Being threatened for a debt 5 years old!!!

mordenboy

Hello,

I'd be greatfull for some help on the following matter, as i'm somewhat of a novice in this field.

Many years ago I had a dispute with Orange regarding non-payment of my bill (the phone they sold me didnt work).

The result was the matter was passed to Arrow Global LLC. The account is shown as defaulted on Experian on 17/09/2006. I told Arrow, that I had no intention of paying a penny for a contract that I could never use. Thinking, its already on my credit history, so it cant get any worse.

After hearing nothing for years, I received a letter from Bryan Carter Solicitors LLP on the 24/01/11. The letter said if I dont pay in full by 03/02/2011, then court proceedings would be issued in 10 days. It then said, "If you fail to act and we obtain judgement it may prevent you from gaining credit inthe future and will remain on the Register of Judgement Debts for 6 years".

Obviously, this was a little shock out of the blue. Though I thought, this has already been on my credit report for 5 years!!! Can they put in on again??!!

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Jake

Tixy

Hi

The default will stay on your file for 6years from the default date entered. They are allowed to chase you for this non-payment if you haven't come to an agreement with them. They can legally chase for 6years. After this then you wouldn't need to pay legally - unless they get a CCJ before the 6years are up. Which is why they will often go for a court judgement after 5years or so.

If they obtained a county court judgement against you this would then appear as a seperate entry on your credit file and remain for the next 6years. Plus if you don't pay a CCJ then they could instruct bailiffs or even obtain an attachment of earnings so they money is deducted from your wages.

If you get a CCJ and pay within 28days then the CCJ won't be entered on your credit file - however the debt will have increased for court costs.
Another option could be to offer a reduced full & final settlement to them (where you offer to settle the debt for eg 50% of the outstanding amount).

mordenboy

Tixy,

Thankyou so much for your reply.

Guess I need to decide whether to go for a reduced settlement offer, or call their bluff and if it does go the ccj route, be prepared to pay a little extra within 28 days to keep my credit file clean. For the £226 they are claiming, is it really worth it to them? lets hope not.

mr-ideas

Hi, having similar problem with arrow re a debt originally with lloyds. Arrow have issued summons despite having informed them the debt was in dispute with lloyds. Infact I believe this debt may be over 6 years old but not certain except heard nothing from lloyds for a long time and put my claim on hold when the OFT action started. Never received written notification from arrow of them acquiring debt although they claim they did - asked them for proof and they never replied. Also correspondence was originally addressed to my wife only and wouldn't speak to me despite being a joint account although now issued summons to us both! Any ideas what defence I can use would be appreciated.

Tixy

Hi

Well you really need to know if the debt is definitely statute barred before you can defend the CCJ.
It may be that when you put in a claim (I assume you mean for bank charges) this would count as an acknowledgment that you owed the money and so mean its not statute barred (assuming the claim was put in within the last 6years).

AliceBanned

mordenboy wrote: »

Tixy,

Thankyou so much for your reply.

Guess I need to decide whether to go for a reduced settlement offer, or call their bluff and if it does go the ccj route, be prepared to pay a little extra within 28 days to keep my credit file clean. For the £226 they are claiming, is it really worth it to them? lets hope not.

Hi mordenboy

I agree it's a tough one. I have a debt collection agency chasing me for a debt which is 5.5 years old and I'm not sure whether they will go to CCJ but they are only asking for 1/3 of the debt - £350. I would pay this if I were sure this were full and final settlement, but their letter only states that they will close the account, write off the balance and "update" my "credit file" but this does not really make it legally binding that they update all credit ref agencies nor that they do not go for a ccj as it is written off, rather than repaid. If anyone has any advice I'd be grateful - like mordenboy I might call their bluff but it's difficult to know exactly what the options are - I only found out recently that a CCJ could be added. I also don't want to contact the company as this contact risks more trouble than it's worth and may affect the statute barred.

DVardysShadow

mordenboy wrote: »

Tixy,

Thankyou so much for your reply.

Guess I need to decide whether to go for a reduced settlement offer, or call their bluff and if it does go the ccj route, be prepared to pay a little extra within 28 days to keep my credit file clean. For the £226 they are claiming, is it really worth it to them? lets hope not.

Of course, if it goes to court, you always have the option of defending on the grounds of the original complaint - phone did not work. Do you have copies of your correspondence?

mr-ideas

Hi Tixy
Thanks for the reply. Still no found anything more recent than 6 years in my files but doesn't mean there is nothing as it's such a long time ago! Never actually got round to issuing claim against Lloyds and was always careful not to admit the debt. I read somewhere Lloyds would not be allowed to sell the debt if it is in dispute even if not statute barred. Is this a reasonable defence? Is the lack of receipt of documentation from arrow also a viable defence? Thanks

Tixy

If you never issued a claim then it would sound like you never formally disputed the debt. Unless you wrote to them to say you disputed the balance in any other way?

Arrow only have to prove they sent out any letters not prove that you received them. You could defend the debt on the grounds you believe it to be SB (they'll soon tell you if it wasn't). Or you could try doing a subject access request for everything on file but this might well not come before you have to complete the summons (not sure how long you get).