Advice re: DCA Letter

Hi there,


New to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place or turns into a big waffle but I'm making myself ill worrying about it and was hoping for some advice.


I'll try and keep a long story as short as possible...


I moved house mid Jan this year. With one thing and another it took a few weeks to get all of our change of addresses done, and one of the few I couldn't do online or by phone was Barclays Bank. I don't use them as my main bank anymore, but have held an account since I was a child which I used during university and had quite a big overdraft on. I had been paying small amounts off this overdraft so that I could eventually close the account, but it was still £900 when we moved. I filled out a postal change of address form they have, and sent it off. I received a letter back to my new address, thanking me for the update, but saying I needed to go into branch as the signature they held on file for me needed updating. This was end of Feb. Again, I work long hours and didn't get around to this for a while, but had assumed they had acknowledged the change of address.


Went into branch mid March, to be told I didn't have an account with Barclays anymore, and that they had closed it due to 'tracing issues'. Turns out they had sent a couple of things to my old address that got returned, and they hadn't acknowledged my change of address form because I hadn't been in to update my signature.


Staff in branch at that point said the account was still with their in house collections team, and should be easily sorted. They agreed to call me back within the following few days to confirm the next steps.


Got a call a few days later saying actually it had already gone to a DCA (the previous week apparently) and that I needed to contact them. Gave me the details for BCW, but no reference number or anything more than their phone number.


I wrote a complaint to Barclays asking that they allow me to just clear the overdraft directly with them, and also wrote to BCW (whom I had not heard from at all at this point) saying the same. They quickly wrote back saying the account would be put on hold whilst they investigated.


In June, both wrote to me saying my complaint would not be upheld as 'I had failed to provide enough details about the situation to allow them to investigate'. Not sure how as I had explained the situation fully and sent copies of my change of address form, the letter of acknowledgment etc. I again wrote back to both saying I would be putting in a complaint via the FOS as I didn't feel they had dealt with it well. I also put in my letter to Barclays that I was still willing to pay them back directly, but they have ignored all correspondence from me.


The FOS acknowledged my complaint but said it could be several months before they have an answer, so to be honest I have just waited - kind of surprised that I had heard no more from BCW, and not sure who I could even make any payment to at this point. It has plagued my thoughts on a daily basis, and aside from this, I did have a good credit file with everything up to date etc. so it's really worrying me.


Anyway, fast forward to now, and this weekend I get a letter from a different DCA - Moorcroft, addressed to me, but with no indication at all of what it's in relation to - just says they believe I live at this address, and need to contact me regarding a personal matter.


I have been feeling sick to my stomach all weekend and unsure what to do now...


Could it be that BCW have passed it on? Surely moorcroft would have put in their letter who they were acting on behalf of if so?


Do I write to Moorcroft and ask for more detail and see what they come back with?


Who can I actually make any payment to? I can't pay it all in one go, but could probably do it in three or four payments. I fully accept I had the overdraft and just want it gone and sorted, but I also don't want to give money to some random company that might not even be the right one. Ideally, Barclays would let me pay them back directly, but they won't respond anymore, and would that even be correct? Have they now sold the debt on or are these DCA's just acting on their behalf? The default placed on my credit file, which I'm also really upset about, is from Barclays, and there is no search or info placed on there by anyone else.


Just terrified that someone is going to come knocking at my door all because of a stupid change of address.


Apologies for the long winded account, and thanks in advance for any advice.