Statute barred...what does that mean for me?

geek83

Hi all,

Yesterday I posted asking about how I track down creditors when the debt has been passed round. I haven't made any payments towards my debts in nearly 2 years....some are chasing, some aren't, some are on my credit report, some aren't!

Another forum member said that the debts might be statute barred and that I should be careful how I word things to them when tracking them down and admitting the debt.

What does that mean for me?

The last time I paid anything to the debts was January 2010.

Here's whats on my credit report:

Lloyds credit card £2861 - started 16/07/2003 default: 19/02/2011
Ace mail order £248 - started 10/12/2002 default: 01/10/2006
Studio mail order £430 - started 27/10/2003 default: 29/10/2006
Aktiv Kapital credit card £1059 - started 08/05/2003 default 28/11/2005
Capquest bank (i'm sure it was a credit card) £353 - started 20/03/2003 default 12/07/2006
Arrow Global (don't know who this is?) mail order could be next directory) £1133 started on 02/07/2003 defaulted on 12/05/2006
Raphael's bank - this is a weird one as it says satisfactory updated to 11/09/2011 but I don't have any credit cards though I think it might be monument looking at the amount.

Only one chasing is Aktiv Kapital, the rest that are chasing aren't on my credit report.

Can someone please advise what I can do?

thanks in advance! Laura

vax2002

You need to find out if the people chasing you are stale debt sharks.
When you take out a loan the lenders insure against default.
The insurance companies that pay out sell the file once the debt becomes statute barred to stale debt shark companies.
These are usually back bedroom council house set ups with false front mail box addresses at business centres to give a false impression.
They know your debt is statute barred, they know legally you do not have to pay anything, so they mount a campaign of harassment and hope to scare a few quid out of you.
Often they claim to be from the company you had the debt to, but the bull decoding system works by following the money, if you look at the send payment to address you often see it is a stale debt shark company trying it on.
These stale debt sharks work almost identical to the fake parking ticket brigade, they desperately fish for a live bite and need a dialogue or correspondence to commence the harassment other wise they are just shooting in to the dark hoping for a hit.
They can not take you to court for a statute barred debt (+6 years) from default or CCJ they have NO legal powers and you have no legal responsibility to pay them, any paper work they send is and invitation to pay not a demand despite what it says.
The best advice is to IGNORE these stale debt sharks, they all have a limit of how much resource's they will spend shooting in to the dark before they give up, but if they get a bite, then they commence the harassment.
They are varying amounts of advice about writing statute barred letters but they only work on reasonable companies, not on back street thug operation's, all they serve to them is a illuminated target in the dark.

geek83

thank you vax, and what if they aren't stale debt sharks?

fermi

lol. So much wrong there.

vax2002 wrote: »

You need to find out if the people chasing you are stale debt sharks.
When you take out a loan the lenders insure against default.
The insurance companies that pay out sell the file once the debt becomes statute barred to stale debt shark companies.

Proof of that please?

vax2002 wrote: »

These are usually back bedroom council house set ups with false front mail box addresses at business centres to give a false impression.

Nonsense. 99.9999% of the statute barred debts I've seen have been owed to legitimate reasonably large properly set up and licensed companies.

All the ones mentuioned by geek83 are.

They can be barstewards, but that is another matter.

vax2002 wrote: »

They know your debt is statute barred, they know legally you do not have to pay anything, so they mount a campaign of harassment and hope to scare a few quid out of you.

Legally a statute barred debt is payable. (Except in Scotland).

It is ONLY legal action that is barred by statute.

vax2002 wrote: »

Often they claim to be from the company you had the debt to, but the bull decoding system works by following the money, if you look at the send payment to address you often see it is a stale debt shark company trying it on.
These stale debt sharks work almost identical to the fake parking ticket brigade, they desperately fish for a live bite and need a dialogue or correspondence to commence the harassment other wise they are just shooting in to the dark hoping for a hit.

Very very rare for them to masquerade like that.

Again, a wholly inaccurate and misleading statement.

vax2002 wrote: »

They can not take you to court for a statute barred debt (+6 years) from default or CCJ they have NO legal powers and you have no legal responsibility to pay them, any paper work they send is and invitation to pay not a demand despite what it says.

They certainly could take you to court. Saying that they legally cannot, is misleading.

The debt being statute barred would simply be a full defence to any such action. Most DCAs know that, so won't. A few however are sometimes stupid enough to try.

vax2002 wrote: »

The best advice is to IGNORE these stale debt sharks, they all have a limit of how much resource's they will spend shooting in to the dark before they give up, but if they get a bite, then they commence the harassment.
They are varying amounts of advice about writing statute barred letters but they only work on reasonable companies, not on back street thug operation's, all they serve to them is a illuminated target in the dark.

