Pursuing a debt to somebody's work

grimbergen

Is it legal for a company which think it might be owed money by an individual to contact that person at their work? It's happening to my brother at the moment, he doubts he owes the money but can't be sure but whats really troubling him is that this company thinks they've tracked him down to his place of work and are emailing and ringing him there. This may ultimately end up costing him his job.

Procrastastudy

Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997

11.—(1) A person who makes any demand for payment of a debt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(a) the demands by reason of their frequency are calculated to subject the debtor or a member of the family of the debtor to alarm, distress or humiliation, or

(b) the person falsely represents that criminal proceedings lie for non-payment of the debt, or

(c) the person falsely represents that he or she is authorised in some official capacity to enforce payment, or

(d) the person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

Next time it happens call the guards.

johnnyskeleton

grimbergen wrote: »

Is it legal for a company which think it might be owed money by an individual to contact that person at their work? It's happening to my brother at the moment, he doubts he owes the money but can't be sure but whats really troubling him is that this company thinks they've tracked him down to his place of work and are emailing and ringing him there. This may ultimately end up costing him his job.

Leaving the legality or otherwise to one side, have they tried to contact him personally and he has been avoiding them? Is there any reason why he can't just contact them and explain his situation and if they are not happy with that they can take it further?

the_syco

IANAL.

grimbergen wrote: »

Is it legal for a company which think it might be owed money by an individual to contact that person at their work?

Is said company the company that he owes money to, or a 3rd party company that are working on their behalf, and/or got sold the debt?

grimbergen wrote: »

he doubts he owes the money but can't be sure

Sounds like a 3rd party who claims your bro owes them money for a debt that was sold to them (eg; Debt Collection Agency), but your bro can't be sure either way. Heck, if said company is vague enough, it may not even be your bro's debt! Also, I'd say if the company informs the company that he's with any information regarding his debt would be in breach of the Data Protection act?

grimbergen wrote: »

but whats really troubling him is that this company thinks they've tracked him down to his place of work and are emailing and ringing him there.

Tell your bro that if they contact him at his workplace again, to get their name, company, etc, and then let them know that he'll be contacting the Gardai regarding them harassing him.

An Ri rua

I used to collect debts; as an account manager. Some of them were dead, some just aging. Never didn't get paid. Business debts by cowboys trading away. never domestic customers. I wouldn't chase them. Seems I may have stepped over the line on a number of occasions, based on what's been posted above. Thank God that era of my career is a decade over... Debt is a shared problem. As much the problem of the company who supplies it and poor management controls. Shame on the greedy as much as the stupid.

I only ever welched on one debt in my life and it still causes me to blush with shame when I think of it. It was for a small start-up limited company of mine and the creditor was initially a telecoms company. What I did was inform the 3rd party, who were aggressively and repeatedly calling me, by email that I acknowledged the general debt and wanted to know the exact details of the amount now owed and all related details. They unfortunately didn't answer that direct request within the legally prescribed limit (they kept leaving voicemails but never addressed this direct query) and when the time limit expired, I emailed them again and informed them that legally the debt had now expired (I had been released from it). I cannot recollect the exact law that covered this but I did send the code to them when I explained that their 'quest' was now over. I then took their call. They went crazy! But that was their LAST call....

Perhaps some of you legal eagles will know the piece of law I used to release myself from this debt. I should add again that I was / am very embarrassed by this action as I believe that non-payment of debts is a low activity. But I was INCENSED by the aggressive actions of this 3rd party and, seeing as they now owned the debt, I justified my actions to myself. Not my proudest moment. But it was legally valid.

grimbergen

Gents, thanks for the responses. When I say he's not sure, its for construction of a house about 4 years back. Hands up, his record keeping is dire but one of the companies who did some work are pursuing him now after 3 years for work done. He may well owe the money, the issue is that the company are pursuing him in this manner, in a job in which he didn't have 3 years ago and it's causing him distress.