Housemate moved to Australia and left debt

[alexmccabe]

Hi guys,

 

I was referred here by a colleague because you were helpful to him.

 

I was living with a friend up until recently. He has moved to Australia (15th September he left). Since his departure we have received many letters from various companies, but I have no idea of their names. The envelopes are blank, with nothing but his name and a return PO Box address on them.

 

This morning we received a hand delivered letter, which is the calling card of debt collectors I am lead to believe. Again I don't know the company involved.

 

I have spoken to said housemate about this, and he said that he knows his debts and will telephone them to sort it out, but I have little faith in this.

 

Obviously I do not wish to have debt collectors knocking at our door demanding money/goods/whatever, and I am wondering the best course of action.

 

Thanks.

[Conniff]

Welcome Alex, do you know the amount of these debts ?

[alexmccabe]

Welcome Alex, do you know the amount of these debts ?

 

Thanks Conniff. Unfortunately I do not, and the person in question will refuse to tell me if I asked him.

[Conniff]

As he has left you in it, the friendship seems a little one way, in that case, if you know his address in Oz, pass that on to the dca's.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

As these are not your debts, if s debt collector did turn up, you could give them your flatmates new address and let them worry about it.

 

It does concern me that letters are arriving with no return address on them. Official letters need to have something on them for returned mail, even just a simple address on the back flap of the envelope.

 

With any debt collector, you can tell them to go away and they must. they have no power at all.

[alexmccabe]

As he has left you in it, the friendship seems a little one way, in that case, if you know his address in Oz, pass that on to the dca's.

 

Tell me about it. It's been... interesting. I will try to get his address. Thank you for the advice, having never dealt with anything like this I was unsure.

 

It does concern me that letters are arriving with no return address on them. Official letters need to have something on them for returned mail, even just a simple address on the back flap of the envelope.

 

There is a POBox address, but no company name.

 

With any debt collector, you can tell them to go away and they must. they have no power at all.

 

I had no idea of this, those American TV shows always show them forcefully taking belongings. Haha. It's reassuring to know that this won't happen, but it is still a hassle to deal with them. Thanks.

[citizenB]

 

The envelopes are blank, with nothing but his name and a return PO Box address on them.

 

 

Can you let us know the PO box address, we can usually track down who the DCA is via this.

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi guys,

 

I was referred here by a colleague because you were helpful to him.

 

I was living with a friend up until recently. He has moved to Australia (15th September he left). Since his departure we have received many letters from various companies, but I have no idea of their names. The envelopes are blank, with nothing but his name and a return PO Box address on them.

 

This morning we received a hand delivered letter, which is the calling card of debt collectors I am lead to believe. Again I don't know the company involved.

 

I have spoken to said housemate about this, and he said that he knows his debts and will telephone them to sort it out, but I have little faith in this.

 

Obviously I do not wish to have debt collectors knocking at our door demanding money/goods/whatever, and I am wondering the best course of action.

 

Thanks.

 

You can open the letters to see what they are about. It is only illegal if you committed an offence using the information.

 

Which company hand delivered a calling card ? If you can find out this, then it might help understand whether it is general debt collection or a process server for court actions.

 

If you are renting the house, get the letting agent or landlord to provide something which confirms your friend has moved out. E.g revised tenancy agreement or letter.

 

If you provide them with your friends Aussie address then they can chase them there, but it would be difficult to enforce the debt abroad.

 

Whilst it has nothing to do with you and should not cause you any problems, it would be wise to make sure everyone who contacts your address, know the situation. Keep a copy of any letter or tenancy agreement to provide to anyone enquiring.

[alexmccabe]

Can you let us know the PO box address, we can usually track down who the DCA is via this.

 

I am at work at the moment, but I will post it (them?) after I get home later this afternoon.

 

 

You can open the letters to see what they are about. It is only illegal if you committed an offence using the information.

 

I did not know this. He's asked me to throw them away, so I'll take a peek first.

 

 

If you are renting the house, get the letting agent or landlord to provide something which confirms your friend has moved out. E.g revised tenancy agreement or letter.

 

Just got onto the landlord for this, they're being slow. Great idea though. Thanks!

[caledfwlch]

Tell me about it. It's been... interesting. I will try to get his address. Thank you for the advice, having never dealt with anything like this I was unsure.

 

 

 

There is a POBox address, but no company name.

 

 

 

I had no idea of this, those American TV shows always show them forcefully taking belongings. Haha. It's reassuring to know that this won't happen, but it is still a hassle to deal with them. Thanks.

 

No they don't in many ways US Citizens have more protections from Debt Collectors than in the UK - an unusual thing, Debt Collectors do not visit, for a very specific reason!

"Hi, mr Jones, I am from Lowell Fin BANG BANG" "Sorry officer, thought he was a burglar, and just happened to have my assault rifle out" "fair enough Mr Jones, have a nice day"

 

What you have seen are Repo Men, something quite different, and have you noticed that they always do it as quickly as possible, and hope to god the Debtor does not see them? Again, because they have little defence from being shot, US citizens have much stronger property rights - the law does not ban Repo Men from existing, but afaik it doesn't give them any special protections at all, its tresspass, and its generally ok to gun down tresspassers over there if you "feared for your life" and let's be honest, looking at the people doing the Repo work, you wouldn't assume they are Mormons, you would assume they are burglarls, or criminals of some sort, something backed up by the fact they generally do have long criminal records, its not the employment choice of normal, law abiding people for obvious reasons. It is why home evictions are carried out by specially employed members of Police and Sheriff's Departments, as gunning down a uniformed Law Officer IS an offence.

[Mr.P]

He's asked me to throw [the letters] away, so I'll take a peek first.

 

Don't bin the letters. Stick a label across your address and write on it "Return to sender. Not known at this address", then pop it in a post box. You don't need to stick a stamp on it, if any postage is due, the sender will pick up the tab.