old debt

boney24

FirstlyI just have to say how glad I am that a friend at work told me about this site, I wish I had found it years ago.:T

This may sound very stupid and looking back it is, but at the time I really trusted my partner. My partner took out a lot of credit which I signed for as she was refused. To cut a long story short, she left me after 2 years and I was left with debts of over £10k. I have over the last few years cleared most of it off, but I have two big ones left. These debts have been being paid off for over 9 years. I never challenged them at the time, but after reading some of the posts on the forums, I was wondering if I asked them to provide copies of the agreements and they could not fter all this time, would that mean I would not have to pay the rest off. Or because I have been paying small amounts to them for all these years it would make no difference.

I realise that this may sound a bit immoral, as i know the debt is real, I just resent the fact that I am paying off someone elses debts. Any advice would be most welcome.:o

jessicamb

Sorry no idea - but welcome to MSE !

file_wizzard

Speaking strictly legally then if the creditor was unable to provide the original credit agreement then the debt would be unenforceable, however this does not mean they are not owed.

In you situation where you have been paying small amounts over such a long time the you should look at how much you have actually repaid, if you have you been paying fee’s + interest, and you have now paid more than the original loan amount then I would personally request the documentation, and if it is not available stop all future payments knowing that you have more than repaid your moral obligation to these creditors.

Conversely, if no payment or acknowledgment had been made in over 6 years then the debts would be lawfully unenforceable under the 1980 limitations act.

EllieB_2

I agree with file_wizzard but thought a bit more explanation may help..basically if you signed the agreement then legally you are liable even if the loan or whatever was taken out for someone else's benefit (unless you can show you were forced into signing it). However if the lender cannot provide a signed copy then as file_wizzard says, the debt is unenforceable - this means that if they issued a county court claim against you then you would have the right to demand that they produce a copy of the signed agreement and if they can't do this then the court case would be thrown out leaving them no legal means of enforcing the debt. If the debts are nine years old they may or may not still have copies of the agreement. You have the right under the Consumer Credit Act to be supplied with a copy of the agreement and provided you do this in writing and send the requisite £1 fee they are legally obliged to supply this within (I think!) 12 days. Take note also of file_wizzards comments about the limitations act although this won't apply if you have been paying them. In reality given the age of the debt I suspect that if you stopped paying then eventually they would give up - is a case of holding out until they do.