Letter from "Red Debt Collection Services" - I'm convinced it's not mine!

Wheels1986

Hi George, thanks for your reply.

I think the debt would be roughly 4 years old, but before I got the letters last August I hadn't heard anything from 3 in at least 3 years, so to say I was shocked to find that I still owed nearly £200 is an understatement! Looking back on it now, I wish I'd been a bit more savvy and checked these forums for help and I may have discovered that I didn't owe it afterall! Hindsight, eh?!

Who do I request the proof from then? I've had nothing from 3 this time, just a letter from this Red Debt Collection 'company'. Would it be worth me writing to 3 anyway just to request that they provide me with all the information that they have on me and my account with them? And do the same with Lowell/Red Debt?

Thanks!

GeorgeUK

Nope - you send the request of proof to the people that are trying to get you to pay. Don't do their job for them.

If you were to request all the data that 3 held on you, that would be a subject access request and cost s you £10. Might as well wait and see what the DCA comes back with first.

welshsue

I keep getting SMS phone messages from Red. It is just asking me to ring an 0870 number, no reference number or anything. Don't know anything about this and have purposely ignored it.
All my debts are being handled by a debt management company and they have nothing from this company.
Reading through this thread, it appears they quite often do phishing like robinson way.

Is there any way of stopping them sending me these messages??

Crafty_Toots

Looks like Lowells/Red/Hampton are really busy right now!

Came home to a demand from them for a TMobile bill of £457. I had an account with them in 2004 (ish) for a capped useage usb dongle - i.e. no bill to run up, once you've used your allowance, no more internet access. Cancelled after the minimum contract period. End of story - until this demand 6 years later!

I called them, told them that as far as I was concerned I did not owe any monies to TMobile and that they would need to investigate themselves, whilst refraining from contacting me again.

Do read these forums folks, it works wonders when you can throw legislation at them, as they realise you won't be pushed around.

Interestingly, I also received a demand for payment for a CIT (Dell) account this week for £599. Even more interestingly, the account I had with them in 2003 is showing quite clearly as settled - early - on my Experian report! Can't remember off the top of my head who was chasing for that one, but I think for the interests of this thread I'll check tonight to see if it's one of the Lowell group...

Toots x

adc82140

Have received a letter at my address from "Red", stating that someone who I don't know owes Vodafone £128. I know I shouldn't really open mail that's not got my name on it, but I'm so sick of returning mail for this guy to the sender. The name on the letter is not any previous occupant of my property that I know of (and it's never been rented out), or any near neighbour.

I'm now a bit concerned that my address may be tarred with a credit black mark. Given the above posts, I'm not really inclined to contact "Red" and give them my name. The debt is absolutely not mine!!

What I don't want is any "collection officers" on my doorstep. It's fine if I were to answer the door, as I'd put a few facts straight, but it does bother my OH a bit.

Should I contact Vodafone direct?

fraud_phish_spam_hater

I recieved a letter two tears ago from Red Square collections for £36.79 apparently owed by me on a 3g phone account. I knew I had a 3g phone about 4 years previous to the letter but the contract was finished and paid in full. So I sent a letter(found on this website) which contained a subject access request.
I did NOT recieve one. instead Red Square sold the debt onto a company called Lowell Portfolio.
I sent them the same letter and they sold the debt onto Scotcall. At one point I even recieved a letter that looked like it was from 3G Mobile themselves (but it looked suspicious and I ignored it) The same happened again and again going through debt collection agencies such as Phillips etc.

The latest letter though is a real stonker. It looks like it is written on headed paper from the mobile phone company Telefonica O2 UK Ltd and explains that I owe £36.79 on an O2 mobile account and to please call a number

"where a member of the O2 pre collections team at Lowell will be happy to discuss your query"
Coincidence? I think not!! I never owned an O2 contract mobile which proves this is totally BOGUS!:mad:

The OFT is my next port of call.

Phaeton

Yes it would appear they have just done a big posting, I have received 2 letters from Red & 2 letters from Lowell both referring to the same debts. Both to Barclaycard one for around £1750 & the other for £3350, to the best of my knowledge I don't owe these, I haven't had a Barclaycard in over 20 years other than a Goldfish, which I think was taken over by Barclaycard but I am still making payments against that.

We so far I have had a voice text sent to the house phone demanding that I phone them before the end of the day, then last night a phone call about 20 past 8 in the evening asking for details. As I wouldn't confirm who I was & he said he couldn't give me any details until I proved who I was because of the data protection act we got into a bit of a stand-off, going round & round in circles. In the end I just said if you are not going to tell me what it is about then there is no point in continuing the conversation & put the phone down.

