Received a letter from BW Legal for a 15 year old British Gas "debt"

mall83

Hello,

I received a letter of the weekend from BW Legal claiming I owe British Gas £127.49 for an address I lived a around 15 years ago. The said they've previously contacted me but have had no response and are saying that unless I pay the outstanding by 21st November then they'll take me County Court. They haven't previously contacted me, and judging my their reviews they seem like a very shady company.

I believe that there is a statute of limitations of 6 years on outstanding debts, so would I be within my rights to just ignore this as they've not included any evidence that I do actually owe this month. I mean, I can't even remember if we were with British Gas 15 years ago!

Any advice? Thanks!

Aylesbury_Duck

I'd get in touch with British Gas, letting them know what you've received and asking them to confirm it's genuine.  They must also provide evidence that you do owe the sum.

fatbelly

The safe way to respond is with a prove-it letter, which you can find in the sticky threads on debt-free wannabe.

You could ignore, and they will just carry on sending empty threats.

If you challenge them, they will go away and try to pin it on some other poor b****r.

This is what the debt collection industry call tracing. You have got some points by having shared an address with the real debtor.

Ectophile

If the bill relates to something 15 years ago, and you've never agreed that you owe the money, then it's statute barred.

They would have no chance in court.

mall83

@Ectophile That's what I figured. It's staggering that they're able to get away with stuff. I would like to just ignore it because I have better things to be doing with my time then telling some con artists to shove it!

@Aylesbury_Duck I did try that but when you're not a customer or a prospective one then it seems near on impossible to get through to a human!

@fatbelly Thanks for the tip. I'll go have a look for that letter now. I'm a but wary of contacting them tbh because I don't want to confirm they have a correct address for me, which is data a scummy company like that would probably sell on.

EssexHebridean

I would be cautious if you do send the Prove It letter to ensure that you only provide them with information they already have - so if for example they have written to you as "J Smith" I would simply sign off as that, rather than "Mr John Smith" or "Mrs Jacqueline Smith" for example. As a rule with DCA's the best approach is always to ensure that you don't provide any additional information. 

mall83

@EssexHebridean That's a really good tip, as I've since married and now have a different surname which they currently don't have.

A_Geordie

BW Legal are a law firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority but they also undertake debt collection work too as far as I'm aware.

Whilst some of the previous posts have made reasonable suggestions, I would probably tackle this head on because if you don't, you might find yourself in a position where you have a CCJ against your name because they issued a claim at another address (which is not unheard of). 

For this one my tips would be: 

1. Keep everything in writing going forward. Avoid telephone calls if you can but if you must, then follow up in writing with what was discussed or said. 

2. Given the age of the alleged debt, I suspect British Gas is no longer the creditor and has sold this debt on to a third party, so check who the creditor is as this should be listed on the letter you received. Lowell or PRAC Financial are common debt purchasers for energy accounts. 

3. I assume the letter from BW Legal is vague and gives insufficient information about the debt so you will need more information. Explain this in your response to them. You may want to say that you have no recollection of this alleged debt so in order for you to consider your position, you need them to supply you with details of the acccount number, bank account set up to use the payments, copy of the bill that relates to the alleged debt in question and anything else you can think of. I can guarantee you, they won't have that information. 

4. In addition to point 3, you could also say that notwithstanding the request for information, liability is denied and you also consider the debt to be timed barred, having exceeded the 6 year limitation period for bringing a claim. You may (optionally) want to remind BW Legal of their duties as a regulated law firm under the SRA Standards and Regulations. Specifically, not to abuse their position by taking unfair advantage of others and not to make assertions or statements or representations that are not properly arguable. The threat of legal proceedings would be a breach of these duties if they know, or have reason to believe the debt is statute barred yet they still threaten legal proceedings knowing that it won't go very far.

You could round it off by inviting them to close the matter and confirm by reply. 

5. I don't necessarily agree with EssexHebridean's point unless you are being evasive. If you are, then I would expect BW Legal to issue proceedings either at your current address or a previous address and you may never know that you could end up having a default judgment and that becomes more of a headache. They will need a certain amount of information to verify but I don't think at this stage they need to know your married name. I do think they will ask for more by saying any information they disclose to you is subject to GDPR rules so be prepared for that but I do agree you don't need to give them more personal information than they currently hold. 

Ultimately, it is up to you on how you approach it. 

mall83

@A_Geordie Thank you for taking the time to come back to me with such a detailed response. BW Legal are claiming that they are acting on behalf of British Gas Trading Ltd, so "the debt" it doesn't seem to have been sold on at this point. 

I have found a template of a prove it letter that I'm going to complete tomorrow. I'll add some of your suggestions from points 3 and 4 to it.

Hopefully, this prove it letter will be enough for them to back down and crawl back under their rock but if not I'll get my solicitor involved.

Skiddaw1

For what it is worth, my husband had a similar issue recently (different debt collection agency, relating to an address he had been a lodger at over 30 years ago. The utility supplier concerned weren't even in existance at the time). He contacted them by telephone, followed it up with an email and thankfully some weeks later received a response to the effect that no further action would be taken. I imagine his details popped up on an address search in relation to said property.

A_Geordie

mall83 said:

@A_Geordie Thank you for taking the time to come back to me with such a detailed response. BW Legal are claiming that they are acting on behalf of British Gas Trading Ltd, so "the debt" it doesn't seem to have been sold on at this point. 

I have found a template of a prove it letter that I'm going to complete tomorrow. I'll add some of your suggestions from points 3 and 4 to it.

Hopefully, this prove it letter will be enough for them to back down and crawl back under their rock but if not I'll get my solicitor involved.

I am surprising BG have held onto this debt for so long, it would have normally been sold off and passed around a few times but hey ho. Definitely would not suggest getting a solicitor involved because paying the debt would be cheaper than paying for a solicitor to write a letter that BG or BW Legal can choose to ignore.

I'm sure it would come to nothing.