Haunted by the Woolwich

[joetay]

Hello all, can anyone please help me with these guys?


When I was sixteen I joined the army and was automaticaly made to open an account with these people as was every other new squaddie (what a Monopoly ). Anyway, since leaving the army years ago I finaly closed my account in 2002. Little did I realise at the time that I had another account linked to the current account (some kind of crappy savings account that i never used). A couple of years ago I started getting nasty letters from Woolwich asking me to pay a silly amount of money due to my savings account being in debt and still open. Apparently charges for having the account open were growing and these were compounded by charges being put on the account because it was in debt. I cant remeber the original amount owed but I think it was around 16 pounds . I stupidly ignored them and have heard nothing (and I mean nothing since).

I checked my Experian report online today and got one hell of a shock. Apparently I now owe them 926 pound and the account is showing as defaulted on **/**/2003 with a default balance of 700+pound

I now realise why I have not been able to get decent credit for years and I cannot beleive these (edit) I cannot even remember the relevant account number so I contacted the customer service desk today. They told me they would send my security details out in the post so I could ring them back to and they would be able to access the account to discuss it with me. So, the account is still clearly open even though I have not received any correspondence or statements for years! Surely this cannot be right.. can it?

Any advice would be most welcome

[joetay]

Recived my account details and was able to speak to someone about my account. At first she tells me that I dont have an account open with them. Then she says, oh yes I think you do.... What the hell is going on here She did admit that they had a copy of my letter and details of me visiting my branch in 2002 to ensure the account closed.

The Very nice lady then explained that the balance was a result of charges accrued since 2002. Wait for this, she then advises that she will raise the complaint formaly and advised me that I should look at reclaiming the charges which she kindly offered to arrange for me. So I'm just waiting to see what they say now.

I also contacted Experian (the words robots and brick walls spring to mind) to ask them to add a noticce of correction which they kindly did. They have recently contacted me to say that Woolwich/Barclays say that the info is correct and they would not therefore be in a position to remove it...Rubbish, who are they trying to kid, I will deal with them later

Anyway, getting a little lonely here, is ther anyone out there experienced similar or am I a one off? Any advice graciously accepted