This is Ruining Innocent People's Lives!
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- čas přidán 1. 05. 2024
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This somewhat new and dirty tactic used by debt collection agencies to "pin" a debt on your and make you pay. Here's how to spot it, avoid it, and deal with it if it's too late!
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This needs investigating
czcams.com/video/_dScGwfXxeE/video.html
Thank you.
Can you do a video on temu?
@@stefstefstef123 Temu is a scam!
I love your channel but I'm not sure you speaking facts now.
I had this issue aboutv10 years ago from a previous address I lived at many years ago. I received a demand for 3 unpaid loans. The first thing I said to them that they needed to prove that I owed the debt. I also asked for the loan agreements signed by my me and in my handwriting. They could not provide them and never from them again. Always ask them to prove it. Just because someone says you owe money doesn't mean you do. It is upto them to prove it.
While I received a demand for council tax from an address I left way before the declared time
I received letters from british gas addressed to the "tenant" for over a year requiring immediate action. This worried me, but as the owner I kept returning the letters "not known at this address". Eventually they stopped. Also received a badly written letter addressed to the "legal owner" from a debt collecting agency that had bought the debt from EDF. I rang EDF complaining about this. Also looked online, and people were saying that these corrupt companies were fishing for information to pin other people's debt on innocent people. Such bad practice causes stress and needs to be outlawed. Absolute rogues these energy companies.
I'm having a similar issue with the same company..EDF. It's to long winded & convoluted to go in to here but I've told them in no uncertain terms to sod right off, I'm not paying for another consumer's energy bill. The conversations are all in type via whatsapp so the proof is there should I need it. Absolute outlaws the lot of em!!
The opposite happened to me. After moving in, I received a letter from EDF addressed to "The Current Occupant", informing me that I was in credit, by a small amount. Since I didn't want to steal from the dead, I passed the letter to the management of the block and have heard no more.
I get that from TV Licensing, repeatedly.
Thank the folk who voted for thatcher who sold our utilities for that......
Yes when I initially moved in I had a letter from EDF addressed to the "occupier" it was huge. I complained viciously.
I told a High Court Judge once that this was supposed to be the Royal Courts of Justice, not the Royal Courts of Who Turns up!
Very good advice by the BBB. To set aside a Judgement the court fee used to be £50, it is now £275. It is best to try and avoid all Court actions at all costs (unless absolutely necessary) as the system in reality is nothing to do with Justice.
the law is obviously ridiculous and needs to be immediately changed
Absolutely. Suppose legal proceedings are started for a debt against the wrong person and that person goes on a 90 day world cruise without knowing about the proceedings? That person then comes back to find their assets seized and their credit rating in the gutter. It is totally unreasonable to expect someone to be monitoring their mail 365 days of the year. There are also so many scams going around that we can't hope to deal with all of them just in case one of them is on track to court proceedings. Threats of bogus legal proceedings needs to be made illegal and punishable.
SSE have just tried to pin a debt to me for GAS . I pay by pre paid card , have done for 7 years . A debt collector has sent a bill to me for £1300 for the years 2021 to 2023 /.. I dont see how this mistake could happen
No the law, at least in this area, is not ridiculous; it's exactly as it needs to be. Many people think that they can get away with not paying genuine bills by simply ignoring them. Yes, you can get away with ignoring letters UNTIL you get a court summons. But then if you don't respond, a judgement will be issued against you by default. Sometimes the bill is not yours or there's some other reason why no money is due, but unless you tell the court, how are they expected to know that?
I used to run a small company and on several occasions, people thought that if they didn't pay for goods received, then eventually I'd get fed up and write the amount off. Nope. A quick trip to the courthouse to get a Small Claims Summons usually did the trick. On a few occasions, people ignored the summons and a judgement was made in my favour by default, by which time, of course the amount has increased with various court costs. Once that happens, folk have 28 days to pay up or they get a County Court Judgement against them, which can adversely affect their credit rating. That usually results in payment. People whinge about it, but the fact is, they are given plenty of notice and months to contest the claim and if they fail to do so, they've only themselves to blame.
If anything, the system is slanted in favour of the debtor, because while this extended process is playing out over several months, the creditor doesn't have the money he's owed.
All this stuff should be run by the government, police, and CPS. Private companies being involved is out of order.
@@matthewbellis0 indeed!
I moved to a flat & a few weeks later a gas bill for £230 arrived in previous owners name. I didn't have last owner details so contacted gas company & advised I was new owner & that I was informing them I'm not responsible.
After a few weeks another bill but this time in my name for £230. I spent days on phone, writing letters etc but nothing changed.
Then a letter from debt collectors demanding £400,then £500 & threats of court action. It did not stop.
In the end I got a gas engineer to remove gas meter & cap pipes.
Then wrote to everyone telling them I'm all electric & have no gas appliances nor gas meter. Never had gas since I moved in.
Several visit from gas engineer to confirm no meter & shortly after everything stopped.
