Quick update. I got a letter from AK last week saying that they had received my complaint. I have just had a phone call from them on my mobile - which is strange because I've never given it to them, so they must have got it from one of the agencies I complained to... (Am guessing OFT, or CSA). Not too happy about that. Is it right that they'd pass over those details?????? However, the conversation was short. They were fishing to see whether I'd lived at x or y address. I told them that all the information they had about me was in dispute and due to them being a very questionable and suspicious company I was not going to speak to them on the phone.She 'made a log of the call', sighed (it must be a terrible place to work) and hung up. I shall post more as more happens. Very iffy of the OFT/ CSA though.... any thoughts on that?

In my case is that 40 days from the 6th Jan? Tried that. Can't find Opus on there. Their site says: Opus is a trademark of CC Asset Management Limited, which is used under licence by Bank of Scotland plc. I wasn't sure about where to send the SAR to so I rang Opus and they told me to send it to customer services Sounds like good advice! Nope, it's a fully functioning credit card. AFAIK Citi got into trouble last year and dumped all their accounts on Opus. I suspect that Opus haven't got any evidence from Citi, just some electronic records that they cannot verify. which may explain why they're being unreasonable Yes Worst case scenario, it'll make me feel better Thanks for your advice. I'm going to read up on a Letter Before Action and give it to them with both barrels...

I feel well and truly stuck with this. Not sure what to do next. Just had a deflating conversation with the ICO This relates to entries on my credit files stating an 'Arrangement to Pay' (AR) from Citi Cards - and now Opus. I'll summarise where I'm up to: Nov 2010 - Got credit files (x3) and noticed Citi had reported an an 'Arrangement to Pay' from April 2010. 28 Nov 2010 - Wrote to Citi, CallCredit, Equifax and Experian asking them to verify or remove this as it was untrue. Dec 2010 - CallCredit and Equifax removed the entry from my file completely 3rd Jan 2011 - Experian removed the entry from my file completely 6th Jan 2011 - The exact same information shows up on my credit files again, but this time under an entry from Opus Cards NB: Opus bought the account from Citi in Nov/ Dec 2010 6th Jan 2011 - Wrote to Opus, CallCredit, and Experian asking them to verify or remove this as it was untrue [Didn't show on Equifax]. 17th Jan 2011 - Letter from Opus asking me to call them. 17th Jan 2011 - Wrote to Opus outlining the situation again. Reminded them that the ICO gave them 28days from the 6th Jan to rectify. 4th Feb 2011 - email from CallCredit saying that Opus didn't respond to their request for validation so they were 'suppressing' the entry until they hear back from them. 8th Feb 2011 - Letter from Opus saying that they'd received my complaint and would respond to me in 8 weeks. *8th Feb 2011 - Sent SAR to Opus and also stated that they'd broken the ICO's guidelines and I would be following this up and seeking legal advice. 8th Feb 2011 - Rang ICO. He said I had solid grounds for a complaint, but not to expect a case worker for at least 8 weeks as they were very busy 8th Feb 2011 - Collating all letters, proofs of postage and filling in the ICO's complaint letter ready for postage tomorrow. Is that it... Wait 8 weeks for some slow moving machinery to creeek into action? I'm pretty sure I know what's happened. In April, Citi called me and told me they could no longer accept payments by direct debit. I paid on my debit card and told them to take their regular payment off that. My bank shows Citi being paid with DD then POS from April. The payments were taken and as far as I can see they we're no different to my DD payments. An 'arrangment to pay' it was not - only in the same way my Direct Debit payment was an 'arrangement to pay'. Is there anythin I can 'force' them to do sooner than 8 weeks? I note Experian haven't got back to me yet either (currently the only reporters of this status). I suspect Opus haven't returned their calls either....

Done, done, done & done All emailed. Am off to the post office to send the complaint to the OFT. That's made me feel *much* better. I shall post back when I hear anything from these complaints and/ or Aktive Krapital Thanks Bazooka. Pro-active suits me more than hiding.

I've had no additional contact from AK or BC+W following the statement of 'my' account from AK on 3rd Feb I've checked my credit files and what's popped up is on Experian only. This wasn't there in Nov 2010. There's no mention of any debt to Barclays or AK. But there is a linked address entry from AK with 'Date of Link' in May 2005. I left this address in the Summer of 1999 - and did not have any accounts with Barclays. I've never dealt with AK ever before, so I don't know how this link that has appeared in the last month can be tied to 2005 and an address I lived at 12 years ago and for some account I never held. I've looked into linked addresses and assumed that they have no bearing on your credit score if no debt information is associated with them. However, thinking about it, as it's been put there by a DCA, will that matter? I've still not heard anything from AK or BC+W. I'm currently ignoring them. I'd be more than happy to aggressively pursue to end this farce tho.... Should I send them a SAR, or make a complaint to the OFT?

Absolutely no detail at all. No dates, what it was for, anything... and it's for exactly £1000 - so how does this supposed default plus any likely interest add up to exactly £1000? I'm going to get an updated copy of my credit files now. I'll post anything I find later. Thanks

Thanks for such a quick response silverfox. I'm happy to ignore it/ let them make the next move. I'm absolutely positive the debt isn't mine! Can this affect my credit file? Is it worth checking?

