Bgas/BPO - wife being chased for Bgas Bill, never lived at address/ID Fraud?

[chris_m_]

My wife received a letter from BPO debt collection agency a couple of months ago demanding £1400 for an outstanding British Gas bill.   She's never had an account with British Gas so we sent them a "prove it" letter.   

 

hey have now replied with a copy of what appears to be a genuine British Gas bill, in my wife's name, but an address that we have never lived at.  The address is just down the road from our last house, that we left two years ago.

 

it appears that our ex-neighbours decided to use my wife's name to run up a huge bill, then they've done a runner without paying (the bill also says "we're sorry you're leaving") .

 

We have contacted the police but they said identity theft is not a crime and so it has not been recorded as a crime, and they will not investigate further.   They gave us a reference number which they suggested we pass onto the debt collection agency. 

 

I will write to BPO today explaining this, and I will include the police reference number.   Is there anything else I should do, anything I should be aware of?

 

Thanks in advance.

[dx100uk]

i will guess BPO's client is Lowell?

if she never lived at that address and you have written from your present address telling them it's ID theft/Fraud, then you've done all good to date.

 

simply ignore them and see if they issue a letter of claim.

 

 

[chris_m_]

Thanks.  I don't see Lowell mentioned anywhere in their letters.

[dx100uk]

Who are bpo's stated client.j

 

Dx

[chris_m_]

British Gas.

[BankFodder]

I suggest that whatever happens that you should send British Gas a subject access request immediately. Nothing to lose by getting as much information as possible to try and understand the whole story

[dx100uk]

so you've never directly to date contacted BG?

only, blindly played silly letter tennis with a powerless DCA who are NOT bailiffs and have zero legal powers on any debt no matter what it's type

 

 

[chris_m_]

"Blindly played silly letter tennis"??  I sent a "prove it letter", which is what is what is generally recommended I believe.    You yourself wrote "you've done all good to date" only a few hours ago! 

Edited July 15, 2021 by chris_m_

[dx100uk]

well until we knew BG still owned the debt.

pretty much as you've now found out ...deal with the original creditor always not a DCA unless they have sent a notice of assignment and purchased a debt. it get no-one nowhere other than being led up a garden path. though ofcourse even if they own a debt, it gains them no more powers as they were powerless in the 1st place..

 

 

[chris_m_]

46 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

I suggest that whatever happens that you should send British Gas a subject access request immediately. Nothing to lose by getting as much information as possible to try and understand the whole story

 

Thanks.  Although they shouldn't have any record of my wife at all as she's never had an account with them.  The problem here is a bill associated with an address we never lived at, and I wouldn't want to mention that address on a SAR as it could muddy the waters surely?

[BankFodder]

That's fine. If they report back that there is no record of your wife and they can't supply you with the data, that's a - Win.

[chris_m_]

I never wrote anything to the contrary, nor did I ever mention Lowells -- these were all your incorrect assumptions.   Are you here to offer help or to pick fights?

[dx100uk]

of course not just going by the usual run of these things. BPO collections are part of the lowell group

its rare for BG to do this through a fleecing chaser, they usually sell the debt on, hence my guess.

 

as bf says they'll be no data as you wife wont be on their records at the other address...

 

have you looked at her credit file?

this could get interesting if this debt shows...

 

 

[dx100uk]

Open

 

Dx

[chris_m_]

Swe finally got the information dump back following our SAR to British Gas (there has been a long delay due to some confusion initially around download links they said they'd provided but hadn't, then we moved house and other things took precedence so we didn't chase it up.   we finally have it).

The file contains lots of BG bills and documents showing my wife's name and the incorrect address

She has just sent an email to them (to the same person who emailed her the SAR information) explaining that she has never been a BG customer nor has she ever lived at that address, and asking them to correct it.

 

We've noticed the address has started showing up in credit reference company files as well so we've contacted them about it but it seems like this is a downstream problem -- they won't correct their files as long as BG is telling them that their information is correct.

 

it seems like the main thing is to get BG to correct their files. 

 

Is there anything else we should do at this point, something more "official" than the email we've already sent perhaps?  

thanks.

[dx100uk]

You say the address is appearing on credit file now?

You mean under li ked addresses or as debts at that address too?

 

Dx

[chris_m_]

Yes the incorrect address and the "debt", "missed payments" etc are appearing on her credit files.

[dx100uk]

ok well you should be able to get those dealt with through Bgas complaint.

 

have you proof of residence elsewhere for that time period you could send them?

 

[ASIIndustries]

Greetings Chris, why don't you and your wife issue "A Notice of Disassociation" with the Credit Reference Agencies, when I first looked at my credit record I was linked to over sixty people and 16 addresses.

 

After I disassociated all addresses I never lived in and people that I had no financial link with, all that remained was myself and my current address, although it took almost a year to filter through all the CRA's as I only registered with two CRA's.

Edited September 6, 2022 by ASIIndustries
typo

[dx100uk]

Experian - Add a Disassociation

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