Advice for my dad regarding CCJ demand

HungryHippos

HungryHippos

HungryHippos

Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2004
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Fareham
My dad has received this letter and is quite confused as he is not aware of any CCJ or other debt he owes, he let a flat out and believes one of the tenants he had was up to something due to a very important looking letter that arrived for him after he vacated (he didn't leave a forwarding address).

Advice on what he should do? I think that if there is a CCJ in his name then there should be some kind of evidence. We've checked Experian and Equifax and he isn't showing any there. It seems like the debt collectors are just speculatively trying to invoice my dad for a debt that can't be in his name and making demands that he contact them or face more severe consequences.

Ignore it? Contact them and ask for evidence?

Hopefully redacted properly copy of the letter received below:

ILy73KV.jpg

Side note: FRN831254 FCA auth number doesn't seem to exist, are they allowed to plaster that number on their documents and website if they aren't registered with it?
 
You're better off posting on Legal Beagles. If your dad has nothing to 'hide' then it may be worth talking to them. The time of ignoring these things is over me thinks (parking claim hit county court for me in the last couple of weeks!).
 
I'm quite sure he doesn't actually have one so could be fraud, I've never known him to have money problems and he's retired now.

They've spelt his name wrong so I suspect some sort of shenanigans at least, for a CCJ to exist somewhere though and for them to have his address, you'd have assumed he would have received some kind of court summons/letter?

Not really sure, mainly asking here as I've never had to deal with debt collectors before myself, I'd think they'd need to provide some sort of evidence to suggest he does in fact owe money somewhere.
 
uber soldat said:
Get yourself an appointment with Citizens Advice Bureau instead of taking advice from the GC massive
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GC advice is normally pretty good to be fair!

Nasher said:
Looks like a scam.
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I thought the same as well but I guess it's possible it's fraud or a real company chasing a bad lead.

My dad is reasonably switched on so he wouldn't just pay it, he is wondering if he should contact them and ask for evidence of the claim, but that would mean telling them who he is etc. From what I know of debt collectors they can be pretty dogged but not sure if ignoring it is the right idea if he knows it's not for him.
 
HungryHippos said:
Contact them and ask for evidence?
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This.

More likely they have a CCJ against someone with the same name and are trying to track them down for enforcement, unless your dad has moved address recently and none of it got redirected.

If your dad had been sued there would have been at least

1) Letter before action
2) Court response pack
3) Notice of default judgement

If it is legitimate, then you do need to get onto CAB quickly and get the judgement set aside.
 
The number they are asking you to call is genuine and the letter appears genuine too.

I'd get in touch as this probably won't go away on its own (recorded letter and phone call).
 
HungryHippos said:
GC advice is normally pretty good to be fair
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It’s not.

I was reading a thread the other day directly relating to my area of work/expertise and not a single person got close to the right answer.

The best advice you’ve had in this thread is ironically not to use GD. Hope it goes well with the ‘CA’ for you and your dad.
 
HungryHippos said:
thanks all passed on the advice to my dad, contact them to find out more, that site to check for CCJ's etc. I'll post back here when there is an update.
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Remind him not to admit to anything and require all communication to be in writing - that way everything should be documented and there is less chance of them "forgetting" to note something down or claim that he's agreed to something he hasn't.

I suspect as has been said already that it's some company that's got a name (or partial name) and possibly a town of residence and could be trying anyone who vaguely fits the bill.

I'd also question why a letter requiring a large payment has only allowed 4 working days to contact them and make that payment, including the time it's spent in the post, as IIRC they're meant to give a reasonable time to respond to any letters.

[edit]
The url on that letter seems to be a holding page...unless they're just using theprotectionspecialist for emails without even a redirect to their main page, also the phone number on the letter doesn't match the one of the website they list as at the top of the letter.
 
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uber soldat said:
Get yourself an appointment with Citizens Advice Bureau instead of taking advice from the GC massive :) they will give you free advice and help you deal with it in the correct way.
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While on the face of it, contacting the Citizens Advice Bureau sounds like a good way to go, one can only hope that CAB have entered the 21st. century, and streamlined their activities.
I tried to enlist their aid over 60 years ago, when my mother’s brother-in-law was deported from Canada, and he was invited to stay at mum’s for a month or two to get organised, but was refusing to move out over a year later.
It was virtually impossible to get an appointment, it would have been easier to get an audience with the Pope.
 
Do a credit search on the buy to let address not the home address.

It's possible "the whatever" is registered there, they may have sent letters and whatever to that address the tenant just ignored them or whatever, then the debt company thinks they are being ignored, setup a court date, defendant doesn't turn up and win by default, and the person has absolutely no idea.

It can happen.

I still think it looks a bit scammy. If the search at that address comes up clean even more so.
 
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