Thanks - to both of you. I have looked over the site, and it seems like in England the "debt" (if it was one, as most they created) still exists but cannot be taken to court, but in Scotland it ceases to exist entirely. I don't know if you presumed I was in London, as for some reason my BT connection shows me there, But I am in Scotland, what would happen here? I copied the post to the Scottish debt forum, as this thread was so old, but I see its gone (or I never posted it properly).

After a massive jump in time, these are now definitely time barred. I guess I should edit in - I am in Scotland. I saw this - http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2014/18-14 - and was wondering if it would let me reclaim the charges & interest that made up the majority of my "debt"? Its worth adding, as I did continute paying things for years in on similar events previously at close to the minimum percentage, its likely the interest would actually exceed anything they claimed had been left outstanding. They have no idea where I stay, so although I don't see equal enthusiasm in chasing to pay me, it would be nice to know if it was waiting for me (or I needed to chase it). Both accounts were started about the early 90s. Last payment to them was perhaps 2006/7. I think I have most of their mail somewhere up to the end of 2007 (so well after last payment). I have no idea if these were ever sold on to debt collectors, but I was wondering if this ruling says they owe me money, and the "debt" they claim expired in 2012/13 could they set a payment off against a now expired "debt"?

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I called asking them the procedure to cancel - they told me and issued a cancellation/leaving number. So I was acting on their advice - as the number i called was also in the terms and conditions, and listed as WHO TO CALL TO CANCEL.

Thanks - but the last thing i intend to do is encourage them by offering them anything when I would not have owed it if they had stuck to the law/the original agreement.

I am unsure about this - but I think quite recently it was "decided" that there was no 5 or 6 year limit on council tax claimed liabilities. I could be entirely wrong - but I am sure I read about this perhaps say a year to 18 months ago. Based on this it might be worthwhile to look for more info. Sorry for being so vague - but I felt it was better for you to look further - as I am sure they are not classed as normal debts. Its worth adding it would not be bailiffs in Scotland - but sheriffs officers - though I have no idea who BCW are.

I would guess a hold up on which ever institution made you think this was sensible would be a safer offer.

Years ago I handled a case like this for the CAB. When the flat above leaks - its your own insurance that covers it - and if you dont have any - then its you that pays. - It seems the law expects everyone to have insurance. However, in this case the person upstairs continued flooding until environmental health were brought it - gave them a week to fix it - and if not then EH would arrange the work to be done and then bill the flooders (also threatening a management fee). The downside was I am sure the person beneath was stuck with the excess - even though the person upstairs knew they were flooding - but claimed they needed to keep washing their clothes (the flooding came when they used the washing machine - so the ones downstairs could hear it - then knew what to expect).

So I guess the best way would be to write a letter to Barclays and Barclaycard - asking for a data protection subject access request? Do they count as one or two different requests? Also - as I guess this is leaving me open to a kicking from them, what should I expect to happen as soon as the request goes in? Also - would it be Barclaycard - or one of the dozens of numbers that have been calling me (going straight to email - which I cannot actually hear from this computer - as its an old server, and has no sound card, or from my 486/50 laptop, as it has no sound either, and now has problems with many web pages, even with flash cancelled). But I can get them at a relatives - although the email's title shows the number calling - and the last time I listened to one - it was a computer not a person asking for me - so I can see who called. In saying that however, they were all pretty similar "call us mr debtor, its really important - your reference number is 123456" Lastly - what have I to lose by going bankrupt - as it seems that's them off my back at once - and it lasts a year - with me currently having sufficient hospital appointments to cover most of the next 4 months - but its been like this for years now - so i dont see me suddenly getting back to work in the next year - although it would be good to thing that I will work again one day - as life currently is seriously ****e. Also (sorry) - what can they do me for - I have no savings, no assets, am currently getting about £63 a week as my benefit keeps getting cancelled, which means there is a delay before housing benefit starts again - and my DLA is on hold after they lost the appeal (paperwork) - so £9 a day to live on. I know this sounds pretty unbelievable - but it got so bad my MP is trying to sort it.

