Two companies, similar names, very different stories
Clear Debt Solutions Limited of Preston was a debt collection firm. It was wound up in January 2013 and struck from the register in July 2021. People still search for the name, and when they do they are usually one of two groups: someone who paid the Preston firm to chase money for them and never saw it again, or someone who has confused it with ClearDebt Limited of Cheshire, an entirely separate IVA company that is still trading.
That confusion matters. Telling those two apart is the single most useful thing this site does, and it is why the front page sets out the company numbers, the addresses and the spelling side by side.
The rest of the site deals with the questions that follow: how to tell whether a debt collector contacting you is genuine, how to make one prove a debt, when an old debt stops being enforceable, and what your position is when a company that owes you money has been dissolved.
What is on the site
- The company’s history — incorporation, the 2012 winding-up petition, the creditors’ voluntary liquidation in January 2013 and the dissolution in July 2021, all traceable to Companies House filings.
- Practical guides — checking whether a debt collector is genuine, asking for proof of a debt, statute-barred debt, and what to do when the company that owes you money no longer exists.
- Contact details for every free debt advice service in the UK.
Andrew Gorton
My name is Andrew Gorton and I write and publish this site myself, from the United Kingdom. I am not an insolvency practitioner, a solicitor or a debt adviser, and nothing here is advice about your own circumstances. What I do have is fifteen years working in digital marketing for the UK debt and insolvency sector, which means I am used to reading company filings, insolvency notices and regulatory registers, and I know which of them actually answer a member of the public’s question.
Everything factual on this site is taken from a public source that is linked so you can check it yourself: the Companies House register, The Gazette, the Individual Insolvency Register, the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland, and the Financial Conduct Authority register. Where the record is thin or contradictory, the page says so rather than filling the gap with a guess.
Write to enquiries@ivaadviceonline.com if something here is wrong. Corrections are made quickly and without argument.
How this site pays for itself
Two things are worth being straight about.
Advertising. This site carries advertisements served by Google AdSense. I have no control over which advertisers appear and no relationship with them. An advertisement on this page is not a recommendation, and you should treat any debt product advertised here exactly as sceptically as you would treat one anywhere else.
A commercial connection. I also publish ivaadviceonline.com, which is a commercial website about Individual Voluntary Arrangements. It is not a charity and not a free advice service. I mention it here because you are entitled to know that the person writing about debt companies also has a commercial interest in the sector, rather than finding it out later.
Neither of those changes the advice on this site, which is the same on every page: if you are struggling with debt, start with one of the free, impartial services listed below. They cost nothing, they are regulated, and none of them will sell you anything.
Corrections and complaints
If a page here is inaccurate, out of date, or unfair to someone, email enquiries@ivaadviceonline.com with the detail. I check it against the public record and correct or remove it. If you were involved with the business described on this site and want your account of events recorded, send it and I will publish a fair summary of it.
This site is not connected to, endorsed by, or a continuation of any company or website that previously used this domain name.