Old Credit Card Debt Help

SteveMetal

My wife has received a letter from Lowell Portfolio I Ltd who has appointed Red Debt Collection Services to recover an outstanding balance on a Capital One Credit Card.
The letter states that they have appointed Red Debt Collection Services to recover the outstanding balance and have asked her to contact them to discuss a repayment plan.
The Credit Card was taken out over 10 years ago and was in her maiden name. She has since moved address a few times and also got married so she has changed her name.
The letter she received was addressed to her maiden name. She has not had any contact or made any payments for over 6 years. I understand that she can write back to them send a copy of the Statue barred letter.
What she is not sure of is that it is possible her Father may have been in touch with them in 2003 and possibly made a payment, the debt is only in her name, so if her Father has been in touch would she still be able to declare it Statue Barred?
Unfortunately she is no longer in contact with her Father so she has no way of finding this out.
I have also noticed on the letter she received that there is no mention of dates on when the credit card was taken out, does this mean that they have no proof and they are just hoping she is going to pay up.
They also have to appear to have taken 2 and a half years to track her down as they bought the debt in mid 2006!

Thanks for you help

MrMuttley

If her father has made payments then if it's within the last 6 years the debt will not be statute barred. However IMHO I personally would write to them and claim it's barred anyway. That way if it is statute barred you're not leaving yourself open to them saying "well now you've contacted us its not barred any more" and if it isn't satatute barred then I'm sure they will come up with the proof soon enough and you can say "oops my bad didn't realise he was making payments for me." and then go on and negotiate repayment terms with them.

Very much a nothing to lose by trying it situation. One bit of advice though don't accept thier first "no it isn't barred" letter unless accompanied by some reasonable proof like a statement showing payments etc. Some DCAs that try it on with old debt are quick to reply with a first letter saying no it isn't barred on the hope you will make a payment then.

HTH

Mike

SteveMetal

Thanks for your help, I shall try doing that and see what their repsonse is. I realise that I must make them provide evidence if any contact or payments have been made and after reading numerous other posts I am expecting this to be a bit of a battle and am expecting lots of threats from them. Hopefully they will not have any paperwork to back this up.

Thanks

Steve

RAS

Agree - claim it is statute barred in the first instance, IF they come back with payments made within the 6 year period, you could then ask for the CCA. Not likely to be available or legally complaint if is cap 1 from that era.

rog2

Link to the National Debtline factsheet on 'Liability for Debts and the Limitation Act:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act

Read the information and, provided that you have made no payments towards, nor acknowledged in writing, the debt, then send of the template letter that you will find on there.

It should not matter if your Father has been in contact with them (especially if it was by telephone) as 'contact' means both written and by the actual debtor.

Lowell and Red are part of the same company - they specialise in buying 'debts' which, provided the debtor is aware of his rights, are unenforceable.

GeorgeUK

I thought that the payment had to come from the actual debtor for them to be able to restart the statute barred clock, otherwise a DCA would just pay 1p towards a debt to stop it becoming statute barred.

Might need to look at the legislation again to see exactly what it says - that could have interesting consequences if a boyfriend is making payments towards his girlfiend's debt for 6 years which means in that time she has not made any payments.

It may be down to consent being given by the debtor. If she was not aware of payments being made then i would think the debt should still be statute barred. Also, why have they been discussing your account with someone else - even your father?

10past6

If they claim the debt is not SB due to having a CCJ attached to it, tuff on them, they'll still require permision from the court to enforce it.

SteveMetal

Thanks for the help, i've had a look at the link for the National Debtline factsheet provided, it does sound like that contact or payment must come from the person who owes the debt.
I think the reason they have been in touch with her father is probably because that is the address she used to live at and maybe he has been trying to deal with the debt, but we are not sure what action if any he has taken. Unfortunately she is not on speaking terms to her father and does not know how to get in touch with him.

I shall try the Statue Barred letter and see what happens.

Could someone also confirm which is the correct template, I have seen 2 different ones, I read somewhere that the one on this link provided is out of date due to a problem with the 'without prejudice' heading.


The other template I have seen is this one:

Your full address

The Address of the Creditor/DCA

By Recorded Delivery

Date

I/we* do not acknowledge any debt to you or any other company or organisation that you claim to be representing

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No 4563210025897412

You have contacted us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by me/ourselves*. I/we* do not acknowledge any debt to you or any other company or organisation that you claim to be representing

I/We* would point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”

The last payment of this debt was made over six years ago and no further written acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time.

Unless you can provide evidence of payment by myself/us* or written acknowledgement of the debt from me/us* in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I/we suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against us to recover the alleged amount claimed, and should you try to proceed with court action I/we* must inform you that I/we* shall vigorously defend this action in court citing Section 5 as part of our defence.

The OFT Debt Collection Guidance states that “continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statue barred could amount to harassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970”, which again should you try and proceed to court I/we* will also use this as a defence.

We await your written confirmation that no further contact will be made concerning the above account and confirmation that this matter is now closed.

We look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully



Thanks,
Steve

Merlinexcalibur

Well, never mind. I just googled that account number and found it was part of a template letter.

rog2

Either template is okay SM.

I'm just a bit worried about your father's 'contact' - not that it should in any way jeopardise the status of the 'debt' - rather that Lowell have been acting in contravention of the Data Protection Act in discussing it with him.

Might be worth bouncing that one off of the Information Commissioner's Office - https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

SteveMetal

I don't even know for certain if her Father has made any contact, it is just what my wife's sister has told her but her sister is not very reliable and has a habit of getting the facts wrong. I've just got to hope that they don't reply saying that he has made contact.

10past6If they claim the debt is not SB due to having a CCJ attached to it, tuff on them, they'll still require permision from the court to enforce it.

If they reply stating it has a CCJ attached to it as '10past6' posted, what form of action do I take then?