Lantern Debt Collectors/Moriarty Law

Gardenshed2025

For the past year I have been harassed by the above companies for a debt that I do not owe. They claim I took out a credit agreement with J D Williams and purchased 2 items. I have never had any dealings with JD Williams. They have used my name and a previous address which I haven’t lived at for the last four years. They have manage to find my current address. I am very suspicious of how they found my current address. Where did they get these personal data from?
I have asked for them to prove the debt and they have supplied a copy of the credit agreement unsigned and not dated with my previous address. Then a seemly fabricated statement of accounts where they have not identified the items supposively purchased. I have told them that I do not accept the evidence as proof. I have complained to them about harassing me for money I do not owe but they just seem to ignore me and just threaten me with court action. I have quoted the FCA rules but they don’t seem to be adhering to them.
I have now made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. 

I am very upset that my personal data can be used in a fraudulent way and a debt company just don’t care about my innocence and are on hell bend on collecting the debt. 

Besides the above is there anything else I can do to stop these people bullying me into paying them money I don’t owe. 

Is there anyone having similar issues with these companies.

fatbelly

You seem to be doing the right things.

See what FOS come back with.

Lantern are FCA regulated so should follow guidance. You can make a general complaint to FCA and they will act if there is a pattern of misbehaviour but they won't take up an individual complaint

They are members of the Credit Services Agency and you should complain to them but they do tend to close ranks when one of their members is attacked.

Moriarty Law are regulated by the SRA. Again, complain but don't have your hopes too high.

Ultimately you could consider a court claim. I did see this done against Lowell many years back and the judge was far more customer-friendly than any of those organisations, ripped Lowell to pieces and awarded several thousand compensation. I seem to remember the judge being horrified that Lowell had threatened the customer with court on three (!) occasions. 

amcg100

I can understand your frustration. I am now over 60 and have had similar issues all of my life. I used to get angry and upset, probably a bit like yourself at the moment, but these days, I just have a jolly good laugh at the absurdity of how these companies operate.

Your situation will have came about as a result of JD Williams selling data which they hold ( rightly or wrongly) about customers who owe them money. They will sell the data to the debt collection agency for a small percentage of the collective debts, say for the sake of discussion, 20%. This allows JD Williams to generate some revenue, prove to the business community that they chase debts and to generally wash their hands of the whole thing.

If the debt collection agency can collect the debts in full, they will take the remaining 80% as profit. In some cases where the Debt Agency has been unsuccessful, they will resell the debt for say 10% to another agency. This is why you will often receive correspondence from many different agencies over many months or years.

The agencies will often add the name of a solicitor to their correspondence to try and frighten people into paying, but it is highly unlikely that the named solicitor actually exists. They will often say for example that they have passed the matter to the legal department who will take you to court if you dont pay.They will over time offer you a 'settlement', say if you pay 50% of the debt they will write off the rest.( They still make a 30% profit). They may even have a collector come to your door. It just depends how keen they are.

Unfortunately, the more you engage with them, the more encouraged  they will become. The best policy therefore is not to engage. Just ignore them, they hate that !!

My latest debt agency was a company called Lowell, who had been writing to me about an alleged debt for just over 5 years. The alleged debt was to an energy company for £300. Lowell went through the full set of chirades with threats of court action with increased costs, threats of home visits and allsorts of skullduggery. Thier last but one letter offered me a discount off the debt of 90% ( Ha, Ha Ha ). Their final letter came towards the end of last year when they reluctantly declared they were throwing in the towel. ( This was the first time I have received such a capitulation in writing, so I will have to wait and see.).

As you are very clear that you dont owe this money, you have two choices I think. You could take them to court, or you could ignore them.

The first option will involve some time consuming work, so I would only embark on this course of action if you think you would enjoy it ( as I used to ).

Adopting the second option means you will continue to receive letters etc, but if you can learn to occupy a higher ground putting your anger and anxiety aside, you may find the journey interesting and amusing, and next time some of these clowns start writing you letters, you will barely bat an eyelid.