If there is a lot at stake - a data recovery company should have a shot at your disk to recover data for about £100. Alternately - could you try a subject access from them - but without mentioning you have lost them. Try to make it look like you are wanting them to produce nothing you have not seen already when it goes to court.

Its rip off Britain. I had the same happen with T-mobile twice, and with BT internet. Its a pretty standard con - your word against theirs - and only after you jump through a few hoops might you get anywhere. With T-mobile - even after I sent them an MP3 of the call - they tried to claim that although they had accepted I was leaving them and issued a leaving number on the phone - it did not count as one as it was meant to be in writing. They did end it - but it took 6 weeks rather than a month - and it was just not worth the hassle of trying to get back the £15 extra they took.

Could you not try the CAB first - as they are free - deal with loads of debt - and wont be choosy about your creditors.

They do look the same - sufficiently so that I think the police would take interest. Especially so if you took it to someone else first - like an MP or journalist - so it was less likely the cops would not be lazy on it. I would also guess one of the regulatory bodies would have to be interested too. If it is shown someone created it - they are pretty hard pushed to try to then get money from you - even if one side blames the other.

Putting the hard drive into another PC might show they are all still there - providing it was just the PC that died.

Sorry - but am I being naive here? If anyone forged a signature on a cheque to obtain money it would be an offence. Can you not approach the police with this - as they would have far greater investagatory powers than anything we could ever request on a letter? I know the police are pretty lazy - but its not as if they will take a kicking investigating this - and its all pretty straight forward. Also again please tell me if I am being naive - but would the bank not have the original - and the collection company a copy?

How long would it be before these claimed debt would become unchasable? I have seen six years mentioned here - but also five for in Scotland. I am in Scotland. Also from when do they decide this date to be from? I would guess the last twice I had called them about my account was to get them to change the date they were making the payment to my credit card - although each time they never changed it (they had moved my payment date forward for some reason without letting me know - so my standing order from the same banking company was now late). This would be about easter 2007. I think my bank account must have died about December 2007 - as my mobile phone which was on contract (although outwith the minimum term) and paid by standing order stopped working about then - although to be honest it could be a couple of months earlier. The last time they contacted me in a way I had requested was spring 2007 - when I had emailed them telling to only contact me via email (given this makes sense with due to aspects of my disability - and even the totally useless DWP say this is an acceptable request) - so they emailed saying they could not do this - which I will still have on the computer if I look back. I had made further attempts via their web site - but even when I was a customer there were problems with online banking so it seldom worked. The last contact resulted in no reply - and I think was via a box to contract them on their site - again probably spring 2007.

Thanks for your comment, I did expect there to be a quid pro quo for stirring things. In the past I had worked for the CAB - and have some pretty horrific stories about sheriffs officers, but there never seemed to be anything like the horror stories I have read here about debt collectors (although from about 1995 I never really dealt with that aspect of things any longer). My sister works abroad, and I had thought about asking her to send my mail for me, and I gather in non EU and non commonwealth countries its virtually impossible to chase UK debt, or enforce UK court orders. I still have loads of mail that is unopened, as it was shoved in a box where it was diverted to - and so about summer until the end of 2007 is like this. There was no mail after that and any they sent I would guess would be returned to to them. I had shoved loads of earlier mail into the box too - as none was in large print, so would need scanned and enlarged onto the screen. However, when I was being passed round relatives - this option was unavailable so its still unread. I am sure I can still find the box. I had also thought about bankruptcy, as I don't have anything left to lose - and unfortunately it seems really unlikely my health would let it happen in the near future. But this seems like giving in to them although would stuff the council for the full council tax they claim to be entitled to at the period between my benefits being stopped and being evicted from my flat.

