Ok thank you. Should I include copies of the emails I sent Santander explaining my financial situation? If I cannot find the letters from Viking or Santander, is that pretty much bad news for me. As far as I can tell, I need to send Santander the letter that you have put in your thread, along with a postal order. This would mean that I have made an effort and continued to make afford to solve the debt problem, and that the amount Howard Cohen are trying to take me to court for is no longer valid and they would affectively need to restart the whole process. Many thanks PJ

Thank you for your prompt response. Howard Cohen have kept their letter reasonably ambiguous. The letter itself is a NOTICE OF PENDING LEGAL ACTION with the subheading "RE: Santander Cards UK Limited - Amount Outstanding: £435.50" However, they "urge" me to contact their client's collection agent, Lewis Debt Recovery. I immediately sent Howard Cohen a CCA letter today along with a postal order of £1 - however I overlooked getting this done by recorded mail. Forgive my naiveté but should I send Santander a letter explaining the situation further and requesting copies of previous statements and notice of arrears. Should I include a cheque for £1? My worry is that if this was taken to court, I would not have a leg to stand on as all I did was send Santander a couple of emails explaining my situation but that I was happy to continue paying the debt. I will try and find the viking letters (they should be dated may/june), the lewis ones are dated july/august. Could you give me best/worst/most like scenarios based on my standpoint? Many thanks for your help and advice Pj

Hi Guys, This is my first post so I hope to get a reply. A year or two ago I stupidly got a topman credit card (provided by santander) and acquired about £400 worth of debt. I was happily paying Santander back the minimum each month, I went travelling abroad and was still paying the debt back but when I returned to the UK in April, I missed the payment for that month and as such my direct debit was cancelled (not by me). I found the relevant email address on Santander's website and informed them that I had indeed missed a payment, and that I was currently unemployed with no funds but very willing to continue paying off the debt with the minimum each month and asked whether it was possible to freeze my account for a month. I heard nothing back and so sent them a follow up email to the same address with the original email attached. I tried calling them but go through to no-one and was suddenly receiving letters from Viking debt collectors (I think) and then more recently, Lewis Debt Collectors. I chose to ignore these as I had tried to get in touch with Santander themselves and did not see it as fair for my debt to be sold on. Today (24th August 2011), I received a letter from Howard Cohen Solicitors threatening court action for the amount (including fees now £515). I sent a CCA letter today asking them to provide all details of my agreement within 12 days (I've heard that they can buy debt illegally?) I am worried that if in the next 12 days they do in fact provide my original agreement and threaten to take me to court, what my options are. I had sent Santander emails telling them I was willing to pay the debt bit by bit. I am still currently unemployed and cannot afford a great deal. Have I gone about this in the correct manner? What is likely to happen next? Many thanks, Pj