Just been told of a 20 year old “debt”

Scania

Scania

Scania

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Arrived home from work on Friday to find a letter from Reunite ( www.reunitemenow.com ) asking for assistance with their investigation.

Their office was closed then so I called this morning to discover they are acting in behalf of Global Debt Recovery in London and they advised me to contact them, I’ve duly done this to find I have a debt related to an old overdraft with Lloyd’s Bank dating back to 1999 for the sum of £550.

Whilst I’m awaiting them to forward their documentation to me I’m puzzled about the whole thing.

Firstly I don’t recall ever having a Lloyd’s account and if I had I’m sure I wouldn’t have simply forgotten about it!
I’ve received nothing in the intervening 20 years about this, nothing shows up on my credit file although the debt is registered to an address that I lived at albeit very briefly 20 years or so ago.

I’m assuming once they send further details I can tell them I have no knowledge of this etc and assume it’ll sort itself out (yeah right!)

As I say, I find it odd that this has all of a sudden arisen, I don’t understand why a tracing agency has been used to locate me as I’ve always been on the electoral role and therefore I’d assume easy to find.

What puzzles me most is why now after 20 years? I don’t know much about debt recovery etc but do know that a debt would be statute barred after 6 years although I don’t know if this applies to a bank account overdraft.

Just got to sit and wait for the relevant documents to be forwarded to me, they said this could take two weeks.

Any pointers appreciated.
 
vanandjuanunited said:
I thought 6 years was the maximum time for persuing a debt too.

I'm going to presume they are chancing their arm.
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It isn't an automatic statute bar - they might still be able to chase it if they have evidence that shows they've attempted to follow it up in a reasonable manner on their side - however a company "can't" just suddenly decide to pursue outstanding money matters 6+ years later if they've made a mistake, etc. and not discovered it or tried to do anything about it sooner.

Certain types of debt aren't covered as well.

So be very careful in correspondence, etc. you could make yourself liable again for the debt in the manner you might acknowledge it, etc.

I would suspect this to be a scam attempt rather than a genuine debt though. Infact if they are asking you to "assistance with their investigation" don't give them any information whatsoever.
 
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Rroff said:
It isn't an automatic statute bar - they might still be able to chase it if they have evidence that shows they've attempted to follow it up in a reasonable manner on their side - however a company "can't" just suddenly decide to pursue outstanding money matters 6+ years later if they've made a mistake, etc. and not discovered it or tried to do anything about it sooner.

Certain types of debt aren't covered as well.

So be very careful in correspondence, etc. you could make yourself liable again for the debt in the manner you might acknowledge it, etc.

I would suspect this to be a scam attempt rather than a genuine debt though. Infact if they are asking you to "assistance with their investigation" don't give them any information whatsoever.
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That moneyaware link that siliconslave posted up contains some good info, and makes the clear point that debts that are unenforceable become statue barred, which means that the creditor cannot claim the money back through the legal system, but does not mean that the debt does not exist.

Scania also make sure you do not acknowledge the debt, as this will reset the time, and could potentially give them legal grounds to pursue the debt.

Normally companies like these will just chance that someone either acknowledges the debt (shooting themselves in the foot) or will just pay it off.
 
Rroff said:
It isn't an automatic statute bar - they might still be able to chase it if they have evidence that shows they've attempted to follow it up in a reasonable manner on their side - however a company "can't" just suddenly decide to pursue outstanding money matters 6+ years later if they've made a mistake, etc. and not discovered it or tried to do anything about it sooner.

Certain types of debt aren't covered as well.

So be very careful in correspondence, etc. you could make yourself liable again for the debt in the manner you might acknowledge it, etc.

I would suspect this to be a scam attempt rather than a genuine debt though. Infact if they are asking you to "assistance with their investigation" don't give them any information whatsoever.
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The letter arrived using that wording and upon contacting them they have just forwarded me to a different debt collection agency.
Thus far it doesn’t strike me as a scam more some **** up somewhere but of course I’m wary.

I’m wondering what constitutes a reasonable attempt by them to follow it up, I’ve clearly moved from the original address but stayed on the electoral role at all my subsequent addresses so think I’d be easy enough to find.

All I’ve given them is my old address and my current one (who the people sending the letter have anyway) and categorically stayed that I do not have any recollection of ever having a Lloyd’s account.

Just got to wait for the “documentation” I guess and take it from there.
 
