Hello, i am in desperate need of help. I got home the other day to find a notice of assignment of debt from HFO for a barclaycard i apparently took out in 2002. ( i have never even had a barclaycard) I phoned HFO immediately asking about this debt, they say that i took out a card in 2002 spent £500 and now the debt has been purchased by them and i owe nearly £900 with charges. i asked for the original credit agreement to be sent out. i then got a credit report and it shows HFO have put a default against my acc in 2007 for the debt. this is really worrying me as i have been saving for a mortgage and now i am worried i won be able to get one with a default on my acc i sent a letter to HFO with postal order asking for the original credit agreement, the original default notice and the proof of sale from barclaycard to HFO. all they have now sent me is a photocopied student application form to barclaycard. since then they have been phoning regularly ( i havent answered the calls) they have left voice messages saying that as they have sent me what i asked for i must phone them to arrange payment. i dont know what i am supposed to do now? as im worried about this defauly. i have read on here something about sending an SAR to barclaycard? any help would be much appreciated as this is worrying me terribly thanks so much misspolly

I feel the need to share my experience with digitalHDMI.co.uk. I cancelled an order for a TV (£1200+) with these guys after nearly seven days having not received a delivery date or any replies to emails or telephone calls. I did so under the provisions of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 . I then did get a phone call from them promising delivery in a further seven days. having already found bad reports about the company elsewhere I stuck to my guns and insisted on my right to a refund. I have just received that refund eight weeks after requesting it. This followed many telephone calls, invariably to an answerphone and no return call, and unanswered emails. Eventually, on the advice of the West Midlands Trading Standards I wrote to them again, recorded delivery to 6 Pattingham Road, Wolverhampton, WV6 8DD, threatening court action. Then recently, miracle of miracle someone picked up the phone when I rang them. It took all my willpower to remain polite, but I did, and got a promise of some action. Two weeks later I have my money back, but no apology. I have no proof that they wilfully retained my money, but I do suspect it. I am absolutely certain that their customer service is absolutely appalling. They might be a few pounds cheaper, but I would strongly recommend not dealing with this outfit. Incidentally I made my payment via Barclaycard, who were also absolutely useless. They took weeks faffing around only to decide that, as I had cancelled the order, I had breached the contract and so the liability that they shared as the credit provider no longer applied. From reading elsewhere I see that PayPal have a different attitude, which is encouraging.

I checked my credit report today and was suprised to see a default account on there! When I saw the name HFO Services and the amount in question I knew straight away that it was for my BarclayCard in my student days. I did a little research and found out HFO were a vile debt collection agency and that I was not on my own. I also remember receiving a letter from First Logistics several years ago, googling them and discovering that they are a shower of, well not very nice things, and ignoring them. Furthering my research I discovered the best option was to start a thread and seek help on my situation, as each one varies. So, this is my post and any help will be much appreciated. I will of course donate to the site in due course and update the thread as actions progress through the different hoops I am sure, and willing, that I will have to go through. I am also looking to get on the first rung of the eternal debt machine of the mortgage, and this will of course hinder my progress!

