Hi all

My parents received in one letter a few days ago 'Payment Due' and 'Annual Statement' documents from Lowells requesting an £11k payment for a defaulted Barclaycard, dated October 2011.

I am very rarely in the UK hence the only semi-registered UK address for me the family home (I'm a British citizen).

In mid-2010 I had my wallet stolen in Poland (I lived in Warsaw for 2 years) and three credit cards maxed within 24 hours without my knowledge. This was investigated by the Polish police and didn't go any further than an uninterested policeman.

Through a solicitor in Poland, all banks were contacted, and I was informed that all cases were closed. I didn't think anything of it and never requested additional cards as by that time, I had expatriate accounts set up that became my everyday banking options. The same solicitor also paid an outstanding loan to First Direct on my behalf (this was also one of the stolen credit cards) to close all of my UK accounts (circa £15k).

Following this letter, I've now only just checked my UK credit report (I've never had any need to before), and notice that all accounts remain open and are in default. They will stop being reported at the end of this year (with Lowells/Barclaycard in early 2017), which I assume means that they will become statute barred.

I've requested Lowells to send to me all information that they have and refused to acknowledge any debt in my name.

I do however now fear that the Polish solicitor I engaged with didn't contact anyone, and did not pay off the loan. I remember receiving a remittance slip from him at the time, and due to my time-demanding occupation (foolishly) didn't double-check / confirm. It seems like I have been caught up in an elaborate [problem], and cannot find any detail of the chap on any of the networking sites.

I'm expectant that Lowells will investigate, but a little concerned that I could be dragged into a number of stressful conversations.

I see the following as my options:

1. Contact all creditors, inform of situation and look to work toward resolution (however reputation of these guys doesnt fill me with confidence)

2. Sit tight as they are all close to statue barred (surely a risk as being contacted means that I'm on the radar?)

3. Report to Polish police / interpol (although I wouldnt expect much progression)

Any advice welcome!

the default date has no real relevance to statute barred date.

but typically it a good while before the defaulted date.

it might pay you to pick one and send the original creditor an sar

that might show proof of the fraud in account notes

if it does, then, TBH I don't think you could be made liable.

dx

do you have any assets in the UK/

if not make them at least communicate with you at your current address and not your parents addy.

It may seen like a small thing but they may very well just lose interest in pursuing you with any vigour.

It will also mean you dont have papers served on your parents address as they would know it is not the correct address.

Small things matter.

Hi London and welcome to CAG

You refer to possible stressful conversations but you need to stay OFF the phone completely. No good will come of talking to anyone by phone.

I'd send an SAR to Barclaycard to get details of where the a/c stands now, and how much was added in penalty charges and/or PPI over the years.

I'd also do the same for the First Direct Loan, to see what happened and if it was paid off like you expected. Start a new thread for that a/c in the FD forum here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?37-First-Direct

Do you have any paperwork from the Polish sol'r to back up what you say about getting the card accounts closed and paid off.