Old Barclaycard debt - HELP PLEASE!!!

Freeland

Hi,

I have woken up to a letter from Scotcall Limited today asking me to pay off a debt for £1075 for an old Barclay card debt. This is a debt i had forgotten about from my student days.

I have spoken to them on the phone and they said they have recently recieved the debt from Cabot formerly Barclaycard.

The debt is from 2005! I have never heard from them about it until now. Apparently The original debt was £750, i have asked them to look at reducing the balance to the original amount due to me never being contacted until now...they are going to call me back.

With the debt being so old do i still need to pay it? Ive never heard from them and id forgotten about it!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated! Worse case scenario is that i pay it off at £20 per month as its all i can afford.

Thank you in advance!

fermi

From 2005 you say?

When did you last make a payment or write to Barclaycard formally acknowledging the debt?

If that is more than 6 years ago (5 in Scotland) then debt could well be statute barred.

Freeland

Hi thank you for your reply!

They said that i made an initial payment back in 2005 / 2006 with the original debt company but they couldnt give me a specific date. Then i told them that i want them to look at a settlement fee or reducing the debt to the original amount and they said they can look in to it if i make a initial payment now. So i paid them £20.

Still waiting to hear back from them.

pauletruth

congrats you have been had. your debt was either statute barred or very nearly there. as you have made a payment then they are going to chase you for it all. if the debt was statute barred then you must find the last date paid and then inform them that it is. you won't have to pay it if it is and as it is over 6 years then it won't impact your credit.
if its not barred they can start all pressure and threats again.
in future don't admit the debt or pay them untill you know the details.

DVardysShadow

Freeland wrote: »

So i paid them £20.

And bought yourself a further 6 years of them chasing the debt and an opportunity to defend yourself in court if you are lucky enough for them to go for a ccj.

You have to hope now that they cannot prove a payment after 12 December 2005, in which case you may still be able to prove that the debt was Statute barred. But you have made the hill you must climb immeasurably harder, because they will now think that you are a soft touch.

Freeland

Thank you for the replies. Gutted to hear that they've 'had me' so to speak. I cant even remember the debt and i thought id cleared most of my debt from my student days.

They've not been back in touch yet, should i contact them and ask for proof of the initial payment back in 2005? I think they might be lying about that payment as they said 2005/2006...surely that cant be legal? the only reason i paid the £20 on this call was to stop any further action until they looked in to the original dates of the debt.

Should i just wait for them to get back in touch? whats the best course of action?

Again thank you for the advice!

fatbelly

Freeland wrote: »

They said that i made an initial payment back in 2005 / 2006 with the original debt company but they couldnt give me a specific date.

So what happened there was that the drone looked at his screen and saw a date that was before 12 December 2005. If he had told you the date you could have responded 'then it's Statute Barred'. So he vaguely said 'umm, back in 2005 / 2006 sometime - can you make a payment?'

Fortunately if there has been a six-year period without acknowledgement of the debt, then the right of action is barred and cannot be reactivated.

Limitation act 1980 29(7)

a current period of limitation may be repeatedly extended under this section by further acknowledgments or payments, but a right of action, once barred by this Act, shall not be revived by any subsequent acknowledgment or payment.

so you can send the letter in post 6 of this link:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2606811

Freeland

Thank you so much for the advice! Ill do that if they get back in touch.

Does it matter that i have paid the £20 on the last call? I was kind of tricked in to paying it?