Debt Collection Agencies: Who They Are and What They Can Do

Debt collectors are not bailiffs

This is the distinction that matters most, and it is the reason this section exists separately from our enforcement company profiles.

A debt collection agency can write to you, telephone you and ask you to pay. It cannot enter your home, it cannot take your belongings, and it has no authority to attend and remove goods. To go further it would have to take you to court, win a judgment, and then apply to enforce it.

An enforcement agent, the role most people call a bailiff, is already past that point. A court or tribunal has granted authority and they work under Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

If you are not sure which has contacted you, our guide to bailiffs and debt collectors explains how to tell from the document itself.

Collectors, purchasers and solicitors are three different things

The letter in your hand is one of three kinds, and the difference changes what you should do.

A debt collection agency chases payment on behalf of the original creditor. The creditor still owns the debt, and the agency earns a fee or commission.

A debt purchaser has bought the debt outright and become the creditor. The original lender no longer holds it. You can ask a purchaser to prove not only the debt but the assignment, and the age of the debt still runs from the original default rather than from the date it was sold.

A firm of solicitors acting in debt recovery is a further step again. A solicitor's letter usually signals that court proceedings are being considered, which is a genuine escalation even though a solicitor has no more power to enter your home than a collector does.

Check the name on the letter, not the name you remember

Several large collectors trade under a name they did not use a few years ago, and readers holding older correspondence often search a brand that no longer exists.

Resolvecall was previously Scotcall. Intrum UK was previously 1st Credit. PRA Group was previously Aktiv Kapital. In each case the company is the same organisation under a new name, which is why the company number on the letter identifies the sender more reliably than the brand.

Find the company that has contacted you

• Cabot Financial, a debt purchaser. Part of the same group as Wescot and Mortimer Clarke Solicitors
• Lowell Financial, a debt purchaser
• Moorcroft Debt Recovery, collecting for banks, utilities and telecoms
• Advantis Credit, including work on behalf of HMRC
• Link Financial, where the FCA authorised entity is Link Financial Outsourcing
• Wescot Credit Services, in the Cabot group, alongside Mortimer Clarke Solicitors
• PRA Group, a debt purchaser, formerly Aktiv Kapital
• Intrum UK, formerly 1st Credit
• ResolveCall, doorstep collection, formerly Scotcall

If the name on your letter is not here, check the company number at Companies House rather than searching the brand, because several of these firms have traded under more than one name.

If a solicitor has written to you

A firm of solicitors is neither a bailiff nor a collection agency. It cannot take your goods, but it can do something neither of the others can: issue a claim in the County Court. See debt litigation solicitors and our guide to the letter before claim.

How old is the debt?

Under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 the ordinary limitation period for a simple contract debt is six years, running from the cause of action rather than from when a collector first contacted you.

That period can be restarted, including by acknowledging the debt in writing or making a payment, so it is worth understanding before you reply. Our guide to statute barred debt sets out how it works and what restarts the clock.

Before you pay anyone

Confirm the debt is yours, confirm the company is who it says it is, and confirm the payment route independently rather than from an unexpected message.

Ask for the original creditor, the account number, the balance and how it is made up. If the debt has been sold, ask for evidence of the assignment. If anything does not match your own records, say so in writing before paying.