But I do not like their tactics, I'm pretty tough but it is still getting to me, but it is causing even more concern to my wife as she is ready to believe they are right & it's just something we have forgotten about.

However having now read through this post, if they write they will get the pre-formatted letters, if they ring they will be told in no uncertain terms that all future correspondence must be by letter.

Great site, keep up the good work.

fraud_phish_spam_hater

@pheaton
I think that if you tell them on the phone or in person that you do NOT give them permission to contact you in any way other than by post and then if the phone calls continue 3 times more after you said not to it actually constitutes harrassment and you can claim against them! Make a note af all the times and dates and keep a list as evidence. I explained this to a collector on the phone once, many years ago, and they reverted back to letter writing immediately so it worked then...

An update on my dealings with Lowel.:rotfl:

They have sent a letter stating that they are trying to get tmy details from O2 to satisfy my subject access request and that it will cost me a £10 fee once thay have it. Well finally!! that must be the 8th such request I have sent them for the same debt over the last 3 years!!! I know I don't owe the money so it will be interesting to see what they come up with. It is bound to be a debt against one of the false addresses I have flagged on my credit reference.

kaywizzle

OMG Help!!!

I have recieved a RED letter today. looking through all the posts on here it looks like this could be a scam, however I am confused as their has been so many conflicting advice. Ring/Don't ring, write/dont write. my situation:

At 18 young and dumb, I took out contract with T-Mobile, couldnt keep up with the payments but finally got on the straight and narrow and paid all my debts and ended my contract once my eightneen months was up. I have never heard from T-Mobile since and this was three years ago. this silly mistake did have an affect on my credit rating, however since then I have been a good girl and kept up to date with all payments and looking to move out with the boyfriend at the end of this year

I have ran a credit report on myself, it stated that the only money I owe is for a phone bill which has been billed but will be coming out of my account in the next couple of days. all other amounts have been 'settled'.

Panicking this afternoon after a long day at the office, i called up a debt advice line who had never heard of red, they suggested that I should ask RED to prove that I owed the money, which I did, I rang, I confirmed my name address and date of birth and they stated that 'we will only have taken on the debt for T-Mobile after we have checked your credit rating to ensure that the debt is in your name, once we have this proof we will send you a letter' i then explained to the gentleman on the other line that this cannot be so, my credit rating was last updated on the 13th of March 2011 and shows no sign of my debt, however your letter is dated the 11th of March 2011, things dont jsut magically disappear from your credit rating (as much as many people would like it to). At this point the gentleman on the phone stated that they would place my account on hold and will call me in the next few days once this has been investigated.

After reading some post I am now worried have I admitted to the debt as I confirmed my details over the phone. What is the next step? I dont want this to bite me on the backside if write this off as a scam as my credit rating could be effected and stuff my chance at getting a house in a years time.

Has anyone beaten RED yet and got a definate answer that this so called 'mystery debt' has been written off?
has anyone got any advice for me bearing in mind that I have contacted them and confirmed my details?

by the way my debt is for £44.30 :P :S

please help!! from a very distressed 21 year old!

Jesthar

Hey, Kay - relax, hon This isn't as big and scary as it looks, honest!

OK, you spoke to them. It's not what we advise, as Debt Collection Agencies are not known for their kind and caring attitude, but more for overblown threats, distorted facts and outright lies to try and scare people into paying them without thinking.

Don't worry, though - talking to them on the phone does NOT equate to admitting the debt! That can only done in either in writing, or by making a payment, NOT verbally. Trust us, if saying something on the phone could make you liable to pay a debt, companies like RED would be sending out far more 'Please contact us' con-o-grams than they already do!

As they have your details, if they decide to press things you can expect to receive a lot of persistant phonecalls from them - but all you have to do is tell them "I only wish to deal with you in writing, so please do not telephone me again. Goodbye" (then hang up straight away) and they are legally required to comply. That might not actually make the stop initially, but if they do keep calling, just repeat that statement, and hang up again. There's a template letter you can send them too, if you need to.

The letters, as you have already discovered, are also a heady mix of unveiled threats, mangled legal arguments and occasional complete fantasy, again designed to frighten you into handing over cash. However, corresponding with them in writing only is important as they can bully and threaten all kinds of things on the phone that they would not dare put in even their letters!

There is also a decent chance than this debt isn't even yours - debtor 'fishing' is another favourite pastime of theirs. I can't remember where, but I do recall someone posting here that they had spoken to a well known DCA on the phone to advise them no-one of the name in their threat letter lived at that address, and was actually asked if they'd pay the debt anyway even though it wasn't theirs just to keep everyone happy! :rotfl: So you can see the level of people you are dealing with

Anyway, hope that helps - it's nothing to lose sleep over, honest

~Jes