I hate this rediculous system but will now do what's necessary to make them stop.
Absolutely bastards aren’t they! I had a gas bill some years ago despite being all electric. Up until that point my twice yearly bill was always £0:00. Then later, because I had a meter, £6:00 (or thereabouts) was added, and I was expected to pay. I just ignored it as I thought it can’t possibly be right. However, another bill arrived saying I now owed over £35! I rang them up and told them in the simplest possible terms I wasn’t getting paid! Later, they came and took the meter out and waved the bill. Good for them; because it certainly wasn’t gonna get paid!
Ovo by any chance?
That is why, when you move to a new place, you should always ensure a meter reading is made straight away. Your mistake was leaving it for a few weeks.
@@grahvis I always take a photo of meter readings as proof to back myself up if needed.
I take photos of the meters when I need to do a meter reading because I can't always see the screen properly because the meters are not accessible and hard to see for an able bodied person. I have disabilities and still struggle just to get a camera in to get the pictures.
Always ask for a Proof of Debt. Companies buy and sell debts, add fees/charges BUT the originall so called debt can't be found.
Posted BEFORE I saw Incogni !
@@tonybrett5209 Why are you saying this about when you posted what is great advice? What am I missing? Thanks 😊
@@Coolcmsc he's weird that's all
Also remember that the the Limitation Act applies to debt. If it is more than 6 years old it is not payable. In the case of utilities it is one year, so you can just "show them the bird" if thats the case
I bought a house that previous owners had debt for buying a hoover. For ten years they sent people and letters and two bailiffs and they knew it wasn't me and they did have info to where they've moved to. They just take the piss with people and they probably get money from people worried they could lose their houses.
Extortion
This is what people back in the days said when their birth lands stolen from them, forests destroyed, water spots that people depended on and it, on and on it goes
How can you be absolutely sure they are actually removing your personal details? This sounds absolutely disgraceful. It proves some companies have morals lower than a snake’s belly!
From a technical perspective, all organisations operating a database (or many databases) are required to take backups so that the data can be restored in the case of a drive failure. I'm pretty sure that organisations don't work through all of these backups to remove your personal data, so it will continue to persist for years, even if only on offline storage media.
You cannot be sure they are actually removing your personal details.
and a cursory look at the fine print they want you to either pay monthly or yearly , which is fine, but what happens when you stop paying? if they do clear your details then why would you need it for more than a month?
People most often ignore them because we are constantly told not to interact with scams! This contradiction is what catch most out.
Once it's online and/or the cloud, there is no remove, they just tell you that.
I had a similar experience just 2 years ago. Though it was eventually sorted (kind of) the biggest problem was that - however long I spent on the phone (and I was chronically ill at the time) it became clear no-one was listening, no-one was making any effort to sort the problem, and no-one at the other end of the phone conversations gave a tinker's damn.
The real problem here is lack of consequences for commercial abusers. If real penalties were statutorily applied, we might have fewer elderly and vulnerable people reaching early graves.
The people you spoke to were minimum-wage-slaves, the people making the decisions will always hide behind a horde of low paid minions, you will never get to speak to them.
This happened to me, a charged was placed against my house without my knowledge and when I sold the debtor company took 25k! I had no idea, wasn't my debt.
I was in very poor health at the time so didn't have the health or even wealth to fight it. Land Registry were of no help, even me highlighting the fact that the charge was placed on my home fraudulently.
Just to add, I did receive letters but they were addressed to someone else so I always marked envelope "Not Known at this address, return to sender" and promptly put in post box.
I was receiving regular phone calls and letters from a debt collection agency regarding the debts of a deceased previous occupant of the house. I informed them on every occasion that the previous occupant was deceased but they were absolutely desperate to get my name and other details which I refused to give them, as in my mind, it was nothing to do with me. I think now I can see why and am thankful I stuck to my guns until I left. Thanks for the great channel, I learn something new every day!! 👍
I had a similar problem. They refused to talk to me. I targeted all their offices. They backed down. Quicker and easier than going through their channels.
I had two such companies go after me. Both chased the same bill for payment. I told them that the payment they sought was from the owner of the property who purchased from me.
When I told them that I had a bill which stated that my last payment was endorsed by the provider that it was a final bill and that my account was closed. The credit companies would not accept that so when I told them to take me to court and my final bill would be shown there they backed down. Also I would counter sue.
Scum one & all.
My cousin ran up huge credit card debts he couldn't pay. Without my knowledge or consent he gave the bank he owed the money to my address. I then started getting the demand letters. I contacted his bank. worried I would be held liable. They advised me the address is immaterial. Debt is against the named person, not an address.
I hope you have that in writing, it's not my experience at all
@@barrybarry6592That's the current legal standard for debt, but it used to be the address that got blacklisted.
I’m going to listen to the Black Belt Barrister
@@matthewbellis0 Yeah mate, keep taking your medication.
