Dealing with debt collectors: your rights

Most collection letters come from an agency collecting for the organisation you owe, or from a company that has bought the debt. Neither has special legal powers: they can ask you to pay and, if the debt is valid, the owner can eventually go to court. Bailiffs are different, and have their own guides below.

Debt collector, debt purchaser or bailiff: what is the difference?

When a debt is sold, the buyer takes over the right to collect it. For that transfer to take full legal effect, you must be given express notice in writing, which is why you normally get a letter saying your account has moved.

If you are dealing with actual enforcement agents, read bailiffs: what they can and cannot do.

What can debt collectors do, and what can they not do?

A collector can write, phone, email, text and visit your home. Before a visit, they must explain its purpose and give you adequate notice of the date and likely time. The company that owns the debt can also take you to court, but first it must send a Letter of Claim and give you 30 days to reply.

Under the FCA’s debt collection rules in CONC 7, a firm collecting a credit debt must not:

• contact you at unreasonable times, or ignore reasonable requests about when, where and how you are contacted
• act in a threatening way, enter your home without your consent or a court order, or refuse to leave when reasonably asked
• visit you somewhere inappropriate without your consent (FCA guidance says your workplace, or a hospital where you are a patient, would normally be inappropriate)
• unfairly tell anyone else about your debt, or act in a way likely to embarrass you publicly
• make you call a premium rate number
• pressure you to pay in one or a few large sums, to pay within an unreasonably short time, or to raise money by selling things or borrowing more
• pretend to be bailiffs or court officers, use official-looking documents to mislead you, or threaten action they legally cannot take
• add collection costs they have no contractual right to charge, or charges higher than their reasonable costs

If you tell the firm that you, or a debt adviser, are working out a repayment plan, it must suspend active pursuit of the debt for a reasonable period.

Harassing someone with payment demands calculated to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or falsely claiming official authority to collect, is also a criminal offence.

The FCA rules cover credit debts such as loans, credit cards and catalogue accounts. A household bill that is not a credit agreement can fall outside them, though the harassment offence still applies.

Is the debt really yours, and what if you dispute it?

Do not pay, or sign anything admitting the debt, until you are sure it is yours and the amount is right.

1. Read the letter carefully. Anyone contacting you must explain who they work for, what their role is and why they are in touch. Check the original creditor, the account number and the balance.
2. Ask for details in writing: who owns the debt, the original account number, how the balance is made up and, if it was sold, a copy of the notice of assignment. Firms must tell you the arrears and the balance, and must investigate and give you details if you dispute a debt.
3. Check your credit file with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion to see whether the account appears and who reported it.
4. Make a subject access request if you need the firm’s records about you. Requests are usually free, and the firm must reply within 1 month at most (longer for complex requests).
5. Contact the original creditor, using details from your own paperwork or its official website, to confirm the account was passed on.

If you dispute the debt, say so in writing and explain why: it is not yours, it has been paid, the amount is wrong, or it is too old. Where a debt is disputed on valid grounds, or what look like valid grounds, the firm must suspend collection, investigate and tell you the outcome. It must not pursue someone it knows, or believes, might not owe the debt. If the debt is old, check whether it could be statute-barred before you pay or acknowledge it: once you tell a firm a debt is statute-barred, it must not keep demanding payment.

If you do owe the money, the firm must consider a reasonable repayment offer and explain clearly if it rejects one.

How do you ask for a copy of your credit agreement?

For a regulated credit agreement, you can write to whoever now owns the debt, with a £1 fee, asking for a copy of the agreement and a statement of the account. Under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 77 covers loans, section 78 covers credit cards and other running-account credit, and section 79 covers hire agreements.

The firm has 12 working days to respond. If it does not, it cannot enforce the agreement while that failure continues. This does not cancel the debt: once the firm provides the documents, it can enforce again. The government has announced plans to reform the Consumer Credit Act, but as at September 2026 these rights are unchanged.

How do you complain about a debt collector?

1. Complain to the firm in writing, with dates, and say what you want done. Keep copies.
2. If the firm’s final response does not resolve it, or 8 weeks have passed since it received your complaint, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You normally have 6 months from the final response to do this. The ombudsman deals with FCA-regulated activity, so this route is mainly for credit debts.
3. If the collector is acting for the original creditor, you can complain to the creditor as well.

You can check whether a collector is FCA authorised on the Financial Services Register.

Can a debt solution stop debt collectors?

Some can, but they work very differently:

• Breathing Space stops creditors contacting you about included debts, adding interest or charges, or taking enforcement action, for up to 60 days (England and Wales only).
• A debt management plan is informal. Creditors do not have to agree to it, and they can still take action to recover the debt even if you keep up the payments.
• An IVA is a legally binding agreement under the Insolvency Act 1986. Creditors bound by it cannot take further action to recover the debts included in it. Secured debts, and debts that cannot be included, are outside it.
• A debt relief order or bankruptcy stops creditors with included debts taking action to recover them, with some exceptions.

Each has costs, conditions and long-term effects on your credit file. The debt solutions comparison sets them side by side. IVAs, debt relief orders and Breathing Space are not available in Scotland: see debt solutions in Scotland.

What to do next

1. Do not ignore the letter: check it, and ask questions in writing if anything looks wrong.
2. Tell the firm if you are getting debt advice, so it pauses collection while you work out a plan.
3. Get free, impartial help from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline. See where to get free debt advice.
4. If you get a Letter of Claim or court papers, reply before the deadline. Ignoring a claim can lead to a County Court Judgment and, later, bailiffs.