How do you prove payment?

[KM-Tiger]

Long story, begins in March of this year when I filled up with petrol and then realised I had left my wallet at home! Was given a form, details taken, and when I got home I posted a cheque straight away to make sure I did not forget. The form made plain that i would be pursued if not paid within 7 days. Cheque shows as cashed on my Bank Statement a few days later.

/fast forward to today/

Receive a letter from "The Corporate Consortium" requesting payment for the petrol + a £10 admin charge, as "according to their client's records" the debt is outstanding. A bit odd more than 7 months after the event.

At first I thought this was some sort of scam. An email address where the domain has no website, and whois shows registered to an individual. An invitation to pay by Credit Card at www.paymentsbycard.com, that looks like a Nigerian site. But a search at Companies House on the Reg No. on the bottom of the letter did bring up CAPITOL COMMERCIAL COLLECTIONS LIMITED, with an address that corresponded to the letter, so I think they are legitimate, if more than a little amateur.

So finally my question: I have no receipt, only my Bank Statement, so how do I prove that the debt was settled?

[GRDCredit]

Tell them you paid and the cheque was cashed on such and such a day. Tell them that if required you are able to produce a copy of the cheque but they will need to pay the fee that the bank will inevitably charge for this.

Put it all in writing to them

[seanstevens]

As this is a consumer debt you should look at it from the other way around. You do not have to prove you have paid just yet, but instead, they have to first prove that you owe the debt and that they have the right to chase you for it.

You should send them a letter back stating something like

"I do not admit to owing the debt as indicated on your letter of xxx, reference xxx and ask that you halt all collection efforts until full proof of the debt and your right to collect upon that debt have been proved to me".

Drop me a note if you want full text and I can send you a full dummy letter that you can update and use.

If they are not 100% legitimate it will be the end of it.

If they come back to you with full details then you can take it from their. The bank would be able to send (for a fee) a copy of the cheque that was cashed with all the details (worth checking if this fee is more or less than the debt etc). This should give details of the account the cheque was paid into and should show that you have already paid.

Hope this helps.