paying off old debt

craigsr

Hello everyone

Im looking for a little advice regarding an old debt that i have. I took out an Argos card approx 9 years ago but got into financial problems with it approx 6 month later. I have moved about quite a lot since then so the debt was stagnent for a long time. The debt was passed to a recovery company and they began harrasing me a couple of years ago but i never done anything about it. Approx 6 months ago i had a lightbulb moment & decided to do something about my debts & contacted them, they talked me into setting up a rather unrealistic ammount to pay back every month but i never kept to it. They have since sent me a letter offering to reduce my debt for me to £707.01 from £1414.02 (nice of them).

When i took out the original Argos card im sure my credit limit was only about £400, the rest must be made up in charges. Now i want to do something about my debt & to eventually try to repair my credit rating cant even get a current account now

I realise now after reading posts on this site that if i hadnt got in touch with them approx 6 months ago that i could have probably applied for a statute barred on the account but it is too late for that now as i made contact with them again. My question is do i just agree to pay off the reduced figure of £707.01 (obviously on a monthly basis) or do i try to CCA them & get the figure lower (due to the astronomical amount of charges placed on the account) & why are they offering to clear half of the debt for me, could this be because it is unenforcible?, even if it is unenforcible does it still stay on my credit file as a default & therefore adversily affect my credit rating.

I dont want to improve my credit rating so that i can get into debt again but i would like to be paying lower rates on mortgage etc (which usually comes with a better credit rating) & also be able to get a proper bank account again.

Many thanks for any replies.

Craig

GeorgeUK

When you say you contacted them, how did you do this? Did you phone, write...?

When did you last make a payment towards the debt?

craigsr

The last payment was probably made at least 7/8 years ago. I contacted them by phone, nothing was in writing. Does this make a difference?

GeorgeUK

Get ready to have a face splitting smile!!

Once a debt becomes statute barred, it doesn't matter if you make contact or even if you start making payment towards the debt - the status of the debt will remain statute barred.

The only time this will not happen is if there is a CCJ against the debt or if the debt was for an agreement under seal - such as a mortgage.

It would appear that this debt is statute barred as there has been a period of 6 years where no payment was made and where you did not acknowledge the debt in writing.

craigsr

Can the debt be statute barred even although i didnt apply for it to be so!!

GeorgeUK

You don't need to apply for a debt to become statute barred. If you have not acknowledged a debt by making payment to it or in writing for a period of 6 years, the debt becomes statute barred. The debt will still exist, but it is not enforcable.

They can ask you to make payment towards the debt, but they cannot enforce it through the courts - your defence would be that the debt was statute barred.

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