HI there, Due to ill health and before I got into financial trouble I went to CAB who suggested writing to all credit and banks to inform them of my illness. Most of them have been very helpful, apart from MBNA who then allegedly sold it on as soon as they could. So, I need some help with this court case (end Oct) I have been sending requests to MBNA to confirm that they sold the account to Link who sold it to IDR. MBNA have been ignoring my letters, I sent a SAR to all 3 which all of them ignored. Contacted the ICO and eventually got some response from Link and MBNA, but still nothing about the selling of the account. After exchanging list of documents with IDR I asked to see notice of assignment, notice of arrears and default notice. I got these forward flow agreements; no name on them just a bulk purchase agreement with all the other debts/accounts blanked out except mine. This sheet was not attached to the flow agreement. I requested confirmation from MBNA (since I did not receive notice of assignment etc.) who just ignored my letters only one saying they do not keep the Notice of Arrears or Default notice on file as these are autogenerated by the computer!!. They have never confirmed sale. I went to the Ombusdsman (FoS) and they said I should try to resolve it with MBNA first by putting in a formal complaint to them that was months ago! Just keep on getting odd occasional letters from them saying “ ..sorry for the delay we will contact you soon.” Can anyone help or point me to someone who knows about these things? I have tried 2 local solicitors (rural area) who have no idea about these matters. One checked the Law database for Forward flow agreements but came up with nothing. I received from Link an Application Form and T&C's which, as you can see, are almost unreadable. IDR said that it was compliant with the CCA request - see what you think. I feel that since the others have been helpful during my illness that MBNA should have done the same. Complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office – some success - and FoS who told me to try and resolve it myself, but time is running out what with all the hospital appointments for us both and a very sick elderly mother to look after. Sidley

Like many good people on here I have been strugling to make payments and have now written to MBNA asking them to freeze my account and accept a minimum payment. So far all I have had have been getting 2-3 calls a day some automated and 2-3 letter each week all seeming to give differing solutions to the problem but ONLY if I ring them which having dealt with this kind of thing before I wont do. I have also written and informed them of this. So finally today, I work in a smallish office of 9 people with the usual "office phone" that anyone can use as well as our own seperate numbers. On my return from lunch I was met with an unusual silence from all around, when I asked a rather embarrased colleague played back a message left on the office phone from someone called Roy at MBNA. Without checking he kindly proclaimed who he was and that unless I contacted them by phone they would be taking me to court within 7 days. The message had been played back by everyone in the office. I could have died with shame!!. So having now tried to get over the shame of my colleagues knowing that I am a bad debtor I have decided to fight back. I have done all the CCA stuff and reclaim charges ets before thanks to all on her but I want to make sure this does not happen again and ram it home. Any advice please.

Hi everyone - I hope someone can help me please. I received a letter yesterday from Link Financial to say they will takecourt action if the debt is not paid. Background info is - Had HSBC loan for 15k in 2004 and paid until beginning of year 2006. HSBC continued to try to take out the payment by direct debit from my HSBC currentbank account to pay the loan monthly amount, but as the current account wasoverdrawn by £1500 there were no funds to do this so they kept charging me £30every time the direct debit was returned. The result of this was that my accountwas overdrawn by £900 MORE by the time they closed my account in December 2006. When they closed my current account, they transferred the loan of approx 12,500kt o my current account making the total amount of approx £15k outstanding in mycurrent account. The debt was passed to a Collection Agency who then tried to collect thedebt, I sent a letter asking for a copy of the agreement and they replied thatas it is a current account overdraft section 78 to demand a copy of executedagreement does not apply and they just sent copy statements which showed thenon payments in my account and the £30 being added to my overdraft and then thelumping of the loan onto the current account. HSBC defaulted the loan on my credit file in December 2006. In January 2009 I received aletter from HSBC to say the debt hadbeen assigned to Link Financial in October2008. This stated Personal Loan andgave an account number, which was in fact my current account number I then had a letter from Link Financial to say that HSBC assigned the debtin January 2009!!!! Saying the personal loan agreement amount isdue and gives the current account bank number. I then sent a letter In February2009 requesting copy of credit agreement and enclosed the statutory fee of £1. Link then sent a letter saying as they putchased the debt they do not havethe documentation and had requested it from HSBC. It says no administrationcharge has been applied to you account andthe £1 payment has been applied to my account to reduced the outstanding debt!!!!! said my account was on holdfor 14 days I was then sent a copy of the information which was just a sheet showingtransactions between 2008 and 2009 showing 3 payments of £40 – never made andone of £1 being the SAR fee. Letter said a £5 charge had been made to myaccount. In March 2009 I sent cheque for £10 for a full SAR request this was thenpaid into my account to reduce arrears!! I was sent an activities and memos report and copy of loan agreement whichshowed the £40 payment as being ‘Vendor’ (I haven’t paid anything sinceDecember 2006. On my credit file with Equifax it had shown Loan from Link Financial (HSBC)defaulted December 2006 (on today’scredit report – this doesn’t show now) and on Experien it shows HSBC default December2006 Please could you advise me of the next steps. Thank you

