Hello, Can someone give me some advice please. Firstly, how do I deal with these people? And what happens if I don't for the reasons outlined below? I got a letter from red castle / gothia debt collection agency. The debt is a small one (about £30) from interest on postage and packaging from a fashion catalogue. It is a recent debt. I should note this is such a small amount that I really am very happy to pay it off and would have done it had I realised my account was accruing this interest. HOWEVER, I tried then tried to pay it on their online site (much more convenient as I have a hearing impairment) and nothing happened. I checked my bank account and the security certificate of the website, no money has come out and there have been no fraud attempts (yet). So I rang the number and got through after several attempts, and they wanted me to confirm name, address and DATE OF BIRTH. I gave them the reference number, name, address, and I am willing to pay all the money off at once, so why won't they deal with me unless I give them my date of birth?? Why would they even care who was paying the debt if the debt is being paid or could this come back to the bite them latter? (to be true I am not at all savvy when it comes to financial matters which is why I am asking your advice.) Why and how could they possibly know what my date of birth is? The man on the phone insisted 'we know what your date of birth is'. I never gave this information out when signing up with the original company that I recall and if I did it was most certainly a fake one as I never use the real thing because I am paranoid about fraud. Is this an attempt to get more information out of me? How can I convince them to let me pay off my debt without telling them this personal information? Do they have any legal right to do this? Will they take me to court for the £30 and will this go against me if I refuse on this basis? Is this even a legitimate company?? I'm not sure whether I'm being unreasonable or not.

Hi Recently i have been receiving letters for someone who has never lived at my address. I did notice though that the account was for a company i too have a debt with and is being dealt with by red castle which is the same as this letter. Also we did receive a call on our home phone asking for someone by the same name the other day too and the other half told them that no one by that name lived here. What i cannot work out is that our number is ex directory so how did they get the number as we only just recently got this number and the only people who have it are family and doctors etc. So i was just wondering what i should do, I have called red castle and advised them that person does not live here. Do i need to do anything else? also could they use the phone number to get a address even though its ex directory as i cannot understand how that person is linked to this address as they have never lived here. Any advice would be appreciated

Hello all, I have a mortgage with Northern Rock, there is also a secured loan on the property with First Plus and Red castle have had a temporary agreement in place for last 6 months. July payment is my final payment. I do not think that i can return to the full contractual arrangement as I am on a third of the wages that i used to be. Can anyone please advise as to the steps that i should take in order to come out of this mess a little less battered than i would be if I just allowed them to do what they want. Is it worth contacting council re - mortgage rescue scheme? applying for council housing? I have contacted Northern Rock to see about changing mortgage to interest only, but they are taking forever to get back to me. All help would be most appreciated. Many thanks in advance.