Years ago while negotiating with Midland bank they stopped replying to my correspondence and sold my debt to a company that threatened my father, that they would take away his car and boat as payment for my debt, i hadn't lived there in over 20 years, i demanded an apology or they would never get payment, they never apologised and they never got paid and didn't pursue the mater any further.
Interesting that even courts are corrupt nowadays
Reminds me of waking up to a letter years ago, debt collectors acting on behalf of one of those nasty high APR credit card companies demanding I make payment. In a panic that I'd been a victim of ID fraud I rang them immediately to get it sorted and the chap on the other end laughed (literally, actually laughed) and said yeah don't worry you probably just shared an address once and we send out to all sorts of places, I'll update the system and you won't hear from us again. In fairness this did resolve the issue, but I was more than unimpressed at the approach.
Now compared to today that is service! I don't have any issue with that.
Last Autumn - Twice I sent recorded delivery forms and evidence to HMRC to certify I declare my all my income from my pension provider - HMRC said they couldn't find (signed for) recorded delivery forms sent at £6.00 a pop and my pension providers deadline wasn't going to be met -so my pension provider was going to tax me back years -
Fortunately I had hard copies of my declaring it all, and I knew I had done nothing wrong - I now have anxiety and get into a state every time I need to deal with the uncontactable HMRC.
After Christmas the pension provider wanted evidence that I 'exist' so I duly got my dentist to sign the form that he had seen my passport and driving licence as well as my teeth (cost me £20) and sent it off.
They came back to me and wanted a copy of my passport and driving licence which I sent with covering email informing them, that as the authority I have to comply with their request, but that 'identity theft is a thing' and as I am in the UK they cannot verify me against my photos and that this was the point of my dentist doing it!
That as I never give out this sort of information - That They will be held responsible if I have been cloned, I added, I do hope you have signed the official secrets act and your data base has strong security levels. Using the officious tone they used with me. I got no reply, but it made me feel better. So presumably now they are satisfied I 'exist'! (I had to sign the official secrets act when I worked there, in those days, AND, I had to answer my phone by 3 rings however complicated my calculations. So often I would have to go over it all again!).
Liz Truss's Deregulated Brexit land is a thieves charter in my opinion to rob the public who are at their mercy.
Crazy. Does the law also allow bill collectors to collect from relatives of people that died owing debts? Just as stupid.
No, debts are taken from the estate of the deceased.
So what happened to innocent until proven guilty and a right to a fair trial?
Not the same thing.
If you are taken to court, the court will look at the evidence. If you don't offer any evidence, the court will have no choice but give judgement for the plaintiff.
Money involved
@@user-it7lf7kk8m now we ruin innocent people to save industry a few quid. “Disgusting”
@@grahvis Yea but they are meant to prove the debt is yours. Have to have evidence to prove the guilt of the person you're accusing. What you describe is guilty until proven innocent
So what happened to a debt being your debt and not someone elses.
Debt collectors have no legal rights like bailifs and cannot enter your property or seize any goods.They rely totally on intimidation and false threats. What you MUST do is -if they send a county court case against you-is attend and contest the issue. It will get thrown out. If it is for an old debt there is a LIMITATIONS Act where they cannot pursue any debt over six years old;if they send a letter about this simply send a letter quoting this act and state you deny any responsibility/liability for the debt they ask and request they show any letter from the last six years in which you have admitted any liability and request-them to send a letter in writing stating the debt is closed. They will have no option but to close, knowing all courts will throw their application out due to statutory limitations act.
I had this happen to me over a waterbill, they ran up a bill and the utility Company identified me as responsible, despite not having lived there for a few years. They registered a CCJ against me as we thought the letters were a scam, I was living with my parents at the address in question at the time and had never been responsible for any of the bills so we assumed it was just a bad scam based on old info. Until bailifs turned up. It took a year of back and forth of me having to prove I was not responsible, and that I was living at another address at the time the bulls were ran up. Once it was all settled we paid the landlord of that address a visit...
Surely this "error" is basically criminal in intent? If they don't use correct information in an application to the court (presumably a witness statement) they are perverting the course of justice, or possibly are in contempt? I agree that objecting at all points is very important.
It's kind of curious that while Incogni helps people scrub their personal info from the internet, their privacy policy shows they actually gather, handle, and even pass around users' personal details. It makes you wonder: what's in place to stop more of this info spreading around again?
Presumably, I need your details to ask someone else to remove your details.
@@zeggyiv Understandable, but is it necessary to share my information?
@@SL1PSTAR How do I ask a company to remove your details, without giving them at least some of your details? They need to know what to remove.
@@zeggyiv I did reply to your question but it appears to have been removed. With that I will take a hint.
