OLD debts being chased - statute barred etc Qs

vickilewis626

hi all, a bit of a lurker / newbie here. read alot of the very cool advice you all give so have steeled my nerves to ask some very worrying questions for me. Bear with me, theres a few questions and lots of stressing and its a long one folks!

first of all, all my debts relate to the collapse of my marriage 6 years ago when my husband left me with all debts and a 3 year old son so all date back to 2004/05. After he left I at first tried to pay all the debts and managed for a little bit but it all went belly up quite fast and I got myself into somewhat of a mess. Looking back i was probably suffering depression too and instead nof tackling the situation head on as I would now I kind of buried my head in the sand. Long story short, I defaultedon quite a few things and also lost my home when it was repossessed in 2005.

I have been on experian in the past and now doing the equifax free trial (though it doesn't seem to show all my debts and/or current commitments as they appeared on experian??) which shows that pretty much all of the debts I owe are coming up to the 6 year mark since defaulted (Mar - Sept 2005).

I have recently started receiving letters fromvarious debt collection agencies and solicitors (such as Fredrickson, Lowell, Bryan Carter, Buchanan, Clark and wells etc) regarding some of these debts which is worrying me enormously. As the debts are now coming very close to be statute barred (right?) are they going to all come out of the woodwork and start legal proceedings or is it s scare mongering/fishing tactic as they know time is near to being 6 years?

Most of the amounts are smallish of a few hundred pounds or so but there are 2 for larger amounts relating to a current account with large overdraft and a car loan which are causing me to stress massively. I have read online that a creditor to whom you owe over £750 can make you bankrupt - how likely is this do you think as I am really panicked. Also if they all do start proceedings for a CCJ is this one of those occasions where a bailiff can force entry into your home or is that just for tax debts and magistrates debts for fines etc?

The other thing I wanted to know was whether or not the debt become statute barred on the default date or date of last payment before I stopped being able to pay? I have not made any payments since 2005 to anyone but did write in May/June 2005 to them all when I moved to advise them of my new address however does this letter constitute an acknowledgement of debt?

The thid thing is: when a debt becomes 6 years old does it automatically become statute barred or do I need to send the template letter (which I found on here thanks!) to each creditor to make it statute barried?

I realise I sound a complete fool for this whole situation but to be honest it was a huge mess for a long time and I'm only now getting my feet under me so please please don't flame me for being rubbish

Thanky ou for all and any replies in advance - I reall appreciate it xx

Tixy

Statute barred is from the date you last paid anything towards the debt (or wrote to them acknowledging the debt) - which can be before or after the default date. The default date is not relevant to SB rules.

A debt will automatically become SB, that is fall under the limitation act. But you might need to write to the creditor to tell them it is SB and you don't intend to pay (once you are sure it is).
If they tried to take court action on a debt that was SB you would need to defend against it not just assume they won't get the judgement.

Whether your letter advising of new address would count as acknowledgment would depend on exactly what you wrote.

Its likely you are being contacted now for 2 reasons, 1 - last ditch attempt before they go SB and 2 - requesting your credit file has given them your current address.

vickilewis626

I have lived here since 2005 and gave them this address when I wrote to advise I'd moved so I'm thinking that its probably Option 1. I will make a note of when each one received the first missed payment according to experian and if I receive a letter 6 years after this date will send out the template letter for SB as a matter of course - do you think this would be right?

Tixy

I wouldn't go from the experian record of missed payments for your date -this could be a month or so out, plus you may have missed a payment and then made a couple more payments after that.

You really need to know from your own records of what date you last paid people.
If you cannot work this out then you could either write to them with the prove it letter asking for proof of the debt, but ensuring you do not acknowledge that you owe the debt, in the hope they provide you with a statement of account showing your last payment.

Or you could just wait a couple of months after you think it will be SB before risking sending the SB template letter - the only problem is that if you under estimate then it the SB letter in itself could count as acknowledgement.

There is a template that says you dispute the debt is yours and even if it is it would be SB but I've only seen people use this for very old debt (9-1years plys that they are certain would be SB.)

Obviously on the off chance any of your creditors send court papers out then don't just ignore these you will need to complete them and respond.

vickilewis626

so would it be better to go by the default date? I'm sketchy with my records from that time as to be fair I was a wreck and all over the spot. One of the debts is my old current account, I opened a new one witha different bank in November 2005 and know I didn't make any payments to any debtors from this account so this could be a good 'mark' for me maybe?

I will just hold my breathe for this year then I guess as they'll definitely all be over 6 years by then.... sounds terrible, so ashamed of myself

vickilewis626

as an aside, the way i understand it is that after 6 years the default drops off CRF and become SB (unable to be enforced by law?) even though I still owe the money. However on another thread it seemed to be suggested that even after the debt become 6 years old and SB the creditor can still get a ccj against me?

Tixy

The default drops off the CRA 6years after the original default date. But even after this it might not be SB (eg if you paid them something 5years after the default then it would still drop off your file but not be SB).

If a debt is over 6years old and statute barred then a creditor could still try to get a CCJ against you. You would need to defend against it on the basis that the debt is SB. Providing you defend they wouldn't get a judgement.

If you don't enter a defence then the judgement would be granted forthwith (basically if you don't defend a judge sits and rubber stamps a big pile of CCJ applications and doesn't read them all or even consider what the debt is for or how old etc just automatically finds in favour of the creditor).

Mostly creditors won't try going for CCJs with SB debts as they will incur court costs and its possible that the debtor will defend. Occasionally they will still try, hoping that the debtor won't know their rights or will just ignore the court papers. Usually I'd guess it would be larger debts it would be worth doing this on.