BW legal - distant selling act

Hannahc1990x

Hello all

Looking for some advice please. I was recently contacting BW Legal about a debt with a company called 1st central insurance. I asked for proof of debt as it’s from years ago and doesn’t ring a bell. They emailed originally and just gave me an account number and date. I emailed back saying I needed more information and they should provide actual proof such as signed contracts. They are saying this debt is not covered under the consumer credit act but the distant selling act so signed contracts aren’t available. Does anyone know if this is legal? How does this work? They are saying I now must prove I don’t know about this debt! I thought it was on the debt collection agency to prove such things. 

Thank you for any help. 

sourcrates

What utter rubbish BW Legal spout.

First off, the golden rule, never respond to emails/texts calls etc when someone is asking you for money.

You only need respond to a letter.

How they can say a debt is covered by the distance selling regulations (not act) is beyond me.

Ignore the idiots unless they can be bothered to write to you, then if they do, respond with the prove-it letter from the stickies.

You are 100% correct in that the onus of proof is on them, not you.

Hannahc1990x

sourcrates said:

What utter rubbish BW Legal spout.

First off, the golden rule, never respond to emails/texts calls etc when someone is asking you for money.

You only need respond to a letter.

How they can say a debt is covered by the distance selling regulations (not act) is beyond me.

Ignore the idiots unless they can be bothered to write to you, then if they do, respond with the prove-it letter from the stickies.

You are 100% correct in that the onus of proof is on them, not you.

Thank you for this. I thought as much but just wanted to make sure. 

DisabledDan

Hannahc1990x said:

Hello all

Looking for some advice please. I was recently contacting BW Legal about a debt with a company called 1st central insurance. I asked for proof of debt as it’s from years ago and doesn’t ring a bell. They emailed originally and just gave me an account number and date. I emailed back saying I needed more information and they should provide actual proof such as signed contracts. They are saying this debt is not covered under the consumer credit act but the distant selling act so signed contracts aren’t available. Does anyone know if this is legal? How does this work? They are saying I now must prove I don’t know about this debt! I thought it was on the debt collection agency to prove such things. 

Thank you for any help. 

It is a crock of poo, for a start the distance selling regulations were replaced in 2013 by the consumer contracts regulations Act (2013), something they should be well aware of if they purport to be a law firm.

I agree with Sourcrates that you should ignore them, do not engage with anyone who is not in your phone or who has not left a message identifying themselves or any numbers with caller ID withheld.  Even then do not engage with debt collectors, put their number in your phone book and then block it.

They might have been calling to get you to acknowledge a debt, which is why you never admit knowing anything about any alleged debt.  Even then there is a process in the sticky messages for old debt to get them to "Prove It" without admitting it, but even these should wait until you have a letter from them saying what you owe and to whom.