Hi Brig, thank you for the very quick response.

I don't want to write to Wescot yet, I really want something from Santander that admits they should not be pursuing the debt as it is statute barred. I will be using a combination of the above to point this out to them with the hope of getting a positive reply. Not until that point will I want to send anything to Wescot as I think they will just keep banging on about what was owed when the account defaulted rather than the fact that it is now statute barred. I want it cut and dried so that wes can't hassle me any further (especially by writing to mr B at my address!) I will do the letter and get it off to them in the next couple of days.

Do you know any actual laws that they have ignored here? If I can say something along the lines of 'by continuing to pursue a statute barred debt you are refusing to acknowledge point .... of ..... act', or that kind of thing.

Satans do actually say in their letter that the 'default has expired', so I am hopeful that it does mean a complete removal of this from any credit report and not just an update. I have noticed a lot of things disappearing from my report in recent months that have reached their 6 year deadline, so I assume that if they try to put something on there/correct something to show that it is over 6 years old it should automatically disappear - but I stand to be corrected!! My current report won't be ready for another 3 days, and given the date of the letter I don't know that it will be updated on the next report. I would love to know why it took them 4 years to mis-register a default date in the first place and just who updated it in February to make it look like an open account with a recent default rather than a closed account with a distant default!

I have today received a letter from Santander regarding my complaint to them. As far as I am concerned, they have contradicted themselves by saying that the money is owed but they then go on to say about the default date. I have typed the letter out:

Dear Mrs B

Thank you for highlighting your concerns and giving me the opportunity to investigate this matter.

My understanding of your complaint is that you are unhappy that a default is showing on your credit file, for your bank account xxxxx, dated xxxxx 2011. You say that there has been no activity on the account by you since August 2006. You say that Santander have breached and that you have not received a default notice. You say that is possible that Wescot are pursuing the debt, which you say you are not liable, unlawfully.

I have investigated your account and can confirm that the balance that the account defaulted at, is correct and you are being held liable to repay the debt to Wescot. Please call them on.... to make a repayment plan.

In regard to the default date, I have looked into this and can confirm that the date of the default is incorrect. I do apologise for the inconvenience that this may have caused you. The default should have registered on 8 Feb 2007, but did not until 5 December 2011. I have arranged for this to be amended by the relevant department. This does mean that your default has expired. Please allow 28 days for this to update before checking your credit file.

By some way of compensating you, I have arranged for a cheque to be sent for £60, under seperated cover. I hope that this goes some way to restoring your faith in Santander.

I hope I have explained the reason for my decision and that if offers a fair resolution to the issue you have raised. If after consideration you would like to discuss any of the above points further, please contact us on.....

Alternatively, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I enclose a leaflet etc etc etc.

Yours sincerely.

Firstly, surely by admitting that the default should have registered on 8 Feb 2007 and that is has now expired, they are admitting that the debt is statute barred? I am not sure of the relevance of the date of 8 Feb as it doesn't relate to anything I have, but it is still over 6 years ago.

Secondly, I DO NOT WANT A CHEQUE FOR £60 to 'restore my faith' in them. I consider it an absolute insult and some kind of pay off to accepting what they have said. I am going to return it to them as soon as it arrives. I also want to do a letter that says the amount at default may well be correct, however (by their own admission) the default took place over 6 years ago and is, therefore, statute barred.

Brig, if you are about, may I call upon you once more to offer your opinion of the above letter and also ask for your help with a reply. I certainly do not want to phone them to discuss the matter, I want it all in writing. I have no intentions of making a repayment plan with Wescot over a debt that, if I have read the letter correctly, Santander have admitted has an expired default date. What do you reckon?

Thanks again.

By the way, apart from where I have put either xxxxx, ....., or etc, the letter is typed as it is. Any grammar etc is of Santander's making.

Have just made one final adjustment. On point three, I have realised that this is the date Santander closed the account (according to the paperwork they sent me). It is certainly not when the account was defaulted on, so I have replaced it with: '3.The default date ofDecember 2011 is when Santanderchose to close the account, not when the account was defaulted on.'

