dept of work and pensions debt demand

leroy1970

fairly sure I know the answer to this one but would appreciate some insight.
I recently recieved a demand from the DWP for a debt outstanding which I did not understand. rightly or wrongly I phoned them to explain that to my knowledge I had no outstanding debt with them.

they explained that the debt was from a social fund loan I had taken out when I was unemployed that was not paid back in full. since I have been in work for the last 14 years I said this could not be possible.....wait for it

they said the debt was from 1993!!! thats 17 years ago.

to my knowledge, social fund loan repayments are taken directly from any benefits you recieve and cant understand how this cant have happened to leave an outstanding amount, also after 6 years without any contact surely the debt is unenforcable.

I have now recieved a letter from a debt collection agency demanding payment otherwise they will -
a) send agents round to recover the debt, or
b) take legal action to recover the debt

any ideas?

bargainbetty

Contact them to get full details of the loan. I'm not sure if monies owed to government agencies ever fall under the statute barred rules, I'm sure someone else will have details on that.

Ask them to suspend legal action until you have received evidence of the debt and how it has accrued. Essentially, the Prove It letter, but perhaps a little less strident, if you do remember taking out the loan. If you re-entered full time work, it may be that they could not recover the payments through your benefits. Get the following:

Details of the loan amount and date taken
Details of the repayments you made and the total left owing
Details of the alleged sum still owed

You are not legally obliged to retain your financial documents beyond seven years, and it is up to them to prove the sum owing.

Good luck

fermi

bargainbetty wrote: »

I'm not sure if monies owed to government agencies ever fall under the statute barred rules

They do.

But it would just stop legal action to recover the debt. It would still exist if valid in the first place, and could be recovered from any future benefit that you might be entitled to.

leroy1970

thank you for the replies.
after futher research I have found out that the debt is covered under the statute barred rules and as fermi stated they could take any valid debt from any benefits I may claim in the future.
I think my next course of action will be to write to the DCA stating the limitations act 1980 and go from there.