should i reply to agencies

andrewison

I wondering if someone could help me with this. I have been contacted by a collection agency (Mackenzie Hall from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire) who advised me that I owe them an amount of money(in relation to 1stCredit(exch):Royal Bank of ......) . Well the dilemma is this, do I respond or wait.

I suspect the money owed is over 6 years old and was informed that if a debt went over this time period then it is impossible to collect. I have been listening to many friends and been getting conflicting advice. I suspect I should contact them and ask specifically what the debt is for and when it is form, Do they have to give me this infomation . However if I do contact them then does it acknowledges that I owe them the debt and it will start the wheels rolling as such. . Does anyone know of a website where I can reply with an official type letter as well . The letters they have sent me , show no real info as to where the debt was .

any advice would be helpful ....
Has anyone else heard of the above firm , they sent me a letter telling me to set up a standing mandate order by tomorrow or else they will issue proceeding ....

Please can someone advise ?


Andrew

lynzpower

there is a letter on here


Says something like I dont acknoeldge this debt, let me know what its for and the credit agreement .

Someone will find it hang tight

andrewison

lynzpower wrote:

there is a letter on here


Says something like I dont acknoeldge this debt, let me know what its for and the credit agreement .

Someone will find it hang tight

cheers for you help there lynzpower

Does anyone know of these letters and also if there is a 6 year thingy on debts ? Many thnaks for your help in advance .

Andrew

fefesaver

Hi Andrew. After 6 years, if no action has been taken to recover it, the debt would be what is known as 'statute barred' and they wouldnt be able to get their money back through the Court. If they tried to do this, you could apply to have their claim struck out on this basis (although obviously it does not stop them trying it on without Court proceedings in the hope you will pay it!!)
Hope this helps.
Fiona

CLAPTON

the situation is as follows

if a normal debt is over six year and you haven't 'acknowledged it' i.e. paid any money or spoken to then and agreed you owed it and a CCJ has not been issued then the debt is unenforceable by the Statute of Limitations (google it).

old debts are often bought very cheaply by DCA who hope to be able to recover some money from them.

I assume that you agree the debt is yours but you simply dont want to pay it now.

i would check your credit records and see what they say.

thereafter there seem to be three approaches:

a. do nothing...if its not on your credit record then that might be ok but obviously doesnot resolve the matter.

b. ask them to what the debt is about, after all anyone could contact you to say please pay some money and those with guilty pasts may pay up something.

Harassed of this board that produced the following letter which might be useful:

start of letter:

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company or your client. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee, PO Serial Number xxxxx.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.


end of letter:

c. if you are confident that the statute of limitations applies you can write back saying that it unenforceable under the statute of limitations.

andrewison

CLAPTON wrote:

the situation is as follows

if a normal debt is over six year and you haven't 'acknowledged it' i.e. paid any money or spoken to then and agreed you owed it and a CCJ has not been issued then the debt is unenforceable by the Statute of Limitations (google it).

1st of all thanks alot for your help here ....

Silly question here , I have never been informed that I have any CCJ however they have never really known my address... either ... if they wanted to sent me one. Would the above circumstances change if I did have CCJ assigned to me ... .. I dont think I have ever acknowledged the debt .. ?? ?? I had these yonks ago while at uni and being a naughty boy I kinda stuck head in sand and hoped they would disappear...

Andrew removing head from sand .... and going ...whoops ...

CLAPTON

statute of limitations doesnot apply to court debts i.e. a CCJ ...also note i dont know anything about scotland so if your live there you may need to check all this .


you can find out about CCJ by getting your credit record although it drops off after 6 years
or try
http://www.registry-trust.org.uk/

andrewison

Thanks clapton for your help , incase anyone is interested , i have found a thread similar to mine in loans

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=253420

These MH people are not nice people by any means ...

Dr.Shoe_2

The thing is though, if you have not repaid the debt then you have a moral obligation to pay it back even if they can no longer use legal means to claim it. However, the payments should be made to the original lender not the DCA.

robinson79

does this 6 year thing apply to student loans too?
it's been 3 years so far and i haven't paid anything yet....

andrewison

robinson79 wrote:

does this 6 year thing apply to student loans too?
it's been 3 years so far and i haven't paid anything yet....

Sadly not , also they stay with you until youre 60 odd thne they are cancelled. tho you could do what some smart (maybe) student did , got max student loans out and max cards and then went bankrupt , essentially after a few years cancelling the debt. .... This does stay on your credit report thingy ... but after a few years he was able to get a CC and morgage etc ,...