I have been reading about this company who recently sent my wife a letter. They are a debt collection company by all accounts. They have written to my wife (we now live in Australia Permanently) asking to telephone them and "confirm the update to your account details". My wife says she has no debts in the UK and wants to ignore the letter but I thought that I would do some research first.

Should we ignore the letter or return it saying no longer at this address or contact them? Can they claim a debt (if one exists) if you now reside permanently in another country? Your advice would be appreciated.

thanks

There are restrictions on what action they can take against someone overseas but if you owe the money, you are required to pay.

In my opinion you should write rather than phone (and keep a copy) asking for full details of the debt then take things from there. If you don't get a reply, you could send a follow up letter. I'm not sure about the costs of recorded delivery letters but you can probably, if you take the option, phone the UK for next to nothing - just google for discount international calls.

suspicious:

I have been reading about this company who recently sent my wife a letter. They are a debt collection company by all accounts. They have written to my wife (we now live in Australia Permanently) asking to telephone them and "confirm the update to your account details". My wife says she has no debts in the UK and wants to ignore the letter but I thought that I would do some research first.

Should we ignore the letter or return it saying no longer at this address or contact them? Can they claim a debt (if one exists) if you now reside permanently in another country? Your advice would be appreciated.

thanks

I have spoken to a few customers via our call centre in regards to debt and Lowells are usually part of the conversation. The chase debts for many companies from Credit Card companies, all the way down to your household Utility Bills.

I would suggest that you simply call them and find out what the issue or “debt” is – it could simply be £10 you may owe BT! From years ago!

It’s always best to check and rule out identity fraud for your own peace of mind too.

Thanks,

---

Many Thanks,

Gareth Sharp

moneysupermarket.com

I note that they wrote to you to ask you to phone them to "confirm the update to your account details". Would this imply that they had not explicitly mentioned that you had a debt?

There is a possibility that this may be breaching Office of Fair Trading guidelines (http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf) if so.

Section 2.2(c) of the OFT guidelines deems the following an unfair practice: "those contacting debtors not making clear who they are, who they work for, what their role is, what the purpose of the contact is"

You would probably be best to ignore the letter. From what you are saying, it sounds as though it places no legal obligation on you - no mention of any threats of "legal action in the County Court" or anything like that - or even any mention of the existence of a debt! And it would be your money paying for an expensive international call.

In fact I believe that the fact you are permanently resident in Australia would make any chance of legal action far more complicated for them than if you were a UK resident. I would also question the logistics of them being able to send a "licensed field agent" out to visit you either - they'd probably end up paying Qantas more in flights than they would be likely to recover from the alleged debt!

maxsteam:

There are restrictions on what action they can take against someone overseas but if you owe the money, you are required to pay.

Not always so!

After 6 years of the creditor not having received any written acknowledgement of the existence of the debt or any payment towards the debt, Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 applies and the debt becomes "statute barred" - once this happens then the creditor/debt collection agency is unable to take any legal action against you to recover the debt.

See http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act for more details of this act and a sample letter which can be used to contact the creditor/debt collection agency if you believe that the debt is statute barred.

Given that you are on the other side of the world, the logistics of anyone in the UK being able to enforce the collection of the debt will likely be far more complicated than for a UK resident - which may well play in your favour if the debt is about to become statute barred. Remember - once it has, no legal action against you will be possible.

Indeed, but if a letter has recently been received about the debt then there's another 6 years to wait then, if no further correspondence is received in this period, the debt may become statute barred.

maxsteam:Indeed, but if a letter has recently been received about the debt then there's another 6 years to wait then, if no further correspondence is received in this period, the debt may become statute barred.

I think this point needs clarification.

The 6-year period in the Limitation Act Section 5 refers to the last time that the debtor has acknowledged the debt in writing or made a payment towards the debt, NOT THE CREDITOR!

So the fact that a debt collection agency writes to you alleging a debt does NOT reset the 6-year clock to the date at which that letter was sent. If you as debtor have not acknowledged the debt in writing or made a payment for a period of 6 years then the debt would still remain statute barred, irrespective of the number of attempts the creditor or debt collection agency may have made to contact you regarding the debt in that period!

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act provides further explanation.

So the fact that a debt collection agency writes to you alleging a debt does NOT reset the 6-year clock to the date at which that letter was sent. If you as debtor have not acknowledged the debt in writing or made a payment for a period of 6 years then the debt would still remain statute barred, irrespective of the number of attempts the creditor or debt collection agency may have made to contact you regarding the debt in that period!

The above is correct, the only exception to that rule would be if the debtor actually admitted / acknowledged or made a payment towards the alleged debt,before they were to send the legally required notice stating they now disputed and considered the debt statute barred.

