Debt letter - from 2005 - in my name but not my debt

[theressomanytinafeysicouldbe]

I received a letter today, addressed to me in my maiden name - i married in 2005 and changed my name then. It stated I owe nearly a thousand pounds for a provident loan. Contact the company and the loan, which is obviously with debt collectors, was taken out in 2007. It was taken out in an address in the town I live in but have never lived anywhere near that address. I asked for what number of the street it was so i could look at the old electoral road but they said due to the age of the debt they had minimal information. I gave them the address I lived at at the time the loan was taken out and who I banked with at the time, but again they only have minimal details. They said they have closed it on their end and will pass it back to the original debtor.

I'm not very good with things like this, do I need to contact the police or wait until the original company contact me and prove it wasn't me. Surely if it was a loan they would have needed ID so if I show them my ID etc it will prove it was not me? I have just checked my credit report and I can't see the debt on there but then if it was from 18 years ago I can't see how it would be on there.

Just looking for advise really?

I would make a note of who you phoned, spoke to (if you had a name), what was discussed and the action spoken. If possible , give them a call back and ask them to put it writing that it has been closed.

However, I also think that there’s a limit of six years for debt (not that it’s your debt).

https://nationaldebtline.org/get-information/summaries/statute-barred-debts-ew/

I would ignore it it is so old that nothing could happen anyway.

I am just really concerned that 2008 I bought my husband out of the house and the mortgage broker couldn't get the first mortgage she tried so had to go with another one. Did this affect my application and did i pay a higher rate on the mortgage due to this.

She did say would there be anything on my credit file and I said no because i only had mobile phone bill,,,,,I never thought to check at the time

Do nothing. The debt is too old up chase. FYI, in future - (although this is highly unlikely) never ring a debt collector. Always write a letter or send an email. This protects you from the unscrupulous end of debt collection and it also provides an audit trail.

I did it over an online chat and asked them to email me the chat script, which they did. But yes, i will bare that in mind should anything else turn up, thank you 😀

Well clearly someone else with the same name as you (or impersonating you) took out a loan and they have never paid it back. The lender has eventually passed the details on to the debt collection agency in the hope that the person with the debt can be found. The debt collection agency has had a good look and found records in your maiden name, and assumed it was you, so that's how come you received the letter. You've told them it was not you and they have referred it back to the originator. So that is probably going to be the end of it.

Collection Companies that buy up old debts for pennies in the pound will often look for anybody with the same/similar name or some other loose criterion that a load of people have in common and send demands to all of them, in the hope that they might strike lucky and one of then will be the right one; or that they will terrify somebody into paying up anyway (maybe frightened about their credit score), even though have no connection whatsoever to the actual debtor with the same name.