DEBT

[mumof2littlemonkeysx]

wondering if anyone has been in this position before ?

I have been with ScottishPower since I moved into my home in 2019 but I have been contacted by a debt company called credit style
To say I owe £300 to peoples energy who have now went out of business. I have NEVER heard of this company nor do they supply my electric i have a pre payment meter with Scottish power. I was wondering on what I can do next ? I have tried to call the debt collectors but They will not answer my calls? I have sent them several emails to. I'm a panic head and this is making me ill☹️

Contact Scottish Power and query what has happened. Do not send money or details to this company until you have clarification that it is legitimate.

How did they contact you? If they've emailed you make sure that you've not opened attachments or clicked on links. It sounds like a scam to me!

Is the letter addressed to you or to the occupier/homeowner?

@OohRahhMaki I phoned Scottish power yesterday who said my energy supply have always been with them since I moved in to property. I have also contacted citizens advice who have clarified that credit style are a legitimate debt collection company. They first contacted me by text to tell me to call them urgently so I did. I gave them my name and address but I soon ended call after he asked me what area that it was in? As I thought to myself this doesn't sound right. The next day I have a letter through the door. Now they will not answer my calls

@Whiskersonkittens21 it is addressed to me, but I think the reason for this as they asked me to confirm my name and address on phone on Wednesday after they sent me a text to phone them urgently, then on the Thursday I received the letter.

Scam

I work in debt advice and whilst CAB are right, Credit Style are a legitimate debt collection agency it doesn't mean this isn't someone trying to impersonate them. Unfortunately at the minute there is a scam of people pretending to be debt advice organisations or debt collection agencies to get money out of people as obviously it scares you.

Normally however it doesn't go to the extent of sending letters etc.

Usually I'd expect you to be able to clear it up quite quickly by speaking to Credit Style, is it the number on their website that they aren't answering?

@Whiskersonkittens21 is there a way I can prove this debt isn't mines? I think I might have to seek legal advice. Yes it's the number on their website every time I ring it tells me to put my reference number in I'm on hold for 10/20 mins each time then an automated voice tells me someone will be in touch, but I just find it strange as they were quick to answer the phone after sending me a text to phone them
Urgently but as soon as they have sent the letter I get no answers

[quote mumof2littlemonkeysx]@Whiskersonkittens21 is there a way I can prove this debt isn't mines? I think I might have to seek legal advice. Yes it's the number on their website every time I ring it tells me to put my reference number in I'm on hold for 10/20 mins each time then an automated voice tells me someone will be in touch, but I just find it strange as they were quick to answer the phone after sending me a text to phone them
Urgently but as soon as they have sent the letter I get no answers[/quote]
Normally I'd be advising you to log a formal complaint with Credit Style and sending proof of your contract with Scottish Power and how long you've been with them and I'd expect Credit Style to investigate it for you. Normally you can't escalate a complaint to the ombudsman (Ofgem) without having complained directly first and allowing 8 weeks to pass or to of received an outcome from the complaint you aren't happy with. In your scenario though it might be worth going straight to Ofgem and explaining the situation and see if they can step in early for you. They may not do but there isn't much else you can do. (I'm not trained in legal advice so a solicitor might be able to advise more legal standpoint you can take) I would also make a GDPR subject access request to Credit Style to get access to any information they hold on you if you do get to speak to them so you can see for yourself.

@Whiskersonkittens21 thank you for your advice it's really appreciated. I will do what you've said and make a formal complaint with credit style and I will contact ofgem in the mean time to see if they can resolve the issue quicker. On the ofgem website it's not actually coming up that credit style are a business do you know why this could be ?

OFGEM will only list energy suppliers as a business. Debt collection agencies are regulated by the financial conduct authority. I've tried to attach a pic of them on the register for the FCA, if it hasn't worked go to www.register.fca.org.uk and search them under "firms"

@Whiskersonkittens21 yes thank you managed to find them on the FCA website. Do you know how I will make a complaint to ofgem if it won't let me select them as the people I want to complain about? Will I need to put the complaint under peoples energy?

[quote mumof2littlemonkeysx]@Whiskersonkittens21 yes thank you managed to find them on the FCA website. Do you know how I will make a complaint to ofgem if it won't let me select them as the people I want to complain about? Will I need to put the complaint under peoples energy?[/quote]
Yeah you'll put it as peoples energy and just include about Credit Style in the description.

@Whiskersonkittens21 thank you for your help

[quote mumof2littlemonkeysx]@Whiskersonkittens21 thank you for your help[/quote]
Your very welcome, best of luck.

@Whiskersonkittens21 sorry to be a pain but do you have any idea on what I can do next ?

[quote mumof2littlemonkeysx]@Whiskersonkittens21 sorry to be a pain but do you have any idea on what I can do next ? [/quote]
So on Peoples Energy website it has the two administrators for the company so could be worth either trying to contact them to deal with it or British Gas to see if they had any details about you passed to them to try and begin to track it down.

I've screenshot the webpage so you can see the names and also the bit about them passing debts to Credit Style

Sorry if someone has already suggested this but have you tried to Google the phone numbers they gave you that were answered quickly? It should give you some more info if it's a scam hopefully

Join 'Beat the Bailiffs' in fb. They will tell you what to do and will stop you worrying .

@sleighbellsjiggling

I can't Google the number I received the text on as the number doesn't come up it came up with CLS and no number is there. Not sure why exactly