Debt collection 5 years after emigrating!!!

jahwobble

Hello

I emigrated from the UK several years and I use a friend's UK address as a forwarding address. Recently my friend called me and said they had received a letter from Advantis Credit threatening to arrive at their door in 7 days if a 'debt' in my name to Southern Water (N.B. I left UK several years ago - paying all my bills before emigrating) was not paid.

My questions are:
1) Surely Advantis Credit should have sent the details of the 'debt' before this demand?
2) How long does this kind of debt collection last - if the collectors hadn't discovered that the debtor is no longer a UK resident?
3) How do such debt collectors acquire the details of people who have 'gone away' from the payable address?
4) What effect does this kind of 'harassment' on the UK address holders have and how should they respond?

Please help

OberonSH

I believe there's a cutoff of 6 years to chase debt. Tthe most straightforward way to solve it is to write to them stating you have no knowledge of this debt, and ask them to supply copies of the relevant paperwork. This usually stops them dead. Seems t be a common occurence - they must hope that they addressee panicks and pays up anyway.

immoral_angeluk

Your friends needs to call them and tell them that you are not at that address.

GeorgeUK

They may be chasing an olded debt that is statute barred, or almost statute barred.

Do you know when this bill would have been due to be paid?

If you have made no payments towards a debt for 6 years (5 in Scotland) and not acknowledged the debt in writing, then it is statute barred and unenforcable if you notify them that it is statute barred. The dates are important for things like this so you can hopefully remember if this was a monthly or quarterly bill.

Not too sure if emigrating will have any bearing on how this is dealt with, but it sounds like this is the first you've known of the debt so don't think anything will come of it. DCA's send letters threatening to send people round or send in the bailiffs but usually it's an empty threat. If someone from the DCA comes knocking, they have as much right to enter a property as the paperboy - NONE. The occupier should just tell them that you no longer live there and have emigrated.

They could send a letter to the DCA explaining this but it might be more trouble than it's worth. Is the bill quite large that they are chasing for?

jahwobble

Thanks for replies.

I have no idea what the debt is or for how much - only that it's from Southern Water. My concern it that my friends will be hassled by the debt collectors :mad:.
I have sent an email to the debt collectors (Advantis Credit) explaining that I never lived at the address and that I had finalized all bills before I emigrated.

How can I stop them from approaching my friends?

Any more advice will be more than welcome.

GeorgeUK

Sometimes a debt collector will try to collect a debt from someone that doesn't owe it - if they lived at an address a debt is owed to, they will sometimes try to get money back if they find out you once lived at that address. There may be a few people that have had that same letter sent to them.

I'm glad you sent an email (did you tell them that you now lived abroad), as you should NEVER send something with your signature to a debt collection agency.

There are 2 ways to deal with this.
1. Contact Southern Water (phone) and explain what has happened. If they have no record of you owing them a debt then you could email the DCA again and inform them that there is no debt.
(When you moved out, did you inform them to close your account?)

2. Write to the DCA stating that you acknowledge no debt to their company.

Ref Account Ref:

I ACKNOWLEDGE NO DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY.

You have recently contacted me with regard to an apparent debt on the above account. It is my understanding that this is incorrect.

Therefore, with reference to the above agreement, I would be grateful if you would send me a copy of this credit agreement and a full breakdown of the account including any interest or charges applied.

I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 [sections 77-79], I am entitled to receive a copy of any credit agreement, notice of assignemt and a statement of account on request. I enclose a payment of £1 which represents the fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

I understand a copy of any credit agreement along with a statement of account should be supplied within 12 working days.

I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with the request for a copy of the agreement and statement of account under these sections of the Act.

Please also note that i am no longer resident in the UK and that i believe that this debt may also be statute barred.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I would talk first to the water company though. Just remember never to put your signature on anything you are sending to a DCA - not on the letter and do not send a cheque. Some DCA's have been known to get creative with credit agreements and graphics software to create new agreements.

jahwobble

Thanks for the info.

I had a reply from the DCA apologising for the distress and that they are looking for another person with my name (so why send letter in the first place?) Here is some of the letter:

[FONT=&quot]"On receipt of this case... (the name of the debtor from the owed company) we began a trace investigation to locate this individual. The trace investigations we carry out include a number of sources of information some of which include the electoral role, credit reference bureaus and BT Operator Services Information System (BT Osis). The information returned is often an indication that we can then use to attempt to verity that the information relates to the subject we are attempting to locate. The letter that we sent to you is part of this process in which we extend our apologies if you are not the person that we are attempting to contact."

I had a look for the [FONT=&quot]BT Operator Services Information System (BT Osis) - it seems this has access to every and I mean every telephone number and records (even ex-directory)

I find it hard to understand how this info is available to DCA.

Anyway it finds I'm not guilty and that they are barking up the wrong tree with me :rotfl: - but how many other innocent people would be scared into believing that they had the bailiffs coming round?
[/FONT][/FONT]

GeorgeUK

That's what some of them do unfortunately.

They have a bill that needs paying and they don't always care if it's the right person paying it.

Did you send the CCA letter? Did they return the £1?
They haven't said they are not going to pursue you for the debt. That's a pretty big "if" they have in there. Some agencies will send a letter like this to make you think it has been dealt with, then a month or so later come back to hound you. If you did send the CCA request, this reply does not absolve them of their legal responsability so be prepared to send a 2nd letter.

They have 12+2 days to respond to a CCA request after which time the debt is unenforcable outside of court if no CCA is produced. If they still pursue the debt then 30 days after that deadline, they have committed a criminal offence and should be reported.

Thought i'd put that up incase you need it. Better safe than sorry.
More info here including statute barred incase this debt is old enough.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486

jahwobble

No I didn't send the letter which you kindly suggested, but here is the last paragraph of the response which I didn't post before:

"We have reviewed the information that we had obtained and can confirm that there is no information that connects you to the individual we were trying to locate. I would also like to confirm that there are no records held against you or that links you to this individual and the last known address of this individual in relation to any credit reporting held by credit reference agencies. I would like to thank you again for the valuable information that you have supplied and to offer our sincere apologies for any distress this matter has caused."

So hopefully this will go no further. Thank you for your help I will certainly keep in my mind what you said if they pursue this further.

jahwobble

Please anyone help.
I am being harassed again over this alleged debt with Southern Water. This time by UK Search Ltd, who say they are working on behalf of Southbank Capital Limited. Southbank seem to have dodgy reputation as I have read elsewhere on these forums. But UK Search say that they have the right to collect on this alleged debt.

Background:
I emigrated from the UK in late 3003. I closed all my financial obligations, including those with the taxman, before leaving.
My last UK registered address was a rented flat for nearly 3 years from 2001-2003
UK Search are claiming I have a debt with Southern Water for an address which I lived at from 1999-2001 and for the period of 2004-2006 which is after I emigrated.
I have told UK Search that I do not acknowledge the debt and they now are insisting that I was living at both addresses for the period of 2004-2006 (according to their search of public records). They are now offering to close my account if I pay half of the alleged debt now.
My problem is I no longer have any available paperwork to counter their claims. I threw them away a couple of years ago.

How can I end this farce?

RAS

Hi

If you emigrated in late 2003, this debt becomes statute barred in late 2009. Given how little of 2009 is left, this debt is almost certainly staute barred.

Just send the statute barred letter telling them to get lost and if they or anyone else send more requests to your friends, then report them to the OFT.