Access to my Credit File by 3rd Party

Swanseajack

Hi, not 100% sure if this is in the right forum but hopefully someone can put me right if I've gone a bit astray...Basically, I have received a letter from a debt collection agency relating to a debt from 2010. I am concerned not least because it relates to a cc debt that I thought had been written off 13 years ago, but how this dca gained access to my home address? I can see from my Inbox that they have also sent an email. My credit file shows a soft search by a credit ref agency which states 'consumer credit file request' and was carried out very recently by an 'individual' with a very long ref number. 
Any knowledge and/or advice gratefully received, thanks.

MorningcoffeeIV

They've probably got it from your credit files. Either that, or a phishing expedition of similar named individuals.

Swanseajack

Crikey, can a dca (or any old stranger) therefore access anybody's credit file, thus gaining access to their personal details, including home address?

marcia_

Swanseajack said:

Crikey, can a dca (or any old stranger) therefore access anybody's credit file, thus gaining access to their personal details, including home address?

 Yes thats how debt collectors and creditors find people

Swanseajack

Do you have to pay to do that? 

molerat

Swanseajack said:

Do you have to pay to do that? 

Yes, that is how the CRAs make money. 

Crikey, can a dca (or any old stranger) therefore access anybody's credit file, thus gaining access to their personal details, including home address?

Only organisations with a legitimate reason for the information.  That could be open to interpretation of course.

sourcrates

Have you made a payment, or acknowledged this debt in writing at all any time in the last 6 years ?

If not it would be statute barred, and you should send them the SB template letter.

Swanseajack

Hello, thanks for your responses. No, I have not made any payments or sent any acknowledgements to any dca's in over 10 years. I don't even recall the particular cc they are referring to in the letter. I had read about a suggestion to send a statute barred letter, but I am worried that there may be an o/s CCJ against me which I understand would null and void the SB if the limitation period was affected, thereby potentially negating the 6 year rule? I have a common name so I don't know how to find out if a CCJ was ever made against me, as I wouldn't know against which address. There is nothing showing on my credit file and certainly hasn't been anything that has flagged up over the years. But not sure that is categoric proof that the dca in question haven't previously applied for one that I'm unaware of...

Brie

In my experience CCJs would show on a credit file (well they do on some of the ones I look at). 

I wonder about sending a SB letter but might just ask them what it relates to as it doesn't appear that you are sure.  If they come back and say "Your Amex you last paid in 2010" you can then say SB.  Or if they say "Your Amex when you lived at 1 Ace Cres" and you never lived there you can say "not mine as I never lived there" and maybe go down the "prove it" route.

The thing is that with a common name all sorts of things can be shown in a credit report.  If you are Jack Smith living in a certain area then they might have seen a debt for Jack John Smith also living in that area and assumed you are both the same person.  It's even trickier if you have changed your name - which can make things more difficult for women in particular due to so many of them changing their names on marriage and divorce.  So Susie Jane Smith might be mistaken for Susie Jane Jones.

Swanseajack

Yes, that sounds like a good plan, a kind of 'Prove It' type letter in the first instance. The SB letter examples that I have seen sound to me like I would be admitting the debt was mine to begin with, whereas I don't recognise the cc to which the dca is referring. Thanks for your helpful reply.