Many years ago my first mortgage application was put on hold because someone who shared my name and DOB had outstanding debts, it was up to me to prove that the debt wasn’t mine.
my grandson lived about 200 miles away in the south of england. He sold his house and bought a large camper van to visit parts of europe. 3 months later i got bailiffs at my door claiming some unpaid debt. All because he had sent a parcel through amazon to my address. He has never lived at my address apart from when he was a school boy for 2 weeks while his dad had a serious operation and needed rest at home. How come Bailiffs can trace my address from an Amazon parcel delivery?? Who was allowed to give them that info?? What about my data privacy. Had to stump up £400 because they wouldnt leave and threatened further dire action. Why should i be responsible for his debt? I hadnt even seen him for 8 years and i had not received any letters in his name to contest the supposed debt they just turned up and one shoved his foot in the doorway. Im still fuming a year later
I'm pretty sure if someone shows up at your door and refuses to let you close it, unless there are actual police present, that's a home invasion scenario and you're allowed to defend yourself and your property (physically). Foot in door = no more foot.
They probably just used the address as supplied by Amazon.
My mother had dementia and other issues and was put in to a care home that she paid for privately. I had no access to her monies (I didn't want them either) but let her county council know of her circumstances. I found that the council were chasing her for council tax so I called them to explain the situation and advised they confer with their other departments such as social services who entirely knew mypmother's situation, plus the family dynamic.
Soooo....guess what? I received a letter from a debt collection agency, all put in to motion by her cc saying they were going to come to MY home to collect her council tax arrears.,
The situation was really nasty and I was not co-operated with by the company even at that early stage (of course).
I had to roast the cc...they backed off...but what is it like for those who don't know how things work?
Why would you even pay it 😂
@@FBI_Agent_69420this isnt America
I don't understand how this can happen as the Energy company will have the name of their customer who has run up the debt and the Energy Company sells the debt to the 'tracing' company. Surely they (the energy company) supply the tracing company with the address, debt, and NAME of the customer (debtor). The name of the customer (debtor) is going to be a different name to John's name surely ? So how can they proceed to court action when the debtor has a different name ? And surely the court documents will have a different name on them than the debtor ? I've listened to the beginning of the story three times and I cannot grasp how John receives letters that apparently must have his name on them otherwise he is unlikely to open them. If John was linked to the address how can they 'pin' his name to the debt. Surely that is in effect 'changing' the debtors name and should be thrown out by the court without John having to be involved at all. Why is he being held responsible to having to sort out a mistake by the 'Tracing' company.
Sounds like the problem is with the courts not showing due diligence in scrutinising the evidence presented to them.
It should have to be proved that the individual was responsible for the property at the time of non payment ie they have to prove it was you with evidence and not just on someone's say so.
Finding evidence of ownership at the time of non payment isn't difficult as all property transactions both owned and rented have a paper trail.
It should be up to those claiming you are responsible to supply the evidence not the innocent party having to prove their innocence.
Absolutely, well said.
The UK court is adversarial. If one side says "you shot this guy" and the other side says "sure, why not?", then you likely go down for it, even if you didn't do it. In the court system, not submitting a defence at all is equivalent to admitting all statements made in the prosecution. You just have to send in a form saying "wasn't me, I don't live there" or whatever. Because one side has a piece of paper saying Joe Bloggs lived at this address ten years ago, and this address ran up a huge debt last year. If you say nothing, then I'm going to say on balance of probabilities that it was you and you've done a runner. If you turn up and say that you moved out five years ago, now it becomes contested. But you have to say something.
@davcrav explains why the courts need a serious overhaul where justice and fairness are placed at the heart of what they do. What you describe is a mockery of justice fone by people who can't be bothered to do their job properly.
I was getting a lot of letters to the previous owner of my house, the first year i just put (Return to sender) and put back in the post. Year 2 still getting these letters from the same company, so opened one and it was an account for the previous owner. I phoned them to inform the person does not live here anymore and they requested that i should find out where the previous owner went and let them know. I informed them i had no idea and they can do that. They informed they would not and would keep sending these account letter to my address since they had to. I now get a letter to the previous owner every 6 months - this has been going on for 17 years now, when they come i just throw them in the bin.
Wow, they sure are persistent!
Either tell them you’ll report them to the police for harassment and obtain a protection from harassment order or inform them for every letter they send you will charge a £25 ‘processing fee’. When they don’t pay up launch a small claims case.
Seems like a shockingly low bar to 'prove' responsibility in these cases. Sounds like an urgent change to the law is required. Good job this lax level of proof isn't acceptable for something more serious....murder for example.... disappointing fail for the UK 'justice' system.
Western justify system is fucked always has been on various areas
How does an energy company leave a consumer to rack thousands of debt like that in the first place? irresponsible.
Greedy people don't care about responsibility or anything else that stops them squeezing all that blood from the stone.
Because sometimes the consumers ignore the bills.
It's beyond belief that this ridiculous process has any legal standing whatsoever. The law needs changing as soon as possible. Obviously.
Instead of a law allowing you to tap your heels together three times, jump through a flaming hoop, throw a double six and ask for unregulated brokers to remove your data, wouldn't it make more sense to have a law prohibiting unregulated brokers from storing and distributing your data?
Any company that makes this mistake should be put out of business.