Nasqueron

Ignoring them isn't a great idea as plenty of firms are quite happy to go all the way to CCJ stage

The correct approach is to send either a Prove It letter denying the debt is yours or if applicable, a Statute Barred letter (if debt is more than 6 years since last acknowledged)

sourcrates

I agree its 50/50 whether the likes of Lowell try to obtain a CCJ by default.

If you ignore court papers from them, then that`s what you will get.

You have to know what to ignore, and what to respond too, but generally your advice is sound.

fatbelly

OP. Let us know what FOS come back with. You still have options after that

tadianer

Apparently my sister has been receiving the same letter. It was initially from JD williams asking her to pay for her orders which she never did order because the invoice sent to her were all for mens clothing and and she never visited that site before. Now we have received 2 letters, one from HM courts threatening her for CCJ and now from Moriarty Law again a threat for County court judgement. 
We are also trying to figure out how to stop this nonsense because its taking a toll on my pregnant sister. She is willing to pay, but I told her not to, cause if they would really want to report her for CCJ then they should have done it already just as what they have stated on the previous HM court letter. However, another letter from another debt collector agency came insteadsince, then I saw this thread I thought that they are now scammers and told her not to pay it cause if people are willingly paying then they will keep doing it to other people. 

Please, we would like to know what the Ombudsman say on your case. thanks

Nasqueron

tadianer said:

Apparently my sister has been receiving the same letter. It was initially from JD williams asking her to pay for her orders which she never did order because the invoice sent to her were all for mens clothing and and she never visited that site before. Now we have received 2 letters, one from HM courts threatening her for CCJ and now from Moriarty Law again a threat for County court judgement. 
We are also trying to figure out how to stop this nonsense because its taking a toll on my pregnant sister. She is willing to pay, but I told her not to, cause if they would really want to report her for CCJ then they should have done it already just as what they have stated on the previous HM court letter. However, another letter from another debt collector agency came insteadsince, then I saw this thread I thought that they are now scammers and told her not to pay it cause if people are willingly paying then they will keep doing it to other people. 

Please, we would like to know what the Ombudsman say on your case. thanks

Complain to them and send to ombudsman if needed, what someone else experiences won't make any difference to your situation e.g. if they were rejected at the FOS, you may win or vice versa as each case is unique. Ignoring them is not a good idea

fatbelly

HMCourts or HMCTS do not threaten anything. If she has had a letter from them it will be one of two things

1. A court claim
2. A judgement in default because she ignored (1)

If it is (1) then there will be an issue date. Service of the claim is deemed to be 5 days after this so she has 14+5 days from the issue date to acknowledge service, which you can do online. She then has 14 further days so a total of 33 to lodge a defence. All this is done with the court.

If she needs advice on this it may be best to start a new thread as the situation is very different to the OP's

Please note that the Ombudsman will not deal with a case if a court is dealing with it.

ManyWays

Yes please start a new thread as it isnt clear exactly what these letters are, and if one is a court claim form there is very little time to respond to it.

Can you also say (if you know, that is the problem with trying to help someone else, you may not know the details) whether she had told JD Williams and Moriarty law that she never opened an account or had those clothes delivered?

Gardenshed2025

Financial Ombudsman came back to tell me that I hadn’t complained directly to Lantern so they sent a complaint on my behalf. 

I think I am still waiting for Lantern’s response. 

At the same time I requested all data that Lantern held on me which I think was as a result of my complaint to Moriaty Law ( who referred my case back to Lantern) so today I have received all the data Lantern hold on me.
From the information, it is definitely a case of identity fraud and the details they have for me is incorrect. 

Can you advise what I should do next? Should I wait for Lantern to answer the complaint sent on my behalf by the Financial Ombudsman?
Or should I write to Lantern telling them that my details have been used fraudulently and I am not liable for the debt?