Water pursuing me for Mum's debt

[PILEALLTHEPILLSONTHEFLOOR]

Hi, is this legal? My mum and I used to live in an address about 4 years ago and the water company are now chasing me for her debt. I have never been responsible for bills there as I was a child at the time.

They have sent it to a collections agency and are now insisting that I take responsibility for her debt. My credit has dropped 80 points from Excellent to Fair. My Mum is insisting that it's some kind of scam but I don't think it is if my credit has already dropped so far.

Complain to the water company asking them to sort it out and if it isn't resolved to your satisfaction use the ombudsman service.

shouldn't the ccj be against her not me?

Pass on your dms address to the debt collection agency.

I don't imagine this has got to CCJ stage yet. It would have had to go to court for that to be the case.

Utility bills can go on your credit report and affect your score if they're marked as in default / unpaid etc.

It's likely they sent a form and she declared that it's not her debt, it's yours. She's given them your name and address. If you go and see your mum today and show her the number on the debt collection letter, she can ring them and pay the debt over the phone. That will end all of this.

I never understand posters who advise to complain to the CEO. The CEO wouldn't care to get involved and big companies (like water companies) and most other companies have a process for complaints where you submit a complaint. They have to deal with it within 72 hours and it gets investigated. Then a final response letter is issued, THEN you can go to the FOS or Ombudsman. It's not as simple as just being to a CEO and going to the ombudsman.

op it sounds like you were scammed or something as it definitely doesn't seem right!

she would never do that.

@PILEALLTHEPILLSONTHEFLOOR when you speak to them on Monday, ask them for something in writing explaining why they have targeted you

This should help in restoring your credit record

Definitely get it in writing because the fact that they have gone after someone who was a child living at that address? Honestly, I think you should get some compensation for that.

Your mum should be paying the bill so that will sort that out but separate from that, I'm thinking how you can get your credit restored.

I know it's stressful waiting until Monday, but I don't think there's a way round it

I got chased for a bill for an address. I lived at more than 25 years ago. When I was eventually able to speak to someone at the debt collection company they immediately checked it on their database and said it was a mixup. Bizarre.

that also happened to me on a Saturday and it was really stressful. I feel for you.

These big companies sell on debts to debt collectors who will try to get money out of anyone they can. Get your mum to pay it to get them off your back, if they are pursuing you it probably means they can't find her or she has refused to pay or do you have similar names? They may think you are her.

You have spoken to her about this debt and she told you it was a scam. She did not say, 'Hang on, that's not your debt it's mine.'

Why didn't she say that. Does she deny that the debt is hers?

Have you asked her and she confirmed that? When you lived together how old were you? Why isn't she paying it when you've told her what's happening?

I think your mum is lying to you OP, no matter how much you deny it.

She knows that you have debt collectors coming after you for her debt and she knows it's affecting your credit rating and possibly putting you in a financially difficult position yourself.

You should be discussing this with her. Why is she letting you take the rap for her debt?

I am one of those posters. I complained to Barclaycard's CEO about something on my mother's account which she had been trying to get them to investigate for 6 months. Within 2 weeks it was sorted and she had a refund and apology via the "Executive ComplaintsTeam".

Similarly when British Gas cocked up my boiler installation I complained to their CEO and had a similar experience (and got a discount on the final bill).

I worked in a customer service team role many years ago. It's absolutely worth addressing your complaint to the person in charge, especially at big companies.

So when your mum said it’s a scam, did you not say ‘so you have no debt to this water company then?’

Why is your mother not paying her own water bill?

Check MoneySavingExpert's site which has a lot of info on how you can restore your credit rating.
I've had a letter from so a called debt collectors and it did turn out to be a fake company which I reported and heard no more about it. I also had a few letters addressed to an unknown someone who had never lived here. I asked our lovely postwoman, about it and she took it away to report it to their office, never saw another letter like that again.

So it may be worth doing some research at companies house... via gov.uk and also seeing if you can find anything on one of those scam alert websites. Just in case.

Best of luck x

Did you say there's a CCJ against you for it? How did that happen? Did you not go to the court?

Ask the water company for copies of the original invoices which should be in your mum's name. Send these to the debt collectors so they know who they should be chasing.
Ask for written proof that the debt is no longer in your name & send this to whichever credit rating company you're using.

No, she didn't. She said it's with debt collectors. Other people have - wrongly - said that the debt would only affect her credit score if there's a CCJ.

@PILEALLTHEPILLSONTHEFLOOR you mention Cambridge Water. Is it them who are pursuing you or another company?

If I remember rightly Cambridge water provide the clean supply but another company, probably Anglian, will process the waste.

Raise a formal complaint with the water company and escalate it as high as possible. They should be putting the account on hold while they resolve it. They are also the ones to reverse any reporting on your credit file for that account.

You need to complain to the credit reference agencies that there is a mistake on your file and a debt that is not yours has been assigned to you.

Why is your mother allowing them to hound you for her debt?

are you saying the Collection Agency letters are arriving at your house with your name on the correspondence?

how can that happen if you were a child? Who has given them your details, it doesn't make any sense

I know, it's weird.

amazing how some people can survive through life, nothing on this thread adds up.