Good luck with that ---- 😁😆
I had one of these for a few hundred pounds after back and forth emails asking to see proof of the debt as I didn’t recognise the debt they kept asking for payment I kept asking for proof (always ask for proof and date of the debt they finally relented and closed the account
Surely for a start, there should be a requirement that when selling a debt on, proof can be provided that the named individual is actually responsible for the debt. In "John"'s case, a debt is run up at an old address, but the energy company will not be able to attach John's name to it because he did not incur the debt, signed no contracts, contacted no-one therefore they cannot have any evidence he is responsible for it. All the energy company have that they can "sell" is a debt and an address to which it is attached. If they can't prove that a named individual has contracted for the service/product, the "debt" should be worthless and unenforceable. Pinning a debt on "anyone who we can find who lived at that address" should be impossible, one of the initial requirements for registering a court case should be the ability to provide proof linking an individual to a debt. Even if John lived at the address when the debt was incurred, if the company can provide no proof that he was the individual purchasing their service, the case should not even be considered?
WOW! What happened to innocent until proven guilty? How can they do that without providing any proof? Dirty scammers!
Accepting having a "credit rating" and score is just one baby step away from having and accepting a personal "social credit rating"
Your critical thinking is not acceptable to us - your spending on anything fun has been restricted for 96 hours
This has happened to me 3 times now. Always with energy companies. 1 debt run up by my old landlord for £5k, the second by the same landlord for a further £4k and another £1k for a shop I rented 10 years ago but they started billing me from 2023. Gawd knows how they get away with it.
We have this on going from a company called BW Legal over 10 months now, British gas use them for debt collection , we have tried to contact them so many times and used there online portal sending them our completion date of our property, but its useless we can't do anything we have just given up, we completed our sale of our house give our final readings paid over £1k to British gas, and now we are getting chased for dates that we weren't even living there anymore, just crazy.
Sounds like you need to stop it before it gets silly. I would persist with British Gas and then get a deadlock letter if they can't resolve it. Citizens Advice should be able to help as well. Have you still got the photos of the meter readings on the completion date, they might be useful as well.
I started receiving letters in a rental property that were addressed to somebody who had never lived at the address, the return address indicated they were debt letters from a mobile phone company. I just kept sending them back 'Not known at and has never lived at this address.' Eventually one arrived which was obviously the next stage in the process - no return name, just a 'Do not ignore' on the front and senders postcode on the back. Checking the postcode showed it to be a debt collection company, I rang them up. The operative answered with 'What is your account number', I retorted with 'Right, let's stop this conversation right now'. I then told her that the person was not known at and had never lived at the address, the previous owner from whom I had bought the property in 2005 had lived there since 1955 and the person named had never been a tenant. She went away, a couple of minutes later she came back and said we wouldn't hear from them again.
To be fair, I haven't received any more letters.
My water company wants me to pay the previous tenants water bill. After living in my current address of 3 years they sent a bill addressed to 'the occupier' for over £1500. I thought that cant be right so i phoned them up and explained the bill must be partly from a previous tenant surely, theres no way water is that expensive. The woman said "That's no problem sir, can i take your details please?" so i told her my name etc and when she finished she said "So we will require the bill to be paid in full today, how would you like to pay" so i panicked and hung up. Now the bill is up to almost £3000 and they are threatening me with high court bailiffs to seize goods from my home, but the only thing of value i own is my chemotherapy medication fml.
I was one that ignored the court letters, reason being I genuinely thought they were a scam. Problem is these County Court letters don't look real. No government seal , the heading just says The county court totally plain as if someone spent 1 minute creating it on office. And the address wasn't a court, some business centre in Northampton .
I was able to move into my previous property which I had bought after the squatters had left. There were a number of letters delivered for these scum bags, which I posted back with not known at this address, thinking this would do the trick....fast forward a couple of months and on a Friday another letter arrived. This one piqued my interest and so it was opened, it was notification from a bailiff that they were to attend my property on the Monday to collect the debt or items to the value of £7K! Thankfully this company engaged by the bank were reputable and after sending my mortgage documents across, I was able to prove the debt was not mine. Lesson learned, not known at this address does not work and always worth opening mail delivered to your address even if it is not in your name.
I had moved property and even left the country and I was getting bailiffs turn up at my registered UK address chasing for an energy bill.
The utility company hadn't closed the account properly and were still billing for the electricity and gas.
I resolved it a few days ago which was 17 months after having moved.
The irony being I was actually in credit !
My credit score is now below 400 when it was originally over 900.
Yeah, British gas did a similar thing to me however I didn't owe the money in the first place as they lied to me about standing charges to get me to switch from a supplier with no standing charges to themselves, the sales person claimed that no standing charges were applicable, so I had a nasty shock to find out that all British gas tariffs have a standing charges. I've complained and complained, I mean talking to a brickwall is more productive than talking to British gas. It didn't stop them sending it off to a debt collector who black listed me and is still demanding money I simply don't have. The only good thing is I haven't got anything a baliff could sell its all worthless junk literally nothing of value in my home. I can't wait to see the baliffs face when he comes in here. 😃
When I dont buy gas the standing charges kept on rising until it was in the hundreds I'll end up owing tens of thousends in the end I telling you. I'm out of options can't afford it and because they've black listed me I even get a loan anymore to pay it.
