Well, F*ck
Picture the scene, Dear Reader; it’s just after 10am, and you take a moment to open the just-delivered mail over the remains of your morning coffee. Among the deliveries of small paint pots for your latest hobby project, is a non-descript envelope marked “private and confidential” but not bearing the usual hallmarks of being from your bank. Intrigued, you open it up, and nearly spit your coffee across the room.
Inside is a letter. From a debt collection agency you’ve never heard of, on behalf of another company you’ve never heard of. It’s relating to a debt amount you don’t recognise, and says you’ve defaulted on a repayment schedule you know nothing about. You must contact them within 7 days of the date of the letter - which is dated 10 days ago.
Initially you think “oh ho, it must be some sort of sophisticated, quaintly offline, scam?” But some quick research reveals all the companies involved are legitimate and as serious as a brain haemorrhage. Feeling faintly nauseated, you pick up the phone and call the number in the letter…
Sounds pretty nightmare-ish, doesn’t it? Welcome to my morning. Well, day, actually. This post is largely so I can get my thoughts straight about everything. I don’t have all the details yet, but from what I’ve been able to tease out of the debt collection agency[1], this is what appears to be the facts:
- Company A[2] bought a debt from a utilities company, and handed it to the debt collection agency (hereon: Company B) to manage.
- This debt is from 2020, and relates to a property in a town I’ve never visited, let alone lived in.
- Person 1 relating to this debt/property is somehow contacted by Company B - I’m guessing by post?
- Person 1 is prompted to call Company B and “passes security validation” by giving my details. I’ve asked Company B what this entails. If it’s the standard questions above then it feels woefull inadequate given how much of it is easily available online.
- Person 1 sets up a repayment plan, makes 2 manual payments of ÂŁ10, then defaults on the first regular ÂŁ20 payment.
- Company B has an email address (not mine), and no other way of contacting Person 1 - no phone number or alternative address.
- Company B sends notice of default to the name and address they have - mine - which leads us to today.
All-in-all, it’s been a pretty stressful day, and I don’t know how long this is going to rumble on for, either. It appears that the onus is entirely on me to prove that I have nothing to do with the property or debt in question. So far I’ve been asked to provide a council tax bill, but that seems flimsy (i.e. easily rejectable) proof at best, and it’s up to Company A whether they accept it or not. It’s almost the old “how do you prove a negative” conundrum.
In short: fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck.