Laurap, I did not post on here to try and achieve "hero status" as you call it. If you read my post, you will have seen the penultomate paragraph which outlines that, yes, I was stupid to ignore these debts, but due to circumstances, it got to the point where I was unable to do anything about them (especially the big ones). Yes, I would feel narked if I was owed the money (and I have been owed large sums which subsequently didn't show up), but at the same time I haven't bought a debt for pennies then tried to con someone out of thousands to line my pocket as these ****** DCAs do. My life has been hell for the past few years, sick with worry, depressed, frightened to answer the door... so I haven't got out of this lightly. As it is, I doubt I will be able to get decent credit for the rest of my life now, at 37, that isn't a good thing. Andy...

Well, I checked my report this morning (and took a copy), and there are now only 2 default accounts on my record now, a total of around £4.5k, overnight my debt dropped by more than £30k! I am so happy at this point in time. It was either wiat it out, or bankruptcy... I think I made the roght decision

Hi, I have been looking through the forum and think I have the answers I am looking for but would like some clarification if possible. I got into a lot of debt when I was younger, and due to various health issues / relationship problems, I stopped paying all of my loans and credit cards off around 6 years ago. When I finally got myself sorted and looked into paying it all back, I found that the figure was around the £40k mark, which just threw me into a deep depression. At the time, all I could think of doing (in hindsight a very stupid thing) was to bury my head in the sand and hope it went away. Well, somehow I seem to have gotten away with it, and now some of my debts are nearing the 6 year statute barred time. I checked my credit report in Februrary of last year and found 8 defaulted items, raning in dates from mid-2003 to early 2004. I have just recently checked my credit report again, to find that there are now only 4 default notices on it, with default dates of 2 x 01/10/2003, 31/12/2003 and 16/03/2004. I have never written anything to any DCA. My first question is this: After 01/10/2009 (yesterday), are these debts no longer enforcable? ie Will the agencies stop chasing me for them? One of them was quite big (£28k) originally a loan from HFC, but then taken over by Crapquest. I have never written to any of the agencies involved, but Crapquest did phone me once at work about 4 years ago. I recently got a letter from Crapquest offering to write off the debt if I paid 50% - this is what piqued my interest in when that debt would disappear. I have just today received a letter from Philips Collection Services stating that they have been instructed to commence recovery procedures on behalf of Lowells on the other debt that defaulted on 01/10/2003, the letter was dated 25th September - is this just a last desperate attempt by Lowells to get some money out of me (£3.5k). Final question, I received a letter from Aktiv Captial recently about a debt of £2.7k, of which I can find no record on my report from last year or the more recent one. Can they send a demand for a debt that isn;t even on my credit report? Finally, I would just like to clarify that what I did was very stupid. I should have stood up and paid my debts as best I could. Hiding from them for 6 years or so has been very very stressful, to the point of not answering the door during the day or answering withheld number phonecalls. I would NOT reccomend going down this path to anyone. Thanks in advance for any help / advice. Andy...

Trevor, I suppose I was hoping that the debts would "die", reviewing things over the weekend I think it is near to 3 - 3 and a half years now since I paid anything (bad I know, but dire circumstances at the time). My main concern is that now that Capquest have gotten in contact with me at work, that particular debt will be pursued more heavily again (it is the biggest debt, making more than 50% of total owed). I;m going to tell them that I will inform our secretary not to transfer their calls from now on, and to only communicate by post, but they know I am alive and well... drat Jonni, I am in the process of reading as much as I can about IVAs, I agree that debts should be paid off, and hope that any monies I can offer will be accepted. If they aren;t (and I;m thinking more of Capquest here), then I;m afraid bankruptcy may be my only recourse. And typically, my lottery numbers didn;t come up again! Thanks for the comments guys, I really appreciate it.

Hi Trevor I have noticed a sever drop off in the number of letters I have been receiving lately. Although one company (Capquest) contacted me at work the other day which I wasn;t happy about. They will be getting my YAC number on monday (22ppm evenings / 32ppm daytime). My initial thoughts about going through some of the procedures on this site for getting charges refunded etc after I was told about this by a friend, was that if I pursued anything, I would be sticking my head above the parapet and my creditors would know I am still alive, hence the post here I know I shouldn't ignore my debts, but they were a major cause of my depression, and there is no way in hell I want to get back into that frame of mind. So I am dedicating this weekend to finding solutions

This thread has been a real eye opener for me, and I will be reading it again (and again) as well as all the relevant links over the weekend. Thanks people

On the subject of 0870 numbers etc. I have a YAC account setup (YAC - The Inbound Call Experts) it is a free service that offers a "personal" number of 070xxxxxxxx, this costs 32p daytime and 22p evenings to call. Your YAC number can be redirected to upto four numbers which are tried in order if one is engaged etc. It can also be used to receive faxes. A nice feature which I just discovered today, is that all calls with no caller ID can be directed to your voicemail which then emails the sound file to you. I am going to have great pleasure in giving the Capquest rep this number on monday (they recently phoned me at work, which I will not stand for).

Thanks for the replies guys. Mechs: I contacted CCCS a while ago, but never took it much further than the interview call they made... I've been an idiot in the past . I have started to read a lot of good info on the national debt helpline site though, and am hoping to get something started this weekend. Bankfodder: I suspected that may be the case. I am currently reading some very interesting messages in the DCA threads, a lot of useful information in there. Andy...

Hi all, I was referred to this site by a friend of mine who has some large claims going through, so I thought I had better have a look. I am in a bit of a quandry though . From the age of 18 to 30 I was, for want of a better expression, reckless with money. I ended up with 4 credit cards and a huge loan to pay off. Once I hit 30, I suffered a bout of depression which lasted about 2 and a half years, and I stopped paying any payments on my debts. I was with First Direct who ended up withdrawing their services. I was left with credit cards from FD, Barclaycard, EGG and MBNA, a £1200 overdraft from FD, and a large loan (c20k) from egg. Payments on these have not been made for about 2 years now. Basically, I now owe about £38k and am looking into the possibility of bankruptcy. I am wondering if it is worth pursuing any claims for charges against these organistations? Or is it better just to keep my head down and not draw attention to myself? Any advice would be greatfully appreciated. Cheers. Andy...