Country Court Letter

chunkydog

Hi

We received a letter from the court (Country Court Business Centre in Northampton) regarding an outstanding debt, addressed to the previous owner of our property. We've been here 9 months but this is the first letter of this nature we've received.

I contacted the court who said to return the letter as gone away which I did, recorded delivery (as I had zero confidence this would do anything) and lo and behold today we've had another letter from them still requesting the outstanding amount (now with interest).

Some of the confusion perhaps comes from the fact that the previous owner has the same surname and first initial as myself

The debt seems to be originally from Uncle Buck Loans which looks to be some kind of payday loan company. At first I thought it was a scam but now I'm thinking not.

The acting company seems to be TM Legal Services, I rang them too and they said they'd updated their systems but seems like that didn't make any difference either.

Since the advice I followed from the court did not work, whats the best way to resolve this situation before the bailiffs come knocking?

Note that I'm not able to get hold of the previous owner, not that I'd imagine he would be interested in paying the debt if he's left it this long.

Attempted to post an image of the letter but MSE wont allow it for new users.

Exodi

I had exactly the same happen to myself about 9 months ago (albeit a different court as I'm based in Kent) - person had the same first and last name...

Anyway, how I resolved it, I sent a couple of emails to the court, the first below.

"Good Afternoon,

I have received a letter from ‘A Proper Office’ On behalf of The Centralised Attachment of Earnings Centre, Basildon Combined Court addressed from HM Courts & Tribunals Service, The County Court at Hastings with reference: Case Number XXXXXXXXX Asset Collections & Investigations v XXXXXXXXXX.

Copied in this email is Asset Collections & Investigations (Judgement Creditor), TM Legal Services (of whom passed on the debt to the judgement creditor of which they advised) and Basildon County Court who issued the County Court Enforcement and N56.

Upon receiving this enforcement document, whilst my name was the same, the Judgement Debtor address was not mine nor indebtedness. I’d imagine a tracing agency has come up with my details because I have the same name and this had not been queried with myself prior to obtaining the CCJ due to sheer incompetence.

I have queried this with Asset Collections & Investigations Ltd who advised that they cannot discuss details of the account due to a) having no record of my details b) it evidently not being my account and the Data Protection Act preventing them for discussing any related matters. I was then advised to call TM Legal Services who passed the debt to them and query this directly. I was met with similar confusion; my date of birth did not match their records, nor my middle name or address and as such they would be unable to discuss any details of the account with me.

Naturally this puts me in quite a predicament as the judgement creditor has obtained a judgement against myself but is unwilling to discuss the details. XXXXXXXXX at TM Legal Services has advised it best to send an email so as to confirm that the account and subsequent judgement have been wrongfully placed which I’m hoping will be done.

In addition, if any default, adverse information, or account details have been reported to the Credit Reference Agencies regarding this account, I require you to remove such information forthwith. Recording false and inaccurate information on Credit Reference Files is a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998, and may also constitute an act of defamation on the party of the debtor.

I await confirmations that this matter will be resolved otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the Trading Standards Department, FCA and seek legal advice.

As the court offices are closed, I will call tomorrow to discuss.

Kind Regards,

XXXX

They adjourned the matter pending further investigation and contacted the claimant to provide identification. In fact this was 11 months ago, and whilst I had a reply saying they were still awaiting a reply from the claimant, never a confirmation the matter was settled.

It's now pretty clear to me that TM Legal just buy debts, use a tracing agency to find someone with the same name and immediately file the matter with the courts without prior contact.

I never did push the matter to the FCA or anything, but I thought I was the only person this had happened to.

welly_59

chunkydog has it a bit worst than that, the real person actually lived at their address before he/she did, with the same initials!

[Deleted User]

Debt is tied to an individual not an address (except for mortgage debt of course).

If bailiffs/enforcement agents do turn up just tell them the person doesn’t live there - show them ID and a council tax or utility bill as proof.

Exodi

!!! wrote: »

Debt is tied to an individual not an address (except for mortgage debt of course).

If bailiffs/enforcement agents do turn up just tell them the person doesn’t live there - show them ID and a council tax or utility bill as proof.

Of course but anyone would try to proactively resolve it, who would sit around watching a court summons come through the door, then a judgement, then wait for bailiffs....

chunkydog

I think you might be on to something here.

We’re working on the assumption that the letter is addressed to the previous owner because it matches his first name and his wife’s surname (which happens to be mine and my wife’s surname).

As an example:

Say the previous owners name is John Smith and his wife is Jane Plant. The letter is addressed to John Plant. And my name is James Plant (theoretically).

We’d assumed that he’d applied using his wife’s surname as he never had any intention of repaying in order to try and fool the company.

But what if in fact TM Legals tracing system simply matched my address for a Mr John Plant because there’s someone that lives now and previously here with a matching first name and surname (albeit different people).

Then again, the name is pretty common and I’m sure they can’t have written to everyone with a matching name.

chunkydog

I’m more worried about them turning up when I’m not home and my wife is. I’d rather resolve the issue if I can before it comes to that.

sourcrates

Edited : you cannot set aside a judgement that is not yours.

chunkydog

Thanks @sourcrates. TM Legal have been in touch to say they've updated their records and we won't receive any more correspondence. Given the debt is still unsettled I'm guessing this isn't the last we'll hear of it.