They’ve got my current address, I’ll send the sb letter this morning as well

I’ve no recollection of defaulting on a debt to capital one, about twenty years ago I ran up debts with Barclaycard and (I think) MBNA which I definitely defaulted on. At the time I was a stupid irresponsible moron who abused alcohol and drugs on a daily basis which led to a period of mental illness, however I’ve spent a lot of time and effort to become a much better person than I was. There is a possibility that I have forgotten who I owed money to, I don’t remember that much from that period of my life. I honestly couldn’t send an sb letter for a debt that I have no recollection of and my thinking was that if they could prove that I had defaulted on this debt then it would then be obvious that it was sb and the letter could be sent at that point. I used email as I cannot have letters going to my home address as they are opened by my oh and this would cause huge problems for me, I’m ashamed of that period of my life.

I recently received a letter from Capquest informing me that they are transferring a debt that they claim I owe to Capital One, from themselves to another company called Resolvecall. Today another letter arrives and I received a text message stating that they would be sending someone to my home address. About twenty years ago I defaulted on some unsecured debt, I genuinely do not remember having a credit card with Capital One, in fact I have an account with them that I opened about four years ago which is in credit and I’ve always paid off in full every month. I have emailed them a standard prove it letter today and received a reply about half an hour later which contained this gem: “Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that there are certain websites purporting to provide information which will allow their users to avoid repayment or discussion of debts. It is our belief these sites are disseminating misinformation which is both unhelpful and harmful to the consumer. The letter you have sent is one of these templates. It appears to be a letter of dispute but simply lists the regulations around disputed debt and it does not explain to us why you are specifically disputing this debt.” I absolutely won’t be paying them anything, however I do not want any letters or visits as this would cause me terrible problems at home. I’ve replied to their email stating clearly that I don’t recognise the debt and that it would be statute barred anyway and not to contact me again. What can I do if they persist in chasing me? This is causing me considerable alarm and distress - I’ve made huge efforts to sort my life out and become a responsible and productive member of society over the last decade.

Just wanted to triple check something before proceeding. Is it the case that if I pay the amount in full, that the case will not proceed and a CCJ will not be issued? It seems to suggest this is court documents but I just want to check. Secondly, if I did pay the full amount, do I need to do anything other than just pay? Do I need ot notify the courts myself? Thanks for any help

Would the fact that they have made an application to the court stop the clock in terms of it becoming statue barred? Or is the date of judgement the key factor? The loan was definitely deferred in 2004 and according to link themselves it became statute barred on the 20th of September. It seems a little unfair to me that I receive notice of court action four days after I thought it had became statute barred.

Thank you! All help is greatly appreciated.

Very bad news. This morning I've received a summons for Swansea County Court. Can anyone help me??? Obviously I'm panicking right now - I though I'd reached the finishing line! The issue date is the 14/09/2011, and they acknowledge that "the cause of action duly commenced on the 20th of September 2005", ie more than six years ago. The summons is for Swansea County Court, which is miles away from where I live and is impractical for me to travel to - is it possible get it moved to somewhere closer?

wow that was quick! Thanks!

I understand your point, howevever the loan was deferred in 2004 and exited deferment in September 2005,so unless I'm mistaken the six years are up.

Evening all, As you are all no doubt aware, today is the 20th of September 2011. Now, for those of you who have been following this sorry saga may be aware that according to Link, this matter wasn't statute barred due to the loan being deferred in september 2005 and that SB status wouldn't kick in until six years later. Well, today is indeed that momentous day, six years from deferment, so even according to link this is SB. So imagine my surprise when i returned home to find a statement of account from link which showed that they are adding £15 odd quid a month in interest! Well, Link parasites, you can add as much interest as you like, a million a month if you like For all of you that have supported me I would like to say a sincere thank you, to Link, I'd like to say a sincere [edit] I mentioned a while ago that it would be good to buy you guys a beer, instead ill be making a donation to CAG and if you sign up to the Marston's mailing list they'll send you beer vouchers! Seriously gents thank you. ps does any one have any ideas as to how I could give Link a taste of their own medicine?

Thanks for your help gents, I'll look into making a complaint via consumer direct, and I'll keep you posted when I hear from the SLC.

Still not heard from the SLC, but I have had a letter from Link in reply to me teeling them that I would be seeking an SAR from the student loans company: "Dear Mr WhitmoreReans, As previously explained to you, the original creditor sold your account as part of the government Student Loan Debt Sale in 1998 to Finance for Higher Education (FFHE). We, Link Financial Outsourcing, are servicing the account on behalf of the debt owner FFHE. THerefore, any Subject Access Request must be submitted to us and not the Student Loans Company, who no longer have an interest in your account. We may, if necessary, contact the Student Loans Company to verify information or extract documents, however this is part of the compilation of the SAR request of which the fee of £10.00 covers. I am concerned that you have been given independent advice that advises you otherwise from what I have stated above and would be grateful if you could inform me of the independent advice body used and I will contact them directly to explain the SAR process to ensure that other customers are not given incorrect and time wasting advice. I cannot empahsise strongly enough that if you require advice or guidance towards the seriousness of your current position or the inevitable consequences of your failure to agree a repayment plan with us, that you contact a recognised independent advice council such as the Citizens Advice Bureau or the Coinsumer Credit Counselling Service, both of whom offer free and accurtate advice. We have advised you as your deferment period ended on 19 September 2005, this is the Cause of Action date that we have used to refute your claim that the account is out of statute. With regards to the payment of 5 July 2005, we have shown you this appeared on your annual statement issued in 2005 and you failed to challenge this at this point and therefore I am satisfied from the collecting agent to the SLC correctly. Also, as stated, this payment does not form part of the Cause of Action date. As advised in your complaint response of 9 June 2011, we no longer consider this account in dispute and see this letter merely as a time wasting tactic to avoid repayment of this debt. We have offered you the opportunity to contact us and with a reasonable offer of repayment and we would be happy to discuss that with you. however, if you continue to ignore your responsibility towards this debt or act on inaccurate advice from a non recognised service, then we will continue our process of obtaining and enforcing a County Court Judgement against you. I have also commenced the process of updating the UK Credit Refernce agencies with your defaulted balance, and this will be reported at August end month. Yours sincerely, Link Dicksplash." Now, as the defaulted balance dropped off my credit files months ago, am I right in thinking that they can't put it back onto my credit files? And, more importantly, where do I go from here? Now quite worried.

