old debts resold and re aged

daikomyo

Hi I have recently been contacted by post and phone, by a debt collection agency, Cabot, concerning a debt I have from 2004. I had gone to live in Europe and wrongly , ignored the debt. Cabot say they have recently bought this old debt . I thought that I could statute bar it as it`s so old. However I phoned a debt advisory agency and they say that it doesn1t matter how old it is , if it`s sold on the time stats then. I know I have done the wrong thing by leaving it all these years , it has been a lesson hard learnt. I also checked and there are no ccjs against my name. Does anyone know if this old debt can be statute barred?

stephane_2

As far as I know is that if you have not acknowledge the debt been yours & have not made any payments towards the debt for the last 6 years then it is statute barred....unless someone come with a different answer.

tonybee1

How long can a creditor chase a debt?

This is dependent on the type of debt you have. The most common form of debt which people ask about in our forum is unsecured debts eg credit cards, personal loans, store cards, catalogues, bank loans, finance company loans etc. The Limitations Act 1980 states that when the following conditions are met then the debt cannot be pursue through the courts.

That the creditor has not taken court action against you, eg CCJ, AND
You have not made any payments on the debt over the last 6 years,AND
During the years, you haven't written to the creditor acknowledging that owe them money.
As you can see all three conditions must be met in order for the debt to be "time barred". So the answer to the above question is 6 years.

tonybee1

Meant to add the link..........

http://www.debtwatchdog.com/statute-barred-debt-england-and-wales-Article-215.html

tonybee1

You will find a template here for Out of date letters..

http://www.cleardebt.co.uk/debt-advice/downloadable-debt-help-guides/out-of-date-debt/

daikomyo

Thank you so much to all the replying people. The debt was a credit card debt. The last time I made a payment to them was 2003. I have not contacted then since. The question I have is that I spoke to a Debt advisory person to ask if they could still chase it. She said that the agency who have bought it can re start the debt timeline from the date they bought it. I di try to check online and this is called re aging the debt, I think and it is illegal. The timeline should run from the last contact of the debtor. Ia m confused I must admit. I am quite ready to send a statute barred letter to them , but just am uncertain as to this re aging issue.

Enterprise_1701C

I would be very surprised if they could start the timeline again, or they could keep debts going forever! It would appear that the debt has been sold AFTER it became statute barred. This is not advice, but if I were in your shoes I would send a statute barred letter to the ORIGINAL creditor and copy it to the company that has bought the debt.

I would love to know where you got the advice from about the time being re-started though - was it in the UK or in Europe? The rules may be slightly different.

I wouild say here I am not a professional, just someone that has had to deal with things like this in the past, the above is simply what I would do. Do you currently live in the UK?

Mrs_Arcanum

daikomyo wrote: »

Thank you so much to all the replying people. The debt was a credit card debt. The last time I made a payment to them was 2003. I have not contacted then since. The question I have is that I spoke to a Debt advisory person to ask if they could still chase it. She said that the agency who have bought it can re start the debt timeline from the date they bought it. I di try to check online and this is called re aging the debt, I think and it is illegal. The timeline should run from the last contact of the debtor. Ia m confused I must admit. I am quite ready to send a statute barred letter to them , but just am uncertain as to this re aging issue.

Very odd advice. Sounds like one of those fee/interest charging debt advisors looking to make money.

dzug1

'Statute barred' means they cannot enforce the debt through the courts. They can still chase you for it (short of harrassment) though clearly there's a limited extent that it is worthwhile for them to do.

ILW

Why not just pay it?

You admit you owe the money.

lisyloo

I'm just wondering on the morals on this.
I'm not being judgmental about the OP as we know little about the situation, but in general is it morally OK just to walk away from a debt simply because you can?