Old (paid) credit come back to haunt me, advice please

loulou470

Hi, new to the site, so hope I'm in the right place here. I'm after any help I can get.
Back in 2000 I bought a PC using credit from HFC bank. I paid this credit in full over 1 year. Stupidly didn't keep my bank statements as was naive at the time.
In 2003 I got a letter saying I owed the finance company £640. I wrote and told them I'd paid it, and asked them to send details of what they thought I still owed it for. They resaponded with the same letter but sent to my Mums house. Again I asked them to send details, which they never did so early in 2005 I wrote to them and said if I didn't hear back in 14 days I would consider the matter closed without any money due. I heard back within a week that they were looking into my request, but then nothing from then until today when out of the blue I got a letter saying I owe them £638.
Can they still chase this after so long?
Any advice gratefully recieved

PNPSUKNET

yes upto 6 years

wornoutmumoftwo

Could you request bank statements from your bank?

loulou470

my bank told me that they only keep statements for 2 years, i asked them back in 2003 when this first came up

wornoutmumoftwo

I thought banks had to keep them for 7 years (or is that us?)
Anyway done some googling and it depends on the bank in question by the looks of it.

loulou470

I was kinda hoping that I might get out of this by way of the letter I wrote saying if I didn't hear from them I would consider it done. Thanks anyway tho

sandraroffey

if you paid everyhting through the bank on a monthly basis, ask the finance company for a breakdown of payments and when they were paid.

you may be able to spot a gap. let us know how you get on.

loulou470

I got in touch with consumer direct and they said that I won't have to pay as the original loan was back in 2000 and past the six year limit. I'm to write to the credit company to tell them that and see what happens. Don't know if it will work yet, but with them behind me reckon its worth a try, and would recommend them to anyone with a similar problem.

thanks to you all