DCA and Mistaken Identity - I hope - Help please!

[darren.reading]

Hi

 

I have today had a letter through from Direct Legal Collections, or should I say my wife has had a letter through, referring to a debt I have with a Company that I have not heard of.

 

Upon doing a bit of searching, the company appears to be an insurance company.

 

Neither my wife nor I have had any dealings with this company.

 

On behalf of this company, they are chasing an amount of £450.

 

I want to make sure I approach this company as professionally as possible to tell them that they have not got the correct person.

 

I wanted to know, is there a chance that they have sent a letter to my wife, believing her to be the Mrs X, when in fact she is another Mrs X? The letter makes reference to her recent move from another address which we have never lived at!

 

Thank you so very much for any help you can give.

[Curlyben]

Throw this at them:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

 

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

 

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

 

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

 

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

 

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

 

I/we look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

[MrSensible]

Simply phone them up and ask what address the 'debtor' was resident at and give your wifes dob to check if theres is different.

 

Probably the original debtor gave the creditor a false forwarding address, (yours). This happens quite often. Debors are crafty and people like you suffer!

[darren.reading]

Thank you for your reply.

 

A very well and strongly worded letter.

 

But do I need to go to such lengths? All I want to say to them is that whoever they think I am, it is not me!

 

I appreciate I said that I wanted to communicate with them with as much professionalism as possible. It just strikes me that the letter suggests that I do owe the debt, and want them to prove it first.

 

I do not owe the debt, and do not and have not ever had any dealing with their 'client'.

 

Thanks.

[ScarletPimpernel]

It just strikes me that the letter suggests that I do owe the debt, and want them to prove it first.

 

I do not owe the debt, and do not and have not ever had any dealing with their 'client'.

 

 

 

Covered by this sentence:

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

 

You could always add: 'I/we have never dealt with (company).'

[darren.reading]

Thank you for your help and advice, I have drafted the letter and will send it this afternoon.

 

I just have one more question to ask - how can these debt collectors get it wrong like this and start chasing someone, admitedly of the same name, who is the wrong person and is not liable to the debt?

 

Many thanks.

[uk1975]

Thank you for your help and advice, I have drafted the letter and will send it this afternoon.

 

I just have one more question to ask - how can these debt collectors get it wrong like this and start chasing someone, admitedly of the same name, who is the wrong person and is not liable to the debt?

 

Many thanks.

 

Very easily, they did this to me a couple of months ago.

 

The trace they do is very basic ... in my case it was name and date of birth, sometimes it would just be name against the latest electoral roll, then send fishing letters out to all likely candidates.

[darren.reading]

Thank you.

 

I thought the electoral roll had date of birth details?

 

Surely it would not be a case of the same name and date of birth!?

[Welshwoofs]

Or you could read the sage advice of Seth Jensen on this thread as he is of the opinion that these agencies never get the wrong person and we should all pay up.

 

Darren - I'm in the same position as you, except it's a debt for 2 credit cards I've never owned. They must use the electoral register. I had a call asking if I'd ever lived in Kent and the call ended shortly after I said that I hadn't (which is true). It was literally a couple of weeks later that demands started coming through for money - obviously the orginal creditor did live in Kent and once they confirmed an address for someone with the same name..... wallop.

 

It is absolutely disgraceful - they should have to prove they have the right person before they start sending these demands.

[darren.reading]

Thank you.

 

Have you managed to get your predicament sorted?

[darren.reading]

I have been doing some more searching on this wonderful site.

 

With regard to the sticky above - is my agreement enforceable?

 

As I noted above, after searching, the client of the DCA who contacted my wife is an insurance company. How, therefore do they have an enforceable agreement? If you take out an insurance policy and then do not pay, how does the DCA have an enforceable agreement in its posession?

 

Thanks.

[uk1975]

It was our old friends at Rob Way who got me, I managed to get the full details from them, before I knew about the formal CCA route, and they sent me a copy of the application form and statements. On checking this I was able to confirm that I wasn't the person they were after by sending them a nice little letter, see http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/119361-robinson-way-incompetence.html

 

I'm still getting linked addresses and searches relating to all this taken off my CRA reports so it would be worth checking your reports to make sure nobody has put anything on there.

[darren.reading]

I have been doing some more searching on this wonderful site.

 

With regard to the sticky above - is my agreement enforceable?

 

As I noted above, after searching, the client of the DCA who contacted my wife is an insurance company. How, therefore do they have an enforceable agreement? If you take out an insurance policy and then do not pay, how does the DCA have an enforceable agreement in its posession?

 

Thanks.

[Welshwoofs]

Darren, well my case is basically the same as yours and I was advised to send off the Statue Barred letter.

 

However I sent them £1 and a CCA request to get the original agreements. I've gone down this latter route only because I'm sick to death of the practices of companies like this so I'm quietly hoping they do send me somebody else's financial details to enable me to file a complaint about them breaching the Data Protection Act.

