debt collection agency

tealae

I have been contacted by debt collection agency stating they have finally tracked me down, (I am on electoral role) I moved house 5 years ago, I paid off the remaining balance on my Barclaycard and sent letter to cancel it. Almost 5 years on I am now told I have an outstanding balance. I have said that I do not believe I have any debt on this closed card and agreed that if they can send me proof that I have made a transaction with my signature or PIN then I will pay. 1st they sent me a copy of my original signature when I took out the account, I wrote back and stated they I have never disagreed that I have owned a barclaycard account and again asked for proof, they wrote back and said that barclaycard are still looking in their archives for this information. About 9 months have passed now and they still haven't come up with the correct information. Does anyone know where I stand with this as I believe it is affecting my credit rating, but I am not willing to pay for something that I believe is not my transaction.

POSSETTE

I think your best bet was to ignore any letters,and try to get it to 6 years with no contact,then it could be statute barred,and they cannot do anything, BUT with you starting to communicate with them,it starts again now!
Until they come up with proof i would just ignore them,you are satisfied that you cancelled the card,it would be useful if you kept the letter they sent back confirming this though.
Were there ANY direct debit payments being made from theat card? You may not have cancelled those and they still continue to be debited even though you have cancelled the card.That could be the debt,but then they should be able to show you that.

never-in-doubt

Yes, ignore them - just send back as 'unknown - return to sender'. Then after 6yrs it will become statute barred. See here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1674391

Specific letter is found here: #69

You can only do it one month after the due payment date +6yrs. So if last paid Dec 2002 and missed jan 2002 payment, you could get statute barred with effect from jan 2008.

Hope that helps