Defaulted account

Rhubarb_Soda

Hello and thank you in advance for any help anyone may be able to give.

I recently checked my credit report for the first time ever via moneysupermarket and was surprised to note that I have an account in default .
I looked through it and it is a debt that has been bought by a debt collection company in August this year that pertains to a debt in my name at an address I used to live at that was run up in late 2018. The thing is I have zero idea what this debt is , I moved out of that address in late 2017, roughly a year prior to when this debt incurred and have never received any communication regarding it .
I don't know what to do , I don't want to call this debt collection company unless they start hounding me unfairly. If it somehow it is my debt I'll hold my hands up and pay it but I do not want to bullied into paying it if it's nothing to with me and I don't believe it is, I simply didn't live there at the time nor did I make any purchases of any large amount . I don't have much in the way of records from back then after the number of years and several address changes .
How do I go about finding out what it is ? And what , if anything , should I do ?
I am concerned as it is impacting my credit score a fair bit .
Thank you again.

MorningcoffeeIV

Dispute it with the various CRAs 

Oh, and ignore your pretend credit score.  The data is all that matters.

redrosebud

Often there will be two defaults on the same date for identical amounts - the one from the credit card company, utility provider, whoever the debt was originally with, and the one from the debt collection agency who bought it. Is there a corresponding default on your report from a company you recognise, maybe someone you had an account with in 2018? Letters may have gone to your old address and you might not have realised the account was still open - could be a utility bill or something similar.

Moneysupermarket only shows your TransUnion report which tends to be the least complete of the three - have you checked Experian via MSE Credit Club, and Equifax via Clearscore? (Both are free.) They may show a corresponding default. I have a default on my report and TransUnion only shows the debt collection agency, whereas the other two show the original debt as well.

Hopefully that might shed light on the situation.

The "score" that the credit reference agencies give you is irrelevant and not seen by lenders, but you're right that a default will have a big impact on your credit history (although not insurmountable as it's quite old now).