Odd credit card activity...!

AdrianMessenger

Hello,

I've not been on this site for a while, a bit busy. Suddenly I find I'm swamped with issues. An odd email alerts me to a CC debt, though I've never had the particular card. There has been no posted communication, no phone calls or letters, bills etc. In other words, they only have this email address. No other contact received, until a few weeks ago.

Also odd - the 'debt' is 15 years old, so statute barred. Also the email is a fairly new one, not in use back then. I initially thought, a scam.

All very dodgy. Both the collection company and the card insist I give them my DOB and postcode to discuss it. I won't give this out. So the 'agents' on the phone (I had to follow up) will not progress any calls. I've discussed this with the CAB. I've even emailed one firm's CEO.

I'm thinking...a mis-trace on my name. Or identity theft from, perhaps, my post back then.

At the moment I have the clock ticking on a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. I'm not worried about the 'debt', except they might chase it further, spoil credit rating etc.

I joined a credit check firm, which confirms no such accounts, back 20 years. Unfortunately this week, this firm shows multiple soft searches from the same CC; six in four days. Are they fishing for my address etc?

Sorry it's a long saga, to anyone who perseveres!

CliveOfIndia

An email out of the blue is almost certainly a scam, especially if you've never owned the card they're claiming for. What's the sender's address?

To put your mind at rest, check all 3 of your credit reports ( https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report/ ), just to make sure there's nothing untoward on them. As long as everything is in order, delete the email, block the sender and move on.

Any genuine communication regarding a debt will come via a good old-fashioned letter through your door.

AdrianMessenger

Hi. That's how I considered it, at first. I set up with one of the main checking firms and found a mass of personal data - going back years, addresses etc, but crucially, not the card now being claimed.

I had to engage with the debt firm - Cabot, based in Kent. Never heard of them before. The phone agents are useless, sticking to their script - I must give up further details to progress, so I initiated a complaint. Despite my mentioning the statute barring (something I learned about recently) a 'director of operations' emailed back saying "you are liable for this debt".

It all seems very one sided, especially the GDPR, so-called security angle they use. In four more weeks, if there is no adequate response from them, I can continue with the Financial Ombudsman.

It's made me very wary of credit companies now. They hold, as it were, 'all the cards'.

sausage_time

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82018363#Comment_82018363

Why did you engage with the debt firm (given you had never had a card and the alleged debt is so old)?

AdrianMessenger

Hi… originally, I replied mainly that I had been 'spammed', from their addresses.

Due to the long time elapsed, I had to consider if my identity, post etc had been compromised - my address then was a flat that had a shared hallway - I wondered if a neighbour had intercepted post. Over a ten year period, two or three different occupants had moved from the adjacent flat. During which time - the alleged duration of the account and its default - I received zero paperwork, invoices etc from any party.

I pursued the matter mainly as a potential identity theft issue, or at best a mis-trace by them.

The debt firm responded with more, they considered, detail; the amount involved, the card number. It did somewhat escalate from there. Yet, they won't proffer a location for the account citing GDPR - and I've moved many times since then.

I wanted to confront them with a mistake - but they dug in. I consider this whole business a one-sided abuse of their power and our data. If ID had been stolen or it was a mistake by them, they will not entertain the thought.

I agree, I can ignore a nonexistent debt, but if they ignore statute barring, they might just continue for the hell of it. The occasionally labyrinthine rules favour their systems.

It almost seems that the responsibility is mine to prove innocence of a debt. They are not proving it exists with any paperwork - I understand that a 'prove it' letter can be sent- but I'm not engaging in actual mailing with them. The FOS hopefully will help progress things.

CliveOfIndia

Why not just block their email address and move on? If they genuinely want to get hold of you for a legitimate reason, they'll write to you. You know, pen, paper, envelope, stamp, that kind of thing?

As I said, as long as you've satisfied yourself that there's nothing amiss on your credit reports, there's no point in getting in a tizzy over it.

AdrianMessenger

I know I might appear paranoid, but I mentioned in my first post above - I'm not looking or searching for a card, yet the same credit card company has initiated SIX searches on my name. In just four days, last week.

I'm trying to ascertain if such a search locates my address, as it appears in my data. I think a mild tizzy would be warranted - if they start sending anything through the mail.

sourcrates

Its called a fishing exercise.

Cabot are very well known in the debt purchasing world, and on these boards.

At some point in the past, someone with a similar name/address/email or whatever led to you been singed out in the tracing process, ran up a credit card balance and didn`t pay it back.

These type of debts, old, unenforceable or statute barred, attract a certain type of DCA who then buy them up very cheap, and then attempt to trace the debtor.

The usual way they do this is to send emails to versions of a previously known email address, or letters to everyone with a similar name in a certain postcode area, or texts to various permutations of a mobile number they might still have.

They send out these messages/emails/letters etc in the hope of a hit, so best advice is do not respond to them.

However if you are compelled to get to the bottom of this, send the "prove-it" letter to Cabot, a letter is deemed to have come from the debtor in question, see what response that gets and post back for further advice.

Otherwise, you only need respond to a letter before action, in the very rare event that happens, again, post back for help, otherwise ignore them.

AdrianMessenger

Thanks - that's roughly how I'm thinking, a scatter shot exercise, with absolutely zero due diligence in checking IDs. I'm partly responding to the arrogance of one response to a complaint email I sent in.

It claims to be from a director, saying I must pay the debt, when you must assume that a 'director' would have a clue what statute barring means. I'm fairly sure it must apply here. If anything further is pursued, I've read that it constitutes harassment.

Anyway, the FOS complaint can progress in a few weeks. If by any chance any odd looking post arrives, I never saw it…

RAS

If any odd looking post arrives, you read it. If anything arrives with a Northampton return address, you come back here.

Under English and Welsh law the only defence needed for a statute barred debt is that the default or last payment were over over 6 years ago.

But the debt still exists and the debtor can pay it if they want.

However if the creditor issues court proceedings, you have to defend the case even if you aren't the debtor. It's easier than unpicking a CCJ.

If you get any other such emails, don't paint a target on your back by responding.

AdrianMessenger

Yikes. It's a minefield. What I've tried to get across to the debt company is that, without doubt, it's not my debt and never has been. The statute barring timescale has also been met.

My thought about post, is that I would not want acknowledge receipt of accounts that are not mine.

Just to add - my recent credit check was thorough, with these spurious accounts not appearing across twenty years. And, the report section for CCJs and any bankruptcy is clear.

I initially sent enough emails that the email trails became impossible. I'm unlikely to bother any more, certainly until the FOS procedure. That looks efficient - I've set up an online portal to check progress. I'm just not sure if they have teeth, against these massive companies.