Hi all - I am a newbie on this site and am in awe of the amount of information available here. I came across you all when searching for any contact information for a debt collection company called Arrow. To try and keep a long story short, I have moved twice in the last 18 months and a credit card (WWF with MBNA) missed having the address updated. Although I had a redirect on my mail, because the card was 0% balance at the time of the last move I had no statement (and my accountant keeps the old ones anyway), so completely missed letting them know. Between the mail redirect ending and now, an Internet hosting company I was using charged the card. Statements were obviously sent to the old address, and payments not made as I didn't get them - I'm sure you all get the picture.

I knew nothing about this until recently when I and my new partner went to apply for a mortgage and a blip showed up on my otherwise good credit record. We investigated and tracked it down through Expert Credit Check to this MBNA card. I immediately rang them to settle the outstanding amount only to be told the account had been sold (on the 7th March, I rang on the 12th) to Arrow. They gave me a phone number to ring them.

Now the circus begins. The phone number they gave me was for a company called Fredrickson International - also a DCA - who still insist nearly 3 weeks later that they have no record of this account. MBNA keep giving me this phone number - I won't bore you with the countless phone calls to and fro and the runaround I'm getting. So far MBNA have given me phone numbers for Fredrickson International, and NCO Europe - neither of which have any record of my account. I cannot get hold of any kind of manager at MBNA to get any further information and the 'Charge off' dept who it seems I am supposed to talk to for this information, are always not available.

But obviously Arrow (if they exist, and I spotted a post somewhere on this site that said something about them being a dormant company?) cannot write to me at the address they would have been given as I no longer live there. Though I also spotted a post about CCCs being able to catch up with new addresses through the Credit reports (is that right?).

I have just drafted a letter to MBNA to try and elicit the correct information out of them, but thought I would check here first whether this is the correct course of action here. I am happy to pay what I owe in terms of the original debt, but would not be happy to pay escalating charges due to the time involved (albeit not long compared to some stories here) because MBNA cannot be efficient enough to give me the right information.

At the end of the day, I just need to get it settled so I can then sort out the mortgage I am trying to get. The orignal sum I have been told was approximately £204 when the debt was sold. Also how do I go about getting a copy of the final statement, without having to pay huge fees for it?

Hope all that makes sense? I would be grateful for any advice as I am getting nowhere with phone calls.

Much thanks.