Statute barred debts and the Limitation Acts

Vodafone

golden88 wrote: »

Hi

I have had a debt with Vodafone that according to my credit report, has been in default since May 2012. I have always disputed this debt, as although I did have the contract, I am disputing the bill that relates to the debt and in turn caused my account to be closed.
I had made contact in writing in the months following this, only to dispute the bill and as advised by CAB at the time, to request certain details about the calls that I'm supposed to have made.
Each time Vodafone failed to provide the information, and instead just basically told me the debt was mine and I was required to pay. Due to personal circumstances, I wasn't in the right state of mind to carry on fighting and left it at that, the only exception being when they passed it onto a debt recovery agency. I informed the DRA over the phone that it was in dispute and Vodafone were breaking the law by passing it on at such time. The lady I spoke to agreed and said she would pass it back to Vodafone and I heard nothing more from them.

I have now been considering whether to get back in touch with them to get it sorted, but having found out about Statute Barred, I'm reluctant to do so with it being about 18 months from all defaults dropping off from my account.

My question is simply, would the letters I wrote to dispute the bill and the debt be classed as acknowledgement of the debt or would they be irrelevant in the case.

Many Thanks

Hi golden88,

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Vodafone UK

StuieUK34

Hey all,
More a query, as I'm confused with reading info here and there.....
Example:
You have a debt, the last time u made a payment/any of kind of acknowledgement was April 2010.
Your aware the creditor placed a Default on your credit report in October 2010.


Your credit report still shows the debt today, which is kind of 6yrs 3mths later....

Does that mean that the debt is statute barred, but credit ref agencies hold the data against you from the default date, not when the last activity was ?

fatbelly

StuieUK34 wrote: »

Hey all,
More a query, as I'm confused with reading info here and there.....
Example:
You have a debt, the last time u made a payment/any of kind of acknowledgement was April 2010.
Your aware the creditor placed a Default on your credit report in October 2010.


Your credit report still shows the debt today, which is kind of 6yrs 3mths later....

Does that mean that the debt is statute barred, but credit ref agencies hold the data against you from the default date, not when the last activity was ?

The default date would not constitute the cause of action for most cases of debt (you didn't say what debt this was).

It would be clearer if we could ask actual questions on an actual case, and ultimately only a court can decide if something is SB.

However, you are correct, broadly speaking. Defaults should be registered between 3 and 6 months after the contractual relationship breaks down, and they stay on file for 6 years

StuieUK34

Your reply answered the question, thank you....

slonie

Hi everyone,

Im sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I need a bit of help.

Ive received a CCJ claim form, and I lodged acknowledgement of the form via the web. I stated that I intend to defend as I do not know what the debt is for, but I would imagine that it relates to debts I had when my marriage broke down in 2009. I believe the debt would be statute barred anyway.

I can lodge a defence online in the next 7 days, but I have no idea how to go about wording it, or what to say. Ive looked at the template letters but none seem to fit exactly.

I want to say that I have no idea what the debt is, I dont acknowledge the debt, and if there is a debt I believe that it would be statute barred.

I also want to know why if there is this debt they have left it this long to lodge a CCJ.

Any help or advice gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

fatbelly

Legalbeagles is the place for help with court claims

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

but don't miss the timescale. You have acknowledged service so you have 28 + 5 days from issue date to lodge a defence.

The particulars of claim should identify the original creditor and reference. If you don't recognise it you should have immediately challenged the solicitor but if it's too late for that just get some sort of defence in even if it's just

I do not recognise the debt from the particulars of claim. If this were my account I would have made my last payment in 2009 or earlier. Since then I would not have not acknowledged this account by payment or in writing. I believe the claimant's claim of (date) to be statute barred under s5 of the Limitation Act 1980.

but I'm suggesting that, in case you find you are running out of time and need to bang something in urgently

slonie

Thanks Fatbelly,

I havent acknowledged the debt.

All ive done so far is send acknowledgement of service of the pack from court.

Will check out the link.

TwoPiePaul

Hi.
I need some more info regarding a possible Statute Barred Debt.


I was accepted for a loan from a National Bank in March 2008.
This was to be used to move out my parents house. However, a week after been accepted, my younger brother suddenly passed away.
In April 2008, I signed the agreement accepting the terms and conditions of the loan.


Given the traumatic events, I suffered severe depression and withdrawal. A few months later, I lost my job. Initially, I removed the PPI aspect from the loan which reduced the repayments. Even then I very quickly fell into arrears.


I'm not quite 100% sure, but I don't believe I made any contact or any additional payments towards the loan after December 2008.


My debt was brought by ME III Limited in August 2010.
In March 2015, court action was started.
In October 2015, I received a court letter, for which I replied and offered an amount to repay the debt.
However, please don't hate me, but I didn't stick to the agreement and in October 2016, I received a full court order (Attachment Earnings) for the balance.


Only recently (a month or 2 ago) did I find out about how Statute Barred works.


According to the limited information my local court has regarding the case, it says that I entered into the agreement with the Bank in April 2009 !?!? This is incorrect because it was April 2008.
I do not have the original paperwork, but given the events of 2008, it is something I remember vividly.


The questions I have:


1) Because the agreement start date supplied to the court is incorrect, can I dispute this?


2) Although I'm not 100% certain, I don't believe I made any contact or payments after December 2008.
Court action was not started until March 2015. If this is the case, does that mean the debt is statute barred?
Does statute barred still apply even if I responded to the court in October 2015?


I hope this makes sense. Any info would be greatly appreciated.


Many Thanks

fatbelly

ME III Ltd are a debt buyer, linked to Marlin, Cabot and Mortimer Clarke. They will have bought your account for a small sum and started a court claim against you in March 2015.

It sounds like you did not defend the claim even though it had been over 6 years since it was acknowledged and you had a statute barred defence. You received an instalment judgement and started making payments to it.

You could have quite easily challenged their claim that the account started in April 2009 and stated that it was statute barred.

You would now have to apply to the court for set aside and this factsheet outlines the process.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/howtosetasideacountycourtjudgment/settingasideaccj.aspx

It's worth having a go and if you have paperwork showing that MEIII used an incorrect date that will help. But you will see that other factors (you not mentioning this in your response to the court, you paying, and the time taken to lodge a setaside) work against you.

That being said, it would depend on the judge and the setaside application could go either way.

Jonhn

Hi,
I have a debt which is over six years old, last time I made a payment on this account via a debt management company is on 01/10/2010. I can prove this by my previous bank statements.
When I stopped making the payment to the debt management company on the above date. I just wan to know, Even if I stop paying the debt management company, if they have continued paying for the creditors for few months more (eg until 01/02/2011); will this count as a payment towards the debt? and then the debt would be statuary barred after 01/02/2011. Instead of the day I last made the payment to the debt management company 01/10/2010.
Can I still be able to defend my self on a ccj claim because I wasn’t liable for the payment made by the debt management company to the creditor on behalf of me?
I just want to cover all the basis before I go on the statuary barred route your advise on this matter would be highly appreciated thanks