Thames Credit debt chasing letter - but is it my debt? advice, please?

fairylights_2

Right.

We were merrily going along, happy in our knowledge that we'd cleared all our debt. Then slap, this morning a letter arrived to ruin my happy bubble.

It's addressed to my maiden name, for starters. I've been married for five and a half years. It's from Thames Credit, saying I owe £460 odd for a debt to GE Capital.

I don't have the faintest idea what this debt is. I can just about manage to pay it if it is genuinely mine, but I'm not entirely sure it is. We've lived in three different houses since we got married, and have been in this one for three. If I owed GE some money, surely they would have chased me up rather than selling the debt on to someone else who did nothing with it until now?

I went through a really dodgy patch financially before 2000, and can only assume if it is my debt, it's from then.

What do I do? I've seen other people go down the roads of letters not acknowledging debts, but we live in a house where the previous owners left the country £75k in debt, and have had Thames Credit, or some such cronies, send collections agents to collect from us the debt the previous owners left, even after we'd informed them we were not them and they had gone to Spain.

I'm rather thinking it might be easier just to pay it to save myself the stress, but what if it isn't my debt at all?

What can I do, please?

Lavendyr

From what I've seen on here (and I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along to help), firstly don't pay it, don't acknowledge it as your debt, but write to Thames Credit requesting that they send you the original agreement for the credit (RAH or rog2 post very useful letter templates) - if they can't do that, they can't prove the debt is yours (and the onus is on them to prove it's your debt, not on you to prove it's not).

Don't give in and pay it if you're in doubt it's yours.

Good luck

bkclive

I've had a letter from a debt collection agency before saying that I owed someone I'd not heard of a few grand from years ago. I wrote back and asked for proof that it was my debt, for example, a photocopy of the agreement. They sent out a few more routine 'give us some money or else' letters, and I sent a copy of my original letter back each time. Never heard from them again.

fatbelly

fairylights wrote: »

I went through a really dodgy patch financially before 2000, and can only assume if it is my debt, it's from then.

Even if it's your debt, it's probably statute barred.See this factsheet

moonrakermagpie

Hi Do not pay as yet, but read this thread I have running,

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=540873

Then down load the template letters from this website regarding either:-

Request for a copy of the original signed credit aggreement (without this they cannot pursue the debt)

And/or the letter regarding statute barred debts.(there are links to this information on this site).

The is a lot of info on this site regarding how to deal with debts, and I am sure one of the really knowledgable guys or guyesses will be along to steer you straight.

They have all helped me so much!!!

Cheers

Steve

fairylights_2

I'll watch your thread with interest - I went to the debtline site and got the sample letter but wasn't sure whether it was entirely ok to send, as it makes no reference to the fact that I don't know if it's mine, only that the debt is over six years old.

uncle_pablo

Back in June I received a letter from Thames Credit asking me to confirm if I was the person they were writing to. Obviously, I ignored it. I then get a third letter stating an amount I "allegedley" owe. I think this originates from a c-card back in 1996/7. On Friday I sent a £1 postal order and the "I do not acknowledge any debt...." letter. I will keep you informed of any developments

Pablo