Ruthbridge - letter fro a debt which is not mine!

cazza0104

Hi everyone. I received a letter yesterday from Ruthbridge telling me they were pursuing a debt from Cabot of £1,871 from a Bank of Scotland Credit card telling me that they were giving me a special discount of just £374.20 if I pay it by 18th March. 
However, I have never owned a Bank of Scotland card, always pay my credit cards off monthly, have never received a letter pertaining to this debt before, and the name on the letter is 'Ms' not 'Mrs' with a typo in my name.

I immediately assumed this was a scam but researching on line shows that this company is legitimate and I am now concerned that my identity has been stolen and this is the first of many letters. Should I just ignore this or do I need to get in touch to explain? Any advice gratefully received!

Karonher

It is possible they are looking for someone with a name like yours and other people will also have had the letter. There is a proveit letter you can send, but I don't know how to get the link.

sourcrates

Hi,

Ruthbridge are on a fishing expedition, your response should be to send the "provit letter" which can be found here : 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter

Bear in mind this letter may have been received by numerous people whom they have written too about this account, so in order for them to weed out the actual debtor, you will need to provide your DOB for identification and data protection purposes.
If you don`t initially provide that information, they will write back asking for it.

If its not your debt, you won`t hear from them again, but if it is yours, they will provide further information.

If you don`t deal with it now, it may at some point in the future progress to court, and you could end up with a CCJ by default, for a debt that is not even yours, which will take money and time to resolve, best to nip it in the bud now and avoid further complications.

Galloglass

 you will need to provide your DOB for identification and data protection purposes.

I'm going to disagree with this. Why should you feed personal data to these people just because they are throwing threatening letters about to all and sundry. It just encourages them to do more.

Send a provit letter plus a rectification letter highlighting that since this debt has nothing to do with you want them to record the issue and to remove [the majority of] your personal data from their files. If they refuse, then you'll send the matter to the Information Commissioner to investigate.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-to-rectification/

cazza0104

Thank you. I am in the process of sending them the prove it letter, but am slightly nervous of giving them my real name - should this matter? Thanks

Willing2Learn

cazza0104 said:

I am in the process of sending them the prove it letter, but am slightly nervous of giving them my real name - should this matter? Thanks

Your letter should include your full name and full postal address.  If you give false details, then they will not be able to locate your file and respond.  No need to feel nervous.