Scam from Kays catalogue ? Anyone had this ?

[SCOUT909]

My husband received a letter today from Kays catalogue demanding money from a few years back - we have never had Kays catalogue or been in debt with any other catalogue. Is this a scam?

[MarkRae]

What do they think that he bought?

[Mamyalynne]

Does it say 'Kays' Catalogue?? They are no longer called that.

[daffy654]

Maybe someone else opened the catalogue account in your husbands name. I once got chased for a catalogue debt that my mum had taken out using my name and date of birth.

[MarkRae]

No indeed, Lynne, but I seem to recall that it's not that long ago that the company that took them over discontinued the Kays brand name, so maybe their debt collection department continues to follow up (what they consider to be) bad debt under that name...

[Mamyalynne]

Possibly yes.

[SCOUT909]

along the lines of Kays Catalogue a/c no ...... Letter from Transcom? On behalf of Arrow Global. Asking for £289.35 payment immediately, dating back to our old address, we moved a year ago and have had extensive credit checks with our new mortgage ! We have never had catalogues ?!

[MarkRae]

Sounds increasingly like somebody has stolen your identity from your former address. Now, don't panic about this, but you will need to sort it out ASAP. Firstly, get a copy of your full credit report from a company like creditexpert.co.uk and see what it says...

[SCOUT909]

Our credit rating is brilliant. We only have our mortgage as a debt. Done all that, and also mortgage company did it too.

[MarkRae]

In which case, I would suggest that you get your solicitor to write to them stating that you were not living at the address in question when the purchase was made.

[Mick-Talbot]

I have this and basically, after informing the people demanding money that I had never lived at the address in question I ignored it.
I told them I did not have time to waste clearing my name, if they wanted to waste their time sending me threading letters do so. They did for a while and then stopped.

[TWR]

As Mick, let them take you to court, then sue them for defamation.

[masma]

I had exactly the same thing from Studio Cards - A year after we moved I had a letter saying I owed them for Christmas decs (can't remember the amount) The letter was quite threatening, all about baliffs coming in, taking me to court etc if I didn't pay within 14 days. I rang them and they said someone at our old address could've kept them and I was responsible for the debt! I rang Trading Standards and they sorted it all out for me. Maybe you could try them or Citizens advice.