Letter from CDI? Read this before you reply

A letter from Commercial & Domestic Investigations — usually shortened to CDI — is unusual in one important respect: CDI runs both a debt-collection arm and a tracing/investigations arm. That means the letter you’ve just received has often been sent to an address CDI traced you to, rather than one you ever gave to the original creditor.

That mix matters. Tracing-led letters carry a built-in “wrong person” or stale-address risk that ordinary collector letters don’t. Don’t sign or pay anything until you’ve confirmed the debt is genuinely yours.

This guide explains what CDI can legally do, the two checks worth running before paying, and how an IVA treats accounts they are pursuing.

Who CDI are

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Commercial & Domestic Investigations is a UK debt-collection business that also offers tracing and investigation services for creditors trying to find debtors who have moved address. UK collectors of consumer-credit debt are typically members of the Credit Services Association (CSA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Consumer Credit Sourcebook (CONC).

CDI handle a mix of:

• Consumer-credit debts referred or sold by original lenders
• Commercial debts including B2B invoices, sole-trader liabilities and personal guarantees
• Tracing instructions where the creditor has lost track of a debtor’s address

The first letter should name the underlying creditor. If it doesn’t, ask in writing.

The wrong-address / wrong-person risk

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Tracing matches names, dates of birth and address history against credit-reference and electoral data. It identifies likely matches — it does not prove a particular debt belongs to a particular individual. The result is that CDI letters routinely land at addresses where:

• The named person has the same name as someone else who actually owed the debt
• The named person lived at the address years ago and the debt belongs to a previous occupant
• A relative has the same surname and the trace matched the wrong household
• The debt belongs to a victim of identity fraud

If you don’t recognise the debt, do not ring CDI to confirm your name and address — that’s the moment a tracing-led case turns into an enforced one. Reply in writing instead.

What CDI can and cannot legally do

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CDI are debt collectors, not bailiffs. They can:

• Write to you and call traced numbers
• Apply for a CCJ if they believe the debt is enforceable
• After a CCJ, apply for an attachment of earnings, charging order on a property, or High Court enforcement
• Pass tracing data back to the underlying creditor

What they cannot do without a court order:

• Force entry to your home
• Take goods
• Threaten arrest — the matter is civil, not criminal
• Continue contacting you after a written request to stop (subject to confirmation messages)
• Add fees that were not part of the original credit agreement
• Disclose the debt to anyone else without your consent — incorrect or excessive disclosure can be reported to the ICO

Two checks worth running before you pay

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Step 1 — CCA request and identity check. Under sections 77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 you can demand the original signed credit agreement, statement of account and notice of assignment. Send the request in writing with the £1 statutory fee and without confirming details beyond what’s necessary to identify the file. Until CDI produce the documentation, the debt is legally unenforceable in court — and if the agreement names someone else (or the signature isn’t yours), the trace is wrong.

Step 2 — statute-barred check. Six years from the last payment or written acknowledgement in England and Wales under the Limitation Act 1980, five years in Scotland — and provided no court action has been started — means the debt is statute-barred. Don’t make a goodwill payment before checking dates.

How CDI tend to operate

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Files typically run in stages:

• A trace lands a letter at the new address asserting the debt
• Phone contact follows where a number has been traced
• A field-agent doorstep visit may be scheduled — agents have no enforcement powers
• Files that don’t resolve are returned to the creditor, sold on, or referred to a panel solicitor

The earlier you respond in writing — particularly to dispute identity — the cheaper and easier the file is to close.

What happens if you ignore CDI

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Ignoring CDI does not make the debt go away. The escalation runs through phone contact, possible field visit, return to creditor or sale, county-court claim and default CCJ. By the time enforcement officers are knocking, the simple identity defences are largely gone.

If a claim form arrives, respond before the 14-day deadline. Even a holding acknowledgement of service prevents a default.

Routes out

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• Dispute and close if the debt isn’t yours — written CCA dispute, no payment
• Pay in full with a written discount agreement if the debt is yours
• Affordable repayment plan with CDI in writing, based on the Standard Financial Statement
• IVA if total unsecured debt is £5,000+ across two or more creditors — legally stops CDI, freezes interest, writes off the unpaid balance after 5–6 years
• Debt Relief Order if total debts are under £50,000 with very low spare income
• Bankruptcy if no realistic monthly contribution is possible

Pitfalls when dealing with CDI

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• Don’t confirm personal details over the phone — stay in writing
• Don’t pay a tracing-led letter before checking the documentation — wrong-person letters genuinely happen
• Don’t ignore a claim form — day 14 is the deadline for acknowledgement of service
• Don’t make a goodwill payment — it can reset the statute-barred clock
• Report incorrect disclosure of the debt to third parties via the ICO

Frequently asked questions

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Are CDI bailiffs? No. They are debt collectors with a tracing arm and cannot force entry or take goods.

The address is wrong / the name is mine but the debt isn’t — what now? Dispute it in writing and request CCA documentation. Until provided, the debt is unenforceable.

Will an IVA include my CDI debt? Yes — it’s unsecured and goes in like any other unsecured debt.

Related guides

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• How long can I be chased for a debt?
• Do debt collectors give up?
• Can debt be written off?
• How do I apply for an IVA?