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from the office of fair trading

3.15 The OFT position with regard to the recovery of statute barred debt is:

a. we accept that the situation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is that statute barred debt still exists and is therefore recoverable. However, in Scotland, statute barred debt is 'extinguished' and is consequently no longer recoverable

b. where businesses seek to recover statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, we consider that the following may be unfair or improper practices:

(i) pursuing the debt under circumstances in which the debtor has heard nothing from a creditor during the relevant limitation period. 58 If a creditor has been in regular contact with a debtor before the debt is statute barred, then we do not consider it unfair to continue to attempt to recover the debt

(ii) misleading debtors as to their rights and obligations

For example, stating or implying that debtors may be the subject of court action for the sum of the statute barred debt when it is known,
or reasonably ought to be known, that the relevant limitation period has expired.

The person seeking to recover the debt would effectively be relying on the debtor not knowing the relevant legal provisions.

(iii) continuing to press a debtor for payment after he has stated that he will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred

c. where businesses seek to recover debt that they know, or reasonably ought to know, is extinguished, we would be very likely to consider this an unfair or improper practice which calls fitness to hold a consumer credit licence into question.