 debt.

Capquest do buy debts so it could be owed to them. However, they also sometimes chase the 'wrong' person for a debt so this might be nothing to do with you at all.

Advice above is good.

Oh, and please don't send a cca request (see post #2 of that link).

Mega_Maniac

Thanks for the advice, glad I asked before sending off a CCA.

I don't mind sending off a 'prove it' letter, but from reading other threads it seems like they tend to ignore anything that isn't a payment. Even ignoring CCA requests when they are legally obliged to comply.

Is it even worth writing to them, I frankly dont know why I should even give them the time of day to sort this out, I feel more inclined to ignore them.

matttye

Mega_Maniac wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, glad I asked before sending off a CCA.

I don't mind sending off a 'prove it' letter, but from reading other threads it seems like they tend to ignore anything that isn't a payment. Even ignoring CCA requests when they are legally obliged to comply.

Is it even worth writing to them, I frankly dont know why I should even give them the time of day to sort this out, I feel more inclined to ignore them.

Is the letter in your name? If so, I don't think ignoring them is a good idea. If it says "The occupier" or something and doesn't say your name, then ignoring them is probably fine, as they will be fishing without actually knowing if you are the debtor.

If they ignore the prove it letter they'll be in breach of OFT guidance on debt collection and you can make a complaint against them to the FOS.

Mega_Maniac

Indeed they do have my name

How do they even get hold of addresses? I have only been at this address for a few months and I only give out my address when it is absolutely necessary.

I had someone chase me about a debt a while back, I have moved so much that I had no idea I was being chased, and I then cleared it up with the original company and they dropped it. As far as I know this is the only 'unpaid' debt I have ever had, I vaguely remember something about them adding a charge for the job of collecting the debt and I just wonder if this could be left over from that?

matttye

Mega_Maniac wrote: »

Indeed they do have my name

How do they even get hold of addresses? I have only been at this address for a few months and I only give out my address when it is absolutely necessary.

I had someone chase me about a debt a while back, I have moved so much that I had no idea I was being chased, and I then cleared it up with the original company and they dropped it. As far as I know this is the only 'unpaid' debt I have ever had, I vaguely remember something about them adding a charge for the job of collecting the debt and I just wonder if this could be left over from that?

As fermi said in post #3, did they add anything to your credit files? Or is there anything else in them from companies you don't remember owing money to?

If the CRA's have your latest address or you've applied for credit since moving to your latest address, and Capquest have searched your file, they could get the address from there.

Mega_Maniac

matttye wrote: »

As fermi said in post #3, did they add anything to your credit files? Or is there anything else in them from companies you don't remember owing money to?

If the CRA's have your latest address or you've applied for credit since moving to your latest address, and Capquest have searched your file, they could get the address from there.

Ah, I got a new mobile contract so that would have put this address on my credit file I guess.

I don't have any sort of regular access to my credit file, so I dont know what is on it.

fatbelly

Mega_Maniac wrote: »

Is it even worth writing to them, I frankly dont know why I should even give them the time of day to sort this out, I feel more inclined to ignore them.

That is your other option.

There is a school of thought that by engaging with them at all you are just encouraging them.

I suppose a compromise is to see if they continue to pursue you and if it becomes sufficiently annoying, send the prove-it.

It's possible that future letters might give more information about where this came from, anyway.

Mega_Maniac

fatbelly wrote: »

That is your other option.

There is a school of thought that by engaging with them at all you are just encouraging them.

I suppose a compromise is to see if they continue to pursue you and if it becomes sufficiently annoying, send the prove-it.

It's possible that future letters might give more information about where this came from, anyway.

Yea, I had this thought, responding is just telling them they have an actual person at the right address.

It doesn't matter too much tho I guess, I can just ignore them after I send the prove it, there is no way they are getting my telephone number and letters are only so annoying.