Today Has Been A Bad Day

[Terpe]

Cutting a long story short.
A 'friend' and his wife have apparently moved to the Phils and left their debts.

All their mail is being sent to my address, which I agreed to.
I have been forwarding all their mail to the address he gave me.
Before he left he gave me his Manila address and £100 to cover costs
till he got settled.

About 2 weeks ago I received a phone call asking for him. The caller implied
he was representing his bank so I thought it was important and gave their
Phils address.

Today I received a visit from a debt collection company.

I don't really know all the grisly details but I feel really concerned
about this guy told me.
It seems the address does not exist!!

Now I am being told I am implicated as mine is the last known address!
This guy seemed quite nice at first but told me any court actions would be
served to my address, also that I would need to prove the stuff in my house
is really mine.

I think I know legally that nothing bad should happen to me, but...
I feel very stressed about this.

I have now posted a letter to this company stating my position, and that all mail received will be returned to sender as 'not known at this address'

I had no idea, I just put all mail into a packet and posted it on.

Does anyone have any suggestions what else I should do??

I keep thinking why anyone would do that to me. He must have known
waht would happen. Must admit now (in hindsight) I did wonder why
it was taking so long for him to contact me.

[purple]

That is not good Terp.

Is it possible for you to refuse any posts? Do you know the address of that "friend" here in the Philippines so we can track him down?

It could be possible that when the bank representative who contacted them in Manila, must have been denied about the true residency and identity. If you been forwarding the posts to them here in Phils. it is possible that they gave you the correct address.

[Arthur Little]

I'm vexed - and - to read that a couple whom you once regarded as "friends" could stoop so low as to land you in such a distressing predicament, Terpe ... and wonder if Citzens' Advice can assist in any way?

[Terpe]

purple, I have the address and have been forwarding mail. The Debt people say it don;t exist!!
I have suddenly lost any loyalty to him and have given that address to the Debt people.

Arthur, I feel so betrayed and let down. It's been my life to help anyone (even with HMRC) I could never imagine this. Of course eventually no legal action can be taken against me (I think and hope), But I just do not need all; this hassle and threats when I did not knowingly do anything wrong, just help out a so called friend.

Thanks for the good idea about CAB I will try that.
Just looking for good ideas from forum members on how to move forward.

It's my first time to be faced with such people as debt collectors.
As I said, at first he was very nice (a regular guy) I even gave him coffee and biscuits,
then he made such threats like I was responsible in some way.
Very stressful and scary

[stevewool]

so sorry to hear your news terpe, some people , i was in the similar situation once but my daughter it was, but i had no forwarding address at that time, i had the phone calls saying that she owed this and that , and it does make you feel like a criminal yourself, and it gets you angry, i just told them i have no idea where she was and i just returned all the mail back into the postbox , not at this address, i am sure you are fine and what is yours is yours , it could be a bully tactic and i hate those that do that, stick to what you are doing right now, and with a old friend like them who needs them

[Terpe]

so sorry to hear your news terpe, some people , i was in the similar situation once but my daughter it was, but i had no forwarding address at that time, i had the phone calls saying that she owed this and that , and it does make you feel like a criminal yourself, and it gets you angry, i just told them i have no idea where she was and i just returned all the mail back into the postbox , not at this address, i am sure you are fine and what is yours is yours , it could be a bully tactic and i hate those that do that, stick to what you are doing right now, and with a old friend like them who needs them

Thanks Steve for your support. I do feel it's bully tactics. But he made me feel so insecure. I'm still researching the internet to help me feel better.
The worst thing for me is that this so called friend knew exactly what he was doing, and how it could affect me and my family.
Thanks again for your post

[stevewool]

they are bullies terpe, just stick your ground, they make you feel horrid, and try to frighten you, if they become a nusance tell them you will call the police , sorry to say they will try to make you feel insecure calling you at your door or phoning you, you have done nothing wrong so always think that

[mickcant]

Hi Terpe,
I can think of nothing that can help, perhaps they are bulling you becouse they think you know anouther true address, hopefully they will back off when they realise you have told them all you know
Mick.

[Terpe]

Hi Terpe,
I can think of nothing that can help, perhaps they are bulling you becouse they think you know anouther true address, hopefully they will back off when they realise you have told them all you know
Mick.

Thanks Mick, I feel very insecure. Carina will go crazy when I tell her. I know just what she will say...

[KeithD]

The onus is on them to prove he lives there, not the other way round.