If that were to happen, the Six year clock starts ticking again from the date the event occurred.

Qualification after Six years is otherwise not automatic, it has to be in written documentation and proveable.

This poses an interesting question in what exactly would count as an admission/acknowledgement of the alleged debt.

Suppose that a hypothetical debtor had an account which they had closed, under the impression that it had been settled in full, over 6 years ago, and had since heard nothing from the company in question (note one of the paragraphs of 2.14(b) in the OFT guidelines, "it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period").

They then receive a letter from a debt collection agency alleging a debt to the same company. Despite the debt being statute barred, the letter refers to possible legal action in the County Court, despite section 2.14(b) of the OFT guidelines also stating "it is unfair to mislead debtors as to their rights and obligations, for example, falsely stating or implying that the debt is still legally recoverable and relying on consumers not knowing the relevant legal provisions".

The hypothetical debtor panics at the thought of legal action and contacts their spouse, telling them they are certain that they do not have a debt on the account, asking them to telephone the debt collection agency for them (in this instance the hypothetical debtor is disabled, has hearing difficulties and mental health problems and does not wish to contact the debt collection agency by telephone).

The spouse telephones the debt collection agency to investigate the matter, and is then informed that they need written authority (under the Data Protection Act) in order for the spouse to act on their behalf.

An e-mail is sent to the debt collection agency, authorising the spouse to "sort out this issue", but makes no explicit admission or acknowledgement of a debt, nor states "we do not acknowledge any debt".

If, subsequently, the hypothetical debt collection agency were to have the audacity to claim that this was "written acknowledgement of the debt" then surely it would be possible to argue otherwise, citing that its sole purpose was to satisfy the requirements of the Data Protection Act (as stated by the debt collection agency on the telephone), and would at any rate count as a "reasonable adjustment" under the Disability Discrimination Act?

And would the fact that the debt collection agency had cited the Data Protection Act as the reason that written authority for the spouse to act on the alleged debtors behalf was required but not mentioned that this may count as "admission" of the debt also be caught by 2.2(b) of the OFT guidelines, which deems the following as unfair: "leaving out or presenting information in such a way that it creates a false or misleading impression or exploits debtors' lack of knowledge".

Hi everyone,

I've appreciated reading these posts. Maybe Im being an idiot here, but I'de appreciate your help with regards to what I should do;

I recieved the standard letter requesting confirmation of an address given by Experian blah blah...

"...They have informed us that you previously resided at *********** and we need to validate this information."

I looked at my credit report and i lived at this address in 2004 and the accompanying Financial Company linked to that address does indeed hold an old debt. Im sure of this because I remeber incuring it, but there is no reference on my credit report pertaining to ANY debt. The same Financial Company held 2x debts that i incurred in 2004. Last year a completley different debt collection aganecy contacted me about Debt #1, and I paid it. I figured that the Financial Company would have written it off.... but apparently they sold it on.

My question is pertaining to their authority to make me confirm my current address? Is there any way around this, or can i put them off? I have not contacted them at this stage.

Please can someone advise? or am i just being an idiot?

I assume that the letter does not cite any legal requirement for you to confirm your address. In which case, there would be no legal requirement for you to do so. Be very careful, as it is entirely possible that they may construe your confirmation of living at that address as admission of a debt, which they may then conceivably use to claim that the 6-year rule cited in the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 does not apply.

My advice to you would be NOT to reply. Wait until they send you a letter that actually alleges that you owe a debt of a particular amount to a particular company and threatens legal action. As there is no record of a debt on your credit report, it is highly likely that the debt would be "statute barred" as per the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5, resulting in it being impossible for the debt collection agency to take any legal action against you to recover the debt.

Once you receive such a letter, then I recommend consulting this link for more information, http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act - this link contains a sample letter, http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act#h which may be used to contact the debt collection agency asserting that you believe the debt to be statute barred. Make sure to send this letter by registered post or recorded delivery, and keep a copy of the letter for your records.

Be aware that if the debt is statute barred, then any subsequent demands to pay the debt after the "statute barred" letter has been received by the debt collection agency may amount to harassment contrary to Section 40(1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and may potentially give you grounds to take legal action against the debt collection agency - it may certainly be worth speaking to a solicitor at any rate.

Keep a close eye on the Office of Fair Trading guidelines too, http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection - if you suspect that any of the OFT guidelines may have been broken regarding this case then you may have reason to complain to the OFT.

yep, i had assumed that would be best too. ill see what happens next and keep you posted.

**keep your fingers crossed for me!**