Overcharged on credit card debt

mymatedave

Think I originally posted this in the wrong forum. Apologies for the re-post.

Long story, short version. I got into some money woes a couple of years ago and racked up a debt on my capital one credit card which I was struggling to service.

After walking the tightrope a few times I eventually didn't make the minimum payment in time and they closed my account and marked my credit file with a default.

A debt collection agency called Cougar Financial Services and in June 11 I entered into the following agreement:-

Balance £2932.43
1st Payment of £350 (June 11)
Monthly payments of £200 until
Final payment of £132.43 in Sept 12.

No interest and no charges were ever mentioned, nor do they appear on the letter sent to me.

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed what I did not notice at the time (I was just so desperate to get this paid off), that the amount repaid is more than the balance. Added to this, they took £200 from my bank this month and when I telephoned them they said that there was a further payment to take, of £138. They also told me over the telephone that the original balance was over £3k (£3150 or thereabouts I think). At that point I added everything up and noticed that the repayment is over £500 more than the original balance.

I'm inclined to instruct my bank not to make any more payments and to request that they refund the difference. But on the flip side, I'm less than £200 from having this self inflicted headache go away (apart from the 6 year wait for the default to 'drop off' my credit file of course).

Any sensible advice would be very gratefully appreciated.

And the next Q - when does the 'default' get knocked off my credit file. It's showing as a big fat D every month - do they only stop marking it as that when it is paid off - eg 6 years from the date of the final payment? Or is it 6 years from the date of the default itself?