Paypal have debt collectors after me. Do I have to pay?

MouldyMeatball

Hello everyone. I am a new member and apologise for signing up solely for advice but I don't really know a huge amount about this kind of thing. Appreciate if anyone can help.

My Paypal account is 200 quid in debt because I was burned with an eBay sale. They kept pestering me to restore my balance but no way was I doing that. I had proof of postage and a signature receipt but the sale was "unauthorised" apparently. If their systems were compromised by hackers I don't see how that should be my fault.

Anyway, looks like they've sold my "debt" to a collection agency. Moorcroft Debt. Do these guys have any legal rights? I know they'll send threat after threat and generally harass me but if I continue to blank them will they eventually just give up? I don't think the threats and letters have any bearing on my credit history because these guys buy up debts at cheap prices and hope you cough up.

Should I just keeping binning the letters? I want to actually just ignore them but I'm close to getting through my police application and if this kind of thing comes up in vetting it can kill your progress stone dead.

I've checked Equifax and nothing is on there at the moment. The question is are these guys working for Paypal or have they merely bought the debt?

Thanks again if you can advise, really appreciate it.

Oh, I live in Scotland and I know we have some laws protecting us from bullies like these so not sure if that changes anything.

sourcrates

Hi,

Your debt has not been sold, PayPal use moorcroft to chase debts on their behalf, this kind of question crops up on here regularly, they never go to court, not once, they will write and call for a while, then they will forget about you and move on.

MouldyMeatball

Hi Sour

Oh ok, thanks for that. Will this eventually appear against me on a credit check then? I'd best pay up just in case. Imagine failing a vetting check for £200? I can't be taking that chance.

sourcrates

It’s not a credit debt, PayPal do not report to your credit file, neither do Moorcroft, (as they do not own the debt) you would not fail vetting because of this, however it’s your choice weather to pay it or not.

soolin

Incidentally, an unauthorised use of card is the easiest claim to defend, all you needed to do is upload a scan of your proof of posting, and as long as you shipped within 7 days to the address PayPal gave you then you had full seller protection.

As has been said though, PayPal have never to my knowledge taken anyone to court, and on the various forums I frequent no one has ever shown any evidence to prove otherwise. Obviously you can never use eBay or PayPal again, and anyone eBay or PayPal consider connected to you, or within the same household is also at risk .