ResolveCall: Is the Person at Your Door a Bailiff?

It was not. ResolveCall is a debt collection agency that uses doorstep visits. A doorstep collector and an enforcement agent look similar at the door and are completely different in law.

Were they Scotcall?

Very likely, if the name you remember is different from the name on the card.

Companies House records ResolveCall Limited (SC127277) as previously named Scotcall Limited until 27 February 2015, and before that Fidelite Credit Management Limited, renamed in 2017, and originally Shieldaig Enterprises Limited.

So a letter from Scotcall in a drawer and a ResolveCall card through the door can be the same company, and potentially the same debt. Check the original creditor and reference before treating them as two problems.

The person at your door is not a bailiff

This is the heart of it. A doorstep collector working for ResolveCall has:

• no Schedule 12 powers of any kind
• no right to enter your home, even if you open the door
• no power to take, list or clamp anything
• no authority to remain if you ask them to leave
• no power to add enforcement fees of the £79, £247 and £116 kind

An enforcement agent derives their powers from a court order or liability order and their authority is statutory. A doorstep collector is simply an employee of a company you owe money to, standing on your doorstep. They have exactly the same rights there as any other member of the public.

How to tell which you are dealing with

Ask at the door, through the door, for the document. An enforcement agent should be able to identify:

• the enforcement power they act under, meaning a liability order or a warrant or writ of control
• the creditor and the case reference
• their certificate, since enforcement agents must be certificated by a County Court judge

A doorstep collector has none of that, because there is no court order behind them. If somebody cannot produce it, they are not enforcing anything.

Our guide to bailiffs and debt collectors sets out how to read the paperwork.

Do you have to open the door or speak to them?

No, to both.

You are not obliged to open the door, to let anyone in, to confirm your identity, or to discuss your finances on the doorstep. You can ask them to leave and they must go.

You can also ask, in writing, that the company contacts you only in writing and stops doorstep visits. FCA rules require firms to deal fairly with customers, and a request to change the method of contact is reasonable and should be honoured.

What is often the better move: deal with the debt in writing rather than at the door. A doorstep conversation puts you under time pressure with no records. A letter gives you both.

Company and regulatory details

Ownership is independent. The register records James Christopher Flowers holding 75 to 100% of the shares. David and Brenda Stevenson each ceased to be persons with significant control on 9 February 2022.

That matters for context: unlike Wescot or Mortimer Clarke, ResolveCall is not part of a debt purchaser group. They are generally collecting on behalf of somebody else rather than collecting a debt they own, though you are entitled to ask which applies to your account.

FCA authorisation gives you a real escalation route: the Financial Ombudsman Service, which does not exist for bailiff complaints.

Who are they collecting for?

Ask, in writing. You are entitled to know:

• the original creditor and the original account number
• whether ResolveCall is acting as agent or whether the debt has been sold
• the date of default
• a breakdown of the balance

If they are acting as an agent, the original creditor still owns the debt, can take the account back, and can agree terms directly. Writing to both is often more effective than dealing only with the collector.

Do you have to pay?

Only if the debt is genuinely yours, genuinely owed, and still legally enforceable.

Is it yours? Mistaken identity and previous occupants are common. Do not confirm personal details to a caller; ask them to write.

Is it too old? Under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, an action founded on simple contract *"shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued"*, normally the default for consumer debt. But section 29 restarts that period on a part payment or written acknowledgement, and section 30 requires an acknowledgement to be in writing and signed. A small payment made to end a doorstep conversation can hand back six years, which is a particular risk with doorstep collection. In Scotland the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 can extinguish the obligation instead. Our guide to statute-barred debt explains the limitation rules in full, and if a doorstep visit in Scotland is the concern, our guide to who enforces debts in Scotland covers sheriff officers and diligence, which work differently from bailiffs in England and Wales.

Can they evidence it? For a regulated credit agreement, request the paperwork in writing under section 77 or section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 with a £1 fee. The Act provides that a creditor in default of that request *"is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement."* That suspends enforceability while the default lasts; it does not write the debt off, and producing the documents later cures it.

What happens if you ignore them

Not a bailiff visit. ResolveCall cannot instruct enforcement agents.

The realistic escalation is a County Court claim brought by whoever owns the debt. A claim form must be answered within 14 days, extendable to 28 by filing an acknowledgment of service.

A default judgment entered because nobody replied is the outcome that matters, because a County Court Judgment can then be enforced by a warrant of control, an attachment of earnings, a third party debt order or a charging order. That is the only route by which this reaches an actual enforcement agent, and it runs entirely through the court.

So doorstep visits do not lead to bailiffs directly, but an unanswered claim form can. See our guides to County Court judgments and the warrant of control.

If you cannot afford to pay

Do not agree a figure at the door. Doorstep conversations produce arrangements people cannot keep, and a payment made under pressure can also restart the limitation clock.

Instead, write with figures: income, essential outgoings, other debts and dependants, and the amount you can genuinely sustain. A free debt adviser can produce a standard financial statement, which is recognised and taken more seriously than an unsupported offer.

Remember that rent or mortgage, council tax, energy and court fines are priority debts. A consumer credit debt does not come ahead of your housing.

Ask for interest and charges to be frozen and get any agreement in writing.

Breathing Space pauses collection for 60 days and is free, accessed through an FCA-authorised debt adviser. See our guide to the Breathing Space scheme.

If you are vulnerable

Say so in writing, and ask for it to be recorded on your file.

Serious illness, mental health difficulties, disability, bereavement, caring responsibilities and recent trauma are all relevant, and FCA rules require firms to take account of them. You can specifically ask that doorstep visits stop and that contact is by letter only.

Complaining about ResolveCall

Complain to ResolveCall first, in writing, with dates, what happened and what you want done. They have eight weeks to give a final response.

Then the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge, if you are unhappy with that response or receive none in time. The Ombudsman can direct a firm to put things right.

Grounds worth raising include a doorstep caller implying they were a bailiff or could remove goods, visits continuing after you asked for written contact only, discussing your debt with somebody else at the address, calling at unreasonable hours, or continuing to chase a debt you have disputed without investigating it.

The first of those is worth taking seriously. Suggesting powers that do not exist is a conduct issue, not a misunderstanding.

Paying safely

ResolveCall's payment portals appear at payresolvecall.co.uk and myresolvecall.co.uk. Check the address carefully, because collection brands are cloned by scammers.

Before paying anyone, verify the company number SC127277 and the FCA reference 713946 on the public registers, use contact details you have found yourself rather than those in an unexpected message, and never pay by a method that cannot be traced.

Keep a dated record of every visit, call, letter and payment.

For what a collection agency can and cannot do generally, see what debt collectors can do.