I defaulted on my credit cards a few years ago and Cabot bought these debts. The first thing they did was to register these as defaults - I believe this is their standard practice. My question is simply this: do they actually have the right to register newly aquired debtor accounts as defaulted in this way? It is very clear from my credit file that these defaults were in addition to those posted by the original credit card company (I've since been able to get these removed) and I have not defaulted on any arrangement I have since made with Cabot.

Thanks for your advice, Raymond. I probably am being too reasonable, but my motivation is to clear my credit file as quickly as possible so I can proceed with mortgage applications. The defaults aren't registered by Barclaycard -- these I was able to get removed soon after Cabot notified me of their acquisition of the accounts. I'm hoping that some kind of carrot-and-stick approach will galvanise Cabot into removing the defaults promptly, but I'm wary of making matters worse.

About 4 years ago, I defaulted on my 2 Barclaycards after being made redundant. Barclaycard sold my accounts on to Kings Hill (No 1) and about 2 years ago I was contacted by Cabot. This panicked me and, in my ignorance, I agreed to make payments on these debts: £50 monthly to the £3400 account (now down to about £2290) and £25 monthly to the £1600 account (now down to about £1100). Having read the advice available on this website, I now realise that I should have disputed Kings Hill/Cabot's demands, not acknowledged the debts with them and taken issue with Barclaycard regarding penalty charges. However, my principle concern now is to end my payments to Cabot and to have removed the default notices lodged against my credit file as quickly as possible. I have yet to find a description of a similar case in the forum (though I would be very surprised mine is unique). Since I appear to have already paid Cabot considerably more than they paid for my original debts and my primary concern is the prompt removal of default notices, I'm wondering whether the following steps are the best way to proceed: 1. Immediately reduce monthly payment to both account to £1 each. 2. Write to Cabot, offering them a one-off goodwill final settlement payment of £50 and £25 to the respective accounts in exchange for their immediate removal of the default notices. 3. Inform Cabot that, if the settlement figures are not acceptable to them, I will contact Barclaycard to dispute the amounts in view of illegal charges. Are these steps reasonable, or am I in a more difficult position given that I have already made so many payments to Cabot? I would rather not have to action step 3 as I fear this would take a long time to effect. Any advice will be welcome.