Equidebt/Aktiv Kapital and likely SB debt from 2001

[undernie]

Hi all,

 

Need some up to date advice. Sorry if these sound too much like beginners questions once again(since I've sort of asked generals once or twice before but under slightly different circumstances) but in a nut shell and to re-cap I ran up several reasonably hefty debts in the late 1990s and up to 2000 with several creditors and after getting into financial hot water (loss of salary at the time) and taking what I think in retrospect was bad advice from my partner at the time who worked in a bank, I ceased paying these debts and sort of "disappeared" off the radar. My last acknowledgement/and payment to any of these debts was last done by approx May 2001 at the latest.

 

No creditor or DCA ever traced me to my actual current address until now (my previous land lord informed me of DCA letters arriving sporadically for me at my previous address as far back as 2004, but I was never personally in receipt of any of them, all mostly returned to sender in the end, stopping around 1 1/2 years ago, and if I hadn't remained in contact with him, would not have even known about them)

 

Now just yesterday, I receive a letter from a company called Equidebt Ltd, stating basically, that after several attempts to contact me (no previous attempts that I am aware of) they are writing to ask for payment of an outstanding balance of £xxxx. No mention of what this debt is, or to whom, except that at the top of the letter there is a reference number for them and below this an account number of a company called Aktiv Kapital UK ltd (dodgy as hell spelling for a company) who I have never heard of or ever had any dealings with in my life. I certainly never had any debts with them, unless they are a dca that bought one of my old debts from somewhere, but the letter doesn't say. For a dca letter it's not threatening and seems quite nicey nicey compared to the horror stories I've read on here, just advising me not to ignore the letter but to contact them to arrange repayment in some way.

 

First of all, my debts should now all be statute barred as far as I can tell, although I must confess I haven't taken the plunge and requested my credit report so don't know what is on there if anything. It should be empty now right? After 10 years of no further credit cards/loans or anything except for the automatic overdraft facility on my bank account?

 

In which case, should I just:

 

1.)Ignore this for the time being and see what they do next?

2.)Send a request for proof to Equidebt right away?

3.)Check my credit file myself with say, experian, to see what's on it.

4.)Or just immediately send an SB letter?(Seems to me that might be a bit quick off the mark when I haven't seen my credit file or any proof they might have)

 

Please advise if you can. I would appreciate it. I have been reading some of these boards but none that I came across this evening was exactly like mine with the Equidebt company.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[Revenant]

Morning undernie

 

Using your list if I were you I'd go this way . . .

 

1 3 1 2 1 4

 

While you're making sure you have your facts right you may find more drivel arrives but it's thier money being wasted

 

Once you're sure then the SB letter can go

 

Good luck

 

R

[undernie]

Thanks for your reply revenant. I thought no one was going to at first.

 

I'm still thinking it over as to which to do first, but, as an aside, do you happen to know which is the best credit reference agency to use to see my own credit file/history and is there a way of doing it privately so that no one else can see that you've looked at it?

 

Many thanks once again.

[Revenant]

Thanks for your reply revenant. I thought no one was going to at first.

 

I'm still thinking it over as to which to do first, but, as an aside, do you happen to know which is the best credit reference agency to use to see my own credit file/history and is there a way of doing it privately so that no one else can see that you've looked at it?

 

Many thanks once again.

 

Morning

 

They're all pretty much the same and rather then register on line you could write to one of them and ask for a written report. I think it costs £2

 

R

[undernie]

Thanks once again R

 

Does applying for it in writing make it private though? I don't mind paying for it, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot. I have read on here of people having dcas coming out of the woodwork when applying for their free report on line. Is this because it was the free version or what?

[Revenant]

Thanks once again R

 

Does applying for it in writing make it private though? I don't mind paying for it, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot. I have read on here of people having dcas coming out of the woodwork when applying for their free report on line. Is this because it was the free version or what?

 

Hi undernie

 

I would tend to think that it could well provide a link for DCA's to follow but unfortunately you do need to know what's on file, registering on line will definately flag you up

 

R

[undernie]

Thanks for your last reply R

 

To be honest that's what I think too and will be expecting it, although 2 other members on the credit reference agency threads said it doesn't really matter and one even went as far as to say that its a myth that looking at your own credit file alerts DCAs. However, if they do periodic checks for people/cases they have on file then they will definitely notice, especially as I am having to prove to Equifax and Experian who I am with scans of my passport and utility bills(I'm not on the electoral roll yet OBVIOUSLY). I can't even access my credit report yet as I have to wait for them to process my verification and this was done on-line and can take up to 3 days. So much for having instant on-line access!!!

 

I guess the only thing I have going for me is all my debts are over 10years old I just hope that there are no CCjs without my knowledge or dodgy things that the DCAs may have done over the years when they couldn't find me before time ran out.