Pastdue Credit Solutions

Squeekyclean · 2 April 2015 at 2:18PM

Got a call from this company today saying they were phoning on behalf of BT, I refused to confirm any details for them and they hung up.
I decided to call BT myself as I had a BT business account up until September 2014 and had major problem trying to pay my final bill and close the account, through no fault of my own I may add.

BT confirmed that my account is actually paid up, in fact I am in credit of £3.84 according to the BT opperator.
I told them I do not want any more phone calls from them or this debt company and that I will never be returning to BT even if they offered me free phone calls for life.

I'm going to keep a record of how many calls, letters, emails etc that I get from this company as it could be a great little earner when I go to court to get compensation for harrassment from them if they continue to pester me.

My advice is NEVER give any information out over the phone.
If they say they are calling on behalf of another company, call that company and sort it out with them, don't give money to a monkey when you can sort it out with the organ grinder.
Always ask for proof from the original company, cut out these middle men, for all you know you may have paid the bill and their system wasn't updated in time.

Please Note, these sort of companies buy so called debts with the intention of getting full payment from you, this is how they make their money.
These debts are often considered not to be worthwhile going after by the companies themselves due to the costs involved in trying to recover the initial debt.
It is not uncommon for one company to sell your details onto another, nice to see they are scamming each other and not just the average punter.

Always, always check with the initial company that you do have a debt and if you do make arrangements with them to pay it, don't bow down to these bully boys.

Jacamanda · 8 April 2015 at 4:26PM

Funnily enough, it was my partner who had a letter from Past Due Credit Solutions this morning. The letter says they're collecting on behalf of HMRC for the amount of £637.00, quoting "Dual Tax Credits".

Alarm bells starting ringing - along with the queasy feeling! He rang them and a guy with a Scottish accent answered. He took our phone number and said he'd ring back. That was an hour ago.

Meanwhile, I've rang HMRC myself and they can find no record of the £637 debt, but they DID confirm that they do in fact use PDCS as a collection agency.

I always screen my calls and don't answer numbers I don't recognize. It's possible PDCS tried to ring prior to their letter, but no messages were left.

Interestingly, the letter was addressed only to my partner, yet it is a joint tax credit claim we have. The money paid by HMRC is paid to me, NOT my partner. We do have an overpayment with HMRC, but my tax credit award clearly states that overpayment will be collected by reducing my tax credits accordingly - so they're in the process of collecting it back themselves.

Needless to say, I think we'll be ignoring any future letters from PDCS.

Squeekyclean · 16 April 2015 at 7:02PM

Received another call today, told them they had called an order line and they hung up.

Also received a response to my email I sent last week asking PDCS to take my phone number off their system.
Don't worry I used my spam catcher email address that I set up years ago to combat these sort of companies, a very effective way.

They say they cannot handle my complaint as I haven't attached a customer ID number to my email.
I replied telling them that the reason for no customer ID is that I am not a customer of thiers or BT and again asked them to stop calling me.

I know that some people will get stressed out by these sort of letters and phone calls but one thing to remember is that if the debt was worth chasing then the original company would be all over it, not selling your details to debt collection agencies.

I don't condone or encourage anyone not to pay a bill but if you do have contact with these companies always always always ask for proof from them and the original company.
If the original company says they don't have a record of you owing anything then ask them to send you a letter or even an email stating this, then ignore the debt collectors.

If they do happen to take you to court, which is highly unlikely, I would say you have more chance of winning the lottery, but if they do, put in a counter claim for stress, anxiety and your time, you are sure to win with the proof from the origianl company stating that you owe nothing.

I'm keeping a record of phone calls an emails for that very purpose, see how they like it when I send a debt collection agency round to them.

Siboli55 · 8 May 2015 at 3:35PM

Just received debt bill from Pastdue credit solutions - I have lived in my house for over 20 years and this bill strongly appears to be a scam. It is not in my name or any previous occupants and describes that it is collecting Single Tax Credits for HMRC. As far as I am aware there is no such thing as Single Tax Credits. There is Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit whether you are one, two or any other number. Going by the previous replies - it looks dodgy and as my area is rife with such scams I will not be replying. However I will file it away in case the police are interested.

Siboli55 · 8 May 2015 at 4:20PM

To add to my previous reply - I have just checked the HMRC website and it clearly states that HMRC will send notice of any overpayment of tax credits and deduct payment from the following year.
Please note that there is no such thing as dual or single tax credits.
As no one has ever received tax credits at my address (and the name and bill are dodgy) I am certain that this letter is a SCAM.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND THEM ANY MONEY OR GIVE OUT PERSONAL DETAILS - previous advice on checking with your genuine utility company or HMRC seems the most sensible course of action.

cymrulady · 24 August 2015 at 10:33AM

Hi all - We've just started receiving letters from Pastdue (with a sprinkling of spelling mistakes), claiming that we owe over £9, 000 in 'dual tax credits' (?).

