Statute barred debt (Credit card) from 16 years ago...

mark555555

I have a statute barred debt (Credit card) from 16 years ago. After ignoring text messages, phone calls and the occasional letter from Capquest for many years, I recently started receiving calls and letters from ACI, who are working on behalf of Capquest. I then received a letter from Verity, who are working on behalf of ACI threatening a home visit.

I have not made any form of written acknowledgment of the debt's existence or made any payment towards it within the past six years, and a recent credit history search I undertook came back unblemished.

I sent them a ‘prove it’ letter based on a very helpful template from this forum and received a polite letter back from ACI saying “We have reviewed your account and based on the information we have available, we have decided to close it. You will not receive any more contact from us”.

You can imagine my surprise that just a few short weeks later I received a new letter from ACI with a new ACI Customer Reference number, but this time for an increased outstanding balance amount.

ACI have acknowledged my letter in writing and are clearly unable to ‘prove it’ which they have put in writing. But they now appear to have created a new account…

Is my next move to write back to them with the same ‘prove it’ letter wording, corresponding to the new ACI Customer Reference number but also include reference to the previous correspondence for the ‘old’ ACI Customer Reference number and include a ‘warning’ that I will report them to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) if they persist with their collection activity.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

sourcrates

Are you certain its the same debt?

Either way, prove-it letter is the way forward yes.

fatbelly

Yes you are going to have to treat it like a different debt. Which it may be.