I touched on this in a recent post but very recently a letter received by my Aunt sort of confirms my thoughts.

Debt with a bank, no payment/acknowledgement for some 10 years now, the debt is most certainly stat barred.

However, due to a recent restructuring on her finances she was able to sort a small loan out to consilidate her outgoings (no DCA's as there are none left in the pool)

The loan was obtained and the outstanding bits and pieces all paid off as part of the loan (paid by her not the bank)

3 weeks later in a letter dated 17th February a well known bottom feeding DCA sent her a letter quoting ' (wording may vary)

'Recent activity on your credit file suggests you may have made a significant payment to one of your financial accounts, In view of this contact is requested from yourself to us to agree an payment plan and where your financial circumstances can be discussed'

This is just so wrong, no fincancial relationship with this DCA exists, they have over the years tried to collect on the alleged debt but where no payment/acknowledgment exists and now some 15 years since anything was heard from the OC.

Course of action? Yes to ignore but why are these miscreants allowed to continually scour credit files on debts that have long since gone past the stat barred and at the same time as this they quite obviously have software linked to the CRA's that flag individuals activity

Just so very wrong.

Hi Deb

Yes to ignore......with regards to the snooping...not a lot you can do as the Credit Agencies the DCAs and the Legislation in part are all part and parcel and in bed together..rigged to keep a corrupt industry rolling and making profits inflicting harassment and misery on the less fortunate...to feed the few who control it.

Rant over

Andy

There could be a DPA breach here – over processing – but you have to be prepared to make trouble about it. Whatever debt they are chasing, I would have thought that the authority to access your file would be in relation to that debt – and not to new matters. As AO says above, probably not a lot you can do about it.

You could treat yourself to a written complaint to the ICO.

I'll write to the ICO, there is nothing the DCA can do regarding the debt so there are no concerns on that score and as such any letter to the ICO can only be a positive step.

I'm guessing there isn't a template for a letter re these circumstances but any pointer would be much appreicated.

Until you send the SB letter mentioning the FCA conc rule

They are quite entitled to ask for payment in England &Wales

The debt still exists

I'm with BF on this one ICO for sure but it will get tricky for DCA and CRAs after May 2018, they will probably find themselves in breach of the GDPR rules , if they use their usual MO and the fines for unlawful processing of data under that one are humungous.

"Key areas for companies to watch out for, said Ustaran, are the basic principles for processing, including conditions for consent, the data subjects’ rights and the conditions for lawful international data transfers. Large-scale risk to people’s privacy is likely to be a major factor in deciding who to fine and how much, he said."

DCA's and CRA's breach the informed consent part daily

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450401190/UK-firms-could-face-122bn-in-data-breach-fines-in-2018

Is this Lowell? I have seen a letter recently with this exact phrase?

The debt hasnt gone away, it just cant be enforced.

Some DCA's trawl through old debtors files and then when they find something like a new credit agreement on your file they assume that you have money to spend so they ask you for some.

Whilst they are doing this they also ask the creditor permission to act on their behalf and earn a fee for anything they get as a result.

A similar thing is with the firms of lawyers who act as "heir hunters".

They scour the govt intestacy announcements and find potential inheritors and get them to sign a contract that hands over a slice of the estate before they tell the likely recipient who it was who died and how much the estate is.

That way it makes it harder for the distant relative to work it out for themselves and make a claim directly.

With the DCA though it means they are retaining personal date way beyond any time that they could lawfully process it and actively nose into people's credit files.

Now this has to be unfair and excessive as the DCA will have obtained the details for a fixed purpose and now they use it for something else.

As said,

the simplest thing would be to bar them access to the credit files without explicit permission from either the creditor or the individual

Now the creditor isnt going to be interested after 6 years as they know that it is dead in the water so this would stop them from noseying around but as the CRA's get a couple of quid every time someone goes fishing they arent going to voluntarily introduce such a scheme.

It really needs the ICO to demand sight of the DCA's records in the case of a complaint and then hammer them for keeping things beyond their use by date and improper processing

@ericsbrother "It really needs the ICO to demand sight of the DCA's records in the case of a complaint and then hammer them for keeping things beyond their use by date and improper processing"

They might have a surprise next May when GDPR is implemented.