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Hi
I was hoping someone could give me some advice.
I recently received a Verification Letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells saying:
“We are trying to contact XXX with regards to a private matter. We have confirmed your address through a credit link obtained via a credit reference agency as being the same person who previously lived at the original address above.
Please contact by phone 0844.…. quoting the above reference and one of our operatives will be available to take any relevant details to resolve the matter.
If you believe you are not our customer please contact us by phone 0844 etc to enable us to amend our records and remove your address from our system file.”
The letter was addressed to XXX, who my 21 year old son. He does not live at my address and has never done so. In fact, he lives over 30 miles away from me, so I have no idea where BCW got my address from.
Having read the advice from these forums, I didn’t call them but instead wrote back simply stating that XXX does not and has never lived at this address. I therefore asked them to remove my address from their records, hoping that this would be the end of the matter. I provided no other details. This was sent by special delivery so I know that they received it.
One week after sending their original letter, I got another one (addressed to XXX), along the lines of:
With reference to the above account which was previously held by COMPANY NAME we write to advise you that we, BCW Group Ltd now hold the legal right to collect the full outstanding amount including legal recovery through the court if necessary. Please note that BCW Group has assumed responsibility for reporting this default to the credit reference agencies; as such, until such time as this matter is resolved, this may potentially affect your ability to obtain credit". They also state that the matter will be passed on to their debt collecting division if XXX fails to respond to the letter.
Along with this letter they included another letter from COMPANY NAME entitled “Notice of Assignment of Debt” confirming the amount of the debt and the fact that it has been sold to BCW.
My questions are therefore as follows:
1. What should my next step be? (broad question!). I was tempted to call them, but all the advice I’ve seen suggests that this isn’t such a good idea. Would writing to them again be worthwhile? If so, what can I say that I haven't already said.
2. Have they breached any data protection rules here? Despite being told that XXX does not live at this address, they sent full details of his debt to an address where he doesn’t reside.
3. As they have my address, can they record or register any debts against it in any way, or do debts purely follow the person.
Many thanks in advance!
I was hoping someone could give me some advice.
I recently received a Verification Letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells saying:
“We are trying to contact XXX with regards to a private matter. We have confirmed your address through a credit link obtained via a credit reference agency as being the same person who previously lived at the original address above.
Please contact by phone 0844.…. quoting the above reference and one of our operatives will be available to take any relevant details to resolve the matter.
If you believe you are not our customer please contact us by phone 0844 etc to enable us to amend our records and remove your address from our system file.”
The letter was addressed to XXX, who my 21 year old son. He does not live at my address and has never done so. In fact, he lives over 30 miles away from me, so I have no idea where BCW got my address from.
Having read the advice from these forums, I didn’t call them but instead wrote back simply stating that XXX does not and has never lived at this address. I therefore asked them to remove my address from their records, hoping that this would be the end of the matter. I provided no other details. This was sent by special delivery so I know that they received it.
One week after sending their original letter, I got another one (addressed to XXX), along the lines of:
With reference to the above account which was previously held by COMPANY NAME we write to advise you that we, BCW Group Ltd now hold the legal right to collect the full outstanding amount including legal recovery through the court if necessary. Please note that BCW Group has assumed responsibility for reporting this default to the credit reference agencies; as such, until such time as this matter is resolved, this may potentially affect your ability to obtain credit". They also state that the matter will be passed on to their debt collecting division if XXX fails to respond to the letter.
Along with this letter they included another letter from COMPANY NAME entitled “Notice of Assignment of Debt” confirming the amount of the debt and the fact that it has been sold to BCW.
My questions are therefore as follows:
1. What should my next step be? (broad question!). I was tempted to call them, but all the advice I’ve seen suggests that this isn’t such a good idea. Would writing to them again be worthwhile? If so, what can I say that I haven't already said.
2. Have they breached any data protection rules here? Despite being told that XXX does not live at this address, they sent full details of his debt to an address where he doesn’t reside.
3. As they have my address, can they record or register any debts against it in any way, or do debts purely follow the person.
Many thanks in advance!
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