Hi guys. After scanning through a few similar posts I thought it would be clearer to understand if I posted my own thread hi-lighting my own concerns specifically. Hope that's ok?
I'll give an explanation of my situation then submit my questions.
About 7 years ago I had a few outstanding debts on various overdrafts and c/cards etc.
My wife and I owed around £4'500 in total.
Nothing to get to worked up about.
My wife and I seperated though and after a clean and simple divorce I was left trying to float the home finances alone.
Living on half of our former income, things quickly started to spiral out of control.
In the end I went to citizens advice who spoke to all the creditors and asked them to freeze all my overdrafts and cards etc and also freeze any interest charges. We arranged affordable repayment plans for each of them and all has worked well since then.
One of the accounts was with Barclaycard.
I owed around £1'500 and they kindly agreed a repayment plan of £12.00 per month.
I set up a direct debit and all has been going great.
I've never defaulted on a payment and I've watched the debt steadily fall.
Just a few weeks ago I called them and asked if I could up the payments from £12.00 to £24.00 per month in order to clear the debt more quickly, as it was now down to a balance of just £429.00
I was told by the representative on the phone that it would be easier to leave the account as it is for a while as Barclaycard were in the process of transfering some accounts to another company who would be taking over the management of these accounts and collecting the remaining debts.
I said I was not happy with this as my debt was with Barclaycard and it was them that I was in a contract.
I explained to her that I could not see why it was ok for Barclaycard to suddenly change the contract.
She tried to reassure me it was all ok but I insisted that I speak to her supervisor.
After a minute or two another voice came on the line and told me not to worry and that it would be fine to up my repayments.
If I wasn't happy to switch company's then no switch would be made. I hung up satisfied with the outcome.
Then a week or so later I recieved a letter from Barclaycard dated the 10th Oct 2016 informing me that they have, and I quote...
"closed and transfered your Barclaycard account to a company called Assett Link Capital (No.5) Limited.
They've appointed Link Financial Outsourcing Limited to act on their behalf so they'll be looking after your account from now on"
On the same day I also recieved a letter from Assett Link Capital confirming that Barclaycard had "Assigned" the account to themselves and that they in turn had appointed Link Financial Outsourcing Limited to service the account on their behalf. Included were contact and bank details to arrange payments with Link Financial.
With all this looking so official and above board and not wanting to once again incur charges against the account,
I went ahead and visited Link Financial's website and filled out the online direct debit form.
I then recieved an email thanking me for my completing the Direct Debit set up form and that my information had been received and they would begin setting up my Direct Debit shortly.
Although I wasn't happy at being forced into accepting this change I felt it was more important to stay on top of repayments rather than damage my now recovering credit score.
I have since seen some online articles which have caused me to have concerns.
So the questions I've been asking myself are as follows.
1) Am I in any danger of being defrauded by a fake company who have access to my personal banking information?
2) Are Barclaycard in breach of contract by handing my debt on to another debt recovery agency?
3) Barclaycard say they've "Closed" the account where as Assett link say Barclaycard have "Assigned" the account to them. Is this the same thing or are these companies being clever with their wording?
4) Now I have filled out the online direct debit form with Link Financial have I obligated myself to repay the outstanding sum to them.
5) If I have not obligated myself to make repayments to these other agencies and do try and challenge paying back the debt, will this have a damaging effect on my credit score?
I appreciate your taking the time to read this, much longer than anticipated post, and look forward to any help and advice you good people may be able to offer. Thanks and regards.
Skinz72