1. The issue I bring to CAG is a matter of alleged harassment of a Debtor by a Creditor. In that My wife and I allege that the course of conduct complained of constituted a course of conduct which on the balance of probability a reasonable man in possession of all the facts would consider to be harassment. 2. The Legislation The relevant language of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 reads as follows: Prohibition of harassment. 1(1) A person must not pursue a course of conduct— (a) which amounts to harassment of another, and (b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other. (2) For the purposes of this section, the person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know that it amounts to harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other. Offence of harassment. 2(1) A person who pursues a course of conduct in breach of section 1 is guilty of an offence. (2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both. Civil remedy. 3(1) An actual or apprehended breach of section 1 may be the subject of a claim in civil proceedings by the person who is or may be the victim of the course of conduct in question. (2) On such a claim, damages may be awarded for (among other things) any anxiety caused by the harassment and any financial loss resulting from the harassment. Interpretation of this group of sections 7(1) This section applies for the interpretation of sections 1 to 5A (2) References to harassing a person included alarming the person or causing the person distress 3. We also allege that sections of both the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the OFT Final Guidance on Debt Collection have been breached. As well as breaches of our right to privacy and BC's implied obligation of confidentiality owed to me, the First Claimant their customer. 4. To summarise, starting in mid 2006 I began to suffer some ill health. By November of 2006 I had been off work a number of months and my condition was still deteriorating. During November of 2006 I wrote to BC with whom I had a Credit Card account, requesting that they accepted a reduced monthly repayment on the ground of my suffering financial hardship due to the health issue. 5. From this point on and until approximately mid 2008 the account concerned was serviced in the varied manner. Then during the summer of 2008 BC bought up another debt in my name from another Credit Card Company.(Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Card Services) I claim that from this point on there followed a catalogue of utter confusion, errors and the alleged unlawful harassment acts on the part of BC. 6. Our case is that BC made mistake after mistake with the account, sent bill after bill and threatened the me with letter after threatening letter. 7. The Debt was then passed between a number of agents, and I then began receiving repeated, frequent and duplicated demands from them all. Each company vying for the payment. 8. We allege that there then begun a campaign of telephone calls and texted messages, again frequent and duplicated from the numerous companies, these calls, numbered into several hundred calls and spanned over two years. Starting in Approximately September/October of 2008 and continuing until February of 2010. 9. We claim that us and our witnesses will give evidence to demonstrate that nothing any of us could do, would influence or stop it. We will offer the court a large quantity of written communication all of which supports my case. I will argue that matters got so out of hand by the autumn of 2008 that I declined to communicate with BC by telephone, instead, I insisted that BC write to me. 10. We also allege that the calls received from BC and their agents were received on two different numbers, calls to our home telephone and calls to our son’s mobile. The calls then took four forms; Silent calls, manned calls, left messages and texts. Due to my poor health; a walking disability and my daily use of an IPAP lung ventilator for 9 hours a day, it is claimed that it was normally my wife who had to go to answer the home telephone. This disturbing both her rest and her work. Our son had similar experiences, receiving repeated and frequent calls from BC and their agents. The threats, texts and demands made to the son’s mobile telephone were similar in nature to the ones received by my wife and I on our home telephone. 11. It is claimed that the basic thread of the demands and threats was; that unless I made full payment of an outstanding balance of almost £9000 then BC or their agents would start legal proceedings, BC would send out a debt collector to our home and, BC would keep ringing until they got what they wanted. 12. We for our part wrote letter after letter to BC and their agents (Mercers and Calder) pointing out that I was very ill and that I was unable and unwilling to discuss matters over the telephone with BC. Instead I suggested in my letters to BC that they contact me in writing and by so doing, there would be a clear record of what was said and done by both parties. I allege that BC very rarely responded to my letters and that when they did they evaded my points preferring instead to make their demands. 13. In 2008 when the calls and texts began I wrote to advise BC that they were in fact texting and telephoning my son on occasion and that this was causing both father and son embarrassment and breaching my right to privacy and confidentiality. There followed a number of other calls and letters on the subject but again nothing could stop BC's calls and texts to our son. This so much so it is claimed that the last call and message received from BC in February of 2010 was received on the mobile telephone which our son had been using. 14. My wife has given evidence that on two occasions she tried to telephone BC with her complaints, (with all the difficulty of getting through), but to no avail. Mainly her efforts and my efforts, letters and calls received no response. 15. Sometimes during the calls I claim we received apologies and assurances from BC that the calls would stop. Unfortunately we will give evidence that any comfort taken from the assurances made by BC was short lived as invariably the calls restarted usually within hours and the bills and threats continued. 16. Finally in January 2009 I complained to the Financial Ombudsman’s Service. I complained that our Christmas 2008 had been devastated by the barrage of calls received from BC and their agents. My complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service was upheld and the Ombudsman ruled in my favour in July 2009. 