bastard debt collectors :-(
Discussion
Got a call yesterday, which was ridiculous for a number of reasons which I won't go into, but it turned out that I owed ~£100 for a water bill. I thought this sounded familiar, so I said I would look into it and call them back today. I was busy last night and so this afternoon I called them back to pay it off.
I went through the security checks, but then they said "This isn't the address we have for you, what was your last address?" Alarm bells start to ring at this point, but I told them. He said that was fine - I asked when the bill was from as I hadn't lived in that address for about a year. He replied that in fact it wasn't for that address, it was the one before that - which I moved out of in August 2006!
Now he was really confused, and couldn't actually tell me the dates that the bill were for. Afetr being on hold for a few minutes he came back with what supposedly were the dates, August something '06 to Feb '07. I moved out at the start of August '06.
Apparently now the onus is on me to prove that I wasn't in the property at that time, as "But Sir, your credit rating is suffering from this, why don't you just pay it off?" I've just had a look and I don't have a tenancy agreement still, and the property was sold before I left it - the new owners moved in straight after me. I don't recall the details of my landlord anyway, apart from the fact she is called Katherine.
I don't understand why I should have to prove that I didn't live there then, I paid all my bills, I left, and the house was sold. What do they expect me to do about it now, 2 years later? They had my mobile number, they could have at least called a year ago and perhaps something could have been done about it then?
Thoughts please...?
I went through the security checks, but then they said "This isn't the address we have for you, what was your last address?" Alarm bells start to ring at this point, but I told them. He said that was fine - I asked when the bill was from as I hadn't lived in that address for about a year. He replied that in fact it wasn't for that address, it was the one before that - which I moved out of in August 2006!
Now he was really confused, and couldn't actually tell me the dates that the bill were for. Afetr being on hold for a few minutes he came back with what supposedly were the dates, August something '06 to Feb '07. I moved out at the start of August '06.
Apparently now the onus is on me to prove that I wasn't in the property at that time, as "But Sir, your credit rating is suffering from this, why don't you just pay it off?" I've just had a look and I don't have a tenancy agreement still, and the property was sold before I left it - the new owners moved in straight after me. I don't recall the details of my landlord anyway, apart from the fact she is called Katherine.
I don't understand why I should have to prove that I didn't live there then, I paid all my bills, I left, and the house was sold. What do they expect me to do about it now, 2 years later? They had my mobile number, they could have at least called a year ago and perhaps something could have been done about it then?
Thoughts please...?
Its upto them to prove the debt is yours!
But if you do want to try and resolve the problem you could try the following...
www.nethouseprices.net
If you remember the postcode of the house the above site should show which month and year it sold !
If this backs up your story Email or post details to the company that is chasing you.
Hope this Helps
But if you do want to try and resolve the problem you could try the following...
www.nethouseprices.net
If you remember the postcode of the house the above site should show which month and year it sold !
If this backs up your story Email or post details to the company that is chasing you.
Hope this Helps
dcw@pr said:
problem is I don't have any bills or anything saved from there, i've been in two places since that point!
It is up to the to prove the debt is YOURS rather than you to prove it isn't, but as it is possibly affecting your credit file, it is a good idea to get it cleared up. You say you haven't got any bills and have moved twice since 2006, what about your mobile phone? Did you change the address for that bill when you moved? or work, did you give them your new address details? You might not have saved copies of any bills, but the places who have billed you will have done, so ring them up and ask for copies.
BBR said:
One thing you can do is protect your credit rating by contacting the agency they use. For around £2 they will send you your credit rating report. If there is anything on there that you dispute they should take it off.
Have you ever tried disputing something on your credit report?One of the agencies contracts with the companies specifically states they are not allowed to remove any data without their consent. Even if the company does not reply to them passing on your dispute, they still cannot or will not remove it. I found this out to my peril.
My arguments with a gas company ended up with me basically paying a bill which wasnt mine, as the cost of it was a tiny fraction of the extra interest which would be loaded on my mortgage due to the adverse credit rating.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff