Re-chasing already settled accounts

[tophat01]

Hi all,

 

Excuse me asking a very similar question to ones posed in other topics (I have trawled through all the relevant ones I could find), but I was wondering if anyone could offer me advice specific to my particular predicament.

 

Basically, I had a small outstanding bill from a contract phone with Carphone Warehouse I had in 2003-2004 which came to a whopping £2 in total from my last payment. I was unaware i owed any money whatsoever as i received no contact telling me otherwise until 2005 when at another address.

 

By this point I was working full time and took the threatening letters I suddenly received at face value so just paid what they asked for upfront (this was a debt collection agency asking for £250). Having settled on paying half the amount (I was not happy at £2 turning into £250) with the DRA I was told in no uncertain terms that the account was closed and assumed that was the end of that.

 

 

Roll on last week (3rd May 2012) and out of the blue I get a call from the same DRA from 2005 claiming I owed £250 to Carphone Warehouse. I replied stating that any supposed debt was Statute Barred but have since received an email saying i made a payment in Feb' 2007 thus making this untrue, and they will get back to me with a "structure of the debt" from Carphone Warehouse.

 

Although my memory is pretty hazy at the best of times, i am 99% sure the last and ONLY payment made was the one made in June 2005, and I have witnesses to this.

 

 

Unfortunately due to me having moved about a lot in the intervening years and the bank account I had with barclays that I used to pay them with in 2005 now being closed I do not have much evidence close to hand to back up my denial of debt. I have no issue paying money I owe, but do not want to be paying CW twice at massively OTT inflation for a £2 debt.

 

I do have some documentation stored from the period but I cannot get to it till next week at the earliest as it is across the country. I am also finding it difficult getting a straight answer from Barclays about accessing old account information so far. Any point of contact for them anyone can suggest would be greatly appreciated also as I seem to get sent round the houses!

 

Any advice would be most welcome. I know I have left myself in a hole here with no records readily available to prove anything I have said and should probably not have answered the phone to them in the first place identifying myself, but an idea of how to proceed would be great!

 

Thanks in advance

Edited May 8, 2012 by citizenB
Additional Info - spacing for easier reading

[dpick]

I have seen a lot of "funny" payments made by some DCA's in 2007 they seem to all be on near statute barred debts. If you have not made payment then it is not you who have to prove no payment it is them who have to prove you made the payment.

 

dpick

[citizenB]

Yep, as dpick advises - it is the pursuer who will now be required to prove this is not statute barred. Obviously the more evidence you DO have to confirm SB, the better