17. During the Ombudsman’s investigation it became clear that BC were ignoring the Ombudsman’s communications too. On this I will offer the court copies of the chase up letters sent to BC by the Ombudsman. Which we believe will show the Ombudsman’s frustration. I suggest that these letters, and the Defendants lack of concern and response, demonstrate just how off the lead and out of control BC's attitude and ethics are. 18. As a result of the Financial Ombudsman intervention BC ultimately agreed to delete mine and my sons mobile numbers from their systems and agreed to change the preference on my account to written communication only. It was suggested by BC that they had taken these steps to avoid future issues. Unfortunately we allege that even before the Ombudsman had finalised his case BC resumed their calling and texting campaign again. There followed several hundred more calls. These calls climaxing again around the Christmas holiday of 2009, with us receiving 10, 12, or 14 calls in a day on some days and that these calls and texts continuing to the early part of February 2010 which is after the issue of this Claim. 19. I have stated that my wife and I have wasted many hours writing to BC in an attempt to communicate with them and stop the harassment we have suffered, more importantly, both of us were brought to a state of considerable anxiety, frustration and distress by the constant calls. I lived in constant fear, not knowing whether debt collectors would call at any time, whether I would have legal proceedings served upon me or whether the calls would just keep coming. It can be seen that even after giving assurances to the Financial Ombudsman Service that BC still continued with their campaign of calls and took my wife and I to the point of having to issue the current proceedings to stop the calls. 20. We claim that BC's course of conduct amounts to unlawful harassment contrary to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, that BC have also breached the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and have breach virtually every aspect and rules laid down by the Office of Fair Trading within their “Final Guidance on Debt Collections Activity”. 21. We claim £0,000 for distress and anxiety and £0,000 for financial loss due to time lost, loss of enjoyment of their home and their home life in dealing with BC and their agents. My principal object is to end my relationship with BC. 22. We believes that BC's debt collection policy is one based on harassment, that BC use the illegal tactics complained of in this matter and do so , knowing full well the levels of distress and damage they are causing. We also believe the acts we have witnessed have formed a cycle of events and that we have, during their long period of harassment, gone through almost three cycles of BC's harassment machine. 23. We believe that BC cannot blame their information technology or blame their acts on simple mistakes and omissions. We believe we can satisfactorily demonstrate to the court through witness and documentary evidence that BC knew of the impact their alleged actions. Or at the very least “ought to of known” the impact of their actions. And that the said actions complained of by my wife and I do so constitute a deliberate “course of conduct” and that the “course of conduct” amounting to the harassment complained of and was of sufficient “gravity” to be likely to cause distress, anxiety and loss to us, the Claimants, which is the test we have to satisfy, on the balance of probabilities. 24. I feel sure we are not alone in their suffering and that BC should be forced to change their business practices and policies complained of and, that this enforced change would be in the public interest. We maintain that BC were responsible and liable for not only their own actions but for the actions of their agents and had a duty to ensure the acts of all others were compliant with the law. We contend BC wanted all of the profits from the accounts but were unwilling to accept any of the responsibilities. 25. BC state that they deny each cause of action relied upon by us and puts us to proof of all matters alleged against BC. 26. I allege that it was I who had an account with them failed to keep up with repayments and that this resulting in arrears developing and consequently charges were levied and debited to my account. These charges were added to the balance each month. 27. BC make no admissions in relation to the operation of the second (Morgan Stanley, Goldfish) account which they claim they took over control of in October of 2008. BC claim they wrote to me in the January of 2009 stating that they acknowledged that a repayment plan which was established in June 2008 was in existence in relation to the Master Card account. 29. In the Defence BC make no admission as to the relevance of any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service concerning the matters giving rise to the claim. BC makes no reference to the findings of the Ombudsman after his investigation or the alleged assurances given to the Ombudsman by BC in relation to their conduct towards me. 30. BC deny making calls to me in the October of 2008 and further more it is denied that any such calls were made by BC to me amounted to pursuit of an unreasonable course of conduct which amounted to the harassment of me. Instead they state that there was a default under the repayment plan agreed and that accordingly BC were reasonably entitled to attempt contact with me, so as to discuss the default and to make an arrangement for the default to be rectified. 31. BC make the point that both of the accounts I held and referred to in the Particulars of Claim were not linked. 32. BC deny that they harassed our son with “almost hourly” attempted calls from November 2009 onwards as has been alleged. 33. BC do admit that I had written to BC that BC was at all material times fully entitled to demand either a full or partial repayment of the balance due on the Platinum account and the Master Card account. 34. BC have denied all of the Claim stating that they have done no wrong; that they have done all that is required of them. BC contend that their conduct was all part of their normal business activity in an attempt to recover debts which were owed to them by me. 35. BC maintain that it is perfectly acceptable for them to treat consumers in the manner they did. BC impugn the allegations made in full and have argued that some of the incidents complained of by my wife and I simply did not happen. 36. BC have put me to strict proof and deny all of the Claim. If anyone in CAG land has any ideas, law I could use or advice I would welcome serious input. My case is set for court in November and my battle against the Giant BC will begin in ernest. Does anyone know of a Barrister that will take direct instruction on a case like this. Does anyone know a good cheap barrister? Wish me luck!!:mad2:

