Sorry to bother you.

I have just had a 'verification letter' from Buchanan Clark & Wells

- they are 'trying to contact me' and have asked me to phone them (which I obviously won't do).

I have checked my credit report

- and it appears that Barclays have recently defaulted a debt in my bank account from 11 years ago

because (they say) I moved house and did not tell them

(I didn't realise there was a debt in that account and assumed the account had been closed).

I have not used the account for 11 years, nor have I contacted Barclays or made any payments towards this debt.

It appears that Barclays have sold this debt to BCW.

My question is - does this qualify for the 6 year limit for 'credit barred debt'?

And if so, should I write to the company telling them this, or will writing to them only encourage them?

Thank you very much for your help.

J.

If the account has not been active for more than 11 years then yes I would say it is likely to be statute barred.

I think the sooner you write to BCW, who will only likely be acting for the original creditor, the better. There is a draft statute barred letter in the CAG library - linked in green at the top left of the screen.

There should not be any default for this debt on your credit record. For that to be the case, any default would have to be within the last 6 years. I reckon there must have been some transaction going through within the last 6 years or so.

Suggest a written complaint to Barclays querying the entry on your credit record, for any account you have not used for 11 years. Send a copy of the letter to BCW, saying that you are in dispute with Barclays regarding this account, so they will have to put the matter on hold, while it is investigated.

That's really good advice, thank you. I will do what you say.

Best wishes

Joe

Hi,

I just spoke to Barclays and

they said that as they had only just closed the account (and defaulted the debt) it is not statute barred

i.e. that the date is not from when the overdraft was last used

but when they decided to close the account.

They also said that they did not write to me about this until July 2013

- i.e. as I had an 1800 overdraft 'it is up to you how you use it'.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Best wishes

Joe

Hi Joe,

There is a very active thread on statute barred debts and I'm going to post a link to your thread for a few more thoughts on this.

DD

Thank you.

Many debts would be statute barred by now, but I actually have no idea about this situation.

Have they been loading it with interest for 11 years?

When was the last time they sent a statement ?

Apologies for the lack of detail:

1. As far as I am concerned the account was at £0 in 2003 and I have not touched it since then.

I assumed I had closed it but evidently not.

2. I moved house in 2003 and did not receive any communication from the bank in the 12 months I had letters redirected.

I phoned the bank today and they said they did not send me a letter until July 2013 when the overdraft limit (£1800) was reached.

Thanks again for your help - it's really appreciated!

Joe

Could this be an account where they charged you an annual fee for the overdraft facility even if you didn't use it?

Apologies for the lack of detail:

 

1. As far as I am concerned the account was at £0 in 2003 and I have not touched it since then. I assumed I had closed it but evidently not.

 

2. I moved house in 2003 and did not receive any communication from the bank in the 12 months I had letters redirected. I phoned the bank today and they said they did not send me a letter until July 2013 when the overdraft limit (£1800) was reached.

 

Thanks again for your help - it's really appreciated!

 

Joe

I would contact them again and tell them you need copies of all annual statements from inception,

as you have no knowledge of any drawings on an account with them,

if they require payment for copies tell the you will be sending a SAR

under section 7 of the data protection Act. (there is a template on here)

I would write to both BCW and Barclay stating the account was in dispute

and possibly statute barred and get them to place it on hold pending the reply.

No. I've never had one of those. Unless there was fraudulent activity on the account, I think they must have kept adding charges until the debt became £1800+

J

Thank you. What is a SAR please?

That's good advice, thank you.

With regard to writing to BCW, won't writing to them just confirm that I am the person they want? At the moment the have only sent me a "letter of verification"?

Thank you,

Joe

Thank you. What is a SAR please?

An SAR is a request for all information held in connection with you(the data subject) with the bank ( data controller) made under the DAT protection act 1998. It costs you a tenner.

They should return all relevant paperwork, statements etc. Someone will link you to the appropriate template I am sure, if not I will find you one.

They may only supply the last six years worth, which could present problems for them, but for you I think it is the logical first step in order to see what has been going on.

That's good advice, thank you.

 

With regard to writing to BCW, won't writing to them just confirm that I am the person they want? At the moment the have only sent me a "letter of verification"?

 

Thank you,

 

Joe

But you say you rang the bank ?

Great, thank you. I guess I should bunker down for the long haul.

Thanks so much for all your help - it helps reduce anxiety!

Even if they only send statements for the last six years you'll be able to see if all the activity is just their charges.

But you say you rang the bank ?

Yes, but not the debt collection agency. I naively assumed the bank wouldn't inform the debt collection agency......

Great, thank you. I guess I should bunker down for the long haul.

 

Thanks so much for all your help - it helps reduce anxiety!

Current accounts become dormant after 5 years I think, if they are not in use.

As others have said an SAR will be useful.

I am thinking fraudulent use of the account,

wrong payment transaction put to the account in error or forgotten transactions still going through.

If you did not inform the bank of moving,

they could have sent a debit card to the old address,

which someone has used.

wow. That's another useful piece of information, thank you!

Best wishes

Joe

Current accounts become dormant after 5 years I think, if they are not in use. As others have said an SAR will be useful. I am thinking fraudulent use of the account, wrong payment transaction put to the account in error or forgotten transactions still going through. If you did not inform the bank of moving, they could have sent a debit card to the old address, which someone has used.

Hmm! not so sure whether this applies to an account in arrears. Dormant accounts are where there has been no activity on an account in credit where the bank have attempted to contact the customer with no response. The government then nick it.

They have a statutory duty to supply statements since march 2011, and should not be able to apply interest for te period of none compliance, Ithink I am right in saying.

Hmm! not so sure whether this applies to an account in arrears. Dormant accounts are where there has been no activity on an account in credit where the bank have attempted to contact the customer with no response. The government then nick it.

I was referring to the fact that the OP said they had a nil balance in 2003 and they have not used it. If this is the case, it would have become dormant after a period, which I think is 5 years. Obviously the account has had some activity, which the OP is not aware of.