ignore the debt?

1msw

is there a certain percentage of debt that if you ignore, a DCA will eventually write off as it is not worth their while?
For instance, I have about 300 mbna debt left, which i was not happy about and disputed as they were purely charges..i had paid the balance via CCCS and it showed nil on my books... I wrote to them; they refused to refund and said it was their 'final answer'...they passed the debt to experto credite. I told them i was disputing my answer from mbna by going to the ombudsman (which i didnt) they left it for a while. now they are saying i should ring them for a full and final settlement. I am going to ignore them as i dont think it is worth their while to chase me up for £300.

another example - i have 30 left from a debt of £160. I may stop paying them now, is it worth it?
i know its not good advice to say stop paying what you have agreed to pay, as per the last example, but there must be a point where it is not worth a DCA's expenses or whatever you call it, to chase you. I can then concentrate on the big debts. I understand that some DCA's buy debt sometimes for 10-20% and if they break even or make a bit more, it worth it for them.
I did it once with tiscali who claimed i owed them hundreds of pounds as i did not give them enough notice to stop my broadband etc, they hounded me for a while then left me alone. this was about 8 yrs ago!
any ideas?

Sharon87

Well legally they can't ask you to pay a debt that you haven't touched/paid into in the last 6 years as it will be statued barred. But they can get a CCJ against you if you don't pay, depends on whether they think it's worth it.

For the sake of £300 and £30 6 years of hiding from these companies doesn't seem worth it! Also a risk of getting a CCJ, which means you need to avoid them for 6 years after the CCJ before they become statute barred.

I'd say pay up, it's not worth the hassle.

Tixy

I've known plenty of DCAs hound people for far less than £300. It really doesn't cost them much to keep sending out letters. And if the choose court action they will add costs on top anyway. And I've seen people with CCJs for well under that amount - around the £100 mark.

wherediditallgothen

Maybe I'm being naive here, but shouldn't you pay it back if you owe it? £300 isn't worth a CCJ anyway, but it is worth hounding you for.

BeautyandtheBeast_3

if you had the money you must pay it back.

tryingtosave21

I work for a DCA and in the last 3 jobs ive been in weve not raised legal action for less than £500, nevertheless would you not rather pay it and have a "satisfied" status on your credit file rather than defaulted for 6 yrs? It seems a pointless thing to do.

If you call the dca and ask for a settlement you can sometimes get up to 50% off so its worth a shot..

x