Last time the HMRC sold an alleged debt to a collection company, we liaised with that company and were eventually told that we had nothing to worry about. We were exonerated - nothing owed to HMRC. When, later, we started getting letters from HMRC, we challenged those along the lines that the company to which they had sold the 'debt' had given us the all clear. Sadly, only over the phone. I wish to goodness I'd asked for something in writing.

Now - after a very long time, pastdue has come along. They want the money by the end of this month. If not, pastdue will continue writing and calling (no calls yet though) and HMRC may consider enforcement action.

Now - time to go back to HMRC? And, in the meantime, to ask, as suggested further up thread, pastdue to spell things out? (We haven't received tax credits for about 5 years so this a very old, alleged, debt. No idea if, if it existed, it would expire over this course of time.)

Thanks for any advice!

sourcrates · 24 August 2015 at 11:03AM

Hi,
PDCS are a reasonably new debt collection agency :

http://www.pastduecredit.co.uk/

You should never ring these people, always do everything in writing, that way you have a paper trail and evidence of what's been said.
From what I can gather they specialise in all kinds debt recovery and do a lot of work for HMRC, so if you get a letter from them, chances are its genuine, that's not to say there is a debt to be paid though.

Mistakes do happen, but you should always respond to a letter from a DCA, never ignore it, you could get a CCJ by default.

Always challenge what they tell you, ask for proof of the debt, if they have bought the account, then they will have assumed all rights and privileges also, which means they could take you to court for non payment, something that is actually on the increase for even small amounts of money.

If they are just acting for there "client" you should still challenge it.

As the OP said, you can always deal with the OC, but if a debt has been sold, the OC will normally refer you back to the DCA.

stef71 · 9 September 2015 at 2:32PM

dont be worried by these debt collectors. they just threaten ppl. nothing they can do without a court order (in scotland) i actually enjoy mailing them back with cheeky cheek! look up trespass law (if scum come to yer door) scotland and other posts on this excellent site about debt in scotland. do not worry! its clear after 6 yrs anyway. clean slate. ive done it. they are clueless mugs these agencys. know yer rights and yer sorted.
best of luck!

skyshadow · 9 September 2015 at 7:49PM

I find the best way is to be honest but give them minimal information. These stupid bunch of chancers called me up once and then sent a text..i called back and they asked for my address and reference number etc.

The guy told me it was the wrong address to which I confirmed I was pretty certain of my address as I was sat in it while calling. He then asked me to confirm if I lived anywhere else which I confirmed I didn't and started to go on telling me if I did not give him the correct address then he couldn't help me. I explained it was he who had the wrong address and I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

He asked me if I could go through some possible "wrong addresses" with him to which I explained I'd be happy and started confirmed every number on my street. He piped down telling me it wasn't anywhere on that street and after he actually told me the address got quite distressed when I asked why he had breached data protection giving me information when he wasnt sure I was the debtor.

After around 20 minutes of him getting increasingly confrontational with me I explained that I could go through every small detail of the account with him and keep him on the phone hours and then enquired if he was paid commission or targeted.

I highlighted the wisdom of sending the account back if he wanted to meet any of his daily targets.

Remember if you play these idiots at their own game and keep them on the phone throwing questions at them they will get bored of it before you will

sourcrates · 9 September 2015 at 8:33PM

skyshadow wrote: »

I find the best way is to be honest but give them minimal information. These stupid bunch of chancers called me up once and then sent a text..i called back and they asked for my address and reference number etc.

The guy told me it was the wrong address to which I confirmed I was pretty certain of my address as I was sat in it while calling. He then asked me to confirm if I lived anywhere else which I confirmed I didn't and started to go on telling me if I did not give him the correct address then he couldn't help me. I explained it was he who had the wrong address and I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

He asked me if I could go through some possible "wrong addresses" with him to which I explained I'd be happy and started confirmed every number on my street. He piped down telling me it wasn't anywhere on that street and after he actually told me the address got quite distressed when I asked why he had breached data protection giving me information when he wasnt sure I was the debtor.

After around 20 minutes of him getting increasingly confrontational with me I explained that I could go through every small detail of the account with him and keep him on the phone hours and then enquired if he was paid commission or targeted.

I highlighted the wisdom of sending the account back if he wanted to meet any of his daily targets.

Remember if you play these idiots at their own game and keep them on the phone throwing questions at them they will get bored of it before you will

I did this with a guy from 1st credit once, was on the phone for a good hour, near the end of the call he asked me if I was going to pay, I said no, and hung up !!!!
It's ok if you fancy a bit of a laugh, and know how to deal with them, a lot of people don't though, and get intimidated and pressurised into paying up, so general advice to only deal in writing, still stands !!

Pastdue Credit Solutions

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