What is a CRA file and what benefit is there of getting it please?

Who do I claim off? as the debt has now been sold, do I reclaim charges from Littlewoods or do I find out how much they are and then insist they are taken off the Lowell debt? I have read the guidance and still not sure what they can do - my main concern is taking me to court / declaring me bankrupt, can they do this and what is the likelihood they will? Thanks all for all your help, you do not know how much of a relief it is being able to speak to others more knowledgeable than me about it.

Thanks for that Citizen B, Interesting that the debt was with Littlewoods then the letters came though from Very, and I could fill an A4 sheet of all the parts of the lending code they did not comply with. They certainly weren't sympathetic I offered genuinly what I could afford, but from day 1 they insisted on £200 + or nothing and did absolutely zilch to help me, they certainly didnt give me 30 days from when I said I would send a replayment plan to the time they sold the debt to Lowells. I will have to check the letters for a definite date but I would suprised if they gace me half of that. I have actually been appalled at their tone, behaviour and complete lack of understanding and sympathy to my situation, they werent active in pursuing, and it seems as soon as they got the offer letter they couldn't wait to sell the debt on.

Thanks to everyone for their quick responses, I will do everything that has been advised, I was just a bit worried earlier when I saw Lowell's had taken someone to court over a debt - I have no idea what they can and cant do. Thanks again, I feel a bit more in control now. I will keep you all updated on how I get on.

Thanks both for your quick responses, and thanks for your welcome . The original debt was with Littlewoods, for about £6k. I haven't checked my credit file recently, but last time I was looking they were all on there (to be honest I am a bit scared as I know it will be bad). I know my credit rating will have suffered and to be honest I am actually not that bothered, I couldn't change the circumstances I am now in and I have done everything I could to keep my creditors up to date with what was going on. I hope to never need to rely on credit again. Can I send the telephone harassment letter if I haven't even spoken to them yet? I have been answering the phone, but obviously not quick enough as it is always just nothing on the other end of it and I am certainly not sitting there all day waiting. I offered a repayment plan the same as which I offered Littlewoods which was about £30 a month - I did this as fairly as possible and offered all my creditos the same % amount. All my other creditors accepted this (and most of them had higher balances). Littlewoods would not budge they wanted no less than around the £200 mark, something that I just couldn't pay (unless it meant not feeding me the kids for 2 weeks in every month). I am currently considering if I should offer the same repayment plan, but then if there are charges that should not have been put on , perhaps them getting taken off will reduce my payment a little bit (even a small amount helps when you have nothing). From what I have read I dont know if they will even accept payment plans should I look to see if I can get a dramatically reduced full and final payment offer and perhaps I could try and see if one of my relatives could give me a loan?

Ok so I am on Day 3 with Lowells, they wrote to me Thursday to say they had bought a debt and there was also a letter enclosed from the original creditor. Today I have had 4 phone calls which I highly suspect are from them, rings, I pick up no answer after 2 calls like this I bar the number, so I am currently waiting to see which phone number they ring next. Can I insist they only contact me in writing - from what I have read it is pointless talking to them as they only do what they want to do anyway and mis-quote what has been said and if I do ask do they generally then not phone? From the posts I have seen I will also be recording the calls and will tell them before hand that I will be recording it. The background is I kept the original creditor completely up to date with my circumstances and they did stop charges and interest, but they then suddenly started them again, so I would be interested to find out what charges have been put on - but is there anything I can do about them anyway now the debt has been sold? I did offer a re-payment plan to the original creditor (with a full financial statement) as I did with all my debtors, all others accepted the re-payment plan, but this one didnt even bother responding just sold the debt onto Lowells, I assume they weren't interested because it was going to take too long to re-pay. Any other info on how to deal with Lowell's would be greatly appreciated.