EDF debt collection

neil.scott

Hi everyone,



I had an account with EDF energy in 2014 in a houseshare I used to live in. Last year I got a letter from a debt collection company (Lowell) claiming that I did not make the final payment on the account and they have been chasing me for it ever since. As far as I am aware the account was payed off and I wrote to Lowell informing them of this. Unfortunately they did not desist - fast forward to a couple of days ago and I received a letter from Lowell saying they will issue a County Court Claim against me in 30 days if I do not cough up.

This is now getting quite stressful as I certainly do not want to go to court or have to pay additional court fees. Is there any action I can take to prevent the issue of the CCC? Lowell have also sent me a pdf copy of a bill from 2014 showing the claimed amount of the debt. Does this really constitute proof of debt?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help.

AndyCF

Until someone more experienced can offer advice, are you able to dig through any old paperwork / email receipts and the like (it is well worthwhile spending an hour looking I think) for this time period ?

You're really looking for some kind of 'proof' you -have- paid it back then.

I don't think anyone would need to know a specific figure of the sum as such (but wait and see) having said that it might be very helpful to say if its two, three or four figures, that's all. This just being the 'alleged owed/awol final payment' monies not necessarily the total with others fee's attached, if that makes a bit of sense.

Biscuit_Tin

neil.scott wrote: »

Hi everyone,



I had an account with EDF energy in 2014 in a houseshare I used to live in. Last year I got a letter from a debt collection company (Lowell) claiming that I did not make the final payment on the account and they have been chasing me for it ever since. As far as I am aware the account was payed off and I wrote to Lowell informing them of this. Unfortunately they did not desist - fast forward to a couple of days ago and I received a letter from Lowell saying they will issue a County Court Claim against me in 30 days if I do not cough up.

This is now getting quite stressful as I certainly do not want to go to court or have to pay additional court fees. Is there any action I can take to prevent the issue of the CCC? Lowell have also sent me a pdf copy of a bill from 2014 showing the claimed amount of the debt. Does this really constitute proof of debt?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help.

If you have paid the bill, you will not need to pay it again.
If you provide evidence in a defence, should a claim be made against you, then the matter will probably be thrown out administratively.
Worst case scenario is that you will need to attend court and show the judge, who will then thow the case out.
You will not incur any court costs, and may be able to ask for expenses if you are asked to attend a court hearing.

However, if you haven't paid the bill, the best way to avoid possible court costs too is to pay now.

A bill is an invoice - a demand for payment.

Cardew

neil.scott wrote: »

Lowell have also sent me a pdf copy of a bill from 2014 showing the claimed amount of the debt. Does this really constitute proof of debt?

How else are we notified of any debt?


To challenge that bill you need to show it is not valid, or has been settled.

neil.scott

Thanks all for the replies. It seems as long as I have proof the debt is quite easy to defend; unfortunately, as it is from so long ago, the bank account I used to make my payments to EDF in 2014 has long since been closed and I no longer have access to my statements.

Annoyingly it seems that the only way to avoid getting issued with a CCJ is to just cough up (even though I believe I've already paid!).

If anyone else has any suggestions or knows of any legal recourse I would be grateful for your input. Otherwise I will just have to swallow my pride and begrudgingly make the payment in about 2 weeks time!

molerat

You can SAR EDF for all details of the account which may show up a payment. The only other real option is to prove you did pay it.



And in future keep all bills, it is not difficult, I have all my energy bills back to 2008 stored as PDFs.

AndyCF

neil.scott wrote: »

... unfortunately, as it is from so long ago, the bank account I used to make my payments to EDF in 2014 has long since been closed and I no longer have access to my statements.

I would of thought if you visited the appropriate bank (that bank I mean, not necessarily the branch you used at the time) they may be able to help. I thought statements had to be kept for donkey's years by banks, so in theory you ought to be able to get a duplicate, take anything relevant from EDF if you can so you can tell the bank why you need it.

I only suggest 'in person' as they tend to sometimes bit slightly more helpful compared to a phone call, at least in my experience. I know may vary on how well you explain whatever you need and/or the person understanding it etc, generally I mean.


EDIT... A very quick Google shows I might be wrong and it could be as little as six or seven years retention. I'd of thought given what their "business" is as such they would want to keep them for a lot longer (unless requested to remove), guess I was wrong.

No harm in a visit in person though to double check and explain your issue if you think its half convenient to pop into a branch.

matelodave

Banks only have to keep their data for six years - I had big arguments with the DWP a couple of years ago when trying to sort out probate on my Mum's estate.

The DWP wanted 10 years worth of bank account info but fortunately the bank could only furnish six years worth which help resolve the problems in our favour.

I used to keep all my stuff (even had pay slips going back to the 70's) but SWMBO made me chuck a lot of it away, so I can only go back around 20 years (bank statements, gas, water, leccy & phone bills), pay slips and P60's.

The early stuff is still paper but most of the last few years are PDF's saved on my computer and backed up on a memory stick. It saves a lot or problems having your own historical data rather than hoping you can try and recover it from somewhere else.

I just had to send 10 years worth of P60's back to the Inland Revenue to get a refund on some overpaid tax due to ten years worth of pension back payments that I received in one lump last year - they reckon they only keep data for three years (but I'm a bit sceptical about that, especially if they think you owe them money). It would have been very difficult getting the info if I hadn't got it safely filed away.

wild666

Get a copy of bank statements for the period around your final bill and ask EDF to send you a copy of your final bill then match up payments if the amount claimed by Lowells matches a payment to EDF then send them a copy of the statement and the payment and tell them you will be producing the two items in court and asking for compensation.

P.S.
The money might have gone out on the next monthly payment date if you paid it, unless you cancelled the DD as soon as you switched but before any bill or final payment can be taken.