Advice please. Someone has taken out a loan using my address.

[Salty seadog]

As above, I have just received a letter from a debt collection agency, (Cabot Financial). It is addressed to someone I have never heard of but it's addressed to my house.
Has anyone here had to deal with this and how did it go?

What should I be alert to etc.

TIA SSD

 

[Mike Ayling]

As above, I have just received a letter from a debt collection agency, (Cabot Financial). It is addressed to someone I have tonever heard of but it's addressed to my house.
Has anyone here had to deal with this and how did it go?

What should I be alert to etc.

TIA SSD

If the debt is not in your name you should not have a problem send it back not know at this address

 

[Bristolian]

I think Mike Ayling's advice is a good place to start but don't expect the debt collection agency to give up easily. I would keep an eye on your credit rating in case they put a flag on your record (via your address) and also make a check of the electoral roll to see if someone has managed to add their name to your address.

I hope you get this sorted quickly

 

[Dave7]

I had that problem some years ago with the added problem that the person had the same name as me.
It took years to sort out with debt collectors refusing to believe me.

 

[Kingfisher101]

Just keep returning any correspondence and say not at this address.
I wouldn't worry about it there's not much they can do.

 

[Bazzer]

The debt collection is likely to demand proof of who you are and that you are the resident at your address, so be prepared for that. Don't ignore the letters, otherwise collectors will come to your door.
As well as keeping an eye on your credit score etc., be alert also for other bills such as mobile phone and parcels being delivered.- Particularly if you are not normally in during the day, or you live in a property with a shared entrance.
If it repeats, you might also consider a short subscription to a credit reference agency like Experian ( there are others), so you get pinged when a credit check is made.

 

[Emanresu]

Cabot are debt buyers who purchase old distressed debt for pennies. This type of debt is flawed in some way in that the debtor has moved, died or the debt doesn't actually exist (utilities are the main culprit with this)

To make a profit they send out masses of threatening letters in the hope someone or anyone pays. Cabot and other debt buyers don't send people to the door as it's not profitable. Replying won't help as no-one reads the letters unless you want to challenge on the basis of Data Protection which won't happen unless it is in your name.

Not all debt is the same. Not all debt companies are the same. Not all debtors are the same.

 

[Drago]

Write to them advising them of the obvious.

Remind them it is an offence under DPA (GDPR) to keep information in record that they know to be incorrect. If you send a copy ofmyour council tax bill that will confirm to them the names of all the adults living at your address. Demand a written acknowledgement, and advise them you will do anything reasonable to allow them to confirm this.

Expect them not to believe you. When my sister had this the debt collectors showed up she threw a bit of a wobbly at them and they called the dibble. The dibble were more reasonable and she let one in to look and, sure enough, the Fed could find no evidence of a bloke living at her flat, and that was the end of that.

What a ballache, eh?

 

[sheddy]

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/identity-fraud-and-identity-theft

 

[richardfm]

Cabot are debt buyers who purchase old distressed debt for pennies. This type of debt is flawed in some way in that the debtor has moved, died or the debt doesn't actually exist (utilities are the main culprit with this)

To make a profit they send out masses of threatening letters in the hope someone or anyone pays. Cabot and other debt buyers don't send people to the door as it's not profitable. Replying won't help as no-one reads the letters unless you want to challenge on the basis of Data Protection which won't happen unless it is in your name.

Not all debt is the same. Not all debt companies are the same. Not all debtors are the same.

They are going to have to read the letters to know whether or not it is regarding data protection.

 

[Baldy]

I had a similar problem when I first moved to Scotland. The person I brought the house from left a string of debts. I got lots of letters addressed to him, I wrote "no longer at this address" and sent them back. Then the heavies appeared at the door. They thought they could intimidate me, that didn't work. Strangely, they disappeared when I called the cops. The letters continued, I sent them to a solicitor, they stopped more or less. Now 22 years later I do still get people trying to locate him bothering me. I generally just tell them to go away in short sharp jurky movements and check the electoral register before bothering people.

 

[DCLane]

They are going to have to read the letters to know whether or not it is regarding data protection.

True. But if the letter has been sent recorded delivery there's an audit trail should it go to court.

We had similar twice with previous occupants and, whilst it took time to resolve, writing to the debt collector with evidence of who was the current occupant tended to resolve things

 

[craigwend]

As above don't just ignore.
If you send the letters back, when sending back with 'not known etc'
As well as writing on the outside, open the letter and write on the letter as well. (I had a summer job in mail order in my youth and the person opening the letters might not be the one who processed it and the envelope can get thrown away).
Contact the company, I had this when I moved into a house with a lot of 'debt' left, the company were very reasonable (and luckily I knew were the people had moved to)
Contact CAB (not on a Monday morning...) or look on their website - they have some very helpful proforma letters.
And some of the good advice above.

 

[steverob]

I had a similar thing happen to me in the early 2010's where my name was linked to someone else's that was very similar, who'd run up debts for water, electricity and mobile phones at an address hundreds of miles away and now they were chasing me for his debts. While people on here are right that you shouldn't completely ignore these letters, be prepared for the run-around from the debt collection agency if you do try to contact them, especially by phone.

They don't give a sh*t if you're the debtor or not - as soon as you speak to them (especially if by phone), they will take that as an opportunity to get you on the hook for anything they can, whether you agree to it or not. They'll ask you to do the impossible task of proving negatives, do things like send them photocopies of your passport to prove who you are (which you then have no idea what they're going to do with), etc. and then gaslight you whenever you try to challenge them saying they've never received any letters or phone calls from you even when they have, or even better just sell that debt onto a another company (probably a different arm of the same conglomerate) and then you have to start from scratch again.

Better to do the "not known at this address" trick and if you still do feel you have to correspond, do it in writing only stating certain facts and not responding to any other of their points. From recollection it is something like that you are not the person named, do not have any knowledge of this debt, and that FCA or OFT guidelines (* can't remember off the top of my head which one it was) state it is against the law to pursue third parties for debts not owed unless physical evidence of the original contract/invoice is provided (which of course they cannot do).

I ended up getting most of the above info from the following website: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/fo...8-dealing-with-dca-s?7923-Dealing-with-DCA-s=. Now the thread on there is from 2008 and so is probably out of date (but search elsewhere on the site and you'll probably find much more recent/useful threads) but it did work for me - I'd been going back and forth with various debt collection companies for 6 months without getting anywhere, but as soon as I started sending out the template letter in post #4 on that forum, they began to cease trying to contact me or selling the debt on. Certainly worth a try.

 

[Dadam]

If it repeats, you might also consider a short subscription to a credit reference agency like Experian ( there are others), so you get pinged when a credit check is made.

No paid subscription necessary. I've had an account with Credit Karma for years. It is a free service owned by Intuit but was originally run directly by TransUnion, one of the other two credit reference agencies and still gets its data from there. It's really useful to keep an eye on your score and to check when you've closed credit accounts or loans that they're fully closed.