Dear sir/madam, My husband and I had quite large debts with mbna, we choose (stupidly) to borrow on 0% credit cards instead of borrowing on a loan with a fixed rate and an end date. (we all live and learn). We ran into difficulties reducing the balance because the cards went form charging 0% - 29.9%, paying £700.00 per month and reducing balance by about £30.00 per month, you probably don't need me to tell you that we could not keep this up, we wrote to mbna who were quite helpful and put the accounts on 0% and reduced payments, we were paying £460.00 per month and made great strides in reducing the debt. Then out of the blue, we got a letter saying that the debt was being transfered. This is where the real troubles started. (by the way we have experienced cards being transfered before and nothing has changed with regards to paying). People have been ringing us night and day for huge amounts of money. Plus sending the odd letter. Now my husband has received a claim form for an CCJ. I have filled out the request for more time on moneyclaim site. I have been getting advise from payplan who are really saying we need an IVA. This is not what we want. Surely there is another way. We are in our late 40's and have always paid back what we have borrowed plus interest. Really don't know where to go with this? We have all the paperwork etc. hope someone can help or point us in the right direction? Many thanks for your time regards

My husband had a HP agreement with Ford Credit for a van for his business. Last year I lost a job and eventually got DLA after 5 months for a chronic illness (MS). This resulted in cash flow problems. We missed 2 payments but did catch up a bit. Ford Credit lost patience and sold the debt to IDR Finance C/O Link Financial Outsourcing. I have requested to continue paying the instalments (29 left) but insist on the full amount of £10015.72. IDR C/O lINK will not accept payments and will not reply to my letters in writing. I have been given a run around. We have a good business and are surviving, but we need the van as it is a mobile workshop. I am not sure if IDR have bought a debt or the HP contract or whether Link Financing own the debt. They are threatening us wih reposession and baliffs. I also work with my husband. If the van is taken away then we have no income. I have written to IDR on 04/04/13 stating I am going to put a Time Order in the local court. I have also found a way of paying IDR C/O Link through their website - should I continue to do so. Can anyone advise please. Help.

hi everyone, i made a cca request to link financial outsourcing on 04-07-2012. today 06-08-2012 ive recieved what looks like the signed application form. its got the date of application on it. it also states i understand that this is an application for a credit card. its got my two previous addresses on it. on my bank details section its all blacked out. finally at the bottom its got my signature and date of signature, what i dont understand its dated 23-07-74 which would make me 11 months old at the time. i would really appreciate any advice on this matter, is this sufficient for a cca request. how should i response? p.s i must point out that link financial say that the 12 working day rule for me to be provided with my documentation is not applicable to me because my account went into default on 31-12-2011. link financial only purchased the debt on 29-02-2012

Hi can anyone help me. I received a letter from link today saying that someone has applied for credit in my name but from an address linked to my current one. I think this is a ploy to get me to contact them as I defaulted on a credit card 5 years ago. Also can you tell me what cca means. thanks.

