Fredrickson demand for unknown debt, plus credit check mix-ups

PurplePerson_2

Hi,

First post and directed here by a friend, looking for a bit of advice.

Here's the situation:

I've been out of the UK on and off for 10 years, during this time ALL my affairs have been at non-UK addresses, i.e. I have banked abroad etc... I've had no debt, except an overdraft when I was a student, have had loans but all have been paid correctly and are finished (over 10 years ago).

I returned to the UK a year ago, permanently, and opened a new UK bank account. Within a few months I started to receive letters from debt collectors about debts I had no knowledge of, at addresses I had never lived at. However, they all appeared in my name, most were around 4-5 years old. I called these companies up as these letters arrived and explained the situation, all but one of the companies was helpful and understanding and I heard nothing further. One company accused me of lying and were very rude, but after sending a second demand and a subsequent call from me, they stopped also.

Fast forward 6 months, and I have received 3 letters within the last week from a Fredrickson International. I immediately searched for info about them as the first letter sounded like a phishing scam, and found unpleasant tales. The second letter was the same. The third was a demand for payment for a debt to BT of approx. £200, I've never had any dealings with BT, there was no date given, the address was one I had not lived at (I wasn't in the UK), but it was all in my name. I have found the 'prove it' template letter and plan on sending that over the weekend.

So, I decided today to have a look at my credit report. Unfortunately, I have had trouble signing up with both Experian, and Equifax. Experian seem to think I've already got an account with them (I have never used a credit check service before), and I completed the Equifax sign-up process only to be told they couldn't validate my details even though I answered all the questions correctly, the other issue was there was no support for non-UK addresses, and having only been back here for a year makes it a bit tricky.

This is all looking like some sort of ID theft, however, it is also feasible having spoken to my bank that there are multiple erroneous records on my credit file from someone else with the same name, that have been mistakenly added on to me when I opened a new UK bank account. The bank said there was nothing they could do, and to check my credit file. Unfortunately, being unable to check my file as explained above and getting no response so far from either Experian or Equifax means I'm stuck.

I have these very aggressive Fredrickson people demanding money and no way to deal with this possible credit file mix-up. So a bit annoyed and stressed.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Tixy

Hi and welcome

The prove it letter is a good next step to the fredrickson letter.

Regarding your credit files - it may be worth requesting the £2 statutory reports from experian & equifax by post. That will probably be the easiest way to see your files.

You could also try applying to noddle for your callcredit file, sometimes people are able to get through noddle identity/security checks even when they cannot with the others.

Once you have your files from the agencies hopefully you can track back to see where an incorrect link was made. It could just be one debt collector incorrectly linking you to a real debtor with the same name (and then others just following that link).

PurplePerson_2

Tixy wrote: »

Hi and welcome

The prove it letter is a good next step to the fredrickson letter.

Regarding your credit files - it may be worth requesting the £2 statutory reports from experian & equifax by post. That will probably be the easiest way to see your files.

You could also try applying to noddle for your callcredit file, sometimes people are able to get through noddle identity/security checks even when they cannot with the others.

Once you have your files from the agencies hopefully you can track back to see where an incorrect link was made. It could just be one debt collector incorrectly linking you to a real debtor with the same name (and then others just following that link).

Hi,

Thank you for the response, much appreciated.

I will send the prove it letter ASAP. Am amazed these companies do this sort of thing, I can see how people cave in to them.

As I have never checked my file before I have no idea what I am doing! I will have a look for the statutory reports as these sound like what I'm after. Will try Noddle also.

Assuming there are errors there, how do I get these removed or break the 'link' so to speak? And how long would this take?

Thanks!

UPDATE: Noddle wouldn't allow me to sign-up either, I get "Sorry, we haven’t been able to verify and validate your identity and can’t provide your credit report."

UPDATE2: no go on statutory reports either as they do not support non-UK addresses. Have mailed the agencies...

Tixy

If you fill in the paper forms you should be able to fill in whatever address you like. As long as you have a current UK address now then that should be the important thing.

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/Stat-App-Form.pdf

http://www.equifax.co.uk/efx_pdf/your_equifax_credit_file_0310.pdf

In terms of getting your file corrected it depends what shows.
E.g. it may show credit accounts that have a different date of birth and an original address you have never lived at, and in which case you'd start by disputing this with the credit reference agency. They in turn should check the records/contact the creditor who has reported that information to dispute it.

Realistically it could easily take a couple of months or more to get sorted.

PurplePerson_2

Many thanks again for the info.

Resorting to good old fashioned paper forms is the way to go it seems.

Hopefully, this should be straightforward. My concern was that some of the letters I had last year had my correct name and d-o-b, but i'd never lived at the addresses in question.

PurplePerson_2

Just over a month on from the previous posts, and I thought I'd give an update in case it is helpful to anyone else.

This issue is still not resolved.

I have been unable to get my statutory report, again because I do not have enough UK addresses in the previous 6 years. I had a letter stating that the form was incomplete.

I have been on a merry dance with Experian, who in fairness, have been the only reference agency to actually respond to me. Apparently, I already had an account with them, except I didn't, having never had anything to do with them before now. It turns out somebody had set up an account in my name, and paid for it for 6 months around 6 years ago. So, after much going round the houses this last month, I get a reply today saying they will not give me details of these payments as they are not mine, but they are apparently 'on my account', so although they are 'mine' they aren't 'mine' and they still won't give me any details as to the cards, emails used etc...

I'm tempted to go to the police at this point, given that I have received letters regarding debts from properties I have not lived at, but as I actually have zero evidence to present without these details am at a loss as to what to do.

This situation is just utterly absurd! Kafka-esque is the phrase I think most appropriate.

Experian_company_representative

Hi Purpleperson,

I am sorry to hear of the problem you have had getting your Experian credit report.

When you apply for a copy of your statutory credit report we will ask for your address history for the last six years. This is to make sure that you see all your relevant infomation on the report. However we do only hold details relating to UK addresses. If you have supplied a current UK address we would still be able to process your application, in some cases we may ask for further documents if we can't confirm your ID.

If you would like me to check your application to see what has caused this problem e[EMAIL="uksocialsupport@experian.com"]mail[/EMAIL] your details to me and I can take a look at this.

It certainly sounds like you need to check your report so you can see if the debt collection agencies have recorded any information at your address or linked you to addresses you have not used.

Regards Neil

PurplePerson_2

Hi Neil,

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I'm in touch with ActionFraud at the moment and have been told to await further instructions from them as to my next steps. I assume this will be in a few days.

I've made a note of your email address and will contact you - I've been corresponding with your customer service team so far, and I'm awaiting a response to my last message to them and will see what that is.

I'm sure this will be sorted out eventually.

Thanks.