Does she need to pay?

emma18x

Hi Guys

I'm looking for advice on behalf of my mother. She received a call yesterday from united utilities telling her that she owed over £500 from a previous address in the year 2000. She moved from this address around 5 years ago and now lives with my grandparents so I'm unsure how they've managed to get hold of her.
Anyway, she was asked to pay a certain amount each month which she couldn't really afford so she was told to call Citizens advice which she did.
She told Citizens advice how much she was paid in benefits (DLA & Income support) and how much she had to pay out each month. Citizens advice then presumably called United utilities and told my mother that because she could afford to pay more, she now had to pay an extra £20 on top of what was originally told was the minimum payment to be made each month.
Now after doing a little research online, I've read that water companies can only chase bills for upto 6 years. Is this correct and if so, does anyone know what should she do from here?

Thanks for all help and advice
Emma

KingElvis

The six year rule will not count if you have recently paid anything towards or acknowledged this debt.

The barred rule starts ticking from the last payment and or confirmed communication.

HappyMJ

What does she want to do? She can ignore them if she wants. If she has zero income apart from benefits she she won't be ordered to pay a lot. And, advise her to never speak to a DCA on the phone everything must be done in writing.

emma18x

KingElvis wrote: »

The six year rule will not count if you have recently paid anything towards or acknowledged this debt.

The barred rule starts ticking from the last payment and or confirmed communication.

She hasn't made any payments or agreed to pay anything yet, so will the 6 year rule still count?

emma18x

HappyMJ wrote: »

What does she want to do? She can ignore them if she wants. If she has zero income apart from benefits she she won't be ordered to pay a lot. And, advise her to never speak to a DCA on the phone everything must be done in writing.

I think she'd love to just ignore them and hope they go away but she's worried about further action being taken which was said to her on the phone (although they didn't say what exactly).

podperson

If she hasn't confirmed the debt or made any payment then the 6 year rule should still apply. Get her to send them out a letter advising the debt is now stature barred (there are letter templates if you need them) and if they keep chasing her for it it will be classed as harrassment. Don't speak to them on the phone anymore, keep everything in writing so you have proof of all communication with them.

emma18x

podperson wrote: »

If she hasn't confirmed the debt or made any payment then the 6 year rule should still apply. Get her to send them out a letter advising the debt is now stature barred (there are letter templates if you need them) and if they keep chasing her for it it will be classed as harrassment. Don't speak to them on the phone anymore, keep everything in writing so you have proof of all communication with them.

Thank you that's helped a great deal, we'll be getting a letter in the post on Monday


Thanks also to the other two members that responded to the thread, It's much appreciated.

ERICS_MUM

emma18x wrote: »

Thank you that's helped a great deal, we'll be getting a letter in the post on Monday


Thanks also to the other two members that responded to the thread, It's much appreciated.

I would take the belt-and-braces approach and send your letter by registered post (trackable so you can prove they have received it if they deny all knowledge of it).

Good luck - let us know how you get on.