thanks everyone for your input....a great help, as always

I sent the one for Scotland, but it's like they've just ignored the distinction I made in the letter.

In the past few months I've been receiving letters from a company called Past Due Credit Solutions, in relation to an old debt with British Gas. The default date was 21/02/2008 and there has been no contact till recently; during this time I have made no offer to pay and haven't even acknowledge the debt. I recently sent them a letter regarding the alleged debt now being statute barred, the content of which was suggested to me by a very helpful CAG forum member, and which has done the trick with other old debts. Past Due Credit Solutions have just written back and stated that 'the account is still within the 6 years collection period and can still be pursued for payment' The account will be held for 28 days for a response to this letter'. That confuses me, as I'm in Scotland, they're in Scotland, so I assumed the 5 year time-frame would apply in this case? I'm not sure if they're just chancing their arm, or if that's a genuine mistake. I realise that it's now very close to the 6 year mark anyway.. .and if they've put a 28 day hold on this, that would take it to just about to the day of the 6 year period. I've drafted another letter reiterating that it's 5 years in Scotland, and asking them to cease and desist (all the while clearly stating that I'm not acknowledging the debt). But... .if they ignore this letter... can I assume that once it hits the 21st February 2014, that the matter will then be dropped once and for all? I always feel that my posts don't make much sense, and are a bit disjointed and rambling, so I hope all of this makes some kind of sense to someone out there lol

Thanks a lot for that...forewarned is forearmed

I've been steadily working on sorting on my credit file and have made quite good progress up till now. I have a three small defaults still on my account, two of which will be statue barred this month and December respectively. The third relates to a small utility bill (£300) for an old address which I shared with my then husband. I am making fortnightly payments to this account and hope to have it cleared within the next year or so (I'm on benefits so it's hard to pay more than a little amount each time). Over and above these, I have a whopper of a debt of £55K relating to the mortgage shortfall when the matrimonial home was reposessed after we divorced. (The default balance was originally £187,340 but this dropped to £55,220 after the repossesion.) I check my credit file regularly and have only just noticed that the status of this mortgage debt is showing as - '8 indicates that you have failed to keep your credit agreement and have not responded satisfactorily to requests to put your account in order. As a result the credit agreement has ended.' Can someone advise what this 'ended' part means in real terms? Although I realise that my ex-husband and I are jointly and mutually responsible, but neither of us have EVER been contacted since we voluntarily handed the keys back leading up to the repossession, and the lender has full contact details for us. I'm sure it's too much to hope that they now won't pursue this debt (although I realise it will stay on my credit file for several years to come as the default date, but I'd just like some clarification on this without stirring up a hornets' nest by contacting the lender for an explanation? Any help/advice gratefully received Jacqui

Both credit agreements now acknowledge by The Lowell Group as being Statute Barred and will no longer be pursued. Both also now removed removed from my credit file Many thanks for all your help!

Wow What a fantastic letter! That should do the trick Thanks for posting this so quickly, hopefully I'll get it sorted and in the post before Christmas. Best wishes and thanks again Jacqui

OK...now I'm starting to panic a bit more... Lowell obviously discovered my new address when they did their recent Unrecorded Enquiry Search and Red Debt Collection Services have now sent me a letter advising that Lowell have now passed the debt onto them. They now want me to pay the debt in it's entirety (as if!) or to arrange a 'suitable payment plan'. As I mentioned in my first post, this debt (and another with Egg the Lowell) were removed from my credit file in the middle of November as 6 years had passed since the default date. Should I write to them and advise that the debt is now obviously Statue Barred and point out that they can't keep harrassing me, or do I just ignore the letters from Red (which are bound to come in avalanches now) and hope they give up? Are these two debts (both now removed from my credit file) definitely gone for good, given that I'm in Scotland. I thought this was over once and for all It also crossed my mind that maybe I did contact them at some point (although I'm convinced I haven't for way more than five years), can they still pursue me after 6 years in the event that I did? I think I've figured out that they can't actually now post anything about these old debts on my credit file so it won't affect that, but I'm more concerned about again being relentlessly pursued for these sums. Thankfully we're ex-directory so we should avoid the endless phone calls at least

Thanks for the reassurance. I was getting myself into a tizzy thinking they were going to come after me again. Naturally, if they do, I shall tell them firmly that there's nothing doing and they've missed the boat!

I haven't acknowledged or paid anything to Egg and then Lowell Portfolio for the past six years. (I am in Scotland and did think of asking it to be written off a year ago, but I decided to leave well enough alone and sit it out till the full six years since the default date had elapsed.) Given that there's now no record of the two debts on my credit file with either Experian or Equifax, I found it rather strange that they would randomly do a search now? I thought once the six years had passed and there was no record of it on my file then it was completely gone?