Hello to all I have recieved a letter form link financial outsourcing this week over my outstanding student loan. i have had no contact with anyone ove the loan in almost 5 years due to my dire financail situation and i have been constantly moving around. The letter states that i must pay the full amount of almost £7k in full imediatley or face litigation. i called them staright away and told them and told them of my current situation which is that i am on jobseekers allowance, i have no savings and am currently living of the graces of my girlfriend while i look for full time work. i asked if there was anyway i could set up a payment plan as there is no way i could pay the full amount. their response was no and that i had 21 days to come up with the money they suggested i try borrowing the money from family or friends as this is what other people have done. what would do they live in where people have £7 to spare to loan someone. after a sleepless night and talk to my girlfriend i called tham back the next day to reitterate that i dont know how to get the full amonut to them. i also asked if i could pay them £1k now (which my girlfriend was able to scatch together for me to borrow) to show that i do want to get this resolved. and they still refused saying paying that money now is fine but i was still expected to pay the rest in 21days. i asked what would happen if i couldn't and they told me it would go to litigation. i said but im trying to come to arrange ment and surely going to court is going to cost you more money, they said quite blunty that i would have to pay all legal fees. so my quetion is are Link being unreasonable when i can prove my financial situation cannot allow me to pay this in full and i am willing to pay 15% of the debt now and set up a payment plan for the rest? i really fell like they are scare mongerng me into taking on another debt like a loan to pay thid one. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks......

Hi all long time since I last came here and glad to see everything is still as it was I have today received a letter from Link Financial, see below for text as i dont have a scanner Dear Mr XXXXXXXX An application for credit (bank loan, credit card etc) occured in the name of : APPLICANTS NAME : MR XXXXXX This application was at an address different from your own however that address is currently linked to your own home address We ask that you contact our offies to discuss this on 02920 808610 Yours Sincerely Robert Barker Stupidly I contacted them to find out what this was about as unfortunately I have recently been victim to bank card fraud, where my account was emptied (£200+) They then passed me through to a gentlman called Emmanuel Oliver who started saying I had a debt through GE money and they wanted an immediate settlement. I am now a little worried as I had not known this debt had been passed over to these people and find it strange that just after the bank card issues this letter arrives. As you can imagine I am now a little worried and would appreciate any advice Thanks in advance

Hi, I have three credit card debts which I have not been able to meet the repayments on for over a year. I make token payment of £1 per month on each and have done so for 6 months. The total of all three debts is just short of £21,000 The largest creditor (under £15,000) now with Link Financial. The other creditors are B. Diamond card £4,000 and Nationalised bank £1,500 The reason for my token payments is that I am unemployed at present - on JSA. Successfully claimed back charges on the MBNA debt 4 years ago but did not do so with others. I am going to ask my family to loan me the money for full and final settlement. Any advice as to the best actions to move forwards ? Thanks.

I know this has been aired here before but I need definitive advice on the topic. I am being approached by a company called Link Financial over pre-1998 Student Loans in the form of unsolicited phone calls. I have never paid any of the original loans back and submitted my last SLC deferrment form in 2003 (or perhaps 2002) I have since had no correspondence with either SLC or their collection agencies. I need definitive advice on whether this debt is statute barred and how solid my position is if I choose to use this route. I know there haven't been any CCJs against me in recent years as my credit rating was excellent when I was approved a mortgage in April this year. Hope you can help.

