Statute Barred?

geoffb65

Help and advice please!
I stopped paying my Cahoot credit card in 2002 and have not had any correspondence with Cahoot since then.
However, Cabot Financial are now claiming the full amount of the debt.
I thought that after 6 years had elapsed that the debt would be statute barred.
Cabots say that the "default" date for my debt was Sept 2005 so that is the "legal" start of the 6 year period.

Is this correct?
The Statute Barred rules that I have read are a bit vague about this...

Tixy

Nope the default date is not relevant.

effectively it is the last action by yourself on the account, which is either the last payment or the last written acknowledgement. The default is an action by them and does not stop it being statute barred.

Only time this would potentially differ is if there is a CCJ on the debt.

geoffb65

Thank you Tixy :T

This sets my mind at rest and ecourages me to fight my corner!

Geoff

Tixy

Have you sent them a statute barred debt letter Geoff?

GeorgeUK

Yup, as Tixy say, they're talking twaddle speak.

The statute barred clock start from the date of last acknowledgement of the debt - by payment or written acknowledgement.

The date of default (or date where the agreement was broken - 1st payment missed or written statement that you would not be paying the required minimum payment) seems to be wrong too. This may be when a default was put on your file, but it should actually be the date of the original default. You should inform the CRA and DCA that this date is incorrect - the default date can be a maximum of 6 months after the initital default. Not years later. This information is in breach of the Data Protection Act as it is incorrect.

I would send the statute barred letter and inform them that the default date is incorrect too. Once this gets changed to the proper date, as it is more than 6 years ago it should fall off your file.

geoffb65

Thank you GeorgeUK, I'm starting to enjoy this!

Tixy..
I have not sent them a statute barred debt letter yet as I spent most of the day answering telephone calls from Cabots as they tried to pressure me to pay something "this month"!

Why this month?
They have had the debt for a year already!

In the end I told them to write to me while I looked into my records and, of course, posted my request on this brilliant forum.

Geoff

fatbelly

There's case law to say that a creditor cannot extend the statute barred time limit by using the date of default. I'll look into it if you need it (have posted it before but a long time ago)

Arwen

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/temp/9430_41141.pdf

Her is one.I send it on behalf of client's, cos I am too lazy to write my own and seems to work.

geoffb65

Arwen, thank you but your link was unobtainable!

This is interesting...
Cabots acquired this debt in July 2008, by my reckoning that was just 6 years after I stopped paying Cahoot.
This begs the question, did Cabots know it was statute barred when they acquired it?
Perhaps they get a bigger discount for taking very old debts?

wayne99

GeorgeUK wrote: »

Yup, as Tixy say, they're talking twaddle speak.

The statute barred clock start from the date of last acknowledgement of the debt - by payment or written acknowledgement.

The date of default (or date where the agreement was broken - 1st payment missed or written statement that you would not be paying the required minimum payment) seems to be wrong too. This may be when a default was put on your file, but it should actually be the date of the original default. You should inform the CRA and DCA that this date is incorrect - the default date can be a maximum of 6 months after the initital default. Not years later. This information is in breach of the Data Protection Act as it is incorrect.

I would send the statute barred letter and inform them that the default date is incorrect too. Once this gets changed to the proper date, as it is more than 6 years ago it should fall off your file.

Sorry for jumping on your thread, i wanted to say thanks for the above info its very usefull to me as cabot have placed a default on my file for which iam disputing, they seem to default you as soon as they purchase a debt from someone, so it may be worth checking your credit file for the date this really was applied to your file, as i after dealing with cabot wouldnt trust a word they say.

good luck sorting out.

wayne.

geoffb65

Thank you wayne99...

I have had similar problems with Lowell Financial.:mad: