stumpymosha asked:
I can prove when I moved from an old address, I have P60’s and solicitors letters from when I bought my house. The lady who moved into my old house stole my identity after my mail stopped being re-directed to my new address. She appears to have opened a bank account in my name & abandoned it in debt. I have received a letter from a debt collection agency demanding the money. She has left the property now as it has been demolished for re-developement. What are my rights?
6 responses so far ↓
1 Amy H // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:36 pm
You have to provide evidence for the police so that they can catch this woman so that you won’t have to pay.
2 Lisa M // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:27 pm
hiya
contact experian and equifax and ask for a copy of your credit file, once you have recieved that contact the local police station, explain the situation and they will give you an incident number.
one recieving that, contact the debt agnecy give them the number and also experian and equifax. this will put an alert on your credit file and once resolved will remove the debt.
3 Andy // Aug 1, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Your rights are to not pay the debt. Debt collection agency’s are often very ruthless with their collection tactics, as they get a percentage or bonus for every debt they collect.
Paypal set them on me after something went wrong with a transaction and it took dozens of phone calls to paypal to get them to stand them down.
Asides from visiting the police, I suggest writing a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the agency, asking them, in legal terms, to leave you alone. Include with the letter a summary of your evidence that it was not you (although don’t include this evidence). Phone the bank in question and explain your problem, they will probably have a dedicated team to deal with it. When dealing with PayPal (a very unprofessional bunch) I found it very, very helpful to record the conversations on my mobile, as every agent I spoke to said different things and denied things the other agents had said.
It will probably be messy and frustrating, but you have done nothing wrong and should not pay unless ordered by a court.
4 Richie Rich // Aug 4, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Report it to one of the bureaus. They are responsible to report it to the rest. Get all the documentation to prove what is not yours and file police reports. As long as you have proof the debt is not yours, you are not responsible for it.
5 stormydays // Aug 7, 2008 at 3:48 am
Contact the debt collection agency and ask them for documentary evidence that the debt belongs to you. Also state that until such evidence has been received any future correspondence will be treated as a form of harrassement
You need to contact the police as well. This will protect you from any future nasty surprises and speed things up when they arrive.
Obtained a copy of your credit file and request a statement to be added to anything that you do not acknowledge as yours
6 Haskellsgai // Aug 10, 2008 at 5:55 am
If you have exhausted all negotiations with your creditors and have no assets or means of paying your debtors off, then going bankrupt may be a viable option.
Despite the myths and stigma attached to bankruptcy you can find out more factual details below.
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