Hi, please can someone help. I've just received a County Court Claim form - I've never been to court before! I ignored their threats as I figures they didn't have a valid agreement and would never take any action. I've attached what I think are the most important documents I've received over the years on this account. I CCA's the creditor back in 2009 and was given what looks like an application form (which I've just noticed I only received copies of pages 1 & 3, not sure if the other two were on the back f the originals [on the back side of pages 1 & 3]). Can anyone tell me if this is enforcable ? Should I get a solicitor ? I'm very worried that I have very little time to respond and not sure what the best course of action is. Please see letters/docs attached. Docs.pdf

Hi I have a Scottish small claims summons with a return date 2days away (12/05/11) and a hearing date 26/05/11. It is from Link Financial for 2.9k claiming to be a BOS debt from a credit agreement in 2000, I am not sure what it was and when if any the last payments on the account where, its so long ago I dont remember. The return day makes this urgent and I have been hiding from it. I dont think the original debt was with the BOS it was maybe with Halifax. I have asked the solicitors acting for Link to provide the agreement it refers to, only via e-mail. They have waffled on that it all gets done on-line and will send to me soonest, not going to happen in 2days. We have never had any contact with Link, they did call our neighbour's and pretend to be friends a few times. I once told them to put it all in writing on the phone but only got more threats and no substance. So what do I do now. I believe I can apply for more time to defend the case ?, should I fill in the form and dispute the claim and say I intend to lodge a defence so I dont miss the return day ? I have read lots about different sections of the consumer credit law and data protection act and template letter and now I am not sure what is the actual process I should take here in Scotland. I want to ask for proof of the agreement and all history on the account, who do I ask and how I want to ask for an extension of time to lodge a defence with the court, How do I do that ? If they do not provide the agreement what should I do and when

I had a number of debts originating in the late 90's which resulted in me being credit blacklisted and spending a few years (mostly 2000-2003) being chased by bailiff's at various addresses. I part-paid these debts over a number of years with the last payment to any agency being made (at a rough guess) somewhere between 5 and 7 years ago (but most likely more than 6 years ago). I am not 100% sure what I still owe in total but was under the impression it must have been written off as have had no contact with any debt collector for approx 6 years and my credit rating has restored itself and is now good again. Rather annoyingly only about a month ago I shredded all my financial documents relating to that time period (basically anything that was over 5 years old) so have no evidence of anything from that time. Recently my parents received a call from Link Financial agency looking for a contact for me which was then followed up by a badly written letter to them which they have not acknowledged. They did not give out my phone number or address but I have now received a speculative letter from "Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd" to my correct address which states that my address has been highlighted to them "as a potential new address for our customer with whom you share the same name" I need help with the following questions:- 1) As this letter is worded in a speculative manner I presume it is best not to acknowledge it in any way? I do not know if they are simply "fishing" or have actual evidence that I am the person they think I am. It is possible that they have traced me through a friend/ colleague or online but I suspect they've just gone through the electoral roll as my credit reference report where I currently live shows no evidence of anything bad from the past. 2) Assuming their letters get worse and/ or more threatening what can I do? I believe this particular debt is my student loan from the 1990's. As I said already I believe that the last time I had any contact from anyone in relation to this was 6 or 7 years ago and in the 3 or 4 years prior to that it did the rounds with me receiving letters from about 7 or 8 different agencies. Is this covered by statute of limitations assuming 6 years have passed since I last made a payment? if I'm misremembering the date of this then at the very least it's been 5.5 years since any last contact. 3) How can all of this affect my current credit rating? As they now have my correct address (albeit that they dont know it's the correct one) can the fact they're chasing me again affect my current rating? Sorry for all the questions!

Hi Everyone, sorry i'm new to this site - but hope someone can help. I've just received several phone calls at my parents house, from a number that belongs to Link Financial. My mother took the details, and said that she'll pass on the details to me... It appears they are chasing me for my students loans which were taken out before 1998. I believe they're the 'old type top up' loans, and that serious changes were made from 1998 onwards. I kept deferring the loans, due to low income, until the summer of 2002 and then - due to minor illness, defaulted on the loans. I really need advice on how to deal with link financial about these loans - from what I read on this, and other sites, they're not the nicest people to talk too about old debts. a few questions I would like answer are: would these loans now be considered statue-barred? If so, can I check my credit rating - through a reference agency - without Link financial obtaining my new address from this process? and would the student loan turn up on this check? should I just leave the situation as it is - or if the loans are statue-barred can I stop being chased by link financial or anyone else. I'd really like to try and sort out my credit rating. any other advice on how to deal with Link financial would be really helpful thanks in advance, and for a great site, bob