Do you have receipts of forwarding the post?

[joebloggs]

The onus is on them to prove he lives there, not the other way round.

Do you have receipts of forwarding the post?

i think your right scouser keith

what could they try and prosecute you for ?

the mail side, i know about, Section 84: Interfering with the mail: general

127. Section 84(1) provides for it to be an offence if persons intentionally delay or open postal packets without reasonable excuse. It amalgamates the content of offences previously included in the Post Office Act 1953.

not something your guilty of

yes i would give cab or http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ a call

[Terpe]

The onus is on them to prove he lives there, not the other way round.

Do you have receipts of forwarding the post?

Yes Keith, I do as I sent every package by special delivery. Cost a fortune. Well cost 'him' a fortune. One package cost about £20 as I recall.

I've shown the Debt collector the Post office receipts with the address but did not hand them over.

I still have no idea how is owed nor to whom.
The collections company is called Metropolitan

[joebloggs]

or even give their trade association a call http://www.csaconsumers-uk.com/welcome

their a member..

Metropolitan Collection Services Ltd

Services: Consumer Debt Collection, Tracing

[Terpe]

or even give their trade association a call http://www.csaconsumers-uk.com/welcome

their a member..

Metropolitan Collection Services Ltd

Services: Consumer Debt Collection, Tracing

Hey thanks Joe.
I will definitely send an e-mail telling them my side.
It does seem though that as mine is last known address that where any court stuff will
be sent. Do you happen to know if I can prevent that ?
I couldn't find anything.
Seems to be millions of websites on debt though.

[joebloggs]

i would probably write to them, telling them what you've said and done, and as you have given them the forwarding address you've done all you can to help.

i had many letters from court and debt collectors , some cheeky gave the cops my address when they were caught speeding, i finally opened one of the letters and phoned the court and told them that this person had never lived here, the letters stopped.

[Dedworth]

I think Debt Collectors and Bailiffs will always try it on. Might be an idea to send this Metropolitan outfit a recorded delivery letter stating that you have no connection with Mr X , do not have any knowledge of his whereabouts etc and that you do not want them to contact you again. Tell them that if they do attempt any contact, you will issue them with an invoice for £250 to cover your inconvenience and time in dealing with them and that any unpaid invoice will be pursued through the County Court.

[RickyR]

oh Crikey Terpe, sorry to hear about this. It's terrible that one person could do that to someone else that is helping them!

[subseastu]

A mate of mine had something a little similiar. He got involved with a filipina in aberdeen and after a while he moved her from her rented flat to his place in hull. All going well until he happened to open the mail and found a letter from a debt collector agency asking for details of my mates house and contents value with the intention of "recovering" the 20,000 pound she owed!!!!

Needless to say massive barny, a few phone calls to the agency saying it was naff all to with him, she wasn't on any paper work connecting her to the house so don't mail or call this address. Shortly after she moved out my mates place, but not before she did him out of 12,000 over the previous year!!! Love is blind and it most certainly was in my mates case!!!

So I think you've got nothig to worry about really mate, contact them on the phone (note the time and person you speak to) and by mail (recorded delivery) explaining the situation and the information you've given them so far is what you where given by your "friend". Maybe state as well that any futher contact from them will consitute harssment and they will hear from your solicitor.

JUst my opinion

[grahamw48]

Sorry to hear about your predicament.

I agree with Dedworth and subseastu.

Write to them, keeping a copy and send recorded delivery.

Being a forwarding address is not a criminal or civil offence and carries no liability....otherwise post office box numbers would really be in the s**t.

Me, I'd tell them to get f****d, but that's me.

You have nothing whatsoever to worry about, other than getting them off your case.

[Doc Alan]

Hi Terpe, I hope you're reassured by the excellent advice already given. It's all the more outrageous that this happened to you, considering how much help you have given to other members on this forum.

[Rosie1958]

I am so sorry to hear of your predicament Terpe, what an awful thing to happen, especially when you were just trying to help.

I have experience in debt recovery and can advise you that any county court claim is served on a named individual/ business at a property, rather than the property itself and cannot be successfully served at a “care of” address. Since you have already advised the debt collection agency of the situation, it would be a waste of court fees, their time and effort for the creditor/ debt collection agency to even try using your address for service. Keeping a copy of your letter is a good idea and could be used as evidence for a counterclaim if they were stupid enough to ignore it and issue proceedings to your address. I would add that the electoral roll (which is a public record) also comes in very handy to prove who lives at an address and I would hope that they would check it before considering any such action further and wasting everyone’s time.