Guess prison is the only option for me. Its okay, at least there's free hot warter for a shower in prison. After the hardship I've been through recently prison would be a nice holiday to me. Its just ashame it'll cost the tax payer tens of thousends to lock me up on behalf of a muti billion pound company who should foot the bill themselves. You know I dont owe this its the dishonesty of a British gas that lead to this. The whole system is staked up against people like me who cant afford to take the issue to court its a fix and it not fair justice justice is for the wealthy anyone just has to exept what is given. Im supised I haven't broken down yet its stressing me out big time I just wish them to send me to prison and get it over with I'm sick of it I understand why some people choose suicide as an option now. And even if I did get to court, they'll removed any evidence that they lied so it wouldn't get to the bottom of it anyway its my word against theres. "Yes anyone thinking of switching to British gas think again I wouldn't wish this on anyone".
My mother had dementia and other issues and was put in to a care home that she paid for privately. I had no access to her monies (I didn't want access either) but let her county council know of her circumstances. I found that the council were chasing her for council tax so I called them to explain the situation and advised they confer with their other departments such as social services who entirely knew my mother's situation, plus the family dynamic.
Soooo....guess what? I received a letter from a debt collection agency, all put in to motion by her cc saying they were going to come to MY home to collect her council tax arrears.,
The situation was really nasty and I was not co-operated with by the company even at that early stage (of course).
I had to roast the cc...they backed off...but what is it like for those who don't know how things work?
If you have dementia you do not pay Council Tax. This IS the law! Anyone with mental health problems is exempt from Council Tax. You should have notified the Council immediately you knew her diagnosis.
@@susan9188 The council knew she had dementia...social services were involved, Age UK, etc. I've just looked things up and you're right. That makes it even worse! They were pursuing me, the home was unoccupied because she was in care, plus she had dementia...wow...
Time for an official complaint.
Octopus have linked me to an address I have not lived in for 7 years. I don't even live in the UK
Lots of people keep getting letters to 'the legal owner' from TV Licensing. This is Ruining Innocent People's Lives!
I always write on the envelope return to sender, if you get a letter from TV licencing it always has an address and postcode on the back.
@R-bobo, the letters very rarely get opened when they are sent back
But TV Licencing WILL be charged for postage on the return.@@enchanted_blue9807
@@enchanted_blue9807 doesn't matter at least they are returned lol
Here's a puzzle. I paid EDF £40 every 4 weeks. Last June, I retired, and was shocked to receive £160 pension for the month in arrears. It took me 6 months to sort out the paperwork and no one even mentioned pension credit to me as I had been an army wife for 17 years of my working life and I'd lived in 10 different places in that time, usually where there wasn't pavements yet alone work, which were taken by desperate locals. So, long story short, it was December before it was all worked out and I could afford to live. Phoned EDF. Somehow is 6 months I owed them over £2000 and they want £130 a month off me. How on earth, when I paid 40 quid every 4 weeks, does me not doing so for 6 months add up to over 2 grand?
I'm a commercial agent in Australia and I'm regularly asked to make calls on people who are not the debtor, or they are the victim in a car accident and the insurance company of the other side simply want money. If you have insurance they back off but without the protection of the insurance company's solicitors, they will try it on. I regularly do Examinations of people found in default of the debt who never got served a Statement of Claim so they had no chance to defend the claim. Basically the debt collection company send it in the mail to thelast known address and if you dont get it or don;t respond, 28 days later you're automatically found in default. The collection agency can use the court to serve the document and too often the court just posts it to the last known address etc. I see too many nice people caught up in a flawed system; the professional debtors always seem to squirm away and never get pinged.
With ref to Incogni ! How do we know they actually do what they say, and how do we know the people they ask to remove our data, actually remove it ? I am uncomfortable trusting a service where the only information about their activities is from them ! How can it be corroborated?
I've had this a few times just ring them up and send them proof from when you moved it's so simple and make sure your account is payed up to that date and everything will be sorted.
How is selling someone's debt to a debt collection company not illegal? It's like a mob practice. Either collect your debts or let them go? Who makes laws like this that allow the equivalent of loan sharks to function legally? Debt collection should not be a legal job.
Just remember any debt after 6 years if they haven't got a county court judgment is statue barred and they can't claim it. Never acknowledge you owe the debt. And if the bank sells the debt you have no contract with the people they sold it to so just tell them to piss off or if they send a letter dont reply. Make sure you are not on the electrol register helps.
Do the continual bombardment letters from TV licensing amount to harassment?
You would certainly think so wouldn't you? I don't know how they get away with it.