This has been going on for a while and I have read other advice on the CAG forum which gave me strength to fight it.. I thought I had won but now not sure where I stand with Link. I bought some windows in July 2000 and had the cash but was duped (I realise now it was my fault) into signing a credit agreement which I was told I could cancel. I tried to cancel it but was told to carry on making the payments as it was in my interest. I know I was naive but I carried on with the regular monthly payment until I had paid them the £5,500 that the windows cost. I stopped the payments in October 2005. I heard nothing else until I was contacted by Link in July 2008. After seeking advice I found that as I was self employed that I was mis sold the finance as it included Payment Protection Insurance against redundancy. I tried to explain everything to Link but soon realised they were not interested in anything but the debt which stood at about £7,000. After a lot of calls, threats, letter I received a letter from the court in November 2009 and wrote to them with my defence, then received a copy of a letter from the court to Link saying that the claimant had failed to file their allocation questionnare and they had 2 weeks to do so. That was the last I heard, from the court or Link until my birthday in June whehn I received a suprise but familiar Link letter to say they were still pursuing the debt. Again nothing for months until a call last week, I followed the CAG advice and told them that this was harrassment on the telephone and that I would only deal with written correspondence. I just wondered if anyone had any advice on why they never completed the court action and what they can do now?

Hi All, Firstly, I would implore any other first-time posters to write any lengthy posts like these in a separate program and copy paste, as I just spent ages writing this, only to lose it all when I hit “Preview Post” as I had been logged out!!! :mad2: You never know, maybe this version is more concise!: Been reading this site quite a lot recently due to recent contact with Link. The sheer size and number of threads is a little overwhelming - especially for a "forum novice"! I'm after a little advice on my situation, so here's the rundown: 1995/96, 1996/97, 1997/98 - I took out three student loans. 1998, 1999 - I deferred payment. After this, things get a bit hazy (it was a long time ago!), suffice to say that I lost contact/failed to defer (between 1998 and 2007, I lived at 13 addresses!). Sometime in 2002 I was contacted by the "Student Loans Company" (I presume by this point, this was actually "Thesis"?). They said I had defaulted on the loan (a sum of about £4,400), and that interest had been frozen, but that I had to start making payments. As I was on benefits at the time, I set up a DD for £5/month. After this, I must admit, I just forgot about it, and the £5/month has been going out ever since. Last month, I took a call on my mobile that turned out to be from Link Financial. They asserted that I now owed them payment in full, as I had failed to pay off the balance within 60 months. They also stated that the balance was now about £5,600 (not exact figures, I don't have the paperwork to hand) due to interest and charges (I didn't think you could accrue interest on a defaulted loan?) As I had no idea of Link's DCA pedigree, I started off trying to come to some arrangement with them, saying that I would like to arrange to increase my payments and come to some payment plan agreement. This is when all the usual harassment tactics came into play, such as threatening "Bailiffs", "House attachment", "Criminal proceedings", etc. if I did not pay in full. This is when I started doing some internet research on my rights in general, and realised they had no grounds to make these threats. The last contact I had with them, just before I started reading these forums, I told them I may be in a position to pay a lump sum of £1000 when my next invoice was paid. This was mainly to get them off my back for a bit. I am possibly in a better situation than most, in that I could find the money and have done with it (though £5.5K is a lot of money in anyone’s eyes), though that hasn’t made me feel any less stressed about the situation, and makes me really angry when I think of all those who are in much worse positions and have to deal with these heavy-handed thugs. The long and the short of it is that I took the credit in the first place, and do not feel that I should be exempt from repayment. But I have endured 6 years of CCJ’s and bad credit in the past, due to my complete financial ignorance around my student days, and I would rather not go back there. Ideally, I would like to come to an agreed (greatly reduced) sum that I can pay off in full, and walk away knowing that the debt is settled (especially as I balk at the “interest and charges” that they say have accrued). Any advice on how to move forward?