Thanks.. They've backed down pretty sharpish given all I've done (so far) is effectively strongly worded SAR & discovery attempt. I was guessing this was another attempt by Cabot & MH's letter states they passed my 'file' back to them. But I still want to know what was in it & why they started the trace attempt in the first place, if as the letter states they had no debt to pursue. Then I can work up to Cabot Looks like both the trace agent & MH have broken a couple of laws, so formal complaints will be off to the ICO, Trading Standards & FSO anyway. One way I guess of making Cabot stop their cowboy behaviour is making it more expensive & time consuming to deal with their supposed debts.

Quick update. I received letters back from the debt tracing company & also from Mackenzie Hall. Both amusingly called a 'final response', but I'm not sure I've finshed with them yet. I also think perhaps I've acted a little prematurely.. MH claim not to hold any agreements or deeds of assignment, so I don't know what they were intending to do, or their role & perhaps lost a little in not getting them to try to claim they had the debt against me. But it's odd given their letter head states they're debt recovery & trace consultants. If they'd contracted the DCA to do the trace, then suggests their role is recovery, but they seem to have admitted they have no legal right to do so. More amusingly, MH say the accept no complaint, and refer me to Cabot & the FOS, which at least on the FOS part is perhaps good advice

One letter winging it's way to DCA No 3 asking them to explain themselves & where they got my data from. Figured I'd start with them & then move on to Cabot as if they provided my info to the DCA, they seem clearly in breach of the DPA. This time, I'm planning to take as much legal action against them as I can & anything I win am willing to contribute to this site as it seems to be doing a good job

Thanks.. I guess their behaviour could be laughable, if it weren't for their tactics & apparent abuse of the law. I'm composing another more strongly worded letter to Cabot & attaching the original data protection letter, asking why they're continuing to pursue this without any proof that the debt exists, along with a similar letter to the new DCA. But seeing as this is the 3rd time this has happened now, I'm also looking for tips on what legal action or formal complaints I can make. I'm pretty certain they're in breach of the DPA, but unsure whether there's anything I can hit them with under the FSA. The information here about the CCA's been helpful understanding some of those angles.

Howdy, it's nice to see that it's not just me having issues with this lot. My story (so far)- About 3 years ago, my parents received a letter from a company urgently trying to trace me. They passed it on to me & I discovered it was a debt collection agency (DCA1) who reckoned I owed Cabot roughy £2500 for a consumer credit agreement entered into with Barclays from 1992. I dispute the claim & sent SAR's to DCA1 & Cabot asked for any & alll information held, and not to process or transfer any of my personal information until the dispute had been resolved. I'd called Cabot & they'd asked me to confirm some personal info, like my date of birth, which they reckoned was wrong. Alarm bells started ringing & when I got some of the information back from Cabot, the DoB they had was wrong, along with some dates & addresses. So I suspect the original debt was not mine. DCA1 never responded to the SAR other than saying the £10 p.o. I'd attached to pay for that was an insufficient payment for their client.. I wrote again to Cabot disputing the debt & asking them to cease & desist until they provided proof that the debt was mine, and querying why it had taken so long to pursue it, leading to it being statute barred. I didn't get any response. About a year later, I received a letter from DCA2 making the same claim. I owed them money, pay up or else. I called them, explained the debt was disputed and the circumstances. I also sent them an SAR along with the do not process statement until the dispute had been settled. They claimed it was up to me to prove it was not my debt, which I'm not convinced is accurate or legal & I should contact the police and get a crime number if I suspected it was ID fraud. They also claimed that because I disputed I was the person responsible for the debt, they couldn't provide me more information about the debt because of the DPA, which was an unusual response, and asked me to supply more of my personal information. I declined, pointing out that the free transfer of my personal information is probably what got me into this mess in the first place. I also pointed out that because I'd told Cabot not to trade or process my personal data until the dispute had been resolved, they may be in breach of the DPA for having it (along with Cabot). DCA2 apologised (verbally) and said they'd drop the matter. This week I received a letter from another company addressed to 'The Occupier' trying to trace me, and from checking Companies House & the DPR, appear to be another DCA connected to Cabot.. Which is how I ended up here So.. Any suggestions what I should do? I've moved on from just trying to get the matter closed to looking at how I can get Cabot punished as it looks like they're not exactly a nice company.