Debt collectors have admitted they have our details in error but still chasing us

[toomanydicksonthedancefloor1]

So we've owned a house since it was built in 2000, a tenant has lived there from 2010 with no issues at all, great tenant.

18m ago tenant got a letter from a property debt collection company but the name on the letter and the business property the debt related to (£5000!) is unknown to us and our tenants. We rang them and they checked their records and they had sent the letter to the wrong address, said they'd update their records. This has continued and we've now received 4-5 letters. Me and our tenants are worried about our credit ratings. Every time we contact them or the company that instructed them they both admit their records are wrong and they weren't updated last time we contacted them. Rinse and repeat! This time I put in an official complaint by email and they won't respond. I've given them to the weekend and then said I will be contacting FOS, and citizens advice. But they've never responded to a single email. And I don't mind naming and shaming them - Property Debt Collections Ltd and the company that instructed them are called TWS Property based in Doncaster. The property company also never update their records, they also say they will contact the debt collection company but never do.

Can anyone suggest anything else? I'm out of ideas and this has taken up enough of my time.

It won't do anything to your credit ratings if it's in a different name. They go on names and not addresses. So don't worry about that.

A credit rating is linked to a person not an address.

You tenants need to keep ID accessible to show if bailiffs turn up they are not the people they are chasing as well as a copy of their tenancy contract.

Local paper, Companies House.

Well that was the other concern, bailiffs turning up. But the debt itself doesn't relate to our house address, it's a hair salon which is a few streets away, which I believe went out of business a while ago. I'm presuming that's why they never paid £5000 in rent. They've told us the correct address is (just an example) 'flat 4 woodman court' and our address is '4 woodman street'. So that's what makes it so frustrating, they admit every time they know it's the wrong address but don't do anything.

I had presumed bad debts could be linked to an associated address, so thanks for putting me right. That is a relief, it really is. Me and my husband are the type of people who check our credit score on Clear Score regularly ha ha.

Someone just mentioned Companies House, do you mean you can report companies to them?

Really appreciate all the

Not entirely similar but it may be useful. My husband had an issue with another person with the same name born on the same day (different middle name) recking up loads of debts so there were being linked to him and we kept getting letters.

Companies often refused to remove and often chased for payment despite us telling them to remove this erroneous record as it was trashing his credit worthiness and his credit score was through the floor due to all the defaults.

In the end we went to the Information Commissioners for advice and they were brilliant once we had exhausted the official complaints process with the debt collectors. After a couple of the cases being referred to the ICO they suddenly started playing ball and they eventually got removed.

Oh thanks for that. I deal with ICO actually through work and I don't know why this hasn't occurred to me. They've been very helpful and knowledgeable when I've contacted them before. Thank you.

Interesting that people are saying credit rating is not linked to address. I’ve seen plenty of stories in the past saying that credit rating IS affected by previous occupants at the same address and is even affected by postcode, in the same way that insurance quotes are affected by your postcode.
However in your case it isn’t relevant anyway, because they’ve used the wrong address in any case and the debt is from another address.

Credit rating is linked to a person, not an address. It may be different in other counties but in the uk it is against the person.

With regard to insurance, that is linked to an address as you may be in a prolific car crime area or an area that always floods which will affect premiums.

I would like to see some verification. I have definitely seen accounts in the past of people being refused loans etc, and eventually finding out that it was linked to previous occupants of their house, and the credit reference agencies pretty much admitting that they do include the credit rating of previous occupants as a factor.

@FictionalCharacter

www.experian.co.uk/consumer/guides/location-and-address.html

Hit send too soon.

Clearly people have been telling you prokies

Thank you!

Don’t overthink this. We have had 2 separate sets of bailiffs turn up at our place for the previous tenants. A 2 min explanation and a quick flash of ID solves the problem.