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A question about statuate barred debts....
JJ365
Posts: 2 Newbie
Good afternoon folks, longtime reader, first time poster.
Recently (yesterday in fact) I decided to pull my head out of the sand and start dealing with some debts from a long time ago. I hadn't addressed them, but had been recieving letters from the debt agencies for a while.
I acquired a copy of my credit report from Experian and Equifax and to my surprise and joy, they debts in question were not mentioned on there at all. There were searches from the debt agencies, but no adverse scores or entries at all. In fact it said I had an "Excellent" credit score.
My question is thus: As they have dropped off my file, are they now Statuate barred?
I want to be very clear on this before I send off the appropriate letter templates from here telling them to leave me alone, as I am concerned about somehow "reactivating" the debt by lettering the agencies.
Yours, in hope.
JJ
Recently (yesterday in fact) I decided to pull my head out of the sand and start dealing with some debts from a long time ago. I hadn't addressed them, but had been recieving letters from the debt agencies for a while.
I acquired a copy of my credit report from Experian and Equifax and to my surprise and joy, they debts in question were not mentioned on there at all. There were searches from the debt agencies, but no adverse scores or entries at all. In fact it said I had an "Excellent" credit score.
My question is thus: As they have dropped off my file, are they now Statuate barred?
I want to be very clear on this before I send off the appropriate letter templates from here telling them to leave me alone, as I am concerned about somehow "reactivating" the debt by lettering the agencies.
Yours, in hope.
JJ
0
Comments
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A debt that is statute barred should either not be on your credit report, or should not be on there much longer if it is.
It's not usually possible to draw the reverse conclusion though. Just because a debt is not on your credit reports, it doesn't necessarily mean it is statute barred.
1) Defaulted account are removed from your report 6 years after any default, whether paid or not. So if you continued to make payments or acknowlegement for some time after the default, then the debt may not be statute barred yet despite not being on your report.
2) The creditor may not report to the agency you checked.
3) If you have moved, the debt may not yet have been linked to you at your current address. The default could be there, but not just be showing right now.
4) Sometimes when a debt is sold on, the collector buying does not report the default. Sometimes that means a default no longer shows, depsite it being within the 6 years.
So a debt not being on your report cannot be taken to mean that a debt is statute barred.
It can be "supporting" evidence so to speak, but nvere enough to make that conclusion on it's own.
The only way to be sure is your own recollection or records of when you last make payments or acknowledgement.Free/impartial debt advice: National Debtline | StepChange Debt Charity | Find your local CAB
IVA & fee charging DMP companies: Profits from misery, motivated ONLY by greed0 -
In regards to 2) I am confident about the agencies, as I did check both Equifax and Experian. For 3) I am searching on all addresses and where the debt was previously logged against me so again, I'm happy that this is nto the case.
4) and 1) are worrying however. Would you know how likely or common these are to be?
Also, if I do send these letters off, whats the worst that can happen? They would not count as acknoweldgement, would they?
Many thanks for your response.0 -
4) Is a little unusual, but does happen.
1) Only you can answer that. People often do default, but then make payments/correspond for some time before giving up and realising it's futile.
Regards acknowledgement, officially it only counts if you make an unequivocal admission that your obligation to pay the debt still exists and you physically sign a letter to that effect.
In practice it would/could be up to a court to decide whether a letter counts as acknowledgement.
If you were to word things as in the letter in this link,
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=34906257&postcount=5
then it would be hard for anyone to argue that counts as acknowledgement.
Problem is that writing in any form confirms that the letters are getting to someone of the right name etc, so is a double edged sword. Even if it doesn't acknowledge the debt, it may encourage the collector to take court action to prevent a debt becoming SB if it isn't already.
You would have to weigh pro's and cons given what they are writing to you with now.
Sometimes it's best to write. Sometimes it's best to ignore.
Only you can make that call.
Perhaps give National Debtline a call? Freephone 0808 808 4000Free/impartial debt advice: National Debtline | StepChange Debt Charity | Find your local CAB
IVA & fee charging DMP companies: Profits from misery, motivated ONLY by greed0
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