16 year old debt being chased

1littleduck

Hi, I am being chased by a debt collecting agency for a debt that was taken out at my previous address over 16 years ago. They are sending me letters asking me to confirm my previous house number and postcode as they are now chasing up the debt. I have not supplied them with the information and I have informed them that I do not recognise any dealings with the company that the debt is related to. I have not had any correspondence from the company in the 16 years I have lived at my present address and I have not made a single payment to them in that time. Every other company I had dealings with at my previous address have been in contact with me and all the debts have been cleared. Can any tell me what I can do to stop them sending letters. I have responded to them 3 times now, stating I will not give the information they request on my previous address and that the alleged debt would, after all this time, be considered 'status barred' by now.  

DE_612183

you can't stop them sending letters - you just ignore them.

you can send a "proof it" letter

sourcrates

They have to be sure the person they are dealing with is the debtor, so they are asking these questions for data protection purposes.

You can just ignore such requests, but ultimately that won`t solve the issue here, personally I detest debt collectors, but they will still try to contact you, they have this debt on their books and will not just go away, if its not them, it will be another collector 3 months from now, there is no harm in confirming your previous address and postcode, as long as you are certain of the debts statute barred status.

If you want to put this to bed once and for all, you write to them confirming your details, and tell them that under section 5, limitation act 1980, the debt they are chasing is now statute barred, and because of this you are under no obligation to pay it.

Once you have informed them of this, under FCA regulations, they should cease all collection activity immediately.

You can also tell them to remove all contact information they hold on you from their systems, and to never bother you again about this matter.

Doing it this way ensure data protection is adhered too, and you end up with the right result.