On a related point, Wescot have now sent yet another letter to Mr B at this address. However, its contents confuse me and I am hoping you might have a clue what they are going on about. (please note that I have not opened any of the letters sent to Mr B at my address, but you can read them if you know how!! Also, the letter is marked 'to be opened by addressee only' so I have to do what it says don't I) It says that after contacting Santander, they have been told by santander that Mr B now has to make a formal complaint to Santander by telephone to their complaints department. He has 14 days inwhich to do this, after which collection of the debt will continue.

If you remember, the original letter to wesc was to tell them that the debt is stat barred and that Mr B does not live at this address so stop writing to him here (a point they have clearly chosen to ignore). What is confusing me is that I have no idea what Mr B is supposed to be complaining to Santander about. The original stat barred letter to wesc was quite clear, no queries were made; they were told the facts. What are they all going on about? The only complaint being made (that wesc have no idea about anyway) is my letter to Santander about my credit reference file.

Hope all that makes sense.

Thank you Brig, will be going off today.

Hi Brig, hope you are around to take a quick look at the changes I have made to your letter. I have only typed in the paragraph with the changes, everything else has been left the same. Any comments? I want to get this right!

Dear Sir/madam

I refer to an entry made on my credit reference files held by Noddle Credit ReferenceAgency (screen print attached). As Santander iswell aware, this account was defaulted more than 6 years ago, the last possibletransaction made by the customer being August 2006. Any further movements on the accountafter this date were all made by Santander and NOT the customer. This account has previously been listed on my credit reference files under a list of closed accounts and marked as ''dormant'' with a zero balance since 2010,however on checking my credit file I have found that this account has now been movedto my open accounts and updated as a ''Default'' entry with a date of November2011, although it is quite clear from the screen print that the changes in information to anopen defaulted account were made in February of this year.

This is a gross manipulation of my credit reference data for the followingreasons:

1. No notice of Intention to Default the account has been received.

2. No actual Default Notice has been received.

3.The default date of December 2011 has no relevance whatsoever to the conduct of thisaccount.

4. The cause of action on this account is more than 6 years ago.

5. It is highly possible that Wescott, whom you have requested to act on yourbehalf, are acting unfairly and/or unlawfully by registering incorrect data asa means to extending the time allowed to pursue the alleged debt for which I DONOT accept any liability.

Further help required!

A reply has been received to the statute barred letter that was sent (see #91). I have not opened it but have been able to get the following information:

They say thank you for getting in touch and for notifying them of the query. (What query was that then? I thought a simple statement of fact had been made about the debt being statute barred). They will need to get back to their client to confirm information and this may take several weeks. In the meantime perhaps someone would be good enough to contact them (get stuffed ).

That's the gist of what I can make out. Also, despite being told to remove the address used as it is not Mr B's, they have obviously chosen to completely ignore that information and have used it to contact him again. I really don't know what else I can do to make them realise they are completely wrong and they seemingly have no intentions whatsoever of not using a 100% incorrect address.

Oh wow, that is a really good letter! Thank you again Brig.

Have spent the whole day trying to sort out financial things of one kind or another so you have, yet again, taken a weight from my shoulders. I will read it through thoroughly once I have the time to sit for more than five minutes, tweak it where necessary and get it off to Santander. As far as I can make out, they are still the owners and anyone else has simply been acting on their behalf. Am I correct in thinking that if this is the case, any debt collectors cannot take direct action and can only pass the debt back to the original creditor? Perhaps I have me wires crossed on that one!

Another letter has arrived addressed only to Mr B. I Haven't opened it, but have been able to ascertain that it is from Wescot again, saying that their 'latest enquiries' confirm that he 'still' lives at this address. HE HAS NEVER LIVED AT THIS ADDRESS How stupid are these people. They are continuing to demand repayment within the next week.

Obviously this letter has crossed with the statute barred letter sent to them, so can only wait and see I suppose what they do next. However, this leads me to another problem relating to this matter that has arisen. Since 2010 this account has shown as dormant or inactive with a balance of zero. On checking my credit report today, I suddenly have another bank account, which is this one from Santander which has been updated to 'default'. How can it suddenly be listed as a default when the actual default was over 6 years ago but Santander did nothing about closing it until 2010? Infact the 'new' default date has been given as November 2011, a date which appears to have been picked out of thin air as it relates to absolutely nothing at all. Where do I stand on this one because obviously it is Wescot thinking they are being clever by doing this, although there is nothing at all on my credit report to say who has updated this information and there are no new searches by anyone.

