Really old debts - can anyone advise?

Cashola

hello experts

I am after some advice from the experts!

About 9/10 years ago I got myself into debt with 2 banks/2 credit cards - probably totaling around the £6k mark. I was young and fairly stupid, didn't really no how to say no to more overdrafts and credit cards and got myself into a right mess:(

Anyway, I stopped paying the CC balances and left the overdrafts maxed and moved house and ignored it all (not clever and not condoning anyone else to do that!). I never admitted the debts after this point, and didn't hear anything further about these debts until about 6 months ago; I started receiving letters to my current address from a debt recovery company... The amounts they are asking for tally with these old debts, so I am certain that they have 'tracked me down'...

Since this debt issue 9/10 years ago, I have managed to opene a new current account (with £500 overdraft) and got a credit card (£1,800 limit) as well as a bank loan worth £3.5k (all legally in my name). I have been running all accounts well for 7 years - not missed payments or anything like this. I was also able to get a mobile telephone contract about 6 years ago which I still manage well and have passed credit checks since via a estate agency when renting a flat in September 06.

Mainly, I am wondering what to do about these debt recovery companies who are now chasing me for these old debts. Until now, I have made no contact with them or admitted any debt; but I have recently been contacted by my bank, who said they carry out 'periodic credit checks' on their customers, and that they have had received some adverse scores for me recently - and due to this, said they are reducing my credit limit on my credit card and overdraft. They wouldn't offer any explanation to this information on my credit record, although I can only assume this is connected to the letters I have started to receive...

I am not sure what to do. If the debts have finally caught up with me, how should I deal with it? I have been told by some friends that I should not admit the debts and that I can get them wiped from records as they are so old now... Is this true?

Any advice gratefully received!

Many thanks in advance

GeorgeUK

First, i would get a copy of your credit file from all 3 credit reference agencies (£2 each). If the debts are old they may be statute barred, but you may also have defaults on your file from these debts or possibly even CCJ's.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score#your

If you have not made a payment towards a debt for 6 years (5 in Scotland) or acknowledged the debt in writing it may be statute barred. If however there there is a CCJ, this overrules the statute barred status. They may need to get permission from the court to enforce the debt if the CCJ is older than 6 years, but it won't be statute barred.

Cashola

Hello George!

Thanks for the super fast reply

I have some questions:
1. If I request credit file(s), will this request be made known to the debt recovery agencies who are chasing me? I am worried if I request this then they will see this as admittance of the debt? Also, will this make things known to my current bank?
2. What is statute barred? And who would need to get permission about this? Sorry I am a bit confused about the terms and what that means.

Thanks again for helping

shinyhead

Hi,

No, getting your credit file will not alert the DCAs or your bank.

A debt is 'Statute Barred' if, as George has explained, it's not been acknowledged in writing or had a payment into it from you, after 6 years, in England, 5 in Scotland. But - if a CCJ has been issued then this doesn't apply. It's called that as it comes under the limitations act 1980, I believe.

Basically I'm confirming what George has posted and suggest that you get your credit files and search for CCJs. After that post back as there are template letters you can send to tell these DCAs to bogoff if there aren't any.

Cashola

Thanks Shinyhead! I will request the reports ASAP, please keep fingers crossed for me!

Cashola

Hello again,

I have received my credit report from Experian today (plus the credit score). I have only added the last 2 home addresses I have lived at in the past 4 years, since until a few months ago I had not heard anything about these 'really old debts' at all. I figured that if I was receiving these letters because of some bad credit on my report then it would show to my most recent address (added the previous one just in case) - does this make sense?

Anyway according to Experian none of the 'really old debts' are showing up on the report! What is showing is:
*************************************************************************
A summary of the calculations based on your credit report on Wednesday, October 08, 2008

You have £835 of available credit (excluding mortgages)
You have £4,621 of outstanding debt (excluding mortgages and defaults)
You are using 68% of your available credit
You have 7 credit accounts (including settled accounts)
You have 0 accounts overdue
You have missed 5 repayments in the last year
Your credit report has been viewed 0 times in the last 3 months and 0 times in total over the last year
You have 0 public information records
You have 0 aliases and/or financial associations
You have been at your current address for 0 years 9 months
You are not on the electoral roll at your current address
You have 0 notice of correction on your credit report

**************************************************************

The part saying I have missed 5 repayment is completely untrue!!! I looked through each account it says I currently have and on my bank loan account it is showing as the last 3 payments as [6] - meaning I have not made a payment to this for over 6 months and the credit agreement has been cancelled. This is completely untrue, I have a direct debit coming out of my account every month to pay the agreed monthly payment of £128, which has never been missed. I have called my bank, they confirmed to me over the phone that I haven't missed a payment, but have asked I send a copy of the report to them for verification... I only have the online log in for Experian, but my bank said they want a hard copy..

Can anyone advise me if I should just print this out and fax it to them as they have asked? Also, if they have screwed me over with false credit information, what will this mean for the future?

Also with return to my initial questions about the 'really old debts' - if this isn't referred to on the credit report currently, will this be purely because I didn't enter old addresses? I ask, as there is a section in the report which is called 'Linked Addresses' - this section displays ALL of my old addresses as well as the 'really old debt' creditors who provided those addresses... I am a bit confused as to how these old creditors are on my file, yet don't show in the report as 'bad debt' - is this because it was more than 6 years ago?

Lastly, I didn't know I wasn't on the electoral role, but am assuming this is because my current partner changed the council tax into his name and didn't add me as an occupant - so can easily change this part.

Sorry for the wall of text - any help greatly appreciated!
Thanks experts in advance! :):)

Cashola

Ps:
I should also add I did a credit score and it said:
Your Experian Credit Score was

498
Your score is below average – 68% of people have a score higher than Very Poor
Factors that are having a positive effect on your score

• You don't have any county court judgments and you have not been declared bankrupt in the last six years

Factors that are having a negative effect on your score

• You have several credit agreements (excluding mortgages), and the outstanding balance is high
• You are not on the electoral roll (registered to vote) at your current address

Will this be based on the current credit agreements or anything to do with the 'linked addresses?'

Cashola

pps: i have just checked with Equifax as well - using exactly the same data as Experian. It is also showing the exact same problem with my bank loan - showing 3 payments as not having happened!

chuckles76

I would contact experian if possible.
I had an error on my credit report, which Experian helped me to sort out really quickly. Basically, I contacted the lender about the error but they were rubbish at sorting it out. They didn't do anything about it when I first tried to sort it 2 years ago and have been really slow this time - they admitted there was an error but didn't contact Experian to get my file corrected. If you contact Experian they might be able to contact the bank for you...

chuckles76

I also meant to add that a [6] on your report doesn't always mean that you have missed payments for 6 months - it can also mean that a large amount has not been paid.

This what I had on one of my files in error. Now it's been corrected my credit score has improved dramatically. I am soooooo pleased!

Cashola

Giving this a bump

As Chuckles suggests I am going to contact Experian and see what can be done about the mistake on the report. I am also going to contact the a bank (Smile/Co-op) and see if they are going to be any help.

But I still wondered if anyone can help regarding the initial question I had regarding the 'really old debts' - if this isn't referred to on the credit report currently, will this be purely because I didn't enter old addresses? I ask, as there is a section in the report which is called 'Linked Addresses' - this section displays ALL of my old addresses as well as the 'really old debt' creditors who provided those addresses... I am a bit confused as to how these old creditors are on my file, yet don't show in the report as 'bad debt' - is this because it was more than 6 years ago? Will the 'linked addresses' also mean bad credit report/score even though no actual 'debts' seem to show in the 'current' report?

Any help greatly appreciated