Advise needed please - Red Castle Recoveries/Gothia/BCW Group

[Frenchy]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and have joined only because yesterday I received a letter from Red Castle Recoveries, BCW Group (a part of Gothia Financial Group) saying that I needed to pay a debt of £41.20 immediately to avoid court action. The client is Gothia Limited, who I have never heard of and I have no idea of what it is for (Gothia are also mentioned as being part of the BCW group in the strap line of the bcwgroup logo so presume they are one and the same)

I am tempted to ignore it totally but I don't want to do so if that will cause more problems but at the same time I don't want to be dragged into some scam and I have read as much as I can on this forum to find out if it is a scam but still don't know - I saw one comment suggesting they are phishing and if so assume I should just bin it. However obviously if I do unknowingly owe some money then I will pay up. I don't want this to end up with a situation of endless unpleasant phone calls from them as I don't actually live at the address they have sent the letter to - I live in France and have done for 10 years but occasionally (and it really isn't often) I use my elderly father-in-laws address to order things online as I have to get the things sent to an english address - I have never had any loans or credit agreements at this address however.

I'm really anxious that my father-in-law doesn't get any problems or harassement from this, so what do I do please. I'm sorry if this has already been covered in the forum - I did read another lengthy posting involving Red Castle where the person got very involved in sending letters etc and I really hope not to have to do this - if I owe the money I will pay straight away - maybe I should pay anyway just to get rid of them but if I do that maybe they are scumbags and will come back for more.

Oh and one final thing - there is no phone number on the letter, it tells you to text the word DEBT to 81444 and then they will call me back - not very normal surely and then there is an email address given (it says "pay online: www.payred.com) and there is a fax number and an email (advicebcwgroup.com)

Really hope someone can tell me what I should do. Many thanks

[bluebottle]

Re: Advise needed please - Red Castle Recoveries/Gothia/BCW Group

Hi Frenchy and welcome to Legal Beagles.

If you have no record of doing business with the company you mention, you need to send Red Castle Recoveries a "Prove It" letter. This basically puts the DCA on notice to provide evidence of a legally-enforceable debt.

Try the following -

BY RECORDED DELIVERY

Red Castle Recoveries
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Your Ref.: XXXXXXXX

Dear Sirs,

I refer to your letter dated [date of letter] regarding an alleged debt of which I have no record and for which I accept no liability whatsoever.

If your company has clear and lawful evidence of a legally-enforceable debt, you must produce such evidence forthwith.

Your company is put on notice that it is a breach of the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines to allege an individual owes money without providing lawful evidence of a lawful debt and threatening court proceedings without providing evidence of grounds in law for bringing such proceedings.

Your company has seven (7) calendar days from the date of this letter in which to provide lawful evidence of a legally-enforceable debt against me. If no such evidence is forthcoming, I shall regard your demands as unwarranted. Should your company then continue to make any further demands or threats of any description whatsoever, such conduct shall be regarded as conduct contrary to the Criminal Law.

Yours faithfully,

Frenchy"

Your first step is to see if they have any grounds in law for sending you demands for money and whether there is, indeed, a lawful debt you may owe, which is what this letter sets out to do. If they ignore the "Prove It" letter and continue with the demands and threats, come back onto this thread and we'll see what further help you require.

BB

[Frenchy]

Re: Advise needed please - Red Castle Recoveries/Gothia/BCW Group

Thank you Bluebottle - I'll do as you suggest and see how I get on - many thanks for the advise, I'm sure I'll be back on here in a week or two!

Hi Frenchy and welcome to Legal Beagles.

If you have no record of doing business with the company you mention, you need to send Red Castle Recoveries a "Prove It" letter. This basically puts the DCA on notice to provide evidence of a legally-enforceable debt.

Try the following -

BY RECORDED DELIVERY

Red Castle Recoveries
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Your Ref.: XXXXXXXX

Dear Sirs,

I refer to your letter dated [date of letter] regarding an alleged debt of which I have no record and for which I accept no liability whatsoever.

If your company has clear and lawful evidence of a legally-enforceable debt, you must produce such evidence forthwith.

Your company is put on notice that it is a breach of the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines to allege an individual owes money without providing lawful evidence of a lawful debt and threatening court proceedings without providing evidence of grounds in law for bringing such proceedings.

Your company has seven (7) calendar days from the date of this letter in which to provide lawful evidence of a legally-enforceable debt against me. If no such evidence is forthcoming, I shall regard your demands as unwarranted. Should your company then continue to make any further demands or threats of any description whatsoever, such conduct shall be regarded as conduct contrary to the Criminal Law.

Yours faithfully,

Frenchy"

Your first step is to see if they have any grounds in law for sending you demands for money and whether there is, indeed, a lawful debt you may owe, which is what this letter sets out to do. If they ignore the "Prove It" letter and continue with the demands and threats, come back onto this thread and we'll see what further help you require.

BB

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Advise needed please - Red Castle Recoveries/Gothia/BCW Group

further to BBs post, please note, print dont sign your name or use a handwritting font on the computer

[bluebottle]

Re: Advise needed please - Red Castle Recoveries/Gothia/BCW Group

Hi again Frenchy,

I'm just posting to let you have a copy of the most up-to-date OFT Debt Collection Guidelines for your information and use.

BB