thames credit ltd

patsyg_3

This company called Thames Credit Ltd kept writing to my husband about £260 he apparantly owed. the money was paid it off in 2001 so he phoned them and they said they didn't have anything to back up the fact that he owed the money so he tried barclaycard which was who the money was apparantly owed to. but they said they couldn't find anything. We hadn't heard anything in a few months so we thought it had been their fault. I ordered his credit file and they have lodged 2 defaults (1 for £200 and 1 for £270) both saying the same default date 30/9/1999. But my husband was living at the same address up till 2003 and they didn't have any contact with him while he was there - they only started sending the letters at the end of last year.

So we googled the company last night and apparantly they have been known for doing this - harrassing customers about debt that had been paid and not being able to prove that they really owed it. So my husband tried to phone Barclaycard last night but they were not very helpful. He said he would pay it if it was his but its a bit dodgy that they have lodged 2 defaults for "apparantly" the same debt. On the internet it said people had ended up paying them just to stop them harrassing them. But we are not paying it because even if they change it on his credit file to settled it will mean 2 defaults that he didn't have.

Does anyone have any advise on this?

cifpower

You could lodge a Notice of Dispute with the credit reference agencies (just one will do). They will contact the company who issued the Default on your behalf and ask the reason why and what for and they will get back to you. All this must be done within 28 days.

If that fails you could send an e-mail to the OFT. I have the e-mail address of the person who deals with complaints against debt collection agencies.

h4nym

Hi Cifpower

Two things - first Thames Credit Ltd need to prove that you owe the debt - if they can't then there's no case to answer...just make sure you contest everything they do

Second thing is probably more important - don't bother filing any dispute with the credit reference agencies - the record only lasts 6 years so it will drop out of the system next month anyway. Filing a notice of dispute will simply extend its life...

Cheers

H