Under the Data Protection Act, this debt collector should not have intimated, disclosed or discussed the financial affairs of the debtor with you and a hefty fine could be imposed on the company if the debtor were to find out and make a complaint. The debt collector was clearly unprofessional in trying to scare you which didn’t serve any purpose as you are not liable for this guy’s debts anyway.

These days, some businesses and credit reference agencies do record and share certain data (called CAIS data) about debtors and this does sometimes make it more difficult for individuals to obtain credit/ a mortgage. Unfortunately, this does also extend/ link to the use of addresses sometimes too.

For peace of mind, you may wish to consider obtaining a personal credit report from a reputable company such as Experian to see if there has been any adverse affect against your own credit rating since your address has been used.......... www.experian.co.uk

[Terpe]

Thank you Rosie for reply. You provided some great info.
The address was not 'care of', just normal change of address.
I spent a long time yesterday sending various letters and making phone calls.

I really feel betrayed, and just keep thing why would he do this. If he was going to just leave, why would he need an address.

Based on what you said I will get a personal credit report just to be sure.

All mail for him is now being returned to sender as 'not known at this address'

Anyway, onwards and upwards...... Infinity and Beyond

[sars_notd_virus]

Anyway, onwards and upwards...... Infinity and Beyond

That's the spirit Terpe!!!
Lessons Learned

[Terpe]

That's the spirit Terpe!!!
Lessons Learned

The thing is though sars, what to do if I ever get asked again to do something similar??
I think I would still agree.

[sars_notd_virus]

The thing is though sars, what to do if I ever get asked again to do something similar??
I think I would still agree.

True,real friends is so hard to find these days...I guess just like in any relationship ''trust'' is the most important thing to consider even in friendship.
Have a Good Day Terpe!!

[mickcant]

Terpe, your experiance shows that thoes of us like you who try to help people need to take care that we are not taken advantage of
Mick.

[Rosie1958]

I really feel betrayed, and just keep thing why would he do this. If he was going to just leave, why would he need an address.

Based on what you said I will get a personal credit report just to be sure.

All mail for him is now being returned to sender as 'not known at this address'

Anyway, onwards and upwards...... Infinity and Beyond

Hi Terpe ........ It does seem strange that your friend wanted to use a forwarding address in the UK as one would have thought that if he had intended to abscond and leave his debts behind, that he would have just left the country without any further trace. Perhaps there was another purpose.

It's definately a good idea to return all mail addressed in his name to the sender unopened and suitably noted. They will eventually get the message and stop using your address

I do hope that there are no adverse affects for you ........ keep smiling

[johncar54]

Hi Terpe,

Like everyone else I am sorry to hear you are having this problem.

RE the care of address. I don't see that whether a person puts c/o or not an address alters the fact that your address was a forwarding address. Legitimate business use forwarding addressing, maybe a company based outside UK would do have a UK forwarding address. They would probably never tell their customers that was the case. I believe, although I cannot find anything on the internet, that forwarding address agencies do have certain legal responsibilities/liabilities, including keeping a register of the person using the facility, and their proof in ID etc. but in you case that cannot apply.

If the guys from the debt collection agency calls again I would tell them to leave and if they show any signs of abuse/aggression I would call the police and say you fear for your safety. I doubt that police would actually do much but your call should be a logged message.

If a person is on or in your property (as a trespasser and not doing anything but refusing to leave) you can call upon the police to help you remove them. However the police when doing that are acting as private individuals not as police officers, as trespass is not a criminal offence. If they are being abusive or threatening the police can arrest.

There must be many people who try to evade their debts by using a friends or a false address, and maybe in many cases the person who lives there may know the whereabouts of the person, so its not surprising that debt collectors probably 'try to put the frighteners on' in the first instance. But as you have now done all you can to prove that you are an innocent victim they should back off.


If they continue to contact you, you could try a registered letter alledging threatening behaviour, to the Chief Constable of the police service who cover your house, with copies to say the CAB and your local MP. From experience, I know that letters which have been copied to other eminent people trend not to 'go astray' in police systems.

[Terpe]

Thank you John for taking time to contribute.

[stevewool]

smash his face in when you see him terpe just kidding , seems you are getting lots of advice here , just goes to show a lot of people arnt who we think they are , keep smilling