Thank you for your suggestions. I feel massively reassured after what feels like being ****ed on for years that some people actually seem interested and helpful. Pretty weird - as you can guess what happened really annoys me - and I lost most of my belongings when I was evicted, But after posting here and seeing support I felt a little empowered. Suddenly I feel I would rather let them jump through the hoops I have faced - rather than relying 100% upon a British procedure - when basically most of the banks are now British owned - and in any court cases the majority of judges seem to fall as "company men". I don't mean I will be popping round to Barclays for my appointment with the manager while sporting a chain saw, However, in the UK there is the "rule of law" which in simplistic terms means that the same laws cover us all. I have been telephoned 160 times, so which Barclays director's home number can I get first?

If you get a NON PO PO box - then the address you registered it from is secure. However, anyone asking for the real address that registered a PO box will be told - as its one of the conditions. HOWEVER, if moving house - and having ID from your old address - you can use that to start the PO box. Additionally - if you moved house recenlty - you can get a main diversion from your old house to the new one - then ask your old utility companies to reissue your last bills (or ask the council for something etc). Anyone getting a non EU/commonwealth mailing address means you have a location that nothing can be served upon - or decrees shifted to. An interesting message from my sister earlier pointed out if you have "registration" (a propiska) a mail box in Moldova costs 50p a month.

I don't know if this is help to anyone - but to calculate compound interest you can do it like this... Simple interest over a year at 2% per month would be 24% but for compound you are multiplying by 1.02 each time (1 + interest/100) so this means the interest over a year would be 1.02^12 = 1.268 which is the amount you would multiply by to get the annual interest and capital total - so 26.8% APR

In 2006 I had tried to make a payment to Barclays in their bank. I am disabled and standing in queues tends to result in me falling over (the name of this is something-or-other-hypotension which is a part of the condition i am stuck with). So I had gone to the seated area of the bank and waited until someone saw me there (I also thought they were the best people to speak to about getting statements in large print, as despite asking often on the phone - this never happened). After a while of having no luck on the phone she said she would do it later - and I offered her the money to meet my standing orders - but she said she could not take it and I would have to wait in the queue at the front. I waited as long as I could but had to leave when I knew I was close to falling over. I went outside, but had really left it too late and ended up on the ground at the edge of the road. A taxi driver had seen me wobble before going over, and came out to help me, and took me home. Barclays hit me with fees of £90 and initially said these might be refunded - but then just became pains. Anyway - to cut a long story short - the costs ended up massive, including being evicted as they blocked money being drawn on my card, which I had tried to use to pay my rent with while errors in my incapacity benefit DLA and housing benefit were sorted out. So I ended up homeless - but basically passed round relatives for almost two years until my health picked up enough to get a place to stay on my own again. During this time I never got benefits - as no one wanted me staying and getting mail at their house why the bank were being stroppy about things (they were declining to email me - which was best as it meant I could get it where ever I was - but called me over 160 times. I was worried with the frequency of calls, and that it would risk me staying with relatives, so I diverted the number to my email - and that was how I knew the number of calls - all are stored. Cutting to the chase - I want to try to fix this - as stress worsens my condition and it has been hanging over my head now for years - and I now have an address of my own. I have had no contact with the bank via letter since a mail diversion I got ended near the end of 2007, and they never got round to managing large print which never helped matters. My emails to them resulted in being told they would not deal with me via email. I feel let down by them - and by the benefits agency - as if what I was entitled to had been paid, I could have paid the bank fees (as I had previously) and just put it down to experience. I read here that its possible to end some old credit card agreements - as they don't comply with the law - mine was from the mid 90s - is this likely to be one that they cannot enforce? However, its unlikely I still have the letters they sent, and anyway to try dealing with masses of small print mail is a nightmare. However, I do have the telephone numbers of the people who keep leaving phone messages on my email. In whatever they claim I owe, there will be a high amount of charges - with most being in periods where my benefits were stopped. Additionally - they owed me for money they paid to an ISP after I had swapped to another, but their unwillingness to send out large print seemed to initially be centred around me not seeing how much they had paid in error. They had also changed the date my credit card payment was due - but and only included details of this it tiny writing on my bill. This meant I had paid them about £200 at £12 a month, as my standing order from Barclays to Barclaycard was now always a couple of days late (I wonder why they did that?) Any suggestions? Also - if this is in the wrong place - could you move it please?