RJMS

iTrader: (2)

Just curious if this has happened to anyone else - got two letters today one from what appears to be effectively a debt collection agency and one purporting to come from my bank, although they both came in the debt collection agency's envelopes.

Apparently I owe my bank £800 ish and they sold the debt onto the agency in June 2004 and now the agency are chasing me for the money, which incidentally I know absolutely nothing about, I am still with the same bank and have more than enough money in my accounts to cover the "debt" anyway.

Have looked up/rung the agency - I think that they are genuine and they appear to have all my details - apart from a mis-spelt first name. Rang my bank (or at least their call centre - in England by the sound of it ) and they advised me to take all the relevant documenattion to my local branch and they would get their fraud squad to look at it.

All very curious and slightly concerning, has anyone else had similar experiences?

RLE

iTrader: (2)

strange one....very strange.

Do banks sell their debts? Sounds funny if you have money in existing accounts that would offset the outstanding balance. Shocked that your bank would not advise that a third party were now responsible for this "unknown" debt

The letter from your bank....is this on headed paper etc? I'd be straight down there on Tuesday morning. Wouldn't be so bad if you knew/ acknowledged the debt.

You will have to let us know how you get on. Best of luck mate.

MadGrip

I'm having a similar problem with a company called Thames Credit.

In about 1998 I had a barclay card, but AFAIK I paid off the balance and closed the account.

After 5 years I get a letter saying I owe £200 + and will I settle immediately

so I phoned the company involved and told them that I'm not in the habit of paying money to someone I dont know for an account I thought I'd closed years ago.

I told them that if they thought the account had an outstanding balance then I want to see evidence of what items were purchased with the card and what was the last item bought . all they said to me was that "I should have been more vigilant & kept a record of my purchases". so I basically told them to sod off.

I've been getting letters from them for 2 years, but until they can show me proof that the balance is my debt , they can blow me or see me in court

David Lock

Sorry but why don't you just phone up Barclaycard and ask??

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

It transpires that the debt collection agency had performed a search on the name/Date Of Birth of someone very similar to me, and on finding a match just automatically sent out a letter or two.

It's a real pain - might have affected my credit record (ands it's cost/hassle to check it out) and my own bank have been somewhat slightly less than helpful (so far) in sorting it out.

This one is going to run and run

vindaloo

Sue them for distress and the wasted quality time you've spent chasing it down. Depending on the content on the letters, report them for demanding money with menaces.

J.

MJW

Got your details mixed up ? Sounds like a scam to me, and they backpedalled when you confronted them - some people might just have paid straight away. If they're kosher write to them and ask for them to confirm in writing that the incident has not affected your credit history. I did that with my bank when they took money out of my account they shouldn't have, leaving it overdrawn.

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

I actually think it's genuine - the debt collection agency are used by my bank. What pisses me off more than anything is the fact that my bank uses an agency that is capable of such a mix-up and what's more allows then to send out letters on the bank's headed paper - to my mind they are effectively sub contractors to the bank and as such any problems they cause should be dealt with by the bank.

I hand delivered a letter containing copies of the letters to my bank the day I got them, hadn't heard a thing so yesterday I went into the bank and spoke to a personal banker (hope this doesn't give away which bank) She basically told me verbally what I already knew and suggested that I check my credit files to make sure that there were no black marks. She also told me that as far as they were concerned the matter was closed and I would not be getting written confirmation of anything.....

Needless to say I have since rung the head office complaint line expressing my general dissatisfaction with the situation and requesting written confirmation that this debt is nothing to do with me and that no entries will be made in my credit history. This was only yesterday, so it remains to be seen what will happen.

I would dearly love to sue them for stress/inconvenience but really don't think it would be worth the added hassle - I may however request a bit of compensation - if you don't ask you don't get and all that