Help dealing with another persons debts!

[cpc85]

Hello

Ive have just bought my first house that happened to be a repossession

I have had issues( last owners debts) with the EON and Anglian water but have managed to sort these

But today had a letter from DLC/Hillesden Securties LTD - Annual Statement of Account for the last tenant with £8802.02?

Ive had other letters from debt collection companies who i have just called and explained?

What do i do, call the company and explain? and should i be opening these letters

It just worries me that i have a great credit record and has buying this house blacklisted me?

Any info/help welcome

Thanks
Chris

[Sapphire]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Hi and welcome to the forum

First thing DO NOT phone any of these people, unless you are desperate for a chat, write back to them and keep everything in a file, you must keep a paper trail. Just tell them that the people no longer live at your address, pass over a forwarding address if you have it, if not then say so.
Also you can register with the credit reference agencies, I think it costs a £1 for each one, if anything derogatory shows up then you can contact them and put them straight, there will be instructions in each of their websites how to do it.

[cpc85]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Sapphire, do you know if debts still go against the adress or just the person who had taken the loan/credit out?

I cant find a clear answer

[PlanB]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

I would send back these letters marked "Return to Sender - Gone Away" on the envelope because that's the truth. Don't get involved since it's not your problem. You cannot be 'associated' with the previous owner/tenant on your credit file unless you have the same common name such as 'Smith' or 'Jones' and it's easy to get a 'disassociation' if that happens which is highy unlikely.

I would feel uncomfortable grassing up the previous owner of your property or their tenant by contacting anyone to reveal their forwarding address. That's just my personal view. If they've had their home/property repossessed they've got enough sadness or stress in their lives without adding to it. You can expect lots more of these letters but they will eventually stop.

Don't open the letters because it's a criminal offence under the Postal Services Act 2000 although I doubt you'll get sent to prison for it this time

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/crimina...cs/500355.html

[PlanB]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

do you know if debts still go against the adress or just the person who had taken the loan/credit out?

I cant find a clear answer

Credit reference agencies hold information (good and bad) on the individual person not the address. You're quite safe.

Look at this logically: do you owe £8,000 to Hillesden? No you don't. End of

[cpc85]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Thanks for the info

I dont actually have the forwarding adress of the last owner.

Ive just had thoughts of coming home from work to find a baliff has broken in and taken all my good/property!!

Chris

[labman]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Credit reference agencies hold information (good and bad) on the individual person not the address. You're quite safe.

Look at this logically: do you owe £8,000 to Hillesden? No you don't. End of

I agree the OP has nothing to worry about, but are you sure Plan B about the agencies holding info about the person not the address? Surely if this was true you wouldn't have to supply the last five years of addresses when applying for credit?

I agree with the advice above though - don't open, just return them stating 'Moved House' or similar.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

I agree with the advice above though - don't open, just return them stating 'Moved House' or similar.

Or "Emigrated to Africa"?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

I've just had thoughts of coming home from work to find a bailiff has broken in and taken all my goods/property!!

If a bailiff were to force entry and remove your goods in settlement of another person's debts, he would have to return your goods (or value thereof) and compensate you for any damage caused.

Of course, you could put up a sign in your front window stating, "As a Free Man on Land, I neither have nor desire to enter into any contract with any bailiff WIALOC" :rofl:

[Nibbler]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

I agree the OP has nothing to worry about, but are you sure Plan B about the agencies holding info about the person not the address? Surely if this was true you wouldn't have to supply the last five years of addresses when applying for credit?

I think PlanB meant that the credit file is specific to you rather than the address. Rather than what is supposed to have been the case back before the "mists on time", which was that it was against the address with no distinction regards the name of the person.

Today your credit file history is personal to you. Previous addresses are relevant as they are a very major part of the chain of linked information that allows data to be correctly attributed to you, but not a criteria in exclusion. The CRAs don't have a literal "file" on your, paper or electronic. Instead your report is a set of matched data, usually generated on the fly on each request/search, based on all the links, aliases, previous addresses, and other personal data allowing records to be matched.

