thanks for your quick response. I have checked this out and can see a- the arrangement 2yrs ago on file and b my credit score from Equifax which is out of 1000. What I am after is what this score needs to be to pass credit

Hi I am looking to purchase a large item on finance through Hitachi Finance - around £8K on interest free. Anybody have any idea as to what credit score /1000 is required to pass. I have a couple of credit cards and pay more than min each month and not missed a payment - ever although 2 yrs ago did have a problem when my wife was redundant and for 3 months had an arrangement on the mortgage, since then all ok - no probs at all. Many thanks Topspeed

Your guess is quite correct and I will now keep any letters from MH or RED or Lowell or any other company regards this and will send a recorded delivery letter to them complaining about lack of response to my recorded delivery letter and contact whilst in dispute etc etc. Many thanks for your help ODC.

HI Guys can somebody let me know the following please. I sent off my letter for my CCA and enclosed my £1 to Lowell and in the same letter I also stated that debt is statue barred... All by recorded delivery- which I have since checked and seen that it has been signed for -sent to Lowell HO Leeds etc etc. Anyway- that was back in late Feb 08 and as yet have had neither my CCA back nor a response to my statute barred letter. Do I just sit and wait or do I fire another salvo at them?? I have received a letter from a scottish debt company (forget name but lots of posts on here regards company)- regards same debt which i just shredded and also the std letter from RED- again shredded. I am not bothered by the letters as I know the debt is statute barred, but IF and am sure it is only IF they decide to take next step am I correct in presuming that they cannot until they respond to my original letter? and is proof of posting a letter good enough defence?

Hi from what I understand and I have been reading on here for a few weeks...this is the lye of the land. 1) If they can't produce a signed copy of your credit agreement then there is no case to answer. As yet they have failed to do so looks like 1-0 to you. What you have to remember here is that back in 1990 or even into 2000 scanning docs into pcs was almost unheard of - it is labour intensive and took up huge amounts of expensive disc space- so the practise was often not done. This means that your file is only on paper and chances are that even if your original creditor kept them nice -when the debt was sold then paperwork didn't follow and end of debt. I would like to point out that it is now common practise to scan all docs to Hard drive - you can now buy a terabyte HDD for £150 retail or there abouts - that's a lot of data storage space for not much money. 2) Even if they do produce credit agreement there are often several escape routes due to missing info on the orginal form or even wrong type of form used. Perhaps 2-0 but for caution we shall keep score as 1-0 3) As you state- WELL over 6 yrs since either last contact or payment - hence statute barred - 2-0 possibly 3 If over 6 yrs then: Whoever is chasing you can still legally do so - but they can only ask you to pay - they can't force you and they can't take any legal action either. The Debt is still there - just nothing they can do about it. When you send SB letter their letters should stop or you can take them to court for harrassment. Personally, I would send SB letter - copy of which is in templates - by recorded delivery as this then gives them little room for manouver - either they PROVE you have been in contact to acknowledge debt in last 6 yrs or prove payments have been made to account or they have to call it GAME OVER 3-0

Looks like they will have a minimum of two recorded delivery letters on Monday then- I sent my "this is statute barred" letter off as well. I will give it a few days and see if i have any response before sending court my set aside request- although this will be in the 18 days from the date the letter. One thing I did notice are the signatures - on the Red letter and on the SD they appear to be quite different and yet the alleged same person's name is below signature (not PP either) Best of luck and all that

I believe that if it is more than 6 years since you a) repaid any money on the account or b) Wrote to your creditor regards acceptance of the debt with no monies being paid then I believe that it's Statute Barred as you say. I am going through this at present with the same company and will keep updated. I believe my case to be statute barred and have today sent a recorded letter asking them to acknowledge this fact. However, don't phone them - without using 141 before the number to be dialled (to hide your phone no) and personally I would never phone them. Keep all letters sent to them - I would ask for a copy of your signed credit agreement, by recorded delivery and wait for the reply. Don't sign any letters you send out to these people - and finally you will recieve plenty of more idol threats - some offering reduction of debt if you pay up others threatening the big guns and bankcruptcy. All mine to date have been empty threats and from what I have read on here most other people as well. Best of luck

When did you last make a payment to Nationwide or its agents and when did you last make written correspondance.

Name and address: *** Date of birth: **** Company name: LOWELL PORTFOLIO I LTD Account type: Credit Card / Store Card Default Balance: £3,484 Current Balance: £3,484 Defaulted On: 22/08/2001 File updated for period to: 15/04/2007 IS a copy of my credit file for July 07 - last time I looked I have NEVER written to Lowell or Red or any other agency regards this and I have also not made any payment or correspondance in the last 6 yrs to original company (HSBC). Can somebody post a link for the template letters as I can't seem to find them ... Also - if above is correct - and it's copied out of Experian report- then there is no case to answer -I just have to let Lowell know this. I presume KEY DATE here is default date + 6 yrs Many thanks for all your replies

I presume after the 18/21 days it then naturally dies and a new one needs to be issued if they wish to pursue again. Also- was SD printed and details entered in relvevant boxes? I think I will apply to court to have SD struck out and also to Lowell as over 6 yrs and ask them to leave me alone.

Excellent .... I am 99.99999% certain that they don't have a leg to stand on. However... Do I use my local CC? When I apply to court for set aside - I presume I have to actually go to court? - my reason will be because it is Statue barred. No other proof required. End Of Will the court get in touch with Lowell regards this..hence taking more time. Not that this is an issue as debt was defaulted mid 2001 and now 2008 = 6 1/2 - 7 yrs AND Do I contact Lowell - thereby establishing a first positive contact and tell them to prove claim against me - ask them to send me all you have and that case is already Stat Barred? (If this is an option presume registered post?)

How certain are you that this debt is statute barred? I have never paid anything back or agreed that debt is mine. Until Nov 2006 this had been dormant for 5+yrs. So am 99% certain How did they send to you the SD? this is important!!! 2nd class post ...So I presume I can deny ever receiving it?? Did you request the CCA in writing at all? No I didn't. I haven't even officially spoken to them as when I phoned with a ref no they wanted my name, address DOB etc and I refused to give them details stating that I didn't know who they were etc etc. All correspondance has been via std post either from Red or Lowell

First of all let me say 'Hello' to everybody Right...now I can ask a question Back in yr 2000 I had an HSBC account with Credit card. My business went broke and I ended up defaulting HSBC for £3500 on my account and £4400 on my card. HSBC registered defaults on my credit file for the bank account in 05/2001 and for the credit card 09/2001. They have never come to me for the money (as far as I can remember- and certainly not since I defaulted). It appears they sold my CARD debt - £4400 to Lowell in November 2006 who have been trying without success to get me to pay. My bank debt has, I presume died? I have totally ignored all letters from them in respect of my debt and once(10 months ago) I even phoned them and told them to send me proof of the debt, before I would even acknowledge the debt as there are plenty of 'dodgy companies' masquerading as bona-fide- I'm still awaiting the reply I have had the usual - go to court - go directly to court do not pass go type letters along with it's your birthday and we can now reduce your debt by 50% etc etc However, yesterday I received a SD for bankruptcy and whilst I am 95% sure there is nothing they can do now - as over 6 yrs and not admitted money due and paid 0.00...I am just checking that this is correct, I have a house --mortgaged that has little equity in it and obviously I don't want to lose it! Also, how long are defaults on my credit file if I don't pay up. Many thanks Topspeed