How long before a debt is written off

24

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  • tigerlilly98765
    tigerlilly98765 Posts: 1 Newbie
    HI i'm new to this site and had a questions that I hope someone knows the answer to. I have been receiving threatening letters from my local town hall. Almost 6 years ago they placed me in a bed and breakfast before moving me into temporary accomadation. I never actually stayed at the B & B but this was the process needed to move me into temp accom. The B& B was for approx 8 weeks and was paid for by housing benefit. Years later I recieved a letter saying the town hall had recalculated this and I now owed them £500. It was the first I'd heard of it and as I never actually stayed there I ignored it and they never replied. They write again a few years later and again I ignored it. It seems that they just want me to reply so that they know they've located me. There has been two letters in the past few months and I think this is because the 6 year mark is coming up.

    Does anyone have any advice? Is this connected to statute barred?
  • squadie34
    squadie34 Posts: 3 Newbie
    Hi there,

    I returned from a week away with work and on opening the letter box found a letter from Bristow & Sutor Civil Enforcement Agents with reference to Council Tax.

    Now this is in relation to a property I sold in either Jan or Feb 2005 and thought the council tax was up to date and the account closed down correctly and the council had a forwarding address. I called the council saying there must be some sort of mistake as this was closed down and the lady said this was for a bill that was made from Oct 2004 to Feb 2005 she said I had a 6 month exemption that I applied for when I moved out of the property but I was sure I closed the account down.

    Now I have had no correspondence up until now even though I gave a forwarding address and I was in that address for just over a year, I asked when and if a liability order was issued and she looked through the records and said the 6th July 2005.

    I an looking for advice on where I stand with this problem, any advice will be much appreciated.

    Thank You.
  • arizon
    arizon Posts: 1 Newbie
    edited 6 March 2012 at 11:20PM
    Hi all. New to this, so pls bear with me. I have similar problems to those posted above. Drayton8oi - my problems closely relate to yours; my sympathy.
    I'm not seeing many difinative answers, although just backtracked and did see some info. Can someone clearly explain this 6yr statute pls, and in particular how it applies in Scotland. Many thanks.

    Subject: Confused!
  • Coopdivi
    Coopdivi Posts: 3,412 Forumite
    arizon, you will get better and more sympathetic advice on the Debt-Free Wanabee board.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

    There's also a little bit about statute barred debt in this post:

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=47812127&postcount=15
  • vulture
    vulture Posts: 314 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Arizon as suggested post on the debt free wanabee board, but just to give encouragment to you I too was in a similar this position, with the help and support of some great people on this site I found my debt was statue barred and was given the information / letters I needed in order to stop the baliffs and solicitors. good luck
    Water is a basic necessity - not for profit
  • charlottepearson
    charlottepearson Posts: 1 Newbie
    I recieved a letter yesterday saying i owe £239.50 to littlewoods but the letters from Transcom and far as i am aware i dont owe anyone any money so i rang them up and they said its from 1999 from my old address not lived there for the last 12 years i have had no contact from littlewoods or anyone regaurding this matter i did have debts at my old address but i payed them all off in installments after i moved or so i thought.The phone call ended on the note that i have to repay this money i told them as the debt was so long ago i dont have to pay it but they said i do so their going to get intouch with littlewoods and get a statement to show me what i owe the money for where do i go from here and what do i do please help.
  • Nile
    Nile Posts: 14,930 Ambassador
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    Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the 'I wanna' and 'In my home' and Health & Beauty'' boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.10 Dec 2007 - Led Zeppelin - I was there. :j :cool2: I wear my 50 (gold/red/white) blood donations pin badge with pride. Give blood, save a life.
  • fermi
    fermi Posts: 40,546 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker Intrepid Forum Explorer
    charlottepearson wrote: »
    I recieved a letter yesterday saying i owe £239.50 to littlewoods but the letters from Transcom and far as i am aware i dont owe anyone any money so i rang them up and they said its from 1999 from my old address not lived there for the last 12 years i have had no contact from littlewoods or anyone regaurding this matter i did have debts at my old address but i payed them all off in installments after i moved or so i thought.The phone call ended on the note that i have to repay this money i told them as the debt was so long ago i dont have to pay it but they said i do so their going to get intouch with littlewoods and get a statement to show me what i owe the money for where do i go from here and what do i do please help.

    Would be statute barred.

    Transcom can "take a hike"

    See the info in this link.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2606811

    The letter in this one may be most appropriate.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=34906257&postcount=5

    Write. Don't talk to these people on the phone, as they will lie through their teeth to get money out of you.
    Free/impartial debt advice: National Debtline | StepChange Debt Charity | Find your local CAB

    IVA & fee charging DMP companies: Profits from misery, motivated ONLY by greed
  • mrmouse
    mrmouse Posts: 3 Newbie
    i had a loan off provident and still owed £1.000 20 years ago and i want to apply to them now for a small loan . but i'm worried that the debt will still be outstanding . how long is it till a debt is written off ? can you please help me .
  • shedhead55
    shedhead55 Posts: 246 Forumite
    mrmouse wrote: »
    i had a loan off provident and still owed £1.000 20 years ago and i want to apply to them now for a small loan . but i'm worried that the debt will still be outstanding . how long is it till a debt is written off ? can you please help me .
    As has previously been said debts are rarely written off but usually become unenforceable after 6 years of no payment or acknowledgement.
    Why go to a company you owe money to for a loan, there's plenty more to choose from.
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