Barclaycard debt assigned to Link Financial but as yet no contact

[pm1128711]

A bit of background,

when I got my first job after being a student circa December 2008 I got my first CC - a Barclaycard Platinum.

 

Within the space of 2 year they'd thrown a £9,500 limit at me and having something of a love for travel back then it got used up.

 

At the time I was living at home with the parents and therefore regular payments of £600-700 were not a problem to keep the balance going down faster than it went up.

 

Roll forward to 2013,

I move out and start renting,

the Barclaycard becomes my only source of 'offset' spending and the payments I'm able to make drop down to the minimum amount of around £200

 

which when combined with interest barely shifts the balance and it slowly rises and hovers around the £9000-9500 mark for about a year

- some months it crept over the limit and I'd have to find the funds to get things back in check.

 

In 2014 I admit defeat and go on a payment plan,

they refuse to freeze the interest but do reduce it and my monthly repayment goes down by around £100.

 

I keep to that plan and when it expired I renew for another year.

When that second plan expired they refused to offer me a third agreeing only to an informal arrangement of £110pm but with frozen interest which I've kept to.

The months on the informal plan appear on my credit file as months of sustained arrears.

 

On November 28th I received a letter saying my debt

- which has now reduced to £5700 has been transferred to Link Financial who I've yet to hear anything from.

 

The letter from Barclaycard says I should go on paying them until I have details for Link and any funds will be passed along, my informal agreement will also be honoured for at least a further 6 months.

 

Since the debt is no longer with BC,

should I continue making payments to them or stop payments all together until Link get in touch?

 

if the answer to that is yes, will not paying anything in the meantime put me at a disadvantage when it comes to them continuing to honour the informal arrangement?

will I in a sense forfeit that arrangement.

 

I've also read horror stories about Link and they're love for CCJs,

how likely are they do this if payments to a debt are being maintained?

 

the thought of a CCJ fills me with horror as I work for a company who deals with Pensions and as part of that I get credit checked every other year

- I don't know what affect a CCJ would have on that check and I'd like to avoid having to find out!

 

Am I stuck in a state of limbo until Link eventually pipe up?

 

I've seen people speak of full and final offers,

were I in a position to make such a proposal in a few months time

- assuming they bother to get in touch

- would a history of paying a decent chunk per month go massively against me compared to someone who has paid £1 for instance?

would they see I'm good for more and try and rinse me for every last penny?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice, it's stressing me out no end.

[gregs07]

Cca request and SAR off asap.

[pm1128711]

Do I need to wait for Link to get in touch to send them the CCA? or can it go straight to Barclaycard?

[dx100uk]

debts been sold now

so it goes to plink.

 

however, I like your thoughts of holding off on the CCA

though do bear-in-mind its a 2008? sign up

so would have been online? and a tickbox

and thus a recon will do anyhow.

 

sar to BC tomorrow

 

theres something a wee bit amiss to see a +£7k debt sold on

though this is the usual MO for BC at present.

 

lots of link/BC threads here to read of recent.

[slick132]

Hi,

 

You'll send the CCA Request to Link once they've contacted you seeking payment. But Dx is right - because the a/c was opened relatively recently, unenforceability is not likely to be an issue in your favour.

 

The SAR will disclose details of penalty charges that you were made before they stopped as part of a concessional arrangement. You may be able to reclaim these to reduce the balance owed.

 

Or perhaps you have all your old statements ? Let us know.

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by honeybee13
Real initials removed following name change

[AndyOrch]

I wouldn't pay either until I see a Notice of Assignment...any payments will be unaccounted and difficult to trace should there be any further dispute.

 

What is the wording on this letter of 28th with regards to assignment...verbatim ?

[pm1128711]

I received two letters on the same day, one of them dated the 24th - this is the we've registered a default because you didn't make a formal arrangement with us (not for lack of trying), Your account is closed, passed to recoveries etc; The second, dated the 28th was a lovely glossy affair. Letters attached.