 

The worst thing to do is phone them up and tell them they have the wrong person since they don't actually give a damn and will most likely demand you send them passports or other documents to prove you aren't the debtor - never do that. Apart from the identity theft risk, you may well find that your signature mysteriously turns up on documents you've never seen before in your life.

 

I'd go for the Statue Barred letter (it's almost certainly a very old debt, even though it's not yours!) unless you're feeling particularly mischevious as I was! lol

 

As for my case, Lowell's go into default on my CCA request in 3 days. I've continued to receive their 'threatogram' demand letters which I've filed away. If they've come up with no agreement in 3 days they'll be in default and in a calender month from them will have committed an offence if they've still not produced documents and won't be able to chase me legally. If they *do* produce documents I'll then hammer them under the DPA, keep my Post Office receipts and hit them with a demand for compensation for postal and printing costs.

[darren.reading]

Thank you.

 

So why should I not go down the CCA route? Since the debt definately is not to do with me / my wife, surely they will not be able to produce any documents showing that it is related to us, and therefore they will eventually end up in the position where they cannot legally chase the debt?

 

Or does CCA'ing them suggest that the debt does actually belong to us?

 

Many thanks for your continued help.

[darren.reading]

Would a CCA even be relevant in this situation?

 

When dealing with an insurance company, you don't sign a credit agreement do you? You just agree to pay any premium.

 

Thank you in advance for your help. I really just want to put an end to this matter once and for all and prove to them the they are chasing the wrong person!

[darren.reading]

Hi.

 

Just an update and a request for further help on this matter please.

 

I sent the letter as above to the DCA last week.

 

My wife has since received a response. It turns out that the insurance company is Diamond and they are claiming an unpaid element of a motor insurance policy.

 

First thing to note that I thought was strange was that the letter was from Diamond, but that the envelope it came in was a Bell Insurance envelope, even though it appears both are part of EUI Limited. Is this likely to have been a mistake or does it suggest anything else to anyone?

 

Secondly, the letter was set out in a very poor and very unprofessional manner - different sized fonts used for the Diamond address at the top of the letter and this was also all misaligned.

 

The letter detailed that a policy had been taken out from date x to date y, and that on date y the policy was cancelled. The amount owed has been calculated by applying a daily rate to the number of days under cover and then a £45 administration charge has been applied. The letter makes reference to a policy number with Diamond, but does not make reference to a registration number or a car that was insured.

 

To me, this suggests that the DCA has sent my request on to Diamond, whom they are acting for, and they have sent out this letter.

 

It does not, however, seem to me that this proves in any way that the debt belongs to my wife, that she was the policy holder.

 

One point to note, is that my wife doesn't even have a driving license!

 

What I would like to do now, is reply to them again asking them to prove that it is my wife who owned this policy, and to ask them how they have come to write to her demanding this money when it is obviously nothing to do with her.

 

Any help and advice would, again, be very warmly received.

 

Thank you very much for your help.

[Curlyben]

Hmm this gets interesting.

So how do they think this relates to your wife I wonder ?!?!

 

Formal Complaint

Letter Before Action

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

thank you for your letter of xx/xx/xx, the contents of which are noted.

 

With reference to my previous letters,I wish to draw you attention to your company's lack of compliance with my reasonable request. I enclose a copy for your perusal and ease of reference.

 

Your continued pursuit of the alleged debt in this manner contravenes the OFT collection guidelines, namely;

Deceptive and/or unfair methods

2.8b sending demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that

they are the debtor in question,

AND

2.8j requiring an individual to supply information to prove they are not the

debtor in question, for example, driving licences, passports, full name,

date of birth, signatures.

 

As I do NOT hold a driving licence of any type, nor have I ever driven, I am at a loss to understand how this debt could possibly relate to me.

 

As you clearly cannot prove that this alleged debt in anyway relates to me, I wish to register a formal complaint about your company's business practices.

 

I require a copy of your internal complaints procedure within 14 days and I reserve the right to escalate this matter to the appropriate regulatory authorities as I see fit.

 

After taking advice, I am of the opinion that your continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40, Protection from harassment Act 1997 section 3 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you would prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I await your rapid response.

 

Yours Faithfully

[darren.reading]

Thank you for your help, Ben.

 

Do I send that letter to the DCA, or direct to the insurance company whom I think sent out the letter I made reference to above?

 

I too am at logger heads as to how they think this relates to my wife.

 

I had wondered following some other threads I have read and posts above whether it was a general 'fishing' letter sent out to any other ladies with my wife's name that appeared on the electoral roll. Would this be the case?

 

Thank you for your help.

[Curlyben]

Send it to the DCA as there seems to be something "odd" going on with this.