Debt sold to debt recovery firm TWO YEARS after DRO ended...

DJP90

I received a letter just over two weeks ago from a debt recovery firm stating they have bought one of my former accounts. The account in question was included in a DRO that ended two years ago, I've gone through the paperwork and can 100% confirm that the card and full balance on the card at the time was listed in the application. This is also the balance listed on the letter from the debt recovery firm so I know it's the same account

I contacted the firm and told them about the DRO, and they suggested I contact the original creditor. The person I spoke too also said that they don't believe they'll be able to waiver it since it was the original creditor listed on the DRO and not themselves, however they wasn't certain of this as it wasn't their department and told me to E-Mail someone higher than them which I did. I am still awaiting a reply.

I've contacted the original creditor and made a complaint however it can take 3 months to hear back from them. The debt recovery firm did do a "gesture of goodwill" by pausing the account for 7 days to give me time to contact the original creditor. Sadly this has now elapsed and they won't extend it.

I'm worried that it might be a case of the original creditor having to buy the account back off the recovery firm since I'm guessing the recovery firm paid money for it? Even though it's only been two years, I've worked incredibly hard to get my credit score from "very poor" to "good" in that time. I'm now worried that this is going to knock it back down again as the recovery firm state they are going to start reporting to credit agencies.

I'm pretty sure I read they weren't allowed to sell the debt during the DRO, so I'm guessing it's now just a waiting game to get it sorted? Can anyone recommend anything I can do, say etc in the meantime that might help speed the process up?

Thanks in advance

fatbelly

You are spending too much time being nice to this company. You have told them it was in a DRO that completed. If they restart collection activity, raise this as a formal complaint and escalate to FOS.

If they report this as a new debt, do the same and escalate to ICO

Debts can and do change hands while in an insolvency process as it is a gamble on the process failing In this case the firm lost the gamble. Either that or they were scammed by the original creditor. Either way I am very sad for them.

ManyWays

How does this debt show on your credit record? It should have a default date at the start of the DRO and show as satisfied or partially satisfied with a zero balance from the end of the DRO year. This may sound irrelevant to your problem with the new debt collector, but:
- if the original lender recorded it correctly, you can point this out to the new creditor and say they have to use the same details as the original lender (ie zero balance)
- if they didnt. then complain as well (in addition to complaining to the new debt collector as @fatbelly says) to the original lender and insist they correct your credit record.  

sourcrates

What fatbelly said, above.

Insolvency debts are commonly sold on in the vain hope the solution fails, be it DRO or IVA, it can happen.

This time they lost the gamble, don`t be phoning them again and jumping through their hoops, take fatbelly`s advice.

DJP90

fatbelly said:

You are spending too much time being nice to this company. You have told them it was in a DRO that completed. If they restart collection activity, raise this as a formal complaint and escalate to FOS.

If they report this as a new debt, do the same and escalate to ICO

Debts can and do change hands while in an insolvency process as it is a gamble on the process failing In this case the firm lost the gamble. Either that or they were scammed by the original creditor. Either way I am very sad for them.

What would classify as them restarting collection activity? I keep getting multiple phone calls from them, usually about 3 hours apart from around 8am till 7pm at night weekdays. If I answer the phone, the first thing I get from them is "Hi, this is (name) from (company), you have an outstanding balance of (amount) will you be paying this balance by debit card or bank transfer" - Would that classify as collection activity?

ManyWays said:

How does this debt show on your credit record? It should have a default date at the start of the DRO and show as satisfied or partially satisfied with a zero balance from the end of the DRO year. This may sound irrelevant to your problem with the new debt collector, but:
- if the original lender recorded it correctly, you can point this out to the new creditor and say they have to use the same details as the original lender (ie zero balance)
- if they didnt. then complain as well (in addition to complaining to the new debt collector as @fatbelly says) to the original lender and insist they correct your credit record.  

So looking at my credit report, the account only shows up on Clearscore and is listed as "Closed" with a balance of £0 that last updated the day my DRO ended. It's not listed at all on Credit Karma or the MSE Credit Club

fatbelly

Record every contact and start a formal complaint. They have no right to pursue a debt written off in insolvency.