Guys,

I've been trying to get back £311.97 - £240 in unlawful charges plus £71.97 in interest incurred as a result of those charges - from BoS.

After the initial brush-off, they offered me £120 and then £240, which I politely declined.

These charges concerned a credit card which I have not used since November 2001 and which, as far as I was concerned, had been fully paid off. Certainly, I have received no correpsondence of any sort for the best part of five years.

I rang BoS last week to offer them one last opportunity to pay in full before I initiated a court claim and was told that I had never settled the account; that there was a debt of almost £1,000 outstanding; and that they were on the point of selling it to a third party.

Unfortunately, I can't find anything to prove that I settled the account - I fear it may have been done by an ex-girlfriend, with whom I am no longer in contact, on my behalf - which, I appreciate, doesn't leave me in a particularly strong position.

Be that as it may, I was certain this account had been settled and am more than a little suspicious that were that not the case I would have heard from BoS before now and/or they would not have waited very nearly five years to sell the debt to a third party.

Any thoughts/advice gratefully received.

Fred_Funk

First thing to do, then, is to send a SAR. Make sure you include a sentence in there to say that even while you await for them to fulfill your SAR, account is now officially in dispute and as such you expect them not to pass it to DCA. Take it from there once you have your statements.

Bookworm,

Hi! And thanks for the advice.

As it happens, the woman I've been dealing with has been more very helpful. She conceded it was a little strange that if there was a debt outstanding, there'd been no correspondence or no attempt to sell it on for nearly five years and has already promised to send me some more detailed info.

I'll take a look at this - she said it should be in the post in the next 48 hours -and then send a SAR and accompanying letter.

Be that as it may, what do you reckon? Would it be common practice to allow a debt of around 1k to go completley unchased for five years? Seems more than a little odd to me!

I can't help thinking it's been settled - maybe even a few months down the road via a debt collection agency - and there's been some kind of cock-up at the BoS end, which, of course, it's going to be very difficult for me to prove after all this time.

Fred_Funk