AHarvey said:
I'm guessing it someone with a debt that has a similar name/dob and they are trawling for someone to land it on.
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Some will try almost anything on - my dad had a collection agency trying to sneakily shift a previous neighbours debt onto him when they called trying to see if we had any idea where he now lived (or they really were that disorganised and muddled) fortunately he saw right through it.
 
They call and simply await an "OK" or "maybe" response which they are automatically recording and then base there entire claim on, If these companies call, clearly state that you did not have any credit / debt / etc with any of the mentioned companies and end the call.

Be careful if you do investigate as you don't want to mistakenly admit to someone else's debt as these companies will chase you for it.
 
Scania said:
Their office was closed then so I called this morning to discover they are acting in behalf of Global Debt Recovery in London and they advised me to contact them, I’ve duly done this to find I have a debt related to an old overdraft with Lloyd’s Bank dating back to 1999 for the sum of £550.

Whilst I’m awaiting them to forward their documentation to me I’m puzzled about the whole thing.

Firstly I don’t recall ever having a Lloyd’s account and if I had I’m sure I wouldn’t have simply forgotten about it!
I’ve received nothing in the intervening 20 years about this, nothing shows up on my credit file although the debt is registered to an address that I lived at albeit very briefly 20 years or so ago.
Click to expand...

Well firstly "Global Debt Recovery" is such a generic sounding name, I'd be wary initially of a scam, I'd certainly check how long they've existed for... do they have website, are they a ltd company you can look up. There does seem to be one online with that name and a website that looks like something from the 90s, though is that the same as the details for the company you've been contacted by?

I'd contact Lloyd's, if it isn't a scam then it is possible that either you've had some account you've forgotten about and they've been chasing it up at your old address or perhaps you've been a victim of identity fraud at that address - was it an address you lived at with a partner for example? Is it one you didn't have any post forwarded on from?
 
Thanks for the advice all. :)

5punk3monk3y said:
They call and simply await an "OK" or "maybe" response which they are automatically recording and then base there entire claim on, If these companies call, clearly state that you did not have any credit / debt / etc with any of the mentioned companies and end the call.

Be careful if you do investigate as you don't want to mistakenly admit to someone else's debt as these companies will chase you for it.
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Cheers.

I’m Very careful about this and have said I didn’t have any Lloyd’s account then or subsequently.

dowie said:
Well firstly "Global Debt Recovery" is such a generic sounding name, I'd be wary initially of a scam, I'd certainly check how long they've existed for... do they have website, are they a ltd company you can look up. There does seem to be one online with that name and a website that looks like something from the 90s, though is that the same as the details for the company you've been contacted by?

I'd contact Lloyd's, if it isn't a scam then it is possible that either you've had some account you've forgotten about and they've been chasing it up at your old address or perhaps you've been a victim of identity fraud at that address - was it an address you lived at with a partner for example? Is it one you didn't have any post forwarded on from?
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I’m assuming it’s this site - http://www.globaldebtrecovery.com/contact.php - the contact number is the one I called, they’ve got some great reviews (not!) :p

I did have a redirect set up at that address for a few months from what I vaguely remember - I struggle with last month never mind two decades back :D - no correspondence whatsoever, nothing on my credit file and I’ve got no Lloyd’s paperwork anywhere at home (I hoard such things thankfully)

Probably chancers, I doubt it’s somebody with a similar/same surname, mine is relatively unusual.

nst68 said:
Don't speak to them on the phone.

Send them a "prove it" letter https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2607247
and sign it in a different sigature to your normal one, yes it's a bit paranoid but why take the risk
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Thanks for that, I’ll await their documentation and see if I need this, how on Earth they are going to have documentation from 20 years ago remains to be seen, I’m not holding my breath on that one.
 
I am willing to bet that they have no documentation at all..

Global debt recovery is another one of those ''debt'' companys that buy blocks of debt for pennies in the pound and then go after the person { or anyone else they can pin it on } for the full amount of the debt.

Just a quick google search on them proves what scumbags they are.

I wouldn't worry about it to be honest. if you do not remember the debt then it most likely not yours.

Contacting lloyds wont help as they will have sold off whatever the debt is to GDR and that is the matter finished as far as they are concerned.

I had a similar thing with them { GDR } it had nothing to do with me so i ignored them. they send a letter every now and then offering me a great deal 50% off the debt etc if i pay it off but i just shred the letters.

Nothing in my credit file about any debts i owe so they can get lost as far as i am concerned
 
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