4 year old debt - to pay or not to pay?

kev11_2

I have around £5,000 of debt that I racked up during University (2 bank accounts & a credit card) they were defaulted due to non-payments and show clearly on my credit report. I have ignored demands for payment over the past 4 years - the debt has been sold on to other random debt companies who occasionally try making contact via phone or send a letter, but have never taken the county court action they began threatening 4 years back.

My question is, I have recently come into some money and am wondering if paying these debts off will come at a cost to my credit file. I am older and more mature now and always pay things off (except for the above accounts) and I want rid of these bad credit records as soon as possible. The credit records are deleted automatically after 6 years from the last date of activity - so if I take one of these bank accounts defaulted on 16/4/07 the record will be wiped on 16/4/13 so around 16 months from now. If I was to pay off the above debts now, they will be updated and marked as satisfied, so does that then mean the satisifaction date will be recorded and the record will remain for another 6 years from now? Is it better to pay it off but risk it being on file until 2017, or to ride it out for another 16 months where it will be automatically deleted? Or will it still be wiped 6 years from the default date regardless of me paying it off now? I know there's the risk of them taking court action in the next 16 months, however I have the money to pay so if they were to do this I would pay the entire debt in full within a month avoiding the CCJ.

Anyone experienced this/know what's best?

McKneff

The default drops off your credit file 6 years after the default, not six years from the settlment.

Swans1912

At a simple level... you owe the money so the correct thing to do is to pay it off. Do it while you can and then you don't have it hanging over your head - have a fresh clean start.

kev11_2

wow - that was a quick response. Many thanks for this, that's all I needed to know really - I'm happy to pay it off, I just wasn't sure whether it would remain on my credit file for a further 6 years if I paid now and created activity to the record. It's from date of default still which is good - so time to pay and finally be debt free

Thanks again

[Deleted User]

make them an offer for 50% of the debt see what they say,after 4 years they may well be happy to accept