Be interested to hear of any HFO cases that have been dealt with in this court.

hey guys i owe capquest abt £520.06 from an old barclaycard student visa from 2005 but defaulted 2008 on 10/9/10 i phoned to arranged payment with them of £26 a month even tho they wanted more i wanst' budging from it , i even annoyed them when they asked for contact number,employers details,income&outgoings i said no comment then they said we need these to have acceptab;le arrang,ment i said you dont need them as i am telling you how much i will be paying not you telling me what i can afford.so they went in a wee huff then they asked for a payment to setup it up i said no i want it in letter the terms we guranteed they said just £5 will save you going to court in meantime i said do you have a hearing problem i said no till i get written agreement so he said ok why wont you do i replyed cos i dnt trust you he said but we can say the same but you i said yeh but you just have to take my word for it he said ok you get the letter in 3 days then will you pay i said yes today guess what no letter so i phoned them up using 141 before their number i got from saynoto0870 website as i not paying a premium number. spoke someone to say i hadnt recieved my letter, he turns around says oh we didnt send one out i said well i was told you were,he said we dont send out written payment agreements and you owes us this amount what the chance you pay today,i said i not paying till i hVE WRITTEN AGREEMENT nope we still dont do it . i said well you wont get paid till i do ,he said we just take you to court ,i said i have tryed to payment arrragment but you won accept the judge will look favour to me, he said perphaps they will but we dont know ,so i ask few questions to him to see wot they say first question was --do you have my orginal cca he turns arounds says no we dont barclaycard still does and we can ask them if we want to then i said but you bought the debt from barclaycard so you should have it he said we dont have to have it as we are debt recovery company we dont need it -------- is this right? second question : can u pass me to h l legal dept to sort this out he sorry we cant you have to 0870 sumthing i said why he said they are different company i said thats weird i pretty sure the guy next to you is h l legal?????? they guy kinda laughed and sayed perhap he is and perhaps he not i turn around and sayed but capquest owns h l legal monkey's plus few other names he said thats correct but he might not be next to me ???? sorrys guys for the long story but please help as i do want to get rid of this debt

Spoke to an uneducated muppet at BC this morning on a unlisted private telephone number (available upon request) in Kirby (Liverpool) which was thier IT & Data department, regarding the release of statement data and other sensitive info to HFO Services Limited. He did not ask me who I was nor attempt to carry out any ID verification process. He asked me what it was regarding, so I told him it was relating to release of data to a DCA for an impending court case. After I told him the names, (you all know who Im talking about) he said, "Oh well thats OK 'cos they are the same company". I said, "how can they be the same company when they are quite clearly listed at Companies House as separate legal entities, have separate DPA Reg numbers and separate CCL licences." He said, "well I thought that they were the same company." He tried to defend them in every way even attempting to use the analagy that Barclaycard and Barclays "are the same company". I corrected him and informed him that Barclaycard is a registered trading name of Barclays Bank PLC, and that the only other company which closely resembles Barclays Bank PLC is Barclaycard Funding PLC, which as the name suggests does exactly that, provides money (or should I say make believe computer money) to presumably fund the Barclaycard operation. He then made no comment. He further stated that regardless of who 'phones up from DCA's and asks for data, we will supply it if appropriate. This is the intelligence level of some of the people working for these financial institutions. Clearly this idiot should seek admission into another type of institution, not the financial variant I may add !! Have taken the matter up with Barclays Legal, ICO, OFT, FSA. He also gave me the Directors office details to make a complaint to. They are located in Pavillion Drive, Northampton. He claimed that any correspondence received by this office has a turn around time of 48 hours !!. Can pigs fly ? I await thier comments.