Cheers Brig . Think I will remove the 'on behalf of' bit - suddenly it made sense to take it off !

Will get it in the post tomorrow and will keep you informed of what happens.

Hi Brig,

I have adapted the letter that you very kindly wrote for me, with a few small alterations. Just wondered what your thoughts are before I send it off by recorded delivery. Not sure whether or not to put 'On behalf of Mr E Blackadder' or to not put anything other than a squiggle as a signature. Other than that, I intend to post the letter exactly as it is below without a contact address, my point being that I have no-where to direct them as far as forwarding goes!

Forthe personal attention of The Compliance Manager, Wescot Credit Services.

Re: Reference: abc123

CRN:00000000

March 2013

To whom it may concern

I refer to your letter dated xxxxxxxxx in reference to the abovementioned account, please note this letter is not acknowledgment of oradmission of any liability to Wescot Credit Services.

Having now researched relevant parts of my credit history I have concluded that the account which you have been instructed to deal with on behalf of Santanderis statute barred, therefore no party named on any agreement relative toaccount number abc123 will make any payment or offer of payment now or in the future.

I would remind you that should Wescot Credit Services wish to dispute thestatus of the account the onus of providing unequivocal proof that the accountis not statute barred falls entirely on Wescot. I have been made aware of theOFT Guidance on debt collection 2003/2012 and thesections regarding the pursuit of statute barred debt.

Wescot Credit Services will now cease to process ALL data relating to theparties named in any alleged agreement and remove it from its' records withimmediate effect, in particular Wescot Credit Serivces will remove the addressused on its' letter dated xxxxxxx as Mr E Blackadder is NOT and NEVERHAS BEEN a resident at the address used.

This is the final response.

squiggle signature.

Onbehalf of Mr E Blackadder.

Hi Brig, hope you are around and about as I have some thoughts about the letter.

My biggest concern is that, having read it through several more times, it doesn't make it clear that the address they have written to is not Mr Bs, it is simply asking them to remove it from their records. A fact that I am sure they will be particularly reluctant to do whatever the circumstances, especially as they won't have any other address for him. This is the point that I really need to get across to them, but I am anxious that if I send them the letter they will take it as acknowledgement of this being Mr Bs address as they have sent it here and received a reply.

Hope I've made that clear!!

Otherwise, I love the letter and want to get it off to wessy asap.

Mrs B.

You're more than welcome

I'm impressed that CAG thinks I have some reputation to spread around

used his large lollipop to find.

Thank you for your speedy responses. Next daft question, do I still address it to Data Controller? There was no name given on the letter from wessy, just a load of 'issued by', 'on behalf of' and reference numbers for about 3 different things. Lord only knows which one you are expected to quote back at them in correspondence, the nearest thing I can find is 'The Recovery Department'. (Our local hospital has one of those...)

Had to laugh at the information on the back of the letter. It says that you have to respond within 7 days of the date of the letter. It took 6 days to get here

Tried to click on your star Brig, but it told me I couldn't until I had spread my reputation around a little bit more .

Thank you Brig, another good letter. The letter isn't going to Santander though, it is to wescot who now seem to have the debt. There is nothing in the letter from them to Mr B that states it has been passed to them from moorcroft who originally wrote last september (addressed to both of us at the old address which is why it was forwarded to me), so I'm assuming that moorcroft passed it back to santander who have now passed it on to wescot. Could this be yet another sign of it being statute barred??

I suppose that I just change the names above and insert wescot inplace of santander or does the wording of the letter need to be altered to allow for it going to a debt collector and not directly to Santander?

Thank you again Brig, your time is very much appreciated I will let you know what happens once I send the letter next week.

That's great. Thanks again

Brig, thank you so much yet again. Yes, the letter would be extremely helpful - I just don't seem to be able to put anything like that together anymore. Presumably, the letter would have to be sent out with no actual address on it, on the grounds that I don't have a clue where Mr B is, let alone have an address for him. The other option is to put our old address on it I suppose - any replies would probably be forwarded to me anyway!

