I got my debts written off

This lovemoney.com writer managed to clear a credit card debt.... without paying any of it off!

Even when I've been up to my neck in debt I've always known exactly what I owe and to whom. So when I received a letter from a debt collection company last month informing me that I owed them £600, I was mystified.

In the letter, the debt collection company said they had bought this debt from Abbey and were happy to write it off if I paid half - i.e. £300 - by the end of the month.

Sounds like a handsome offer, right?

There was one problem though: I've never owned an Abbey credit card.

In fact, I last used a credit card six years ago.

When I called the company to tell them they must have the wrong Miss S Downes, I was told the debt was a credit card taken out in 1993 - and all the addresses they had for me were correct.

But as the debt was a whopping 16 years old, it was hardly going to be easy for me to remember - never mind check - whether I had run up such a debt.

As lenders grow desperate to claw back some cash wherever they can, it's likely that more and more people will be getting letters like mine in the near future. So what are your rights in this situation?

Is the debt yours?

The first thing you should do if approached by a company which claims you owe it some money is to get them to prove it.

This is not to try to wriggle out of your responsibilities. You may - like me - be quite happy to pay for any debts you've run up, but you should be 100% sure you did actually run up those debts before you pay anything.

Even if the debt company had correctly identified the right Miss S Downes, it's possible that someone - back then - could have used my name and address to set up a credit card account. In other words, a fraudster could had run up that £600 bill.

The fact is, you won't know unless you see that original paperwork.

There's no paperwork

If your lender has lost the original paperwork, it can't prove you owe any money - therefore it can't force you to pay up.

It's really as simple as that.

However even if you have not run up the debt, it may be that it will still be kept on file by the lender, as a case unsolved.

Steer clear of claims management companies

Banks are always looking to claw back unpaid credit cards and loans, but whatever you do, do not be tempted to pay a claims management company to write off your debts for you.

Many will offer to do so, claiming high rates of success, but you'll find that in most of the successful cases, you could have done everything the company did yourself, for free.

For example, asking the lender to provide the original documentation costs nothing.

And debt charities such as Citizens Advice, National Debtline, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Payplan and Advice UK will write to your creditors on your behalf to try to come an affordable arrangement for you. You can read more about all of these in Get out of debt with free advice.

Finally, remember that there's lots of free help available, right here at lovemoney.com. For example, if you adopt our Destroy your debt goal, you'll find out how to get out of debt, step-by-step, and can mark off the tasks as you complete them. And check out our free video: Watch out for this debt rip-off. Then, why not go over to Q&A and ask other lovemoney.com members for specific debt advice related to your individual circumstances? It takes seconds and won't cost you a penny!

More: Destroy your debt | Watch out for this debt rip-off