Firstly, if a debt is over 6 years (in England) it doesn’t need to be paid whether you owe it or not, as it’s marked as “debt barred”and you can basically respond to the collector telling them so. Also, you can get a CCJ without knowing about it as I did, and at an address I never lived at! Removing it is impossible as I can’t afford a solicitor and the court fees, and in any case, those charges would be far higher than the CCJ amount! The whole credit score and CCJ system is stacked against us, and is designed to keep poor people poor.
My son worked for a major High St shoe chain. He was actively encouraged to gain customer credentials as the details were sold to a third party.
Your videos aren't good for my anxiety levels, your always unlocking new legal fears
You're choosing to feel anxious about this. You could easily choose to feel secure in the knowledge of how to go about an event like this if it ever occured. Such a simple change of view and "anxiety" is all washed away.
@@Martyn_Wolf I ain't choosing anything, I know the reality of the law and you only get as much justice as you can afford, coupled with the fact that in financial related matter your presumed guilty until you prove your innocence, as someone has to cough up the costs to our capitalist masters, usually the innocent Joe bloggs
?? Surely your details are given back to these companies as fast as they are removed, removed at 8am you go back on the internet and now they get a refresh copy replacing the details they have just removed and the cycle continues.
The law also needs to protect people, but another big fail! Grate Britain!
S40 Administration of Justice Act 1970
" can destroy your credit rating ..." Pro tip, don't rely on your credit rating for your day to day purchases. Try saving instead of credit.
Absolute Proof and use the S.A.R and report them if they have incorrect information, if they don't comply sue them. I have done it, CABOT decided I owned money which I did not, they could not provide absolute proof - they tried to go to court, I moved it from the clearing court Northampton to a local court and countered. They turned up and did not provide any evidence then asked for a stay. Case was placed into stay for them to provide evidence I owed, they did not, i pushed for counter claim with GDPR - Cabot sold the account on before the case could. I took them on and won on GDPR, they do this all the time. ~Trooper
Sorry but could you explain what you mean by claiming with GDPR?
@@Kooseandco Processing incorrect information of someone that is not correct or does not exist. In my case they could not proove I owned the dept but pushed ahead as if I did.. ~Trooper
This happened to me with EDF for a bill in 2012. I told them im not paying and i will go to court. They dropped the debt.
I've lived in over 40 addresses. Imagine that lot landing through the letterbox!!! 😀
My sister got divorced, told bank as such that she was no longer in a joint account with ex husband. Ex ran up 3K odd debt. Debt collector banged on her door demanding money. She asked why, they said we can't find your ex husband, but we have your name and address.
She told them he ran up debt after divorce, not her problem or debt, told them his address and shut door on them..
On that data removal list are 9 data centre i never heard of. But again as normal consumer I will not know them all by name. Sad how some have to make their money.
Another tip: when unknown number calls , don't pick up and reject call as that shows your number is active. If you just let it ring out without answering or rejecting it , the computer/ person does not know if your number is in use .
Would The Bill of exchange act 1882 prevent the company who bought the debt from recovering the funds from the original person owing the money, due to the debt being sold to a 3rd party?
Also, wouldn't a Statute of Limitation apply?
One trick I came across was a company sending a Summons to to someone that was complete except that it was not registered with the Court Office, having one worked in a County Court Bailiffs Office I recognised the ploy, after doing a few searches I found the their name was on a 25year old electoral register at an address they had been at over 20 years ago and was the debt of a different tenant in the same building and it was a Solicitor fishing for a response on a 20 or so year old debt, and was traced from a list of tenants provided by the Landlord for voting list. They were clearly sending un registered Court Papers to get someone to agree to pay them so as to get money from an out of time debt.
We had a threatening letter from allegedly a law firm for a woman who owed £4000 that was never at this address. they where very aggressive on the phone so we said that if they where legitimate they could use the electoral register and find the woman was never hear..... didn't hear from them again.....
This happened to me, with an energy company, I contacted them and told them that it wasn't my debt, as hadn't lived there for years. They said I had to prove it, so I told them I would prove it when they took me to court as I had all the required proof. After that I didn't hear another thing from them,.
They acted completely backwards. If they make a claim against an individual the burden of proof is on them, the response ought to be to ask THEM to prove their claim. Tricksters.
Wait what? If the debt letters are for John (DOB 1/2/73) and my name isn't John and my date of birth isn't 1/2/73 and all we have in common is that John used to live where I live now, how can they take action against me when I'm not called John or have that date of birth? Why is it not safe for me to ignore letters for John when I'm not John? Why can they just turn around and say "Oh Mack lives at this address now, so we're going to report John's debt as Mack's debt arbitrarily as he just happens to live at John's old address"? Even if I live with John, it's still not my debt and surely they can't just put the debt in my entirely not Johnlike name? Surely it's always safe for me to ignore John's post if I'm not called John?
Isn’t it illegal to open someone else’s mail?