[PlanB]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Credit reference agencies hold information on their databases under all sorts of cross-referenced categories such as name, DOB, address, electoral roll, maiden name, car registration, colour of your eyes (okay I made that last one up!). But they can only disclose information relating to the person named and any linked addresses when searched.

So if I applied for credit as Mrs Plan B, 101 Dalmation Avenue, Cruftsville, then anything relating to Mrs Plan B (and my previous address in Winalot Town) would be disclosed to the creditor or tracer searching me, but not any information about my other housemates at those addresses.

Credit reference agencies are a bit like "libraries" storing third party information and they will only lend books under the author's name when approached

[PlanB]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

I think PlanB meant that the credit file is specific to you rather than the address. Rather than what is supposed to have been the case back before the "mists on time", which was that it was against the address with no distinction regards the name of the person.

Today your credit file history is personal to you. Previous addresses are relevant as they are a very major part of the chain of linked information that allows data to be correctly attributed to you, but not a criteria in exclusion. The CRAs don't have a literal "file" on your, paper or electronic. Instead your report is a set of matched data, usually generated on the fly on each request/search, based on all the links, aliases, previous addresses, and other personal data allowing records to be matched.

You put that in a much more sophisticated way than me :doggieyes:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Credit reference agencies hold information on their databases under all sorts of cross-referenced categories such as name, DOB, address, electoral roll, maiden name, car registration, colour of your eyes (okay I made that last one up!). But they can only disclose information relating to the person named and any linked addresses when searched.

So if I applied for credit as Mrs Plan B, 101 Dalmation Avenue, Cruftsville, then anything relating to Mrs Plan B (and my previous address in Winalot Town) would be disclosed to the creditor or tracer searching me, but not any information about my other housemates at those addresses.

Also what lenders 'see' when doing a search is very different from what you see yourself. Lenders plug in to CRA data using proprietary software that interprets the raw data in various ways and translates it to fit their search criteria. :nerd:

[PlanB]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Or "Emigrated to Africa"?

Another visually exciting, albeit slightly 'off-piste', post from our resident wit and raconteur Cloggy :couch2:

[enquirer]

Re: Help dealing with another persons debts!

Ive have just bought my first house that happened to be a repossession. I have had issues( last owners debts) with the EON and Anglian water but have managed to sort these.

I have been in the same situation.

But today had a letter from DLC/Hillesden Securties LTD - Annual Statement of Account for the last tenant with £8802.02? Ive had other letters from debt collection companies who i have just called and explained?

Expect lots of these letters. As soon is you set one firm right, the debt will be sold on. You will then get another round from the next level of DCA.

What do i do, call the company and explain?

Keep the letters. Mark them with the date received and the action taken.

You can telephone them, but if you do, try to get the name of the person you are speaking to. Make sure that you use 141 to prevent them from capturing your number and harassing you. If you write, simply sign yourself 'the landowner', or if you wish to sign your name, do so with a signature that is not your usual one (see why below).

... and should i be opening these letters.

You may open these letters. Do however ensure that you are discreet with regard to the information that they contain, lest you be accused of breaching the Data Protection Act.

It just worries me that i have a great credit record and has buying this house blacklisted me?

As previously advised, No.

Be careful however - many DCA firms are little more than criminal operations. If they get hold of your name, they may well claim that you are the debtor. They are even known to forge signatures on documents.

Although superficially harmless, this is a situation that can very easily spiral out of control. You must deal with these people. It is best to write. Do so, stating that ...

You have received confidential correspondence intended for X.
X does not live there, and has not done so since [insert date if known].
Their database is incorrect.
That you request that they correct it and send no further confidential correspondence intended for another to your address.

If they ignore this and continue to send letters, complain to ICO (the Office of the Information Commissioner) that they have breached the DPA. Complaints may be sent or completed online.