Constant Loan/Debt Collection Letters To Wrong Address?

Bodkin64

molerat said:

Bodkin64 said:

Hello,
I’d like to pick up on this thread, as I’ve discovered today that the same thing is happening to my 96 year old aunt. She’s evidently received a few letters recently addressed to her address, but with the name of her next door neighbour, and she’d made sure they were put into their letterbox. However she’d accidentally opened one of these the other day, and sure enough it was from a debt collection agency. The letter states they they have attempted to contact the recipient several times and are demanding payment of a £900 debt apparently passed over to them by a payday loans company.
This was quite an alarming discovery so am wondering what we should do to make sure this stops, or worse, she gets a visit from bailiffs. She’s quite stressed about it which isn’t ideal for a 96 year old. While it was quite reassuring to see further up the thread that if the bailiffs were to visit there is apparently nothing they can do so long as my aunt provides proof of ID I don’t want it to come to this as she’s hard of hearing and doesn’t always even make it to the door.
I was going to contact the debt collection agency tomorrow, but after reading this thread I’m not sure if I should and if it would just make matters worse. If I do this to tell them the correct address would they even believe me? I really don’t want to confront her neighbour over it in case things escalate, I don’t know the guy but he doesn’t sound like someone I’d want to do this to. Any constructive advice would be much appreciated!

I would help her to access her credit files, not that she needs to use credit, but to see if there is anything dodgy linking her and the neighbour.   They may well have knowingly used the address as "the silly old biddy next door won't know what is going on".

I thought I’d try this anyway, out of curiosity as much as anything, however failed to get her registered with Experian as validation of her debit card failed. Not sure why but possibly because she doesn’t use online banking 🙄.

Since then I found this article which gives a few options to try. A few years old but hopefully not too out of date.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/13/debt-collectors-hassle-harassment-innocent-people-know-your-rights

Gavin83

I think people generally make this more difficult for themselves than they need to. If a bailiff/debt collector knocks at your door then prove you aren’t the debtor and they’ll leave you alone. If you refuse to speak to them, become obstructive, etc then they’ll assume you’re the debtor and won’t leave you alone.

Most debt collection agencies are legitimate businesses and really aren’t your enemy. They wish to collect the money from the right person. If you help them out a bit they’ll go away.

Bodkin64

sourcrates said:

@Bodkin64

Debts are linked by name, not by address, its probably just a mis-trace, it may be something as simple as when you input the postcode, and you get the drop down menu, someone has clicked the wrong address by accident, or one of 100 other different reasons.

The debt collector will likely be just assigned the account for collection purposes only, which means they don`t own the debt, so can`t take recovery action on it.

Which would mean no CCJ, and no bailiffs, an unlikely scenario anyway..

Do they refer to "their client" in the letter at all?

Honestly if its not addressed to her, then its not her problem, I know it may be difficult explaining that to her, but there won`t be anything to worry about.

Best bet is to put it back in the post, with "not at this address" written on it.

Thank you. That’s all quite reassuring. The letter does state who the “original creditor” is which is how I discovered it was a payday loan company. Do you really think I should not contact the debt collection agency to tell them not only that they aren’t known at this address but what the correct address is? I’d really like to try and make this go away for her - it’s hard enough for her living semi-independently at her age without additional stresses which are easy to get blown up. It’s easy for you or me to say that but not for her.

Bodkin64

Gavin83 said:

I think people generally make this more difficult for themselves than they need to. If a bailiff/debt collector knocks at your door then prove you aren’t the debtor and they’ll leave you alone. If you refuse to speak to them, become obstructive, etc then they’ll assume you’re the debtor and won’t leave you alone.

Most debt collection agencies are legitimate businesses and really aren’t your enemy. They wish to collect the money from the right person. If you help them out a bit they’ll go away.

Thanks, I take your point and if they knocked at my door this would be easy for me to deal with however as I mentioned, my aunt is hard of hearing, she sometimes doesn’t hear the doorbell and struggles to hear what strangers are saying to her. So I don’t know where this would lead to if one of their visits went unanswered.

sourcrates

They won`t listen to you because of data protection.

Bodkin64

I called the debt collection agency, explained the issue to them and they said that they had removed the address from their system. Whether I believe this or not I don’t know, though they did say that if she receives further letters I should contact the original creditor, and sure enough they wouldn’t listen when I volunteered the guy’s actual address. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Nasqueron

Bodkin64 said:

Gavin83 said:

I think people generally make this more difficult for themselves than they need to. If a bailiff/debt collector knocks at your door then prove you aren’t the debtor and they’ll leave you alone. If you refuse to speak to them, become obstructive, etc then they’ll assume you’re the debtor and won’t leave you alone.

Most debt collection agencies are legitimate businesses and really aren’t your enemy. They wish to collect the money from the right person. If you help them out a bit they’ll go away.

Thanks, I take your point and if they knocked at my door this would be easy for me to deal with however as I mentioned, my aunt is hard of hearing, she sometimes doesn’t hear the doorbell and struggles to hear what strangers are saying to her. So I don’t know where this would lead to if one of their visits went unanswered.

Just FYI, my step dad is hard of hearing and my mum had a doorbell light flash thing installed where it blinks as well as rings in case you don't hear it. Another idea might be a portable doorbell with the unit on the door and the other she puts in the room she's in 

Bigwheels1111

We get them all the time, a lot of tfl, Croydon tram fines, Croydon is 138 miles away.
When I have 10 of so and I’m board I start ringing them for some fun.
I beg them to come round as I’m board and need some company.
They never do, I even offer to make tea.
I’m an a hole to be sure.
But I see it this way it’s not my debt, so why worry.
Have some fun at their expense.
I had the bailiffs turn up before screaming and shouting abuse, demanding money and clamped my car.
Which was funny, well for me anyway.
The police came and of course were on their side, who would have thought.
I showed the scumbags my licence and they made the bailiff remove the clamp and go away.
Even funnier was they clamped a vehicle that is registered disabled and was showing a blue badge. Tut tut.
Moral of the story is not your debt don’t worry.

Bodkin64

Bigwheels1111 said:

I had the bailiffs turn up before screaming and shouting abuse, demanding money and clamped my car.
Which was funny, well for me anyway.

Hmm it might be funny for you, and I might get some perverse satisfaction out of it too, but god forbid if they did this to my aunt, who is (not surprising given her age) in the best of health, it would be simply awful. Hopefully it won’t get worse than a few letters, and if there are any more of those she’s going to keep them for me to try and deal with.