Debt Collection Letter wants me to confirm it's me....

CurlySue02

Hi all, this is my first post. I'm really unsure how to respond to this letter!

The letter is from a debt collection agency asking me to confirm that I lived at a previous address. The address is where I lived during uni and I'm assuming (as nothing mentioned in letter) it's regarding an unpaid utility bill which me and flatmate disputed who should pay before we left. Unfortunately it was my name on the bill.

This was well over 10 years ago now and from what I've read this type of debt is no longer able to be legally recovered. So why are they bothering me???

I'm also assuming that my details were passed on from another debt collection agency who I recently had a brief brush with over a storage locker I no longer needed. However thankfully that was quickly sorted out.

How do I respond? The letter also states no response means they will assume it is me anyway!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

sourcrates

Hi,

You are under no obligation to respond at all, unless they mention a specific debt they are chasing you about, this is whats commonly known as a "fishing trip".

If, they write again, and the letter actually states they are chasing you for a particular debt, then you should respond.

Even if a debt is statute barred, they can still chase it, they can still take you to court for it, you need to tell them its statute barred, you do this in the form of a letter, which is available from here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Time-has-run-out-to-recover-the-debt-%28sole-name%29.aspx

The onus is then on them to prove the debt is not statute barred, despite what they may tell you, you do not have to prove anything.

If you need further help with this, please post again, but this time on the Debt free-wannabe-forum.

Thanks.

CurlySue02

Thank you! That's really helpful