French Loan

Gabriel4444

Can anyone help.?
I have had a call on my company mobile today asking for me by my maiden name (not used in 7 years) wanting to talk to me about a loan I apparently took out to buy furniture when I lived in France in 1998.
No-one has contacted me about this previously and in all honesty, I do not remember this loan.
The phone they called me on is registered to my company, not to me personally and besides which I have been married for 7 years so they are in effect calling the wrong person!
Since I have no recollection of this loan, am I within my rights to ask them for a copy of the loan agreement to check?
Can they chase me after such a long time?
I have lived at the same UK address for 10 years and had the same number for 8
The amount is not astronomical compared to some people, but i can not afford to pay it except by installments over an extended period of time.
Can anyone offer me any advice on how to proceed with this pease?
Thankyou

Rafter

French consumer law will be different to ours and they may have longer than 6 years to chase you.

I don't think you can argue you are a different person just because you got married and changed your name.

You should ask them for a copy of the loan agreeement and details, particularly if you don't remember ever borrowing to buy furniture - it could be someone using your details fraudulently, or an opportunist debt collection agency who have been sold some old debts which might not even be valid.

Good luck

R.

Gabriel4444

Thanks for this - i will pay it if they can prove I owe it, I am just a bit concerned that i have no recollection of this and they called me on a mobile number that is not even registered in my name!!

inmypocketnottheirs

Please clarify, was the loan taken out in France or the UK.

If it is the UK, and there has been no correspondence, acknowledgment of the debt or payment made in the last six years, then the debt is stature barred and is therefore uncollectable.

stephane_2

Gabriel4444 wrote: »

Can anyone help.?
I have had a call on my company mobile today asking for me by my maiden name (not used in 7 years) wanting to talk to me about a loan I apparently took out to buy furniture when I lived in France in 1998.
No-one has contacted me about this previously and in all honesty, I do not remember this loan.
The phone they called me on is registered to my company, not to me personally and besides which I have been married for 7 years so they are in effect calling the wrong person!
Since I have no recollection of this loan, am I within my rights to ask them for a copy of the loan agreement to check?
Can they chase me after such a long time?
I have lived at the same UK address for 10 years and had the same number for 8
The amount is not astronomical compared to some people, but i can not afford to pay it except by installments over an extended period of time.
Can anyone offer me any advice on how to proceed with this pease?
Thankyou

Am not sure am following, you either had the loan or did not, but why would you offer to pay by installments if it is not yours??

Gabriel4444

Alledgedly the loan was taken out in France

Gabriel4444

stephane wrote: »

Am not sure am following, you either had the loan or did not, but why would you offer to pay by installments if it is not yours??

I will pay it back if they can prove that I took it out as i am not happy with the idea of taking out a loan however long ago and then just walking away.
The problem is that this is 10 years ago and I have no recollection of it and at the moment they are being a bit difficult in providing paperwork to me as they say that they have basically bought the debt from someone else

aliisawhite

You should ask them for a copy of the loan agreement to check. If this is true, I think you should pay it.

Hippocampus

I'm thinking SCAM. How would they get your private work phone number?

Gabriel4444

They said that they have hired a private investigator (that might have got lost slightly in the translation) to find me - though why it took 11 years, i do not know.
The phone they called me on is a company mobile registered to the company name, not to me personally, so their investigators must be bloody good, since my name is no longer what it was 11 years ago.
Never having been chased for a loan before, if they can prove it is mine, I will pay it but what sort of arrangement do you think I should come to with them regarding amount and timescale.
Sorry to sound so completely clueless .....but i am
thank you

inmypocketnottheirs

If the debt is yours, how come you haven't paid it before?