I very recently had two long-standing credit agreements removed from my credit file just after the six year anniversary of the original default date. These two debts were originally with Egg, who subsequently sold the debt onto Lowell Portfolio. I neither acknowledged or paid anything to Lowell and assumed that all was well in relation to this on my credit file, when both entries disappeared at the start of this month. Just today I got an alert from Experian (who actually had no record of these debts on my file, only Equifax seem to have had them recorded) that Lowell Portfolio had done a Unrecorded Enquiry search a couple of days ago. Should I be concerned about this search? I realise that it makes no odds to my credit history as it's only visible to Lowell and I, I'm just curious as to why they would do any kind of search now when the debts are no longer on my file? I'm just worried that they'll get back in touch, although I have since moved house a couple of times, and try to get me to pay or at least acknowledge the two defaulted credit agreements. Can anyone shed any light on this as I was only just starting to relax in relation to this Many thanks in advance

Nothing else happened after that...I moved out some time later and have heard nothing since. This all despite having had at least one Bank of Scotland account, and subsequently two more. I realise that when June comes it'll drop off my credit file with Equifax (which is the only place I see any sign of it) but I suppose my biggest worry is that they could still somehow 'come after me' for the money after that date, because there was a legal aspect to it, even in the distant past?

I'm in Scotland, I suppose I should get that part out of the way. I had a BOS credit card (opened the account in 2001), which had a balance of £ 8,246. I was no longer able to pay the monthly bill (due to loss of my job because of long-term ill-health) and, stupidly, stuck my head in the sand. (I should also point out that over and above this credit card I had been, and continue to be, a Bank Of Scotland customer, with both a saving account (that's a joke lol) and a current account. The default date was June 2007, and a decree was granted at the local Sheriff Court on 8th January 2008, and the Decree was extracted on 23rd January 2008. Again I ignored that, along with the subsequent 'Charge For Payment Of Money' (left at my address by Sheriff Officers on 2nd July 2008). In the past couple of years I've been VERY slowly trying to sort out my credit file and have made some progress (some other credit agreements have dropped off my credit file and others have been time-barred and removed). This BoS debt is the only biggie I have left hanging over me but I'm not sure how to proceed. Should I just hold tight until after the 6 year anniversary of my default date (which is now only 8 months away) and it drops off my credit report? Or will that not happen because of the legal stuff connected to this old credit card debt? Another slight concern is that, since that time, after my marriage broke up and I had subsequently moved house to live on my own (hence being able to work on my credit file without external interference lol), I was able to open my own individual cardcash account. This was the only bank account available to me at the time because of my poor credit history, but after a year of maintaining the account in good order, I was offered a full current account. I still have both these accounts and have had no problems with them and have even had the occasional overdraft facility in the past. So......are BoS likely to make a move on my current account because of this old credit card debt? I guess the gist of this verrrry long, rambling story is ....will the credit agreement details be removed from my credit file after the 6 year mark (regardless of the legal stuff) and can BoS make any claim on my existing accounts once this credit agreement drops off my credit file? Phew!

I'm in Scotland, I suppose I should get that part out of the way. I had a BoS credit card (opened the account in 2001), which had a balance of £ 8,246. I was no longer able to pay the monthly bill (due to loss of my job because of long-term ill-health) and, stupidly, stuck my head in the sand. (I should also point out that over and above this credit card I had been, and continue to be, a Bank Of Scotland customer, with both a saving account (that's a joke lol) and a current account. The default date was June 2007, and a decree was granted at the local Sheriff Court on 8th January 2008, and the Decree was extracted on 23rd January 2008. Again I ignored that, along with the subsequent 'Charge For Payment Of Money' (left at my address by Sheriff Officers on 2nd July 2008). In the past couple of years I've been VERY slowly trying to sort out my credit file and have made some progress (some other credit agreements have dropped off my credit file and others have been time-barred and removed). This BoS debt is the only biggie I have left hanging over me but I'm not sure how to proceed. Should I just hold tight until after the 6 year anniversary of my default date (which is now only 8 months away) and it drops off my credit report? Or will that not happen because of the legal stuff connected to this old credit card debt? Another slight concern is that, since that time, after my marriage broke up and I had subsequently moved house to live on my own (hence being able to work on my credit file without external interference lol), I was able to open my own individual cardcash account. This was the only bank account available to me at the time because of my poor credit history, but after a year of maintaining the account in good order, I was offered a full current account. I still have both these accounts and have had no problems with them and have even had the occasional overdraft facility in the past. So......are BoS likely to make a move on my current account because of this old credit card debt? I guess the gist of this verrrry long, rambling story is....will the credit agreement details be removed from my credit file after the 6 year mark (regardless of the legal stuff) and can BoS make any claim on my existing accounts once this credit agreement drops off my credit file? Phew!

