As far as I can tell the OFT are about as much use as a chocolate fire-guard..! I would be seriously considering instigating a commercial lien against him for the Tort of harassment myself.!

This is where the "Always read the terms and conditions" part of any advice passed on to any one comes in.. There is always a catch, remember too that in order for any terms and conditions to apply after the sale, they must use the proper protocol of informing you via a "Notice of Sale or assignment" of the account . If they do not do this, then the agreement or contract is voided by not informing you of their intent to change the terms and conditions or whom they are assigning as third party intervener which must be individually agreed by you and the original creditor BEFORE they sell the account on. So when the Notice of sale or assignment arrives, if you do not want to pay a third party, Write and tell them so. When I do this, I always include my own terms and conditions in a "Notice of conditional acceptance" such as stipulating that in order for you to accept the sale of your account to a third party, and that they must agree to keep the original payment plan or the current amended one. This way the DCA can not get you over a barrel and screw any more money out of you, or try to increase payments or the actual amount by adding their own charges and fees on.. Just my two penarth worth..

Forgive me for being dumb here, but isn't that all you need to see? They "bought" the Alleged Debt thereby paying off your alleged debt for you..Aren't they nice? you have no contractual obligation to even enter into discussions with these very nice people who have took it upon "themselves" to pay off a debt of a person they don't know, or even thought to contact to ask if you wanted them to do so.. I would be asking them who invited them into my financial affairs and who they think they are making unlawful and non-contractual demands up on me.! Surely that's demanding money without Lawful excuse..If I did it, it would be called mugging or demanding money with menaces.. I did this with Cabot with Hilarious results, once Cabot realized I was asking the right questions they "sold" the debt on to yet another DCA..! When I checked with the original creditor the account was marked as "Settled and Closed"... I would ask for the Original contract or agreement and check the terms and conditions to see if you are obliged to pay anyone else other than the Original Creditor...Its My understanding that we have no contractual obligations to any one who has "Bought a Debt" expecting you to pay them for doing so, especially when they did not ask you for your consent to enter your financial affairs.! All they can eventually do is ask you to go to a county court (Place of arbitration with a Judge sitting as a mediator, to ensure your statutory rights are adhered to) and make a formal agreement to pay a certain amount every week/month ect..ect This is what I would do and have done..Please don't construe what I have written here as legal advice as I am not qualified to give it, If you require Legal advice consult a Solicitor... All the best Kniggs.

Andrew, Someone has committed Fraud in yours or your Wife's Name..and Obtained goods or property by deception. Thats a Criminal offence. By Law you must report it to the Police, not a Government Quango..Go to your Local police station, Don't ring crime-stoppers they are no use to you..Report the crime in person. the Police support officer will definately try to fob you off.don't have it politely demand to see a Sergeant and tell him exactly what has happened and explain that you need a crime number, this puts it into their hands and out of yours..

I don't understand what your aim is here Andrew. You seem to be answering your Own questions. You have pointed out quite well what the discrepancies are and have read the appropriate acts for legal reference, so what can any one here do that you haven't? If I was in your position, I would write down point for point what you are wanting from them, and what you NEED to do is contact the Police..Someone seems to have stolen your Identity and has used it to obtain goods by deception. The Police are your Only recourse here, no matter how many letters or Notices you send, until you have reported the crime the collectors will pursue you/Your wife, as it was your/her name they used to obtain the goods. Even though its for them to prove you did..In your Position I would be exploring every avenue with regards to finding out who has done this.. A very serious Offence has taken place..

Sorry about that Andrew.. I read it wrong... Now this is a simple proof of claim.. did the agreement or contract have yours or your wife's signature on it? ..if not its not your problem.. if it is then an arrangement to pay may well be in order. .I would however fight it with SAR and CCA asking for proof of claim first. If they can not provide you with evidence of contractual obligation then they are in serious breach of the Law. I might also consider attaching a fee schedule to any replies you send to them, informing them that you are going to charge them £25 or so for each and every letter you have to read and reply to. They do it, so mirror their actions.. I will reiterate what I said before. "If you believe that someone has taken out a loan in your name and you have no knowledge of it and had nothing to do with it, then you MUST report it to the Police".

1, Don't sign anything you Don't understand or can incriminate you or admit anything to these people, they are trying it on mate..after you have informed them that the Alleged debt is statute barred they can no longer chase about after it. It is up to them to prove that you owe them anything, not for you to prove you don't..relax enjoy Christmas and don't worry..They can't come and smash your door in and start taking your things. 2, if you believe that someone has taken out a Loan in your Name with out your knowledge or has tried to use your Identity to obtain anything without your knowledge or Consent its is Fraud plain and simple, Phone the Police and inform them of the situation they will either ask you to make a statement or give you a crime number to inform Lowells that they are investigating the matter. 3, Most important... RELAX..Lowells have as much authority over you as a street sweeper, they have no powers of entry to your property with out your permission, they Obviously are trying it on, chancing that you will be scared into complying with their requests, which is all they are or can be(requests). Please remember. Debt is a Civil matter it is Not a criminal Offence to be in debt and as long as you remain honourable when you are dealing with these Thugs you will be fine. Send them a letter informing them that any implied right of access to your property is withdrawn, that will stop any chance of Unlawful door-knockers. Let us know how you get on but PLEASE don't worry about these bullies.. All the very Best ...Kniggs.

