Received letter from Link Financial for account I don't own

Mr.Boy

I've just received a letter from Link Financial Outsourcing which seems to be saying they are acting on behalf of a referred debt of about £500 from Cooperative Bank, around autumn last year.
It all looks legit (they include FCA stuff) and Google shows its a real company... But I've never had an account with this bank!

Not sure what do to, advice?

[Update November - received same letter again with nothing 'proved' - see bottom of thread for full details https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80378507/#Comment_80378507. Quite stressful.]

molerat

Either ignore and wait to see if there is more contact or send a "prove it" letter, do not sign the letter, simply print your name.  Do not contact by phone or e-mail as that gives them another point of contact for you.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/prove-it/

Mr.Boy

molerat said:

Either ignore and wait to see if there is more contact or send a "prove it" letter, do not sign the letter, simply print your name.  Do not contact by phone or e-mail as that gives them another point of contact for you.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/prove-it/

Cheers for that. Given they have my full name and address and show the account details, could this be fraud/id theft and if so does it matter at this stage, or I wait for their response to see?

molerat

Have you checked your credit files ?

Could be identity theft or just a fishing expedition / mis-trace - just because Mr Boy owes money does not necessarily mean you are the correct Mr Boy.  Doesn't make any real difference though, if they want the money they need to prove you owe it or leave you alone.

Mr.Boy

I can't see anything in my mse credit club checker.
Either way I'll do this and try not to stress about it in the interim. Thanks 👍

fatbelly

It's probably a mis-trace.

Send a prove-it. They probably won't respond unless you sign it though.

sourcrates

This thing about not signing letters comes from a time long, long ago when unscrupulous debt collectors would attempt to forge your signature on credit agreements pertaining to the account they were chasing.

There has never been a requirement for a signed copy of a credit agreement, and that is still the case today, so this not signing letters thing, is just smoke and mirrors, and is of no relevance whatsoever.

If you don`t sign the letter, it could have come from anyone, and to comply with data protection laws, as fatbelly points out, they may just ignore your dispute.

Mr.Boy

So I was digging through the fine details on my Experian report (through MSE credit club) and I see this company mentioned a couple of times linked to one of my "other addresses" - a rental property I recently sold and haven't lived in for years. That must be how they eventually ended up writing to me at my current address when they found this link.
It may also explain why my Experian score has tanked.

I have already sent a prove-it letter but does this change anything? My suspicion is it might be someone using my rental property address to get an account in my name? 

Mr.Boy

molerat said:

Either ignore and wait to see if there is more contact or send a "prove it" letter, do not sign the letter, simply print your name.  Do not contact by phone or e-mail as that gives them another point of contact for you.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/prove-it/

So an update - I followed the prove-it route with recorded letter end of May and got a reply a few weeks later acknowledging and putting a hold on things.

This week - 5 months alter - I have received effectively the same initial letter again. No supporting information, no mention of past communication.

My suspicion is someone living in my former house opened this bank account at that address in my name (who knows)  and this is now leaving a stain on my records.

What is the correct next step since they are not letting it go and have not proved anything to me?

penners324

You go to the companies where the accounts were opened and tell them the accounts are fraudulent

penners324

Basically it's ID theft.