Eon Next sent me several letters demanding money for a previous address for a time period after I had left. I had documentary evidence that they had acknowledged my departure date, which I sent them. They only stopped when I asked them to send me everything they knew about me and my account, starting with the closure date. They didn’t send anything but the demands stopped.
NO SANE JUDGE WOULD GO FOR THIS ... But then again who's ever found a judge to be sane.. If you're not at the address then it's nothing to do with you, and you're innocent until PROVEN GUILTY. I will take you to court.. and you will in the end pay for all damages..
Why are central banks allowed to print unlimited money but if I print money I go to prison for counterfeit?
Banks don’t print money. The Royal Mint does.
Most informative and indeed frightening.
I lived in one of those retired homes for two years,moved out just before COVID everything paid up. Two years later the electric supply company send me a demand for payment of power usage. Luckily I had physical documents I was able to prove payment up to the day I left. Part of the problem was COVID struck and the apartment was left empty for a while so the power supply tried to change me for an empty apartment. The easiest thing that they could have done is check the main office and the council for council tax payment.
I have just had a debt collection agent who said I owed a shop direct debt from 2001. I immediately informed them the debt was statute barred as it was over 6 years old.
this is why we need legal reform. If a court sent out such a document without the true evidence that should be deemed a crime - demanding money with menaces - our legal system is shocking
Good information and guidance .thank you
I knownas a matter of fact that information is leaked. My husband hasn't been in the UK for 24 years and on return, as soon as he got a contract phone, debt collection agencies (who all had a strangely indian accent) started calling. My husband was 18 when he left the UK and didn't have any debt when he left. The only contracts he has are his work contract and phone contract. One of them must have a leak or are selling information.
Ridiculous process. They don't need to prove you live there within the dates of the supposed debt. Surely, they should get references from the landlords and proof of tenancy agreements.
A petition should be raised to address this in Parliament.
Then, these companies should be done for breaking data protection laws.
If the debts not in my name, and it’s posted to my address, I ignore it. They should do proper checks to 100% know they have the person at the address. If they break in I’ll sue them, because I won’t open someone’s post
Many years ago I worked in an Official Receivers office. The level of cowboy (bandit, even) activity in the debt industry was horrifying. The Enterprise Act 2001 had been in force for several years at this point, and we had Insolvency Practitioners and debt collection agencies flaunting it on a daily basis. About half my workload was writing to these firms to remind them what the law said and to stop harassing people.
Brilliant video. Thanks for this one 👍
It’s a disgrace that they can’t do that. Not really justice is it?
Credit scores can be so easily destroyed. We had to use a specialist lender with an outrageous interest rate because he has a black mark against him for no fault of his own and the bank just won’t remove it.
About three years ago he set up a new account with a different bank. He transferred his direct debits over, but for some reason Green Flag took money from both the accounts. This caused him to go overdrawn on the old account unbeknownst to him as he no longer used their banking apps or anything. No matter who he talks to, the matter just can’t be resolved.
Over 6 years old with no correspondence from the debtor? Statute barred.
It's a relief that you always have a sponsorship company to save the day when you make these videos 😁
Excellent video, default judgments are a huge problem within England & Wales. More awareness and support are needed to enable citizens to respond and challenge such claims.
Trying to sort out the damage after someone steels your data and uses it to take out credit/loans in your name is a horror story. I wish I had this service when it happened to me 15 years ago.
What a scummy world we live in
Will it suffice to simply write on the envelope "No such person at this address" or "return to sender, wrong address" and give it to the mail man. Usually the postal system will stop more of those letters being delivered if the sender refuses to update their data.
Cashless means the Bank will Know Every thing you Do !
Total invasion of Privacy !
Excellent advice
So, being bombarded by capita over TV licences is also threats, which is also harrisment, under section 21 off the blackmail laws..
Anyhow, I'm too old now to worry about debt companies or so-called court bailiffs . Do not give a fig. Pay for anything I want in full .
"If they're just sending you letters, and this goes on for a long time and they're not actually suing you, that itself might amount to harassment" ==> Capita, TV Licensing!
I was expecting bbb to have explained about when making an offer to pay the debt of someone to a DCA which creates a liability as a joiner.
It works , signed up for 60£, next year at 75 ( they could see it coming that I cancel and reduced from 100 to 75 for second year subscription 😅), got my first e mails confirming data remaival but also a Californian career recruitment agency asking me to sign up - probably last ditched attempt to keep my name before requested delete😅, and have 43 data removal request initiated . All that on a uk bank holiday Monday, not bad. Will carry on beeing very careful reading small print and not giving out my details except if really necessary . I keep eye on my bank and credit card daily.
very important message here....thanks for that.
So the UTAP is the 'Not Admitted' bullet point in your video? I was really shocked by this accepted practice of passing a default judgement if you do not contest it. Feels like these legally accepted practices should be taught at school since surely I can not be the only person that feels that these scurrilous unregulated organisations should be required to prove their allegations? Another awesome video sir!
Thank You.