I still say Mr Hart should be reported as a vexatious litigant and stopped from taking people to court for such things.. I wonder how many others this has happened to and they have just paid him because they were scared and didn't know where to turn..Anyone taking anyone to court for any reason should be made to ensure they have all the facts and have exhausted all lines of enquiry before proceeding. ads_uk Really does need to contact the Police about this situation just to cover his Own back, it could be construed as assisting or aiding and abbetting a fraud if he doesn't.. We cannot expect anyone to abide by the law/rules and regs, if we don't ourselves eh?.. Great work guys helping ads through this.. You have helped to restore my faith in humanity...

I believe Mr Hart should be construed by the courts as a vexatious litigant and barred from wasting the courts time ever again..he has harassed ads_uk into a state of upset and in doing so has broken every rule in the book of life..This guy needs stopping ..Phone the Police and report him for harassment and demanding money with menaces or trying to obtain money by deception.!

This guy should be banned from taking any court action ever again and be treated as a vexatious litigant..Report him to the police and the OFT and Trading standards..he is a menace to society...If he claims any of his companies are linked to a trades standards organization write to them too...Don't pay a single penny till you recieve an official document from which ever court he claims he took you through...

Undue stress and worry...=£500 Time and expense researching your defense against an unjustified claim against you.....=£500 watching Mr Hart look the Tool he is in court.....= Priceless..! Great to see you have sorted this out ads_uk...well done for keeping at it..well done indeed..

*Salutes The Brig..** I heartily agree Brig..My point is..if its the original creditor, they have more to lose than a Dca..so in "MOST" cases will tow the regulatory line, because the OFT and trading standards are more stringent to regualar companies, But with DCA they expect them to break the rules, (thats why regular companies resort to using them) so any situation you involve them in (OFT and Trading standards) tends to get the old Eyes rolling and the "Oh them again" tut ..reaction from any regulatory body... Thats my opinion anyway..

What startles me most , is that any one can try to justify a Debt collection agency full stop.. Any Debt collection agency runs off peoples misery and misfortuneand most of all their fear of being taken to court..I'm not talking about debt dodgers..I am talking about people who have found themselves in a situation where paying just to live has become impossible and they have fallen into the debt trap, either by being conned by ads on tv to get a "Payday" loan to see them through, or by an over zealous company that is not willing to see things from the consumers point of view and lack the understanding of the human condition.. We must remember that when these Debt collection agencies Buy debts, they are paying 7-10% of what is being asked by the original creditor. That in itself should tell us something, like we didn't really owe that much to start with, other wise the original company would have done their level best to help the consumer pay off what was owed in its entirity.. Remember too that when a debt is bought by a DCA the original contract with the original creditor is Extinguished.i.e. It has been settled as far as the original creditor is concerned. I am currently going through this with the bunch of n00b's we know and love as Cabot.. It matters not a jot to these DCA's what your situation is, they do not care n the slightest if you are suicidal because of their actions or what misery or embarrassment they cause or create. I have found that by taking away the controversy they are creating does wonders.. I have sent numerous "Conditional acceptance " Notices to them, all the do is try to steam roller people through the fact that in reality, there is not one single thing they can do to get money from you..Yes they can take you to court, yes they can seek money liability orders, but any order is chargable, if you ordered anything from the net, you would expect to pay for it at the rate being charged by the supplier..Look in to this on the net..I can not offer advice on this as I am not qualified to do so .. Any Advice I would give would be to use the net to research everything you can about what DCA's can and cannot do..believe me they can't do much. They will realize that you are not a push over and eventually sell the debt on to another DCA.. The bottom line is this..If you have a contract with the original lender and someone volunteers to pay the debt off for you, with out your knowledge or consent, Can you beheld liable to them ?....If John owed Paul £200 and john couldn't pay Paul, But Kieth steps in and pays Paul, who owes the money to who?. Did John ask Kieth to pay Paul?.No ..so if Kieth took John to court and told the Judge.."I paid the £200 back to Paul, becuse I knew John didn't have the money"..the Judge would ask.."Did you ask John if he wanted you to do that?"...ect...ect.. A contract is between 2 or more parties Each offering mutually agreed terms, conditions and something of value that has a mutually agreed outcome and benefits all parties involved in the contract. Each party to any contract Must be party on their own free will and be in FULL knowledge of the terms and conditions and if they are not suitable to you at that time you have the right not to contract. When a DCA buys a debt, do you have the opportunity to negotiate terms and conditions with them ? or are they dictated? The latter of course, so a unilateral contract exsists, that is totally un-enforcable in Law..The Only time it becomes enforcable is if you consent to it and offer repayments to them on their terms...! This is only My view point on DCA's and How I deal with them..I am not offering this as advice, only telling my little story about what they do and how I personally see them.. Take heart every one..ALL DCA's are bottom feeders that thrive on peoples misery..Don't let the *****rds Grind you down..!

*High 5's Da Teaboy*..Most elequantly put there sir..

I would phone the Police and inform them you have requested these calls to stop and that they are aware the phone belongs to a young girl..Also inform OFT AGAIN and trading standards, if they don't stop go to your Local county court and ask for legal advice regarding your situation..I'm sure once you have made the clerk of the court aware of the situation they will help to stop this un-neccessary harassment..Keep your chin up..they are just digging themselves a deeper hole.