hey guys , what it is i have few debts which has 2-3 years left till statue barred as they become 5 years without payment (i live in scotland). is worth me paying them small payment every month or just ignore the threats of the debtcollector's and so called solicitor's letters .they are all under £700 being most only between £200-£500 as i cant pay them in full and trying to support myself partner and 2 dogs on £1200 wage every (security job doing abt 60 hours a week) but it seem few i havent heard from a while is now demanding plus adding interest ? especially capquest who bought my barclaycard student visa from 2005 but defaulted in october 2008 abt £520 they are threathing me with court for ccj as they said they did a credit check found out i havent got any ccj yet trying to get me to pay up.i heard somewhere they might not be able to enforce the agreement due to it was signed in 2005 if they have it ? but something todo with an 2007 act etc on credit card agreement any enlighting would help cheers

Hi, I was looking for some advice on what to do with my Egg card. The agreement can be found by clicking the link below. Due to my lack of income my current status with this card is that Ive been on a payment plan for 6 months with them. This ended 2 months ago and since then Ive paid token payments totalling £26. They are hounding me now wanting payment, which I just havent got so what do I do? I know there's a case going through regarding Egg and this 'approved limit' statement but is there anything I can send them in the meantime? All advice would be greatly received. Regards Egg CCA pictures by musicronny - Photobucket

Hi i sent a sar to barclaycard , i have just recieved there response , all they have sent is copy statements , now are they supposed to send me everything they have on file , like , default notice , signed agreement ? i wish i had kept the default notice but at the time going thyrough bad time and just ripped it up , many thanks

Had a reply from Barclaycard regarding my 1998-2003 SAR request. They claim not to be able to find my statements and need more information. I provided them with my name and the address the cards were registered to at the time. Interestingly Barclaycard claim that the statements are not in their main system, but they state that they do have them. In order to retrieve the statements they need my old card account numbers. Alas I don't have these anymore. Should I just push harder and insist that my name and address are sufficient?

I have also had my Barclaycard debt passed to a debt collection co., but this morning I had a 'phone call from B/Card telling me that they had never had a debt cancelled and that they did NOT have to produce a copy of their agreement for credit cards. Are they correct please?

Hi, I am new on here so please bear with me. I have several credit cards and due to having a much reduced income at the moment cannot make the full payment. I have managed to agree reduced payments with Halifax, Cap One & MBNA but Barclaycard will not play ball, I have 3 accounts (1 is ex Morg Stan, 1 ex Goldfish). I have made an offer in writing of £50 per month for each card which was declined, they said that they would only accept a minimum of 1% of the o/s balance and if I wanted to pay less I had to deal with them via someone like Payplan. This has been going on since May and my accounts have been passed to Mercers. This joke of an organisation phone at all hours and always ask for me by first name, if my children answer they do even say they who they are from. I have repeatedly told them, verbally and written, that I will only deal with them in writing but they continue to ring - they think that 7pm on a Sunday is acceptable - and that they will only deal by phone. After reading this site I have sent the harrassment by telephone letter but did not send recorded. The last few times they have called I have refused to answer the security questions and have told them the the letter has been sent. Today i recieved a letter from them giving me 48 hours notice as I have ignored demands for payment (I have continued to make payments of £50 per month) and that they will now pass my account to a local debt collection firm unless I phone them. I have previously asked for the executed credit agreements but did not give time frame. I have not recieved copies of the signed agreements so have written back asking for them again or an explanation why they cannot be provided. (all this to Barclaycard). They did send me terms & conditions but the dates were all after I took out the cards. Bit of a loss now so any advice will be appreciated.

