BPO Debt

lisajane8482

I bought a computer from Dell in february 2004 on behalf of my boyfriend at the time who couldn't get credit. I paid the bill each month and he gave me the money for it. We split up and he said he would pay the remaining balance in full as he was keeping it, which i thought he had done as I've never heard anything from them.

The other day I got a letter from BPO on behalf of CIT Group (Dell) stating that I owe them £570, I contacted them as i did not know at the time that it was Dell and asked what the debt was for. I was told that the last date of payment was 16th May 2005 and they mentioned that I may be able to have the debt closed as it was over 6 years old. Is this correct?

I checked my credit file and there is no finance on there for Dell.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tixy

Hi Lisa

What bit of the UK are you in?
If you are england/wales/ NI and the last payment was May 2005 then the debt will not yet be statute barred - as there has not yet been a period of 6years without any payment. For the debt to become statute barred in May 2011 you would need not to have paid anything for the 6years and not acknowledged that you owe the debt in writing, and for them not to obtain a CCJ between now and May.

When you say you contacted them I assume you mean you phoned? If you are writing to them the only letter you should send is the prove it letter - which specifically does not acknowledge that you owe the money. Another alternative might be to ignore this letter and wait until they contact you again with details of the debt etc.

Once a debt is statute barred you are legally no longer required to pay it and they cannot take you to court, although technically the debt still exists. Once it is SB if you send a letter saying its SB and you do not intend to pay they have to stop chasing you.

The law in Scotland is different (only needs to be a 5year gap and after the debt is legally extinguished).

Some info on SB debts here - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2606811