Fortunately no polar bear but a flooded tent and a very very annoyed staffie (and wife!)

I'm back from my disastrous camping trip so I can now move forward: So, I will get the SAR letter off to the SLC and Write to Link to inform them that I've requested the SAR and that the account is still firmly in dispute until I hear from the SLC. The objective here is to prevent a CCJ, that would be a disaster for me - I'm not a 'won't pay' person, but I am trying to hold them off until I am in a position to pay on my terms, and I definitely don't want to surrender to this bunch of crooks.

I have no knowledge of the payment at all, and as far as I know, no other payments have been made after this.

Right then, I've been avoiding this for a few weeks..Link have responded to my dispute letter: I wrote to Link informing them that I'm disputing the debt, and that I would be seeking a SAR from the SLC (which I actually haven't got round to doing yet..) to which they replied: " We are the sole servicer of the above account. As such, all requests for data and information should be made directly to us." I informed them of my belief that the matter is in fact statute barred and that I had not made the payment in July 2005 that Link say I had made, they responded: "I can only reiterate our previous response regarding your claim that the account is subject to the statute of limitations act.....your account exited deferment in September 2005, as your last acknowledgement via deferment was within six years your account is not statute barred. In regards to the payment applied to your account in July 2005, I have taken the liberty of enclosing reprints of your annual statements previously issued by the SLC. I have highlighted the payment in question which I hope satisfies your claim." In my letter, I told them that I had no knowledge of their company, and that I had never entered into any agreement with them: "The Student Loans Company continued to service your loan accounts on behalf of FFHE until 1st October 2008 when FFHE exercised their contractual right and transferred responsibility for the management of your loan account to Thesis Servicing. All affected customers were informed of this change at the time; if you did not recieve this letter I have enclosed a copy for your convenience I have never seen this letter before! Finally, I told them that they must cease all actions on the account until the dispute is resolved: As we have now responded to your letter we no longer consider the account to be in dispute and do not see the need for any correspondence on this matter. The letter issued to you in May 2001 advising you of our intention to pass your account to an external solicitor remains valid, and unless you contact us with a reasonable offer of repayment then we will continue the process of updating the UK credit agencies with your defaulted balance and obtaining and enforcing a CCJ against you" Link have gone on to state that "Whilst we are entitled to seek the balance in full, we understand that you may not be able to repay this in one payment and therefore in an attempt to resolve this situation to an amicable conclusion we would be prepared to offer you the opportunity to enter into a repayment plan. This would be dependant on you completing an income and expenditure exercise that will help determine a fair and affordable amount. If you enter into and maintain a repayment plan, we will be able to suspend any further action which as already stated may include legal action." So, what should be my next move? Would anyone recommend filling in the form that they have sent and entering into the repayment plan? I should have responded to this so I need to get my skates on, however every time I've gone near the letter the panic sets in! I have no idea how to proceed with this so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've just read this thread and I'm going through pretty much the same - mysterious payments etc. I've just written the SAR letter to the SLC and the dispute letter to Link so hopefully we'll both have a favourable outcome!

Thank you to all of you. Once this is sorted I will be making a donation to CAG so that others can be helped. The next few months will be crucial to my future and I'm sure as hell that I'll do everything I can to stop Link from ruining everything I'm working for. If I could buy you all a beer I would.

Nice one Cerberusalert.

Excellent, will do. Are there any templates for the SAR and dispute letters?

I deferred in Nov 2004, which expired in Sep 2005 according to Link. They argue that SB doesn't kick in until September this year, which I think is correct although I wish it wasn't.

I think it may have gone a bit too far to be deferred again. Between my last deferment and until now I've either been moving around the country and doing rubbish low paid jobs or living abroad, for reasons totally unconnected to this matter I have out of necessity been unable to leave any forwarding address. I'm the first to admit that I could have dealt with things better, but if Link had been reasonable with me then I would have also been reasonable with them. As they have not, nor will I.

They've now sent me a "Letter Before Action" giving me 14 days to repay in full. I have at this moment 54p to my name. I'll start a new thread on this one.

Thank you gentlemen for all of your advice, this sort of thing has, in the past, got the better of me so it's good to know I'm not alone.

Thanks for the template Cerberusalert (and thanks to everyone else who is helping me). Does anyone know what the chances of Link being able to obtain a CCJ are before September? And how likely are they to go down this route?