Just wondered if anyone can advise me on what line I should pursue. I am currently in the early stages of court proceedings on another thread for an Egg loan - which led to me reading other things on this site, particularly lots of stuff about Egg cards. Can anyone advise me on whether or not I have anything worth pursuing. Will summarise; In 99 or 2000 took out an Egg card online which ran ok for many years. I know I had PPI and account ran up and down to around £11k. A few years into the account i questioned the need for the PPI and they stopped it. (not sure of exact dates) Account balance eventually dropped to about £4k and last year i asked them questions about the PPI but was told I was wasting my time as the application was done online and i'd ticked the box! I got into financial difficulties early this year, did an 'income and expenditure exercise and offered each of my creditors a monthly payment pro rata. Egg ignored my letters for 3 months (but managed hundreds of phone calls, 3 further letters of their own, texts etc) and then issued a Default Notice! 6 weeks later they sent a further letter terminating my account and handed it to a DCA called DLC. They agreed to the monthly amount that i'd offered Egg within a matter of days!! I'm assuming that the debt was probably sold on. My question is this - Does anybody have an opinion on what I should be doing now/next? Should I be issuing anything to Egg or DLC at this stage or should I let sleeping dogs lie? Any advice gratefully received.

Hello out there to anyone who can help. I currently have a thread running in legal issues http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/192275-ccj-interest-debt.html and as the advice I've been given has made me lift my head out of the sand a little more I thought I'd try and tackle my issues with Barclaycard. I had accounts with Goldfish and Morgan Stanley(probably around 7-10 years old) which unfortunately ran into difficulty. I arranged payments with both these accounts on an interest free basis and all was running smoothly. Since last year Barclaycard have take over both the accounts and I believe they are going to try and railroad me. They've already started to charge interest on the accounts (which I have had to get refunded)despite my arrangements and are starting to prove troublesome. Is it worth trying the account(s) in dispute tactic and sending SARs etc to see what they hold on me and if they have the CA's on these accounts bearing in mind the age of them. I've never trusted Barclaycard and previous accounts I have had with them I have settled. I did not choose them as my creditors and I would love to get them off my back if I can. Any suggestions where I might start?

Morning all, my first post but I've been lurking for some time! I have recently sent off 3 CCA requests to my Credit Card companies with no satisfactory reply. I sent the account in dispute letter to all 3 on Tuesday, they all received them yesterday. My question is, Barclaycard have issued me a Default Notice last week, all done properly as I can make out, after not sending any payment for the last 3 months. Can I, by making one months payment, render this Default Notice void or do I have to pay the full arrears? Any opinions please guys? Thanks in advance

Hi.. .have received a reply from Barclaycard, they have sent a copy of Barclaycard conditions Leaflet, NO signature in fact NOTHING. their letter states sorry for delay, and goes on "The information we must provide to you under the terms of Section78 is prescribed by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and by the Consumer Credit (Cancellation Notice and Copies of Documents) Regulations 1983. .This completes our obligation to you under section 78 of the CSA 1974. As I see it they have not complied with my original request for a signed copy of the original agreement ,I have also written to them stating they are in default.. ..what do you make of the letter. ..what is the next step please... ...Firstship

Please can anyone advise me as Barclays have not agreements to send me just a copy of T&C nothing else and the letter below. Dear Mr XXXXXXX Reference: Sec 78 of the CCA 1974. Firstly, please accept my apologies for delay in response and for the inconvenience this may have caused. I write further to your letter and the enclosed £1.00 requesting a copy of your executed credit agreement for the above account. Please find the following documents enclosed: A copy of your original Barclaycard agreement at the time you opened you account. As your account is now in a recovery programme, further information relating to the current state of your account can be obtained directly from your Debt Management Agency. The information we must provide to you under Sec 78 is prescribed by the CCA 1974 and by the Consumer credit (cancellation Notices and copies of documents) Regulations 1983. This completes our obligation to you under Sec 78 of the CCA 1974. Your sincerely Court Orders and disclosures Legal and Regulatory Compliance Department

I have paid £495 to one company - since been served with a default notice by Egg - now past the due date - was told no problem if this happened - have emailed them but no reply !

