First Credit - help please

[dazwest]

Hi all

 

Approximately 2 months ago I was contacted by phone by a company called 1st Credit asking me to pay them £273 for a debt I apparently owed to First Direct bank.

I had never heard of this company and I had no knowledge of any debt I had to First Direct although I had held an account with them approximately 6-7 years ago. I had not heard from them for that length of time.

I refused to pay this amount since I had no knowledge of the company or the debt and after a heated discussion the woman at the end of the phone basically hung up on me.

Since then they have called me and written to me on several occasions asking for the debt to be paid. On each occasion I have responded (either verbally or in writing) that I have no knowledge of this debt, however I would be happy to pay it if they could provide me with documentary evidence of what the debt is for and that is is genuinely owed. Their response each time is that I should contact First Direct about it.

My inital response to them was that if they wanted me to pay money to them then they should provide me with the documents, it is not for me to ring around asking for documentation on their behalf.

Eventually I gave in last week and called First Direct. The person I spoke to at First Direct said they had no record of the sort code and account number that I gave them (provided by First Credit). I am not sure what to conclude by that...

Anyway, I wrote back to First Credit telling them what had happened and that if they wanted any money from me then they would need

to provide me with proof of the debt.

I have not heard back from them directly since but I have just received a letter from their solicitors telling me that if they don't receive they the money from me within 14 days then they will start proceedings against me in the County Court.

 

So, my question is what should I do?

Should I contact First Direct again and ask them to search more closely for the reference given to me?

Should I hold out and force First Credit to provide me with the documentary proof? And if they don't and they end up taking me to court will I have a case?

Or should I just accept that I may have an old forgotten debt and pay up?

 

Any help is very much appreciated!

[Guest Zooman]

have you paid any money in the last 6 years to this debt?

 

have you written to them in the last six years about the debt?

[dazwest]

Hi,

 

No and no.

I didn't even know any such debt existed...

 

thx,

Darren

[Guest Zooman]

In that case send this and do nothing more.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showpost.php?p=162366&postcount=14

[dazwest]

Thanks very much!

[Guest Zooman]

No worries mate happy to help. If they should come back with evidence of payment or written contact come back and tell us, in fact come back anyway and let us know how it went.

[dazwest]

Hi again

 

First Credit just called me again to hassle me despite having written to them using the Statute Barred template as kindly recommended by Zooman.

They are insisting that their solicitors want to continue to take me to court over this. They also were really pushing me to contact First Direct to get the details of the alleged debt and said that they had tried to get the original agreement from First Direct but had failed so far.

I said that they should write to me about this and they said they only dealt with people verbally!

They offered me some kind of discount on the debt to pay it but I refused and still maintained that I didn't know of this debt and hadn't been supplied with the details of it yet.

Where do I stand now and what should I do?

Should I just sit tight and wait for their solicitors to contact me again?

God, this is frustrating!

[Guest Zooman]

It is bluff just use this http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-bailiffs/20708-how-quickly-end-call.html recording equipment is very cheap

[Guest Zooman]

I have one of these but I only paid a £10 at a market.

 

TL3 Telephone record lead from eDirectory.co.uk online shop