Thank you so much Brigadier, you have just put a smile on my face for the first time in weeks. I was so worried, i have never hidden from anything and always paid off debts but this was a shock!!! Anyway great site and i will keep you all informed of responses i receive. Thank you again.

Thanks Brigadier, It is DWP Debt management, I will send letter recorded delivery today. Can you just advice please as on the letter it says if it is passed on to civil proceedings this will add further costs to the amount owed and may affect future credit ratings, is this true i have worked really hard over the last 10 years get a fair credit status and cleared all debts over the years. Thanks again its just frightening when you receive such mail 15 years later.

many thanks for the replies, i have offered them what i could afford and they won't accept this, they want treble what i have offered to pay, they have now sent a form for me to complete with my outgoings monthly, do i need to complete this form i do i just stick with the offer that i can afford i didn't think they could decide what i pay, but i am unsure. Thanks again for your advice.

Thanks for replying, they sent me a breakdown but from what i can remember it is not correct which is why i appealed it, I asked for all correspondance but they won't send me anything relating to the appeal, can i request that they send this, I only have a few days left to reply now and i have to fill in all my outgoings and send back to them. I have asked them to take me to court so that i get to fight my own corner, but they said they can not do this but can send debt collectors. Thanks again

Hi everyone I am new to this site, I would be very grateful for some advice regarding 15 year old debt from DWP. I received a letter ta the beginning of Feb 2012 demanding payment for old debt from 1997, also said that i had been contacted before (but I haven't). I have been in full time employment since then. I contacted them to ask what the debt was for and was told it was a mistake when I was on income support from 1993-1997 which i would have to pay back. I asked for all correspondance relating to the debt to be posted to me, two weeks later i received letter stating what the debt was for , apparently i had appeal against the decision in 1997 through a solicitor and i have not receive anything since so thought my appeal had been accepted. Now they have hit me with a hugh amount and are threating debt collectors if i don't pay. Any advice please would be much appreciated Thanks

Hi i am also new to the site, i was just wondering if anything has changed re these table 1 searches, as i myself have two table 1 searches made by mckenziehall, i asked equifax to remove these as i haven't had any credit for 10 years, i received there response today but don't know if i can trust them after reading threads on here. this is there response i received today: Address: 58 Portland Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 via Email 23/02/2012 12.57 PM Thank you for getting in touch. 'Outstanding debt' searches displayed in the 'Table 1' section of a Credit Report will have been carried out as part of a debtor tracing procedure by the creditor or their appointed agent. These searches aren't visible to any lender performing a credit application enquiry or to any other creditor tracing a debtor or collecting overdue debt. This information remains on your credit report for 2 years from the search date. For further information on the search you should contact the company that carried out this search. Address: 58 Portland Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 1JG. If you have a question, you should find the answer in our FAQ section. If not, you can send us an online query, and attach your documents to it - no need to worry about them getting lost or delayed in the post. I hope you find this useful. If there’s anything else we can do for you, please let us know. Kind regards Equifax Customer Services Any advice would be greatly appreciated Many thanks