In-Laws Being Harrassed for (my) old (and settled?) debt!! Please help!

[Cherielabombe]

Hi there -

 

I'm an American, now married to a Brit, who lived in the UK for about 10 years.

 

In my first few years in the UK I did not make very much money

and foolishly ended up getting into debt with credit cards and a loan in order to keep my head above water.

 

I ended up amassing about £10,000 worth of debt, which I ended up facing up to in 2006.

 

I contacted creditors, set up payment arrangements and all that stuff.

 

Thanks to the help of this forum I ended up getting several of them written off,

and I paid the ones I believed I was legally obliged to pay.

 

In January 2012,

I moved to the United Arab Emirates with my husband, and

 

late last year I realized I was living in another country and had been paying those debts for over six years

(original plan was to pay for five). So I stopped paying them.

 

Fast-forward to yesterday.

 

I received an email from my in-laws in the UK, who have received a letter from MK Rapid Recoveries,

claiming I owe £1500 for a Barclaycard debt from 2006!

 

I did have a Barclaycard debt and had reached an arrangement with another DCA in 2007,

and paid them until late last year.

 

I investigated this today and have discovered that Barclaycard listed me as "in default" in 2009,

in spite of the fact that I had been making regular payments on the debt,

and now list the debt as settled.

 

Interestingly though MK Rapid Recoveries have ALSO put a default for the same amount

and the same year on my record! I know this was not there before.

 

I have never actually lived at my in-laws but I this year I did work a temporary job in the UK this summer

and I had to be CRB-checked.

 

For paperwork purposes I needed to give them an address

and so I had to put my in-laws down, and this included updating a CC address.

I then forgot about it and I am certain the DCA found my in-laws' address by pinging my credit file.

 

I intend to post some letters stating that I do not acknowledge the debt,

have never lived at this address and requesting that any correspondence regarding this account be sent to my UAE address.

 

I updated my in-laws and was thinking that was the end of that.

 

BUT THEN this afternoon they contacted me to say they have received ANOTHER post from ANOTHER DCA (Moorcroft)

attempting to confirm whether I not I live at this address

and sniffing around in regards to a Nat West debt which I believe I have paid off - it is not even on my credit file!

 

I know I am responsible for the debt I accrued back in the early 00s, and I am willing to deal with the DCAs.

 

But I do NOT want my in-laws dragged into this.

 

They have been frugal all their lives, have excellent credit

and I know are terrified of being dragged due to debt they had nothing to do with!

 

I do not believe I owe either DCA anything and am unafraid to get in correspondence with them

or give them my UAE address.

 

But I definitely do not want them bothering my in-laws!

 

What can I do to ensure they do not harrass my in-laws? Thank you for your help!

[unclebulgaria67]

Get the in-laws to send on the letter to you in the UAE. Then write back to them with evidence of being a resident of the UAE and that the address they sent their letter to is a third parties address, used many years ago as a very temporary mail forwarding address. In the letter you can advise that you know nothing of this debt. Perhaps amend the letter in this link to suit.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387363-You-know-nothing-of-the-Debt-Prove-It

 

If your in-laws start receiving any other communications, get them to return everything to the sender, as the person does not reside at the address. Once you have send your letter, the debt company should stop trying to contact you via the in-laws.

[dx100uk]

or just get them to write on the envelopes

not at this address without opening them

 

and put them back in the post box.

return to sender

 

legally that's the right thing to do.

 

they should not be opening your mail.

 

dx