EDIT: please note the dates of the posts, as I've bumped my own thread which was active over a year ago! This is my first post, although I've searched the forums and read up a lot on HFO Services so far but wanted to start my own post instead of hijacking someone else's. Basically, I had a Barclaycard years ago which I ended up missing payments for. I had actually moved house and sent them TWO change of address forms and simply heard nothing back from them, and just kept forgetting to call them... A little later I lost my job at the time and was obviously concerned with my immediate situation, so my creditcard issues were put to one side for quite some time. (I've actually been made redundant from SIX different jobs and suffered a couple more redundancies during this period of time.) A couple of years or so later and I received mail saying I had been passed onto a DCA (although I cannot remember the name of them) and managed to actually pay some of my debt off. The DCA were meant to send me a payment plan in the post but I never received this. After moving house again I sent them a change of address form and still heard nothing back. At the end of last year my girlfriend and I began looking for a house. Our mortgage advisor ran an online credit check on us both (with our permission, of course) and I was surprised to see that the only defaults that came up were from Barclaycard 2 years ago -- no mention of the DCA. We successfully got a mortgage and bought our house, which we have lived in happily for 6 months now. A few weeks ago I received a call from someone saying they had purchased my Barclaycard Debt and wanted to confirm my address - which I gave them - in order to send me some details. I assume these were HFO Services but found the person on the phone very difficult to understand at the time. Last week I received a call from someone at HFO Services asking me for the balance in full of around £1600, which I said I was unable to pay. The caller then said the minimum they would accept as a monthly payment was £140 and asked me for my debit card details to take the first payment over the phone. I said that I had not received anything in writing from them and under no circumstances was I going to give my debit card details over the phone, as I had no guarantee of who they were. The caller took my email address and said she would email me the appropriate paperwork and asked if I could call back the following day -- I said that this was OK but it had to be mid-afternoon as I had an important client meeting in the morning. Sure enough, during my important meeting I faintly heard my phone vibrating in my jacket and checked the message to confirm it was from HFO -- ringing at precisely the time I had asked them NOT to call. I have not returned their call as I wanted to ask for advice before doing so. I have received an email from the caller, containing a poorly layed out and quite unprofessional looking Word document but have not replied. Firstly, (for once) I am in a much better situation financially and DO want to be free of my debt, however, £140 a month is way more than 10% of my disposable income (which I understand is what I would be ordered to pay if taken to court?). What options do I have -- can they really dictate how much I must pay monthly, or is this purely scare tactics? Last year I successfully reclaimed my bank charges from my bank account -- is this something I could potentially do with my Barclaycard also, even though it has now been passed onto a DCA? From my dealings so far, I do NOT like this company at all and if I were to pay back my debt I would much rather do it through some other debt consolidation service -- any recommendations as to where to look for this? I appreciate my questions have probably been asked millions of times before but frank and honest advice would be much appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Just under 2 years ago my Barclaycard went to Mercers, and I received a default notice on Mercers headed paper. The account was then transferred back to Barclaycard. I've been trying to keep up with the reduced payments (£50+ per month) they then agreed with no interest, but having been back to CCCS with my current situation they advise a £1 token payment at present. Things are due to improve once priority debts are paid off but this will take about 12 months, and I am now on a payscale ladder so things will improve next year. Barclaycard have refused this offer and their previous letter said they would send a default notice if I didn't send the £50+ payment in 7 days, and will add interest again, their current letter says they will send a default letter if I don't contact them (no timescale given, but it is strongly implied that I telephone) Can someone knowledgeable please advise the 'rules' and implications about a second default notice for the same account? Thank you in advance.