Credit Corp Harassment

[panic57]

Hi all,

 

I've become yet another victim of the Credit Corp bandwagon recently.

Thankfully I've found this forum which has provided a great deal of help,

however I was wondering if some one who has been put through the CCG mill could advise me on my next steps.

 

To give you a bit of background to my situation;

I lived in Sydney for 4 years until 2007 when I came back to England to live.

I had a credit card in Australia too.

In the UK I am director of a small public limited company that I run with my girlfriend who is a director too.

 

Earlier today I received an email from Credit Corp asking me to call them.

They gave no details, did not specifically mention debt, simply asked for me to call their Sydney office.

 

 

Somehow they've managed to find my email address, possibly from an ex-colleague in Australia,

however I don't believe they have my phone number or home address.

They are obviously trying to chase up a debt but I was hesitant to make contact as I didn't want it to be seen as an admission.

 

I then received a second email asking me to call.

Again, no specific mention of debt, however this time they gave the address of my accountant

and asked if they could send some documents through to that address.

As I own a limited company I assume they found his details listed on Companies House.

 

 

I have yet to reply but obviously I don't want them to send details to my accountant,

nor do I want them calling him.

 

 

More of a concern is that if they found my details, they will also find my girlfriends

and her family and I really don't want them involved.

 

So my question is.

Should I make contact and find out exactly what I'm supposedly accused of.

By doing so, I expect they will stop trying to track my phone number and address

and hopefully won't hassle my girlfriend, her family or our accountant.

Or,

should I ignore them and see what happens?

 

 

My concern is that eventually they will find my address, hassle my girlfriend

and family and start some sort of court proceedings.

I really don't want that!

 

My gut says ignore them,

but my head says find out exactly what they want,

then see if its statute barred and officially dispute it with the FOS.

 

 

I was thinking that I could provide an International private post box address.

That might as least prevent them from finding my actual adress..

 

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm losing sleep over this.

[krios]

To be statute barred you need 6 years from your last due payment. There are other issues though and you should look at the web site here http://www.creditcorp.net.au/ and look at the licence link. Lots of help and advise here.

 

Also if you havent already have a read of this thread. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?265807-More-AUS-debt-being-chased-in-the-UK

 

Hope that helps some.

 

BTW if it was me and it might be soon i would make them work hard for every bit of info. Do you have social network sites like face book etc? If so thats how they find most people

[cerberusalert]

Earlier today I received an email from Credit Corp asking me to call them. They gave no details, did not specifically mention debt, simply asked for me to call their Sydney office.

Ignore for now, they are on a fishing trip.

 

Make them contact you by snail mail. if they've checked your details through Companies House they can use your registered address.

[panic67]

To be honest, I don't think they have my home address, just where my business is registered at. I think thats all they can get from Companies House. From what I understand they need to be able to contact me at my home address? Should I just reply saying that the address they gave me (my limited company's address ) is not my home address and further, I'm not in the habit of giving out my own personal phone number and house details, to random strangers who contact me via email? Good approach or not advisable?

[panic57]

I have told them the address they have given me is not mine and that I refuse to give out details to contact me randomly. Do you think this is a safe bet?

[cerberusalert]

As I said just ignore them for now as they are fishing. You do not have to give them any information.

[panic57]

Thanks cerberus, your advice is reassuring.

 

Just a quick question. Can they initiate court proceedings without a known address? My gut feeling is that they cannot, but if they have the address where my company is registered, then is that all that they need?

[cerberusalert]

A summons can be sent to your Company address yes.

 

There are only a couple of cases I've come across on CAG where Creditcorp have attempted to bring proceedings in the UK & both of those are still ongoing. There is a little matter of jurisdiction to overcome as an Oz court has declared that they don't have jurisdiction to hear a case under UK law so it should follow that a UK court doesn't have jurisdiction to hear a case under Oz law.

[panic57]

Thanks cerberus.

 

I'm tempted to give my residential address so that at least i can respond/dispute the case rather than having a court summons issued to my company address without my knowledge. But then im only giving them more ammunition.

 

Also ive read the australian debt collection guidelines which specify that they need to positively identify me as the alleged owner of the debt. Only then can they release details of the debt itself, otherwise I guess it could be deemed a breach of privacy. Today i receieved an email with some top level details of the debt. However at no point have I confirmed my identity in full. Which begs the question, are they breaching guidelines releasing this info without confirming my identity? What would constitue positive identification?

[cerberusalert]

You could always open a Post Office Box a/c.

 

It may be worthwhile having a word with http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/142 and the http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf about them chasing you when they are not certain you are he right person.

[krios]

I read somewhere (maybe on credit corp troubles site) that they need to have your permission to send account details via e-mail or they are in breach of privacy. Maybe credit corp trouble wll give advise on this

[panic57]

Yeah that's what I've read too. I could basically slow down the communication process somewhat by going through snail mail, but then is that worth giving my address out for?

[krios]

I wouldnt give out my address unless i was going to do what william did on his thread "more aus debt" he made such a pain of himself that they seem to be ignoring him now

[panic57]

I see what you mean krios. Although they do have the address registered to my company, which from what cerberus said, could mean they woild be able to begin court proceedings if it came to it.

[krios]

If they start court proceedings they would still have to get around the jurisdition issue that is being tested now in a thread in the legal forum. Seems to me that Stevens Drake start proceedings in the hope that people get so scared they make an offer to pay up. We have seen it happen on these forums. No one seems to be able to find a single case where judgment was awarded for a case that was defended.

[panic57]

I was following dockers thread which seemed to be quite advanced. I think he actually got a court summons from Steve Drake, although it all seemed to go quiet as the date approached. Maybe a gagging order. I'd love to know what happened though.

[give them FA]

You should have taken the VERY good advice given to you early on and IGNORED all communication from them. They were indeed fishing to see if they got a bite. If they cannot open up any channel of communication they will NOT take any action as they will have no idea what your personal circumstances are and won't risk court fees/costs on speculative action particularly if it's complex.

 

All the actions of these parasites are designed to draw you into dialogue. If they cannot do that they are stymied and they WILL go away.