Lowells/Premier Man - Right name, wrong person, not my debt!

[Helmetfire]

In January this year I received a letter from a company called Sigma Red informing me that they had passed my account with premier man to Lowells. Which was interesting because it was the first time I was aware of having an account with premier man!

 

 

So I sent the standard letter to Lowells saying prove you have the right person or bog off.

 

 

On 9th July I received a letter from Lowells with a photocopy of an unsigned credit agreement with this company, the name including the middle initial is the same as mine but the address is somewhere in South London that I have never lived at. The supposed debt is for £268.34.

 

 

So, either there has been a cock up and there is someone out there with exactly the same name and initial as me (highly unlikely) and they think I'm going to pay their debt for them, or somebody has stolen my identity and some kind of fraud has taken place. I am not sure what the best way to proceed is. Should I just tell them to bog off again or will they just think I am avoiding paying and take proceedings further. Your advice would be much appreciated.

 

 

I should add finally that the account was apparently opened on 9/7/2011 which happens to be around the same time that I did actually buy some trousers for my partner from the said Premier Man, they were paid for in full at the time, and they were so horrible I vowed never to buy anything else from them!

[lookinforinfo]

If you are absolutely sure that when you bought the trousers you paid cash or a cheque which did get paid then complain to the ICO about Lowells breach of the Data Protection Act Principle One "-the data must be accurate".

Explain that you are being harassed by them for a debt that is not yours-you have never lived in South London nor have you ever taken out a credit agreement with them. Tell Lowells that you have complained to the ICO as you are not the person they are looking for and tell them to stop writing to you.

 

Interestingly they are very much on the border line of this debt being on the borderline of being Statute barred so while they are wasting time with you the real debtor will be unlikely to be traced in time and the debt will be uncollectable-through the Courts at least.

[Helmetfire]

I have looked back through my old bank statements and I definitely paid them. Surely if they had any problem with my account they (Premier man) would have contacted me, they have my proper address and email?

 

Should I send a letter to Lowells telling them that is what I plan to do?

 

I thought that the statute barred limit was six years?

 

Thank you for your advice.

[lookinforinfo]

It won't stop them from writing to you again and again.

 

Sorry I was having a senior moment over the dates.

[silverfox1961]

Hi

It is likely that someone has accessed your credit file to get you address. They have done a search, put 2 and 2 together then got the wrong person. Lowell may say that as you have purchased from Premier in the past, they have the right to see your credit file. NO! There was nothing owing therefore they had no right to be looking which is in breach of the Data Protection Act.

 

Rather than arguing the toss with Lowell just send them a Formal Complaint but check your credit file first. If there is any detrimental details there, they should offer suitable compensation. Yes, report this to the ICO and see what they do.

[ericsbrother]

the reason they have your identical initials on their letter is because they have lifted it from your credit file, not because they were given that info to begin with. If you dug a bit deeper you will probably fond a different DOB because they had to make something up to get the data from the CRA. or they genuinely have the wrong person and just grapbbed your address from other public files as it was convenient.