Hi all, Our previous numpty landlord failed to take action on an outstanding amount on a gas account (£36.74) - we settled our account with British Gas upon departure (I pay by DD and the account was in CREDIT when we left) but there was a discrepancy with the meter reading which left us owing the above amount (apparently). BG have been chasing the landlord for the outstanding amount (letters address to them - not us) but because they failed to either contact us about this amount or contact BG the matter has now been handed to scumbags Westcot. So some 6 months after we left, the landlord has passed on our forwarding address to Westcot for them to pursue us directly for this amount. I am not disputing the amount at all and had we known it was outstanding we would have paid it immediately but I am DEEPLY miffed that these numpties felt it was OK to a) leave the debt for 6 months so that it defaulted, and then b) pass on our personal information to Westcot. Is there anything we can do to deeply annoy our previous landlord - have they contravened data protection by passing on our details to a DCA? This landlord was particularly horrid so anything we can do to p*ss them off would be excellent!! Thanks for your excellent site and advice.

Hi there, just thought it would be worth adding that I followed the advice given in this thread at the time of my original post, and managed to beat Clarity into submission. It took 3 letters (they just continued to send their standard letters out to me, even heading up the letters that they were 'disappointed I had not contacted them'), which I sent recorded delivery, using the same language that they use (lots of capitals, bold text and threats of police intervention if they sent a 'representative' to call at my house). Eventually I received a letter from their customer services director apologising for their failings and promising that I would never hear from them again. They said they had returned the debt to the originator, but so far I have not heard anything from them either. The help available in this forum is amazing. Its helped me with the above, and it also helped me to claim over £3k of charges back from my bank. Thanks a million.

Thanks both for your responses. I will definitely not be acknowledging this debt in any way and will be sending off the standard letter to Clarity asap. Thanks again.

Hi, I have just received a letter from Clarity Credit Management Solutions re: a very old loan I had with Egg dating back to 2001. I did not fully repay the loan, but I have NEVER been contacted by Egg with regard to the arrears. They have had my email address and my credit history has been updated with my addresses over this period of time. Does anyone know if there are any time limits for how long a company can pursue an old debt (for example, if Egg has placed a CCJ on my credit history in 2001 it would have fallen off by now), and if they have a duty to show that they made reasonable efforts to contact you about the account before enlisting the services of the bully boys. I wonder why I've been contacted now about it?? Strikes me as being a little odd?? Any help or enlightenment on this one greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone, I have already sent my first claim letter to Barclays for £2,370 in charges. Sent it recorded delivery to my branch on 30th Jan. I had an interesting time even requesting my statements with Barlcays staff not making records of the phone conversations, giving me false names and generally different information each time I called. I have never run up serious debt, all my financial struggles have merely been cost of living on a low wage, and some months I suffered hundreds of pounds in charges. The last set of charges I received was £60 for being £1.88 over my overdraft limit for 1 day. They even applied the charge the following day when funds (my weekly salary) had been paid into my account. I feel so empowered by the information and support that is generated by this site and the people that contribute to it. Thank you so much! I will read the FAQs and as much else as I can and I'll keep updating on my case. Thanks again.