I took out two student loans in 1992 & 1993. I deferred them for a number of years and in 2000 I moved house and forgot all about it. They eventually caught up with me by letter in about 2004ish and I called them and negotiated a repayment of £70/month. When the debt got sold to Thesis there was a period where I didn't pay them anything due to a lack of provision of details of how to pay on their part, but I did resume payments eventually. Last year the debt got passed on again, this time to FFHE, and once again I was told to change my standing order details. The details are hazy but I recall speaking to someone from FFHE last year, the standing order form they were going to send me never arrived and there was a brief delay where no payments were made. I started paying FFHE £70/month in July this year. There was only around £500 left so I was due to make a final payment in February 2011. I’ve been happily repaying this for several years albeit with a couple of brief interludes when they passed on the debt and changed their payment details. So I was naturally astonished and furious to receive a phone call two weeks ago from LINK, saying I was in breach of the agreement (because I spoke to someone in May but they didn’t receive a payment till July) and demanding immediate payment of the outstanding balance of around £260. They have contacted me several times since, threatening me with bailiffs and/or court action to recover the debt if I refuse to pay it now, in full. Continuing with my £70/month for the next 4 months is not an option. The woman from LINK suggested I seek advice from a solicitor. I haven’t received any correspondence whatsoever from them since May when I spoke to them to sort out the remaining payments and change the standing order details. Yet they say they’ve been trying to contact me. Well they can’t have been trying very hard – no letters, no phone calls, nothing. I would like to know: How can a debt I have been willingly repaying regularly have been passed to a DCA? Is it binding if I haven’t signed anything? How can I be in breach of an agreement I wasn’t aware of making? Are they not in breach of the Data Protection Act, since I never authorised my details to be sold/passed on? Can they issue a CCJ? How long would it take for them to get bailiffs or take me to court? Would it be before February? How can they suddenly demand this out of the blue with absolutely no prior correspondence when I’ve been paying? Will this affect my credit rating? My intention is to ignore them and just carry on paying the £70 until it’s paid off in February. Surely any court would throw it out as a complete waste of time to pursue a debt that’s almost honoured and where there is hard evidence that it’s regularly being repaid in substantial amounts? I’d just like to know where I stand legally and what I should do next time she calls, which I know won’t be long. She’s calling my mobile and home number. I could understand (a bit) if I wasn’t paying them anything but I am. Is this not harassment?