On the 27th March I received a letter from Capquest stating that I owe Littlewoods £98.79. I have no recollection of having any account whatsoever with Littlewoods. So I sent Capquest A CCA enclosing my £1.00. On the 02 April I received another letter from CAPquest saying that they have put the acount on hold for 28 days. 30th April received another letter from Capquest asking me for further information, which I cannot give. They also said that have requested more information from Littlewoods. Received a letter from Littlewoods saying that they cannot find a CCA but enclosed a copy of an agreement which they say applied to this account. I am most concerned about this since I have no knowledge of this debt. I started to email them (Littlewoods). I asked them for a full breakdown on my account what payments where made and what goods was ordered etc. Received nothing only to say that the debt has now been sold to Pheonix. My fear is that someone has used my name to obtain credit. I also thought that while the debt is in dispute they cannot take further action on this account let alone selling it. What should I do about this your help is needed Thanks

Thanks SP sent the letter you kindly wrote for me, posted it on the 17th April. And this is their response. (Its not even dated) Had a letter to-day from BCW (Apex) its says: Start message. Please call Adam Quincy on 0844 556 0290 ext 1625. I have no intention of calling them.

I have just received a letter from Apex Credit Management Ltd formerly BCW. Stating that they have received instructions from RBS to initiate formal proceedings for an outstanding debt being £885.30. This was with a Style Card that my wife had years ago. Getting the point way back in 2006 I sent BCW a CCA and included a postal order for a £1.00. Never received anything from BCW. Since BCW have committed a criminal offence for not supplying with a true copy of my credit agreement and nor as RBS for that matter how can they (BCW) have the nerve to ask for payment on this debt again. I have 72 hours to respond to their letter or they will visit my home and establish my residency and reason for non-payment. Any advice would be very welcomed.

I am prepared to take this all the way even to court if need be. I am so grateful for all the advice and friendship that you all have shown me in my time of need.

Update Just received an emal from the national debt line and below is what they have said about the charges that HFO services are adding to my debt. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issues guidance on debt collection. In their guidance they state that the following are unfair business practices: . Claiming collection costs from a debtor in absence of express contractual or other legal provision . Misleading debtors into believing they are legally liable to pay collection charges when this is not the case, e.g. when there is no contractual provision . Not giving an indication in credit agreements of the amount of any charges payable on default . Applying unreasonable charges, e.g. charges not based on actual and necessary costs . Applying charges which are disproportionate to the main debt. We would therefore advise you to obtain a copy of your credit agreement by sending the attached sample letter L to HFO with £1 which makes the request legally binding under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and gives the agency 12 working days to provide you with a copy of the credit agreement and a full breakdown of the account. Once you receive a copy of your credit agreement, if you believe that HFO has contravened any of the guidance then you can make a complaint to the OFT and to HFO, following their internal complaints procedure. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks you can then take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman's Service and ask them to investigate your complaint. Please refer to the attached fact sheet on harassment for address details for the above. If the credit agreement allows for the interest and charges that have been added then you should write to HFO requesting that they freeze interest and charges to enable the debt to be repaid more quickly. We would advise that you send a personal budget sheet with your request to show HFO that you are paying as much as you can afford. There is a personal budget sheet attached to this e-mail or read on to find details on how to complete a personal budget sheet on line. If HFO are unable to provide you with a copy of the credit agreement this would prevent them from taking court action in its absence. Again, follow the above complaints procedure if the agreement is not provided. If the agreement is not provided after a further 30 days from the expiry of the original 12 working days, HFO is actually committing a criminal offence.

Many thanks for all your help and advice. I will CCA them tomorrow. Again many thanks and I will keep you all posted with any developements.

I feel pretty sure that HFO do have the legal right to collect this debt, but I shall have a good look through all my papers first. Oh heck! Can't hurt so yes, I will be sending a CCA shortly. But I shall send the SAR first since this is more important to me at this time. I am still paying what was agreed with HFO for the moment anyway. just have to wait and see I suppose. BTW I have sent a copy of my compliant to the National debt line to see if they can come up with something. I not trying to get away from paying this debt but if the interest is has high as it is, I'll be in debt with them forever.

Reported HFO to OFT and trading standards. Will keep you all posted with updates. Sending Citicard a SAR this week to see what I might be able to reclaim back in unfair charges. Also I am thinking of sending a SAR to HFO.

Many thanks for the quick replies. In what order should I take. Send a CSA or report them to OFT etc..

I had a credit card with Citicards and I defaulted on this account and so it was passed onto a debt collector (HFO Services). I have been paying regular for a year now at £30.00 per month to HFO and only now have they defaulted me on my credit file. (The opening balance was £2603.31 and now it reads that the balance is £2066.00. As it now reads on my credit file.) I have now received a statement from HFO services saying that my balance is: £2423.63. This is made out by the following: Principle sum: £2603.31. Interest £387.32. Total of payments received £613.00. Costs £46.00. Currant balance £2423.63. So my queston is: Can they charge me so much interest and costs and what can I do about it. Please help. Regards John

Hi all. Its the first time I have joined a group like this so I'm not sure what to do, so if I get things wrong for a while don't shout at me please! Before joining CAG I had a good look through some of the threads that have been posted. All I can say is " I wished I joined before."