Not always. Sometimes the best thing to do is write so that they know you are aware of the law and will not be intimidated by their idle threats. They will then concentrate their efforts on going after people who are easier targets.

They key thing is to take any decision on a case by case basis. Rather than taking a blanket policy based on ill informed information.

fermi

geek83 wrote: »

Can someone please advise what I can do?

thanks in advance! Laura

First of all, think carefully about when you last made a payment or acknowledged the debt in writing for each debt.

The 6 years runs from the point that you last did that. Or if you never did that, then the date of the first payment that you missed.

You say that you haven't being paying your debts for 2 year?

Does that apply for all of them?

In other words, were you paying them all a couple of years ago? Or just some?

geek83

Hi Fermi,

I was paying them all up till January 2010 on a DMP.

It is my understanding that I still owe this money and they can legally chase me. As far as I can see these are mostly the original companies

Laura

fermi

geek83 wrote: »

Hi Fermi,

I was paying them all up till January 2010 on a DMP.

It is my understanding that I still owe this money and they can legally chase me. As far as I can see these are mostly the original companies

Laura

In that case, none of them could possibly be statute barred until 2016 at the earliest.

Yes, they can still legally chase you.

It's possible that you could continue to ignore them for another 5 years, but it's rarely the wisest course. Plus any that go for a court judgement in the meantime will never become statute barred. Even after the 6 years/

I presume you want to now contact the people you owe and do something to sort the debts out?

If so I wouldn't worry about acknowledgement etc.

Not saying that you have to rush headlong into contacting them all (or any); but unless you are going to try and hide for 5 years then you shouldn't worry about the statute barred thing on the ones you do decide to contact.

geek83

This is what I thought, so yes I fully intend on paying them all! I want to be debt free by the end of next year

What my plan is (and correct me if I'm wrong) is the following:

Make payment plans for the larger debts (using 20% of my disposable income)

Delay the smaller ones that aren't chasing me by not contacting them yet.

Negotiate final settlement figures with the larger debts using the rest of my disposable income so try and pay off one using that method every 2-3 months. Then if one of the smaller ones come back and ask for payment then I can pay it one go?

Does this seem logical?

fermi

It's a reasonable logical approach.

Obviously, creditors or debt collectors aren't always happy with that, as they each want their money right now and don't care what else you have to pay. As long as you can take their threats and temper tantrums with a pinch of salt and stick to your plans, then it should generally work out.

If any cause particular problems or are particularly difficult, then you can post here on DFW for help.

Also the organisations here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2077631

can help you along the path if it gets rocky. NDL are good, and easy to phone up for immediate advice without an appointment.

lufc7

geek83 wrote: »

The last time I paid anything to the debts was January 2010.

Here's whats on my credit report:

Lloyds credit card £2861 - started 16/07/2003 default: 19/02/2011
Ace mail order £248 - started 10/12/2002 default: 01/10/2006
Studio mail order £430 - started 27/10/2003 default: 29/10/2006
Aktiv Kapital credit card £1059 - started 08/05/2003 default 28/11/2005
Capquest bank (i'm sure it was a credit card) £353 - started 20/03/2003 default 12/07/2006
Arrow Global (don't know who this is?) mail order could be next directory) £1133 started on 02/07/2003 defaulted on 12/05/2006
Raphael's bank - this is a weird one as it says satisfactory updated to 11/09/2011 but I don't have any credit cards though I think it might be monument looking at the amount.

I agree that unfortunately if you were hoping any were statute barred it won't be the case if it was only last year you were still paying towards them. You may though be able to discuss F+F with any that have been sent to DCA's they will make money either way I'm sure.
Also just to clarify the Raphaels bank is monument, my wife has their card on her credit report and that's how it appears, they are the bank that bought the card off barclaycard I believe.
Good luck anyway and well done for facing up to your debts and having a plan:T

geek83

lufc7 wrote: »

I agree that unfortunately if you were hoping any were statute barred it won't be the case if it was only last year you were still paying towards them. You may though be able to discuss F+F with any that have been sent to DCA's they will make money either way I'm sure.
Also just to clarify the Raphaels bank is monument, my wife has their card on her credit report and that's how it appears, they are the bank that bought the card off barclaycard I believe.
Good luck anyway and well done for facing up to your debts and having a plan:T

Hi there, I didn't even know what statute barred was till yesterday haha

Thank you for the clarification, I thought that was the case