limitation act for 6 year old debts -help please

richt71

First Credit have suddenly started chasing me for 2 debts I thought were sorted which date back to April '99. They first contacted me in November about these. I have a standard letter to send them but they say it doesn't apply as they've tried to contact me over the last 6 years and just cos they couldn't speak to me until know makes no difference. I understood that they had to have contact with me within 6 years in the form of acknowledgement - is this right??
They get very aggressive but I guess they want their commission that I'm sure the callers from the company get!

immoral_angeluk

Basically if you have not acknowledged the debt for 6 years in writing or made a payment then the debt is statute barred. They're trying to scare you in to paying because they know full well it's already too late.

immoral_angeluk

This is copied and pasted from the national debtline website.

Unsecured credit debts
This would include credit cards, store cards, bank and building society personal loans, catalogues, finance company loans etc. You may have had a debt with an ordinary unsecured creditor that you have not heard about for a very long time. You may have moved address or thought the debt had been written off.

Out of the blue a letter arrives from the original creditor or a debt collection agency asking you to make a payment.

You can argue that the creditor is out of time or “statute barred” from taking you to court for this debt:

if

The creditor has not already obtained a judgment against you
and

You, or any one else owing the money (on a debt in joint names) have not made a payment on the debt during the last six years
and

You have not written to the creditor admitting you owe the debt during the last six years.

richt71

immoral_angeluk wrote:

Basically if you have not acknowledged the debt for 6 years in writing or made a payment then the debt is statute barred. They're trying to scare you in to paying because they know full well it's already too late.

Excellent thanks. Exactly what I thought. The supervisor said oh it's not statuory barred as we've tried to contact you.

immoral_angeluk

richt71 wrote:

Excellent thanks. Exactly what I thought. The supervisor said oh it's not statuory barred as we've tried to contact you.

That's rubbish. They will try anything to get you to acknowledge the debt and pay because at that point the 6 years starts over again. Send them the statute barred letter and state that you will not deal with them on the phone and any correspondance is to be done in writing that way you can avoid all their phone tactics.

richt71

immoral_angeluk wrote:

This is copied and pasted from the national debtline website.

Unsecured credit debts
This would include credit cards, store cards, bank and building society personal loans, catalogues, finance company loans etc. You may have had a debt with an ordinary unsecured creditor that you have not heard about for a very long time. You may have moved address or thought the debt had been written off.

Out of the blue a letter arrives from the original creditor or a debt collection agency asking you to make a payment.

You can argue that the creditor is out of time or “statute barred” from taking you to court for this debt:

if

The creditor has not already obtained a judgment against you
and

You, or any one else owing the money (on a debt in joint names) have not made a payment on the debt during the last six years
and

You have not written to the creditor admitting you owe the debt during the last six years.

Brilliant! Think they both relate to credit card debts although I thought they were sorted in 99. Anyway I shall not worry. Need to get an address to send the letter to as first credit use a PO Box and I don't trust sending a letter to a PO Box as they'll say they never got it!

immoral_angeluk

richt71 wrote:

Brilliant! Think they both relate to credit card debts although I thought they were sorted in 99. Anyway I shall not worry. Need to get an address to send the letter to as first credit use a PO Box and I don't trust sending a letter to a PO Box as they'll say they never got it!

Make sure you keep a copy of the letter and send it recorded delivery, that way if they turn around and say they didn't recieve it, you've got proof that they did.

rog2

Hi RichT - the template for the letter that you need to send to these parasites can be found on post 2 of the following thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=309647

Good luck.:beer:
Rog2