In Nov last year I got several letters from Aktiv Kapital stating that I owed them £1K (exactly) for a supposed debt to Barclays. Knowing nothing of such a debt, I ignored them. In January I got a Formal Demand, threatening legal proceedings from a company called Buchanan Clark + Wells. Having read advice here (thanks all) I sent them the "General debt letter - if you know nothing of the debt" from the library here. (My only communication with them, all done by recorded delivery) BCW wrote back stating that they'd put the account on hold and would contact AK. Today, I received a Statement of 'my' account from AK. This is printed on AK paper and tells me nothing! It simply reiterates that they seem to think I owe them a thousand pounds Do I simply ignore this, or should I follow it up with a letter asking them to provide actual evidence that this debt is mine? Any help is much appreciated. It's getting very stressful for me and my wife

I want to send a Subject Access Request to Opus cards to help deal with 'a bit of trouble' I'm having with them/ Citi at the moment. The only address I have for them is their customer 'service' address: Christine McNeill Head of Customer Service Opus Customer Service PO BOX 136 SHEFFIELD S98 1HB Can I send it here? Looking for them on the ICO site: www ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/Search.asp shows up nothing (plenty of Opus's, just not the right one) The Opus site says: Opus is a trademark of CC Asset Management Limited, which is used under licence by Bank of Scotland plc. So who do I sant the SAR to?

Thanks James. Experian (deliberately) mis read my message to them. I asked them to remove late payments to Citi cards and to Vanquis. I've always paid every bill on time. I sent this to Experian: "VANQUIS BANK. Entries C2, C10, C18, C34. Late payment: This is incorrect. I have checked my bank details and all payments were made on time and in full always to this lender. Please remove this from my file CITIFINANCIAL. Entries C42, C44, C46, C48, C50. Late payments (x2): This is incorrect. I have checked and all payments were made on time and in full always to this lender. Please remove these incorrect entries from my file " They responded simply saying that the duplicate information had been removed - nothing else. They didn't mention my references to to the incorrect late payments My understanding is that if I contact them again, then the 'clock resets' and they then get another 28 days. So if (when) they haven't removed the late payments, I presume I can contact Experian and tell them to remove them immediately? Equifax and Callcredit have removed the late payments. I want to change my mortgage soon to get a better deal, and get a 0% balance transfer credit card. This is really holding that up!

Hi, Here's an update. Callcredit: File is now completely clear (credit score from them is 900) Equifax: 1. Citifinancial account is fully in order. 2. Vanquis late payment still shows. Equifax have added a notice of correction saying my account is in dispute, but have said they are contacting Vanquis for more info 3. The default is still on there -- The information on this default is: Start Date 18/08/2003 Date Updated 06/05/2010 Date Last Delinquent 12/04 Date Satisfied 08/12/2004 Experian: Having contacted them to remove the incorrect information, they have not got back to me since the email saying 'they deleted the duplicate entries'. Questions: 1. Equifax. As I satisfied the default in May 2010 (am thinking this was a bad idea now ) - will this stay on my record until May 2016? I hope that it states Date Satisfied 08/12/2004 on my file it should be removed. I thought it would be automatically after 6 years (it's now 6 years, 2 days!). Should Equifax remove this? 2. Experian. If they haven't sorted my file out by 26/12/2010, noting that I contacted them on 29/11/2010 to inform them that their was incorrect info on there. What should my next move be? I'm hoping I can write to them and say you've had your 28 days, nothings changed, remove this incorrect information immediately. Is this the right way to go about it? I hope this is slightly more coherent than my initial rant... Thanks!

This is my first post here, so all advice is greatly received! I recently checked my files at the three agencies: Experian, Equifax, CallCredit. I'm currently using all their free trial online accounts. There's quite a bit of incorrect information on there. First is a (valid) default that caught up with me in April this year. I settled it straight away, but the default date is 8/12/2004 - so I'm assuming that it will be automatically removed in the next couple of days. Do I need to verify this and chase them up? I then emailed (/ used online messaging) the three agencies to dispute some incorrect data they were showing. This related to alleged late payments to Citi Cards and Vanquis bank (both Credit Cards I had/ have) CallCredit seem to have deleted both the accounts (I can't see them on my online report anymore) - no messages back from them Equifax seem to have entirely deleted the Citi account, but the Vanquis account is still there showing the late payment - no messages back from them Experian have responded to my request to remove this incorrect information by (bizarrely) stating that the account information was duplicated and they've corrected this issue ???? My email to Experian stated: "VANQUIS BANK. Entries C2, C10, C18, C34. Late payment: This is incorrect. I have checked my bank details and all payments were made on time and in full always to this lender. Please remove this from my file CITIFINANCIAL. Entries C42, C44, C46, C48, C50. Late payments (x2): This is incorrect. I have checked and all payments were made on time and in full always to this lender. Please remove these incorrect entries from my file " They responded with: "YOUR QUERY: - Duplicate Account Information I HAVE REVIEWED YOUR REPORT - AND CAN TELL YOU THAT: Your current and previous addresses has appeared few times on your profile due to which some of the information have been duplicated on your credit report I have now deleted the duplicate entries and this should allow you to view an updated credit report. Your credit report will change within next 24 hours. " My question is that given that I have stated that they need to remove the incorrect late payments - if they don't comply within 30 days, can I insist that this is removed? Should I contact them again to tell them this? Should I not have used email? Also (bizarrely) my Call Credit report now look perfect. No defaults, no late payments. I have an up to date mortgage, credit card, loan etc etc. But my credit score with them is 1 star - 524. What's going on there and is it worth buying my credit score from the other companies to check there too? Apologies for the ramblings, but I'm keen to sort this out asap. Thanks, Chris