Not quite statute barred and being chased

Loobysaver

My partner got himself in a bit of a mess in the past with various store and credit card debts etc. He continued using these cards and making repayments until approximately Aug 2005 when he moved away and ignored these debts (approx £15k)

He had a debt letter last year from Mckenzie Hall I believe but he moved on again and now lives with me but isn't on the electoral roll yet. He has now had another debt letter delivered here with the address spelt wrong, no postcode which leads me to believe that someone has told a debt collector where he lives. We have heard a debt collector has been calling on other family members doors asking where he is.

My partner has admitted he was foolish in the past and has mentioned about cashing in his pension to pay these debts off as it is causing me stress worrying about debt collectors knocking on the door.

He hasn't applied for his credit record as he is worried that this will alert the other debt collectors where he is living now. Can this happen?

Can anyone advise what to do. In particular:

1. As OH isn't listed on electoral roll yet, will applying for his credit record to find out exactly what mess he is in let all the creditors know where he is?
2. Does the statute barred kick in from the date of last use of the credit card?
3. Does he need to send a prove it letter to the debt collector that has been in touch or ignore it and sit tight. (is 5mths too long to sit tight?)

Any advice would be great as I'm stressing out about debt collectors knocking on doors and sending letters especially if they knock when my older kids are on their own etc.

Thanks

Tixy

Hi

1) - yes applying for his file is likely to mean they will know his new address for certain and start chasing.
2) - usually from the date of the last payment he made to the card or the last time he acknowledged in writing he owed the debt. If he last used the card more recently than he last paid then that date would probably be the date to use.
3) - difficult to judge and probably his call. The letter he has recently received - does it detail a debt that is owed or does it just say that are trying to locate him? if the latter definitely ignore. 5months could be a long time to try to sit tight.

One other thing - is he certain none of his creditors has obtained CCJs? considering the size of the debt it might be worthwhile him checking if they have, as any debts with CCJs will not go statute barred. You can check if he has any CCJs using the registery trust online - which is anonymous - anyone can check it, so it won't mean his credit files are updated with a new address.

RAS

Loobysaver wrote: »

Any advice would be great as I'm stressing out about debt collectors knocking on doors and sending letters especially if they knock when my older kids are on their own etc.

Thanks

What is your specific concern here?

The kids just need to tell the caller that the partner is not here.

Loobysaver

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

1) - yes applying for his file is likely to mean they will know his new address for certain and start chasing.
2) - usually from the date of the last payment he made to the card or the last time he acknowledged in writing he owed the debt. If he last used the card more recently than he last paid then that date would probably be the date to use.
3) - difficult to judge and probably his call. The letter he has recently received - does it detail a debt that is owed or does it just say that are trying to locate him? if the latter definitely ignore. 5months could be a long time to try to sit tight.

One other thing - is he certain none of his creditors has obtained CCJs? considering the size of the debt it might be worthwhile him checking if they have, as any debts with CCJs will not go statute barred. You can check if he has any CCJs using the registery trust online - which is anonymous - anyone can check it, so it won't mean his credit files are updated with a new address.

The letter relates to a debt owed. There is more than one debt, probably about 5-6 totalling around £15K, this one is for about £600. I was hoping to sit tight for a while but yes you are right, 5 mths is a long time to do nothing. Do you think he should send a prove it letter?

It would be good to see his credit record but we don't want to run the risk of the other creditors finding him when we know there is only a few months left until they become stature barred.

Thanks for the useful info about the registry trust. Do you have to give a full 6 year address history or just give addresses you want checked? I will definitely get him to do that as if the other debtors already have put ccjs on then at least we will know where we stand there.

Re: the other comment about my children. I'm just being a stressed out over-protective parent and don't want my children asking why there are strange men at the door etc!!

dmg24

I don't understand why you would not take this opportunity to arrange to pay what you owe?

Tixy

For the registery trust you check a person's name to an address, so there may be more than one address he needs to check. It does cost £8 per address searched but it might be worth the money.

Loobysaver

dmg24 wrote: »

I don't understand why you would not take this opportunity to arrange to pay what you owe?

He probably will end up paying but we don't want to do anything to encourage the other debt collectors to find us all at the same time if we can avoid it for the time being. As one has found him then we'll try and pay that one off first if we need to.

Culex

dmg24 wrote: »

I don't understand why you would not take this opportunity to arrange to pay what you owe?

She did not incur those debts.

Culex

Tixy wrote: »

2) - usually from the date of the last payment he made to the card or the last time he acknowledged in writing he owed the debt. If he last used the card more recently than he last paid then that date would probably be the date to use.

I'm not so sure. If you read section 6 of the Limitation Act 1980, you'll see that for loans of an indeterminate period (such as overdrafts and credit cards) the limitation period would start when the lender sent a written demand for repayment.

In this case, that's surely going to be some time after the last use of that card in August 2005.

Much as an infinite number of chimpanzees bashing away at random on an infinite number of typewriters would eventually produce a manuscript for "Shakespeare's" lost play "Love's Labours Won" - yes, there really was such a play - so it was a stochastic certainty that MacKenzie Hall would get the law right once in a while.

Loobysaver

So could you constitute a written demand for repayment the monthly statement you receive each month?

I was thinking that if the card was used in August 2005 and then a statement was sent and unpaid then maybe the statute barred would be Sept 2011? Or is that a naive way of looking at it?

Culex

No, in my opinion a monthly statement would not constitute a demand for repayment, as the statement contains data about the way that the debt has decreased or increased over the month and also the minimum sum required under the agreement. The written demand for repayment would be that issued when the relationship between the card holder and card issuer had broken down, and the card issuer required repayment in full.

You need to know when the default notice was issued.