I receive letters from them on a weekly basis, none of which I have ever responded to but I'd really like to get this sorted out properly and not have these debts hanging over me, even if they aren't being overly proactive in their pursuit of them. Another complicating factor is, due to a marriage break-up, I lived with my parents for a few months until I sorted myself out. A lot of this correspondence now goes to my mum and dad's address and, as they're elderly, they're very anxious to know what's going to happen and whether someone's going to turn up at THEIR door. The letters range from asking me to get in contact with them immediately or they will consider legal action, to offering a reduced settlement figure if I pay up now, to saying that someone will be visiting me to discuss this matter. (I should point out that no-one has ever turned up)

OK....so I'm certain this will have been covered in other posts but I'm confuzzled by the sheer number! I have about £25k of debt dating back several years and I plan to finally sort things out once and for all. I got a full credit report and have all the relevant details but I'm unsure about a few things. I realise that 5 years have to have elapsed and this seems to be the case for all bar one of the debts (that one reaches the 5 year mark in December 2011). Can I start the 5 year count down from the date of my last payment to each as the default dates ar are all several months after? Do the relevant companies HAVE to respond favourably to my standard letter or can they challenge my application for the debts to be statute barred even if I meet all the criteria? If any of the companies in turn tell me that it is not in fact 5 years after all, and produce evidence that I in fact had contacted them and acknowledged the debt (something I'm sure isn't the case but I'm trying to cover all the bases here), will they then begin to pursue me relentlessly to ensure they get their money back before 5 years HAS elapsed? I should reiterate that as indicated in my post title, I am in Scotland. Many thanks in anticipation of the usual high quality advice

*still jumping up and down in an almost hysterical fashion* :lol:

Hi guys I'm soooo excited I can hardly type!!! Had pursued claim through MCOL, which BOS acknowledged....there I was patiently counting the days, waiting to see what they would do next. The 28 days would have been up on Monday 18th June so thought that SOMETHING would happen in the next few days....... Was claiming £12039.40 (including interest and court fees), got letter this morning stating the usual 'on a purely commercial basis...blah blah...without admission of liability....' and they've offered a total of £11416.10 (!!!!!!!!) but they dispute the other £635.93. Naturally, I'm delighted but I'm going to write and say thanks, but I'll continue to pursue the balance through MCOL but feel free to deposit the funds to my account as you proposed!!! Feel like the end is in sight now and, although it may seem petty to quibble over what is a small percentage of the claim, it still makes my blood boil when I think of all the times that their charges left me without access to ANY money!!! Of course, on receipt of the funds, I'll be making a donation to this site, everyone has been SOOOOO helpful, I definitely wouldn't have persevered if I hadn't had so much practical and moral support! Thanks guys Jacqui

Hi Guys Can't find my original post but desperately need further information! I completed the necessary online forms with MCOL last Friday and claim was issued to HBOS on Monday (according to the details online). Am I supposed to forward some additional paperwork to accompany my claim now? I'm sure I read that somewhere but can't remember where or when? Where do I send the detailed breakdown of my charges? Waiting hopefully Jacqui

Thanks for that Seaside Lady! Planning to lodge my claim with MCOL on Thursday first thing (when I have the funds to pay the fees!!!) Keep everything crossed! Jacqui

Hi Just redoing my list of charges on the spreadsheet on this site (think the layout is better and more detailed than what I was using before!).... Only problem is, by the time my statements get to 2004 there isn't the same detail about the charges. I know at the time I would have been sent notification of whether it was rejected D/D or excess O/D charge, but who keeps those when you're getting them by the dozen? So, some of the entries on my statements what the charges specifically were, because they just say 'CHARGES AS NOTIFIED'. Can't even figure out what's what because some of them are obviously a few charges lumped together......for example....some are £30, one is £65, one is £135!!!! Just wonder how I should describe these on my spreadsheet....should I just put 'Charges as Notified' as they have done or is that not detailed enough for the court? Thanks Jacqui

Hi again Thanks for your prompt response....I know I'm just feeling last minute jitters but it's good to know people are there who have gone through the same thing before! You mentioned about splitting the claim but I was planning to use MCOL and that would allow me to claim the full amount in one.....what are the disadvantages to this? One claim will cost me £250 (which I don't really have) but I HAVE to get this money back! Jacqui

Hi Annie I was put onto your thread by Maroondevo and it's been VERY helpful! I'm currently about to use MCOL to claim £9,251.00 plus interest of £2,063.25. I'm not sure if the amount is right...I used the interest calculation tool on Martin Lewis' website but it seems such a lot. Not that I'm complaining if it's right! Jumped through all the hoops as recommended on here but received nothing apart from standard '8 weeks to look into my complaint' letter. Completing MCOL plus just a bit nervous about making a mistake that'll cost me later. Welcome any comments about which interest I should be including...it all seems so complicated when you have to get it down in black and white. Many thanks Jacqui

Thanks for that Scott.....been scouring for that thread with no success so far. Is there a quick way I can find it?

Hi guys Was hoping I would be one of the lucky few who get their charges refunded before I had to start proceedings but, HBOS being HBOS, no joy! Claiming charges going back 6 years, total £9251.00 Interest (have to amend this as was caluculated upto 2nd April) £2063.25 Going down the route of using MCOL and English service address to enable me to make one single, as much as possible (!) claim. Reached the interest amount using the interest calculation tool on Martin Lewis' website...think that uses the Section 69 interest calculation at 8% from the start. Literally filling in the MCOL details as we speak so would appreciate as much advice and input as possible! Is there anything else I can chuck at them...want to get it spot on and claim as much as possible?!?!?! *Fingers crossed* Jacqui