advice needed, old debt and getting letters!

lurchy

Hi all , happy new year 1st....
wife had a letter today from Lowell financial , they seem to think the wife owes them £462 from a store card from about 6 years ago, and are threatening to send it to a collection agency.
Wife is 99.99999% sure she paid it off , but has no paperwork to prove such , nearly all her payments were cash into barclays. With no proof we are a bit stuck in how we move now. Have contacted lowells and they have put the account on hold till they look into it , could be 3 to 4 weeks.
Odd thing is this is the first contact wife has had regarding this alleged debt , seems a bit odd it turns up now years later .

Can anyone help , or have had a similar case.. many thanks Rich .

camuk81

Ah the statue of limitations, send them a prove it.

camuk81

Let me just explain that.

Your wife is being chased as the debt has nearly reached the end of its life known as the statue of limitations. After 6 years they cannot chase a debt. Send a letter recorded delivery getting them to prove that you actually owe them the money. once you send a letter that says prove the debt they must come back and confirm you actually owe the momey

lurchy

thought this might be one route worth trying. Have been looking for a template , as they often are very legal sounding , a lot more convincing than i could ever sound....

camuk81

Dittom can't find one yet but will pop a link on if I can find one, I know they are all over the shop here!

fermi

If you dispute that the debt is still owed, and think it would be statute barred even if it was, then the letter in post number 5 here might be useful.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/34906257#Comment_34906257

camuk81

Or if under 6 years from another of fermi great posts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3702443

lurchy

thanks all , will get a letter off and see where that gets us. thanks Rich

lurchy

update on this saga.
Had a letter back off them today saying that they have been in contact with origional lender/card issuer. They have said they have no records of any repayments being made. The account will be put on hold for 28 days then they will procede with collection. If they have no records of payment and my mrs says she is sure she payed it years ago, we are kind of stalemate now ??????
Should i still ask for proof of debt?
Is this statute barred , i have no idea as we have no records and neither do they . confused??

lurchy

update folks !!!
We sent a 'prove it ' letter which lowell recieved on 27th jan . Had another letter back today,they now say that they last had contact from us with a letter 'we ' sent in October 2006.neither of us can recall sending any such letter . The wife is certain it was paid off before this date.
They have not given any proof of this letter , only their say so.
lowells also mention us contacting them by return letter in January this year, does this count as ending any time limit regarding statute barred?
Question is , we asked for proof and they only give the origional debt company word for it, no photo copy etc.
Long and short of this recent letter is they say they have word of some proof and account is still going back to collections as previous date...

Dont know what to do now , any ideas folks, bit stuck now???????

fermi

Just need to find a letter.....