What to do? Please, please advise.

baileywoos

We have a slight conundrum.
Basically we moved to Scotland almost 6 years ago and in that time we have received no correspondence from Providian Credit Card, until yesterday.
Yesterday my husband received a letter from Ruthbridge DCA threatening court action if he did not pay within 7 days.
I just don't know if this their one and only warning or if it's a tactic to get him to agree to something - I guess they know the 6 years would be up around Nov this year.

So if he ignores the letter and they issue court proceedings is he still then able to request the CCA? And will this have any effect on the court? i.e if they do not produce it or do not produce an accurate copy would he be given more time.
Also, if they issue court proceedings does that stop the clock on the statute of limitations or does that not happen until he agrees he owes the debt?

If he sends a letter asking for proof they own the debt does this prevent them going forward with court proceedings?

I don't know what to do for the best. We're paying off a few debts already and we've always just accepted the DCA word that they own the debt. Until I came on here I didn't even know that we could request proof.
Would it be best to ignore this letter or do we go straight to proof of ownership?

fatbelly

Isn't this one already statute barred under Scottish law?

I rarely visit the scottish section of the National Debtline site but note that they have this standard letter:

Dear Sir/Madam

Account No: _____________________________

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

I/we would point out that under The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 Part 1 Prescription Section 6:

"If after an appropriate date, an obligation (an appropriate debt) has subsided for a continuous period of five years:

(a) without any relevant claim having been made in relation to the obligation, and
(b) without the subsistence of the obligation having been relevantly acknowledged;

then as from the expiration of that period the obligation shall be extinguished..."

I/we would also point out that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) say under their Debt Collection Guidance on statute barred debt that:

"It is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period".

The last written acknowledgment/payment of this debt was made over five years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me/us in the relevant period under Part 1 Section 6 of the above Act, I/we suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me/us to recover the alleged amount claimed.

The OFT Debt Collection Guidance states further that:

"continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to harassment".

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

I/we look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

baileywoos

The thing is it's a debt accrued on a credit card when he lived in England.
We then moved here to scotland in Nov 03 and since that time we have had no communication with them whatsoever.
As the debt was accrued in England I'm guessing it goes under English law which makes it 6 years before it's statute barred?

Does anyone know how we find out what the last payment date was?

It must be getting close to being statute barred as Ruthbridge are getting desperate.

baileywoos

Gawd, someone has now told me that if we contact Rithbridge with a proof of debt letter - or in fact any letter - then this in fact will kept as proof that my husband has received a letter of assignment, which in turn will mean Ruthbridge will then start court proceedings.
Any advice please?
The actual letter gives their ref number, client name (Cabot Financial Europe LTD), Assigned from (Providian) Regarding (Credit card) Client ref then balance.
The letter is headed as "Notice before proceedings" and says that if he doesn't pay it could result in legal action, instructing a county court bailiff, obtaining an earnings attachment, blah blah blah.

We're getting quite concerned about what to do for the best.
Please can someone help?

fatbelly

baileywoos wrote: »

The thing is it's a debt accrued on a credit card when he lived in England.
We then moved here to scotland in Nov 03 and since that time we have had no communication with them whatsoever.
As the debt was accrued in England I'm guessing it goes under English law which makes it 6 years before it's statute barred?

It's where you are domiciled that counts. Govan law centre has an article on it here.

baileywoos wrote: »

Gawd, someone has now told me that if we contact Rithbridge with a proof of debt letter - or in fact any letter - then this in fact will kept as proof that my husband has received a letter of assignment, which in turn will mean Ruthbridge will then start court proceedings.
?

Was this a pm from someone who works for Ruthbridge?

RAS

Did you have another thread on thois yesterday?

baileywoos wrote: »

Gawd, someone has now told me that if we contact Rithbridge with a proof of debt letter - or in fact any letter - then this in fact will kept as proof that my husband has received a letter of assignment, which in turn will mean Ruthbridge will then start court proceedings.
Any advice please?

Boolocks. that would prevent loads of people querying debts. What you need to do is add "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company" at the beginning and in law, that prevents you re-starting the time period.

baileywoos wrote: »

The letter is headed as "Notice before proceedings" and says that if he doesn't pay it could result in legal action, instructing a county court bailiff, obtaining an earnings attachment, blah blah blah.

The operative words here are may/could etc.

if the debt is not statute barred,
and if they actually have a legally compliant CCA (doubtful give the source and age of the debt)
and if they have a legally compliant default letter - even more doubtful

they could try taking him to court.

they would much rather frighten you into paying up and you are letting them get to you.

Basics - has OH got his credit checks recently. Is this debt listed on there?

if it is the default date, then that could be 3-6 months after the last payment.

baileywoos

RAS wrote: »

Did you have another thread on thois yesterday?



Boolocks. that would prevent loads of people querying debts. What you need to do is add "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company" at the beginning and in law, that prevents you re-starting the time period.



The operative words here are may/could etc.

if the debt is not statute barred,
and if they actually have a legally compliant CCA (doubtful give the source and age of the debt)
and if they have a legally compliant default letter - even more doubtful

they could try taking him to court.

they would much rather frighten you into paying up and you are letting them get to you.

Basics - has OH got his credit checks recently. Is this debt listed on there?

if it is the default date, then that could be 3-6 months after the last payment.

Righto I'm going to bite the bullet, be hard and maybe not respond to this initial letter at all?
I'm certainly determined that Ruthbridge will not frighten us into anything again - in fact I'm sending a CCA letter to all other DCA's that we're currently paying. I can see now how bloomin stupid we've been and just paid these eejits on the assumption that they're telling the truth.

So, what do you think to us not responding to this letter, waiting for the next one and then sending Ruthbridge the CCA letter?

OH hasn't gotten his credit file in years - we've always been too worried bout what's on there. Having said that, I think we got one a few years ago (maybe 4 ) and I don't remember seeing anything on it. I kept it so I'm going to check it out.

As for the statute barred, I cannot get a definitive answer on it.
Fatbelly has suggested that it's where he is domiciled that counts but I've also been told that it is the country where you took the sgreement that counts.
Just so confusing! You all must have one hell of a brain to be able to compute all this information. I imagine that loads of people must just comply with DCA because it's all too confusing to them - this forum is a ruddy godsend.

fatbelly

baileywoos wrote: »

As for the statute barred, I cannot get a definitive answer on it..

Please check with the Govan Law Centre - you can send them an e-mail. There are many complex areas of law relating to debt and we can all make mistakes. I am certainly not immune. But I would trust them for a definitive answer.

Please post their answer on this thread. I would not be upset if I was wrong. The important thing is for you to understand the law that applies in your situation.

baileywoos

fatbelly wrote: »

Please check with the Govan Law Centre - you can send them an e-mail. There are many complex areas of law relating to debt and we can all make mistakes. I am certainly not immune. But I would trust them for a definitive answer.

Please post their answer on this thread. I would not be upset if I was wrong. The important thing is for you to understand the law that applies in your situation.

Have done that and will post with reply.

Thanks