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Hello Everyone,
I am new to Legal Beagles and I am hoping to find people who are in the same, or at least similar, boat to me.
To cut a long story short, I used to be Self Employed in the UK, and then I left the country. However, due to technical issues, I was unable to remove myself from the self employment register before leaving, as well as complete the Tax Return Forms they were sending out to me each year. Also, due to my unstable living and employment situation abroad, I continued to use my mothers home address in the UK as my care of address. (You will understand why I specify that as you read on). At first, I received many fines for not returning the forms. I contacted the HM Revenue and Customs on numerous occassions by telephone, but for the same technical reasons which I could not remove myself from the register in the first place, I was told that nothing could be done about the fines, or the forms being mailed out. Then threats started coming from debt collectors, followed by a visit to my mothers home from a man with a briefcase one night, at about midnight, asking after me and claiming to be a debt collector coming from either the HM Revenue and Customs, or on behalf of them. (Hilarious, right?) Only at the time, I freaked out, (as you can imagine), when I was told about this. I then contacted the HM Revenue and Customs again, also by phone, and I was told that they had no idea who had visited my mothers home. Then they either put through to, or gave me the contact details for, their Dept Collection people. The woman I spoke to there, told me that they do not do house calls at that time, and that they also had no idea who had visited my mothers home. The debt collector mail continued to arrive, and there were further late night calls to my mothers home. Then I contacted the HM Revenue and Customs people again, this time in writing, and I was instantly removed from the self employment register, all my debts were cancelled, I was told I had to take no further action, and that my case was closed. I thought that was the end of that.
Instead, even after all of that drama, debt collector threats continued to arrive at my mothers house in the mail. Fines which threaten to charge me for legal fees and to penalize me for any delayed payment. These letters are signed by a Sam Selby, but there is no "company name", and no title before the persons name either, (ie; Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc). There is also no postage address anywhere - not even on the envelopes. - Is this standard debt collector practice? I have since contacted the HM Rev and Cust again (in writing) to let them know that although they claim that my case has been closed and all the fines have been cancelled, I am still being sent threats from Debt Collectors, and included more specifics. They have since replied to confirm that I do not need to take any further action, that my case has been closed, and all my fines have indeed been cancelled, and that they are at a loss to explain who is sending this mail, and who has been making these late night visits, because they simply do not know.
At first I had assumed there was some admin issue, or breakdown communication between the HM Revenue and Customs people, and the Debt Collection people, but it now seems that this is not the case. I am now wondering if there is some sort of fraud going on here, as everything just looks so shady to me. I have since asked my mother to go to the police to get them to have a look at the mail, and see if they can shed any light on this matter. It might be a long shot, but at this point, I have nothing to loose from asking!
I must clarify, that the HM Revenue and Customs have so far been wonderful and extremely understanding. My issue now lies with the Debt Collector people. Who are they and why won't they leave me alone? Can anyone else out there relate to my situation? How can I get these people to just leave me alone?
Finally, please excuse me if I sound somewhat naive, but I am not familiar with how these things work because I have never really been in debt or involved in anything even remotely like this.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am look forward to hearing from you!
I am new to Legal Beagles and I am hoping to find people who are in the same, or at least similar, boat to me.
To cut a long story short, I used to be Self Employed in the UK, and then I left the country. However, due to technical issues, I was unable to remove myself from the self employment register before leaving, as well as complete the Tax Return Forms they were sending out to me each year. Also, due to my unstable living and employment situation abroad, I continued to use my mothers home address in the UK as my care of address. (You will understand why I specify that as you read on). At first, I received many fines for not returning the forms. I contacted the HM Revenue and Customs on numerous occassions by telephone, but for the same technical reasons which I could not remove myself from the register in the first place, I was told that nothing could be done about the fines, or the forms being mailed out. Then threats started coming from debt collectors, followed by a visit to my mothers home from a man with a briefcase one night, at about midnight, asking after me and claiming to be a debt collector coming from either the HM Revenue and Customs, or on behalf of them. (Hilarious, right?) Only at the time, I freaked out, (as you can imagine), when I was told about this. I then contacted the HM Revenue and Customs again, also by phone, and I was told that they had no idea who had visited my mothers home. Then they either put through to, or gave me the contact details for, their Dept Collection people. The woman I spoke to there, told me that they do not do house calls at that time, and that they also had no idea who had visited my mothers home. The debt collector mail continued to arrive, and there were further late night calls to my mothers home. Then I contacted the HM Revenue and Customs people again, this time in writing, and I was instantly removed from the self employment register, all my debts were cancelled, I was told I had to take no further action, and that my case was closed. I thought that was the end of that.
Instead, even after all of that drama, debt collector threats continued to arrive at my mothers house in the mail. Fines which threaten to charge me for legal fees and to penalize me for any delayed payment. These letters are signed by a Sam Selby, but there is no "company name", and no title before the persons name either, (ie; Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc). There is also no postage address anywhere - not even on the envelopes. - Is this standard debt collector practice? I have since contacted the HM Rev and Cust again (in writing) to let them know that although they claim that my case has been closed and all the fines have been cancelled, I am still being sent threats from Debt Collectors, and included more specifics. They have since replied to confirm that I do not need to take any further action, that my case has been closed, and all my fines have indeed been cancelled, and that they are at a loss to explain who is sending this mail, and who has been making these late night visits, because they simply do not know.
At first I had assumed there was some admin issue, or breakdown communication between the HM Revenue and Customs people, and the Debt Collection people, but it now seems that this is not the case. I am now wondering if there is some sort of fraud going on here, as everything just looks so shady to me. I have since asked my mother to go to the police to get them to have a look at the mail, and see if they can shed any light on this matter. It might be a long shot, but at this point, I have nothing to loose from asking!
I must clarify, that the HM Revenue and Customs have so far been wonderful and extremely understanding. My issue now lies with the Debt Collector people. Who are they and why won't they leave me alone? Can anyone else out there relate to my situation? How can I get these people to just leave me alone?
Finally, please excuse me if I sound somewhat naive, but I am not familiar with how these things work because I have never really been in debt or involved in anything even remotely like this.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am look forward to hearing from you!
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