Thank you again, your offer is very much appreciated:-)

Oh dear, this one has become a little more complicated, so any further help would be appreciated.

It would appear that the santander debt has now gone from moorcroft to wescot.

The complication is that a letter has arrived from wescot addressed just to Mr B but to MY new address.

This has been an ongoing problem as someone somewhere seems to think that they can use my new address to contact Mr B.

I rang CL Finance about two weeks ago when a letter had arrrived from them and chewed their ears off because I was so angry.

They claimed that as Mr B's name was linked with mine they would have got the address that way.

As I pointed out to them, there may be a link between the names but this address has NEVER been listed as a contact for Mr B

and insisted they remove it from their records.

None of the letters are address c/o, so they obviously think this is where he lives.

I am so angry about this but there seems to be absolutely nothing I can do to stop them, the address has been passed around the lot of them.

I am not sure now quite what to do.

My name is also on the Santander account even though this letter has been sent to just Mr B

so it has to be dealt with as I don't want them suddenly chasing me.

Obviously I need to send off the statute barred letter,

but I just don't know whose name to put on it and I obviously do not want them writing to my new address,

especially if they think Mr B lives here.

I'm now just worn out with all this,

I'm tired of and I just want them to go away,

leave me alone and stop just assuming that they can use my address to contact mr B.

I'm really tempted to call wescot now and ask them why they are writing to him at this address,

but I know you should never call them. It might make things worse!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okey dokey, it certainly reads fine to me as it is. No doubt they will try to argue the toss in some way or other!

Thank you again, Brig. Very much appreciated

Thank you Brig, that is a great help. I am just wondering about the second paragraph; would it be better to put in a sentence about receiving information from Santander, or is it better not to mention it and keep it as it is?

Thank you

Oh, yes please Brig. I would be very grateful if you could help me with this one. Thank you

Not having a good day, looks like my income is going to be falling sooner than I had anticipated so worry has set in

Yoru help is one less weight off my mind!

Mrs B.

Thank you Brig. In what way do you mean 'carefully worded'? I don't want to get it wrong!

Is there any point firing off a SB letter to moorcroft at this point, something along the lines of 'thanks for your letter of last September, but this is statute barred', or should sleeping dogs be left to lie?

I have now received, much to my amazement, a reply from santander. It is a letter along with eleven pages of statements, each page with only 1 or 2 things listed on it.

The letter reads thus:

Dear Mrs Blackadder,

You have asked for copies of your bank statements, which we assume is to enable you to reconcile your bank charges.

Please find enclosed statements for the above numbered account from the earliest date held on our system (18 July 2006) to closure. Please note that there are no statements from 6 november 2006 to 24 april 2008 as there was no movement on the account.

Please call us if you have any questions.

Yours.

jane somers

business manager.

The statements sent cover July 2006 to December 2006 and consist almost without exception of charges (although they are wrong to assume that I contacted them to reconcile my bank charges, I want to find out if the debt is statute barred). I can only see one transaction that appears to be a credit and that is from August 2006. However, if I am correct from reading the information they have sent, it would appear that the last transaction of any kind took place was on the 6 November 2006 when they debited the account. If this is the case, I am assuming that the debt is now statute barred.

What I can't figure out though is why they haven't sent anything from april 2008 onwards. The only thing that I have is a 'mini-statement' that says in April 2008 the account was transferred to a 'flexiplan plus'. Then there is nothing further until November 2010 when there is a large debit for a 'daily unarranged overdraft fee'. The final thing on the mini statements is from December 2011 when 'account closed contact collections and recoveries'. There is nothing to say that there was any money paid in or taken out between april 2008 and closure.

The date of December 2006 is certainly accurate for when we were having financial problems and Mr B would have stopped using it. What I don't understand is the 2008 thing, as I doubt very much Mr B would have contacted them to arrange to change the account (he kept well away from anyone he owed money to so as not to rock any boats). It would appear though, that Santander do not have any statements for this time or they would have sent them.

At the moment I am probably more confused than before!! My major concern at the moment is not reconciling any bank charges, it is finding out whether or not this account is, indeed, statute barred.