Credit Protection Association Limited

Shelle

Not sure if I am posting in the correct board so I apologise in advance if I am.

My Dad received a letter today from the Credit Protection Association Limited bringing to our attention of a debt unpaid.  No details of when the debt was from, just the name of the company and the amount.  My Dad has dementia now and so I took a look at his account online (I have POA finance for both parents registered with the bank) as I knew that both parents always pay their bills promptly and I could not imagine they would not have paid it.  Also, there has been no correspondence from the company chasing up the debt.  I found the amount HAD been paid online back in 2020 (I actually remember this as their boiler broke down a week into lockdown and I helped them make the payment on their online banking).

Before I contact the company I just want to clarify some things.  Taking the fact the bill was paid at the time, firstly would it be acceptable (or even legal?) to transfer a debt from over 4 years ago to the CPA without making any attempts at all to recover it themselves?  Secondly, will this situation now be on their credit score?  Once I contact the company and prove this was paid (via bank statement which shows their name and amount), if this does show up on their credit score can I insist on them making the arrangements to reverse the entry and also prove this has been done?  I do find it appalling that the company has claimed the non payment of a bill from 4 years ago without any contact whatsoever. is this normal?

Anything else I need to know before I contact the company (not the CPA)?

sourcrates

C.P.A.L are just a fancy debt collector, nothing more than that.

How much is the debt for?

Don`t ring them, send a letter, enclose the proof necessary to show the debt was paid.

If you ring them, they will try to get you to pay the debt, they won`t be interested in your dispute.

Only credit debts appear on credit files, companies have 6 years to enforce agreements through the courts.

Shelle

Thank you, have sent a letter out to them so hopefully will be the end of it.

Jimmy350

Hi Shelle,

I work at CPA and I was sorry to see this. Yes CPA are a debt collection firm although they do more than that and we provide a whole suite of services. We have been operating for over 100 years since 1914 with small business suppliers to prompt payments from their customers.

For the vast majority of debts which go through our Overdue account recovery service, we do not charge a  commission or take the money from customers. We simply instruct them to pay their supplier direct. This service is included in their subscription. 

It is only in the rare cases where we are asked to purchase the debt that we would then accept payments ourselves.

It would appear from reading the post above, that the issue is with who ever the supplier was and not the Credit Protection Association. I do not know why they had passed the debt to CPA if it had been paid years prior. But hopefully upon receipt of your letter CPA acknowledged it, and notified you they were suspending action and then they would have taken the matter up with their client as that is our standard practice. With no details I can't really investigate further.

We wish to act ethically at all times and we only want to prompt payments on actual overdue accounts and not on disputed or inaccurate debts.

hopefully your supplier resolved the issue with your parents.

And yes, it would definitely not have impacted on anyone's credit file.

Jimmy

Nasqueron

Jimmy350 said:

Hi Shelle,

I work at CPA and I was sorry to see this. Yes CPA are a debt collection firm although they do more than that and we provide a whole suite of services. We have been operating for over 100 years since 1914 with small business suppliers to prompt payments from their customers.

For the vast majority of debts which go through our Overdue account recovery service, we do not charge a  commission or take the money from customers. We simply instruct them to pay their supplier direct. This service is included in their subscription. 

It is only in the rare cases where we are asked to purchase the debt that we would then accept payments ourselves.

It would appear from reading the post above, that the issue is with who ever the supplier was and not the Credit Protection Association. I do not know why they had passed the debt to CPA if it had been paid years prior. But hopefully upon receipt of your letter CPA acknowledged it, and notified you they were suspending action and then they would have taken the matter up with their client as that is our standard practice. With no details I can't really investigate further.

We wish to act ethically at all times and we only want to prompt payments on actual overdue accounts and not on disputed or inaccurate debts.

hopefully your supplier resolved the issue with your parents.

And yes, it would definitely not have impacted on anyone's credit file.

Jimmy

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