 

Initially I noticed the account vanish from my Barclaycard Online account on Nov 25th, so I questioned it via Secure message and got a similar blurb;

 

"Thank you for contacting us. We are unable to deal with your query at this time as your Barclaycard account is being transferred to Link financial. We're able to do this as part of the Terms and Conditions in your original arrangement. Once the transfer is complete, we'll get in touch to let you know.

 

Link financial are a reputable, specialist financial services company with over 13 years of experience. Treating customers fairly is important to them, and they're subject to all the financial and legal regulations and controls that we are at Barclaycard. We only chose them as our transfer partner following a thorough selection process.

 

Link financial will receive a copy of your email and will respond to you as soon as the transfer of ownership has been completed, but if you have any other queries please don't hesitate to contact them directly on the details below after the 8th of December.

 

Customer Correspondence - Link Financial Outsourcing Limited, PO Box 30095, London, SE1 7WU.

 

I hope this has been of assistance to you.

 

Kind Regards,"

convert-jpg-to.pdf

Edited December 13, 2016 by pm1128711

[dx100uk]

post them up as a PDF here ben

 

follow the upload

[pm1128711]

Much easier! thanks

[dx100uk]

link financial 13 yrs.. more like 30

reputable..now that made me laugh out loud!!

 

biggest fleecers out there.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boss-of-a-debt-chasing-firm-link-financial-790005

 

http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/news/millionaire-debt-collector-digs-deep-south-kensington

[pm1128711]

Well they finally got in touch with me,

received a letter a few weeks ago and last week they called my office and had the switchboard put them through to me, as soon as I realised who it was I put the phone down.

 

To stop them calling that phone anymore I didn't really have a choice but to call them back and once through it was quite an interesting exchange.

 

Let me just say that having got my Barclaycard online via an online application I'm willing to accept all responsibility for the debt, not risking a CCJ and continuing to pay by my Barclaycard agreed terms.

 

Back to Link,

they didn't seem to grasp many of the facts.

 

They were calling about an 'urgent matter' the voicemail said and once in touch a Welsh lady was very keen to tell me quite sternly I'd already broken my agreement with them and that I was in arrears having not paid the agreed amount on time, they said that £250 was due on the 4th Jan.

 

I politely interjected with the facts,

those being that no,

the agreement is actually £120 and your letter didn't state a due date so I'm going by what my Barclaycard payment date was - the 27th,

 

she didn't seem to believe my version of the facts and then stated they didn't have my full address on record so they'd been unable to write to me anyway

 

- I can't decide if this is just incompetence or a sneaky way of trying to call their own bluff and get you to make a new agreement without realising.

 

Either way, I pointed out that actually,

I have received a letter from you,

the agreed payment is £120 not £250

and the payment date is most definitely not the 4th

 

- I did also offer to scan them in and email if she didn't believe me

but as soon as she was stern her entire attitude changed,

 

she was from that point out polite and quite happy to update their records immediately with no further questions. A most odd outfit.

 

With regards to Barclaycard,

I did send off my SAR on December 15th,

which they received and signed for shortly after so hopefully I'll hear something back from that in the next few weeks.

[dx100uk]

against guidelines to phone work numbers shame you fell for it...

 

can you go get you credit file

 

I still suspect Barclaycard own this not link

thus they can be ignored

 

sadly now they know you are venerable at your works number they keep doing to to pressure you.

 

dx

[slick132]

If they call you again at work, you can complain in writing about their breach of The OFT Guidelines on Debt Collection and threaten a formal complaint about this breach.

 

[pm1128711]

Thanks for the responses, they've not contacted me again thankfully.

 

My credit report has now updated and full ownership of the debt is show showing as belonging to Link, no mention of Barclaycard anywhere.

 

My SAR also came through today, there was a copy of the original application in there as expected - worryingly it was in a very large and completely open mail bag, anyone could have had a read through what was in there!

 

What's the next step with regards to reclaiming unfair charges? I've had a look around but it's all a bit overwhelming.

[dx100uk]

did you get a CCA request running to plink?

 

 

dx