Snap.

Don't know when the agreement in question was signed. Don't know what they're up to now but on older agreements, (mine was 2002), Cap 1 used to be in the habit of sending out a copy of the signature box, along with current T&C's. No suprise when they got told to..................... david

Shows the money to be made though: £13m per annum return on an investment of £31.3m. 41.5% pa return, less finance and operating costs. Obviously there is a profit in other peoples misery. David PS, only good news is that MBNA took a big hit when they ditched it.

http://www.credittoday.co.uk/article/13576/online-news/aktiv-acquires-470m-mbna-portfolio Interesting thing is they bought it from Varde - who bought it from MBNA last year. Didn't take them long to start playing pass the parcel. David

About time. I see that Wonga, after taking a lot of flak regarding their targeting of students, are still targeting OAP's. The older the better judging by the animated cartoon on Wonga's webpage, (Meet Betty, Earl and Joyce). David

Thanks Brig, Will tackle MBNA over it pronto, which if B/card & Cap One were anything to go by it will wind up with the ICO. Good news is that by the time they get round to ruling Global Arrow will simply have to delete the entry anyway as six years will be up from the correct date - he he. David

Yep, default is the same date etc, (balance has dropped to zero?), now showing as Global Arrow instead of MBNA. David

Thinking of having a go at MBNA regarding the default date filed. Did this recently with both Barclaycard and Cap 1, (both defaulted when I stopped paying on a payment plan after 18 months). Got a ruling from the ICO that 'I had been made worse of by attempting to pay the debt than if I had made no attempt'. Got both defaults shifted back 18 months. Same situation exists with MBNA however, they have now sold the account. Who would I raise this with, MBNA or the debt purchaser? David

Hi V Your logic is correct. What I said was that the courts are not sympathetic to recovery cases where a realistic payment plan is in place, (although they will consider charging orders to secure the debt). That however will not stop Paragon threatening hellfire/brimstone and generally trying to make your lives a misery in the hope they can scare you into upping your payments and or agreeing to a voluntary charging order, that's what DCA's do for a living. David.

Doesn't really matter, there is no way that Wage Day could justify those charges in court and it is very unlikely, from the reputation this market has, that they would take it anywhere near a court. David

In my experience when large numbers of accounts are sold in this manner, the buyers don't get to pick and choose what accounts they get. As a general rule, (despite what may be threatened), legal action for recovery of a debt is unlikely if an existing payment plan is in place. Simple reason is that a judge would question why the case was in court in the 1st place. This would not however stop them going for a charging order if there was equity to support it. As you are aware Idem are part of Paragon which also have another outfit called Arden Credit Management. They sometimes pop up for harrasment purposes. David

Mine went off to Global Arrow but subbing on this to see what's afoot your side. David

Agree Fred, see which way the cats going to jump. I to found it a bit odd getting both letters in the same envelope, also they were delivered to me 10 days after the date, (according to the date on the letters), they were written. All a bit strange until you look at the 'if undelivered please return to: PO Box 189, Huddersfield HD8 1DY' on the back of the envelope. This return address is used by, among others, Westcot/Nelson Guest. David

No Fred, The 1st 8 numbers are as per, the last 8 have changed david

Well well. My MBNA account has also just been flogged to Arrow to be managed by Westcot, (who had it already). As I have it in writing from MBNA that they cannot produce an agreement, or due to the age of the account even come up with a realistic reconstruction, Arrow have bought a pup. Will wait until Westcot contact me regarding this, then quite cheerfully tell them to **** off. David

Errrrr....... but do we still get the chicks for free???

Hi Fred Regarding point 1/. I have 3 accounts which have vanished from the radar despite being within the 6 year reporting period. 2 of these accounts are with a debt purchaser, 1 still with the original creditor. The only common factor is that they were all subject of action by the ICO for incorrect default dates, (note that even with the correct dates, they are still some months away from 6 years). Don't know why they have stopped reporting but not complaining in this case!! David

Came across this.... Coming back from another recent EC summit in Rome, various European leaders were forced to take the train due to a strike by Swiss ATC controllers; sitting together in the same compartment, travelling through the Swiss Alps, were Sarkozy, Cameron, Merkel and the young and very attractive female Irish foreign minister. The train goes into a dark tunnel and a few seconds later there is the sound of a kiss followed by a loud slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, Sarkozy has a bright red, hand print on his cheek. No one speaks, everyone is extremely shocked and embarrassed. Angela Merkel thinks: Sarkozy, not able to help himself, must have kissed the Irish girl in the dark, and she slapped his cheek. The Irish girl thinks: Sarkozy, not able to help himself, must have tried to kiss me in the dark, but missed and kissed Merkel and she slapped his cheek. Sarkozy thinks: Why me ? That perfidious Cameron must have groped the Irish girl in the dark knowing that I’d get the blame for it and she slapped me…the English bastard. Cameron thinks: I can’t wait for another tunnel, just so I can kiss the back of my hand again and smack that little French sod another time.

Figured that. Wonga, after getting flak over their targeting of students, are now running TV ads which appear to be targeting OAP's. David

Check the date of your last payment. If it is six or more years the debt is statute barred - they cannot take you to court. David

Can anyone tell me: Does a DCA have to own a debt to do the above search, or can they do it if they are just collecting on behalf of? David

But can every tom dick & harry DCA do this. My thoughts are that the owner of the debt can do this, but not every DCA they pass it around on a 'collecting for basis' otherwise the cycle will never end. David

No suprise however: Barclaycard really do care if you live or die - if you die you stop paying. David

Best advice. I have one enforceable and after the antics of the DCA, I informed the OC I would be paying them, if they wanted to get paid and did just that. Cut out the parasites. David

Yeah, I won't be able to sleep tonight. David