Student Loans Statued Barred

spottygeorgie

I hope that someone can help me?

My husband took out a student loan pre 1998. He last deferred 28th February 2005, we then moved abroad for 5 years and forgot to contact them.

When returning to the uk the student loans company (link financial) demanded that we pay the full 6k back immediately (there has I understand been no contact in all this time), as I believed that the debt was over 6 years, I sent a Statued Barred letter in February 2011 asking them not to contact us again.

They have now replied saying that he last deferred in Feb 2005 for 1 year the clock didn't start until the following year when the deferment ended in April 2006, so the debt was not Statute Barred and it is due to be paid in full now!!!

Can anyone clarify if the Statute Barred starts from the last written acknowledgement or written contact for 1 year after that deferment???

Emmzi

academic if they got in touch last month? When did he get a chaser letter? I'm guesssing Feb if that is hen you sent your letter, and I'm thinking unless you were very careful you acknowleged the debt in it...

spottygeorgie

bit of a long story but debt was not acknowledged.

AnnaV

if he deferred the clock would have started at the end of that deferment period.

spottygeorgie

no, sent the standard Statued Barred letter which does not acknowlege the debt.

Emmzi

well if they haaven't got a CCJ and you don't care about your current credit rating and can give it time to settle, just ignore them.

Although I'm not crazy about my taxes paying off your debts...

m00m00

The limitations act covers debts from the date that the last cause of action occurred, or rather, when the debt was last due. In the case of a monthly credit card for example it is not when the last payment was made it is when the missed payment was due, usually the month after)

In this case sadly Link are correct (has to be a first time for everything).

what you don't have to do is pay off their demands in full in one go. Make an offer of repayment based purely on what you can afford, or you could try and wait it out for the next year. If they go for a CCJ then the judge will order repayment to be based on what you can afford, not what Link want.

Link losing the court case last week will have pushed them back under a rock for a while.

dresdendave

Emmzi wrote: »

Although I'm not crazy about my taxes paying off your debts...

As someone who started work at 16 and has been paying taxes ever since, I can't really sympathise with someone borrowing money from taxpayers to get a degree level education, who then tries to avoid paying the money back on a technicality.

m00m00

There are 2 types of Student loan

Pre 98 and post 98, the latter can never be Statute Barred, as they don't need a court order to enforce


All the Limitations Act does is prevent court action.

marywooyeah

so your husband took out student loan and is now trying to avoid paying it back. student loan deductions from your wages are so small they are managable - my OH is on 15k and pays £5 a month back!
as for not acknowledging the debt - I'm guessing your letter went something like this:
Dear Student Loans company,
Mr X deffered the loan in Feb 2005 thus the debt is statute barred pursuant to s5 of the Limitations Act 1980, and as such please discontinue all correspondence.

Well a letter like that DOES acknowledge the debt because you acknowledge it but argue its statute barred.
just do the decent thing and pay it back.
I also find it hard to believe you "forgot" to contact them when you left the country, after all, you remembered to contact them when it was convienent for your hubby to defer didnt you?

custardy

marywooyeah wrote: »

so your husband took out student loan and is now trying to avoid paying it back. student loan deductions from your wages are so small they are managable - my OH is on 15k and pays £5 a month back!
as for not acknowledging the debt - I'm guessing your letter went something like this:
Dear Student Loans company,
Mr X deffered the loan in Feb 2005 thus the debt is statute barred pursuant to s5 of the Limitations Act 1980, and as such please discontinue all correspondence.

Well a letter like that DOES acknowledge the debt because you acknowledge it but argue its statute barred.
just do the decent thing and pay it back.
I also find it hard to believe you "forgot" to contact them when you left the country, after all, you remembered to contact them when it was convienent for your hubby to defer didnt you?

probably find the degree is what allowed them to work abroad for those years too