Just been told of a 20 year old “debt”

Caporegime
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Funnily enough, I saw this in the news today - and Lloyds' name was mentioned in the article:Government-owned bank 'forging signatures' in repossession cases - BBC News

So if you get any documents from Lloyds which claim to have your signature on, I would inspect them very closely. It seems that they might like to think that they are above the law.
Very potentially helpful, thank you. :)


Because some folk think it's too much hassle over a few quid and just pay up. I've seen it before on here.
Hell will freeze over before they see a penny from me! :p



Yep "Prove It" letter is the way to go. :)

I’m going to send them as many correspondences as possible without particularly saying anything so hopefully I waste their time and money in replying.
 
Soldato
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Just had something similar happen to me this week. Received a phone call from some company claiming to be called Opos and said it was about Northumbrian Water. I didn't get any more information as I wouldn't confirm my address to them over the phone. Next day I received a text message from them wanting me to contact them with a reference number.

I know my water bills are all up to date and I do not owe Northumbrian Water anything. Nothing has come in the post either so all I can assume is they have got a matching name and number of some debtor but no address details. I'll be doing nothing until an actual letter comes in the post.
 
Associate
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I just received a letter from them and am trying to figure out what to do. I have not lived in this country since 1996 and have literally just moved back 6 weeks ago. Do I just ignore? I am certain I have not left any debt behind and have also not used the surname they quoted for over 13 years. I don't want to open a can of worms if I can help it.
 
Soldato
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I just received a letter from them and am trying to figure out what to do. I have not lived in this country since 1996 and have literally just moved back 6 weeks ago. Do I just ignore? I am certain I have not left any debt behind and have also not used the surname they quoted for over 13 years. I don't want to open a can of worms if I can help it.

What was the debt for? Overdraft/CC etc?
 
Associate
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Honestly, I have no idea. I didn't have an overdraft at the time, only had a Lloyds account for a short time. Wonder if the joint Halifax account might be the issue but my ex husband stayed with Halifax so assume that is not it either. Didn't have a CC. Young and poor at the time :)
 
Caporegime
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Forgot about this thread :o

To recap, I ended up getting a letter from them stating I must phone or proceeds will start etc so, I rang them.

This is where it got plain weird!

I spoke to a chap who was very pleasant and helpful, basically repeating the line that I don’t know anything about it and - crucially - said “regardless though this debi is statute barred is it not?”
To which I got the reply “Yes, that’s correct”

So I then said “So basically your perusing me for an unenforceable debt?”

Again he replied “Yes”

So I then said “Then stop harassing me for something you cannot prove never mind enforce”

“Yes, that’s fine, we’ll remove the files from our system”

He said he’d send a letter confirming this - which I’ve never received - in short, it’s statute barred, they can’t enforce it but just buy up old debt - or perhaps just randomly mail people - in the hope people just pay it to get rid of a “problem” that actually isn’t one, I’d imagine many just pay up which is why these scum do this.

My advice to you @twilli would be either just bin it or phone them and state the debt is nothing to do with you and regardless due to time elapsed it’s statute barred and unenforceable and for them to go forth and multiply!
 
Soldato
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Honestly, I have no idea. I didn't have an overdraft at the time, only had a Lloyds account for a short time. Wonder if the joint Halifax account might be the issue but my ex husband stayed with Halifax so assume that is not it either. Didn't have a CC. Young and poor at the time :)

To be honest, they're probably just sending out scary sounding letters in the hope that someone will pay up. Sadly some people don't know any better and will bow down to them. I once had a collections company tell me over the phone 'we've got drivers that are going to come and take your furniture right now' - almost died laughing at him.
 
Soldato
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To be honest, they're probably just sending out scary sounding letters in the hope that someone will pay up. Sadly some people don't know any better and will bow down to them. I once had a collections company tell me over the phone 'we've got drivers that are going to come and take your furniture right now' - almost died laughing at him.

Did you really laugh in that situation as just from reading it i can already feel the rage building up.
 
Caporegime
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Forgot about this thread :o

To recap, I ended up getting a letter from them stating I must phone or proceeds will start etc so, I rang them.

This is where it got plain weird!

I spoke to a chap who was very pleasant and helpful, basically repeating the line that I don’t know anything about it and - crucially - said “regardless though this debi is statute barred is it not?”
To which I got the reply “Yes, that’s correct”

So I then said “So basically your perusing me for an unenforceable debt?”

Again he replied “Yes”

So I then said “Then stop harassing me for something you cannot prove never mind enforce”

“Yes, that’s fine, we’ll remove the files from our system”

He said he’d send a letter confirming this - which I’ve never received - in short, it’s statute barred, they can’t enforce it but just buy up old debt - or perhaps just randomly mail people - in the hope people just pay it to get rid of a “problem” that actually isn’t one, I’d imagine many just pay up which is why these scum do this.

My advice to you @twilli would be either just bin it or phone them and state the debt is nothing to do with you and regardless due to time elapsed it’s statute barred and unenforceable and for them to go forth and multiply!

If I saw this thread back in June I'd have replied saying this is blatantly from a company that purchases debt of off banks etc.and chases it up on their own behalf.

Glad you've sorted it.

Must be a bad company, wouldn't that be extreme risk for a company buying debt that is blatantly unenforceable and would make 0 return on.

Standard practice, if the debts statute barred the banks can't be bothered to chase, so sell it off cheaper to get some money back and let the other company do the leg work.
 
Soldato
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Got a similar letter from a "Debt Chaser" earlier this year over an unpaid £6k Egg Loan and unpaid £2k Egg Credit Card that they were 100% convinced I had back in Spring 2003 - I never had had an Egg CC, I never had an Egg Loan and the time I "supposedly" setup up all this I was in the Middle East taking part in the Invasion of Iraq with no internet, as I was living in a tent.

I told them No and heard no more but I'm sure the "debt" will resurface when another company buys it and starts the whole process again.
 
Soldato
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F

He said he’d send a letter confirming this - which I’ve never received - in short, it’s statute barred, they can’t enforce it but just buy up old debt - or perhaps just randomly mail people - in the hope people just pay it to get rid of a “problem” that actually isn’t one, I’d imagine many just pay up which is why these scum do this.

What it sounds like is that a company guys up old debt and they do this in huge bunches. You might have been one of a few that is statute-barred but they go ahead anyway to "chance it" I don't think they'd think of realistically chase it.
 
Caporegime
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Here we go again, arrived home tonight to another Reunite ( www.reunitemenow.com )letter worded exactly the same as the letter in my OP asking for assistance with their investigation..... :rolleyes:

Thankfully, one of my German shepherds has censored the letter, I had to spend 5 minutes piecing it back together before I could read it... :D

This time, the remnants of the letter have gone straight in the bin, as I should have done with the first one.

I just thought I'd keep the thread updated! :D
 
Caporegime
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Here we go again, arrived home tonight to another Reunite ( www.reunitemenow.com )letter worded exactly the same as the letter in my OP asking for assistance with their investigation..... :rolleyes:

Thankfully, one of my German shepherds has censored the letter, I had to spend 5 minutes piecing it back together before I could read it... :D

This time, the remnants of the letter have gone straight in the bin, as I should have done with the first one.

I just thought I'd keep the thread updated! :D

Could have at least used it as arse wipe in these testing times.
 
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