Debt advice/court action threatened -help needed urgently

Dontpanic

I hope someone on here can give me some advice quite urgently. I split from my ex in 2000, I wont go into lots of detail, but he had put us into massive debt. I ended up separating our finances as all his wages went into paying the overdraft, fees, charges, credit cards etc. and opened my own account with HSBC. As a family of four we were then trying to live on child benefit and what I could earn with my part-time job, which was impossible, so over the last 12-18 months of marriage, I slowly sank into debt on my own account. (Amongst other things) I had an overdraft with the bank, then they gave me a consolidating loan, which in the end I was unable to make the payments on. Then my now ex ran off, left me and the kids (who were quite young at the time) high and dry, no money, mounting debts in my name and his and an eviction notice to leave the house we were living in. (I have no family who could have helped.) I muddled through, sold everything of value and raised sufficient cash to put a deposit down on a rented house in a cheaper area.

I still had an account with HSBC, which was not run very well as my ex refused to pay any regular child maintenance, which, because of his sporadic payments, meant that I struggled to claim benefits, because some months I was entitled to them and then not in others and we yo-yo'd around. I was still talking to HSBC and explained the situation, that I had virtually no income, other debts and was unable to pay and inexplicably, they stopped contacting me. I had changed bank accounts to a Think banking one and I suppose I had thought that they had written off the debt as they had realised I was not in any position to pay. This was over 6 years ago.

Over the intervening years, I have managed to pay back some of the debts I accrued in my own name, and only recently checked my credit file to see what was on there as I had successfully paid off something and wanted to see how it impacted on my file. Surprisingly, not only was there nothing saying I had paid something off satisfactorily, there was nothing on there from HSBC saying I had defaulted on the loan/o/draft. Therefore when I received a letter out of the blue from a solicitor a couple of weeks ago, asking for nearly £16,000, I was more than a little shocked. I did receive some phone calls at work and as the company I work for dislike us taking private calls at work, I hung up pretty sharply. (I have no idea where they got my number from?) They never said who the original debt was from and I was certain that what I owed was never in the region of £16K. Then today I have received a Court notification, and on it it tells me the original creditor is HSBC the debt is now nearly £25K....how can they do that?

What I would like to know is what do I do now? I am not in a position to pay them that amount and resent the escalation in the amount I owe. (I do admit I must owe them something, but I am not sure exactly what after all this time.) How can they do this all of a sudden, out of the blue - 6 years after I last spoke to someone from HSBC? and why is nothing on my credit file?

So could someone tell me what I should do/say to sort this out?

RAS

You need some urgent advice from National Debtline, CCCs or CAB as you do not have a lot of time to sort this out.

Dontpanic

I have now written to the solicitors a letter stating that the debt is over 6 years old and quoted the relevant sections of the Limitation act 1980, and the OFT guidelines....(found this letter elsewhere on the internet). I have also filled in the Court forms and will send them back, The solicitors omitted to send me the 'notes for defendant' either - just the acknowledgement of service and admission forms.... so I will post them recorded delivery tomorrow, will that be enough to halt proceedings for a while, whilst I get some professional help?

RAS

You need proper advice from NDL ior CCCs, not this forum.

The debt is more than 6 years old but according to your initial post, you paid back some of your debts after the breakdown of your marriage.

If any of these payments were in the last 6 years, the debt is NOT statute barred.

Dontpanic

This debt is nearly 10 years old and I did not make any payments to it (or even thought about it) in the intervening years. They have cleverly worded the claim by stating the date of the date I opened the bank account (Nov 1999) and not the date I stopped paying. I am as certain as I can be that i have not been in any contact at all with HSBC, not received any letters nor bank statements in at least and probably longer than 6 years.

I will get professional advice asap, but I have at least completed the form to the court and hopefully they will be reasonable? and should them deem me to be liable for this, give me some opportunity to negotiate?

Lensman_2

Have a look on the Legal Issues forum on CAG to get a feel for the process. Keep reading until you understand what "judgment by default" means.

You should then understand how easy it is to loose by failing to follow the steps needed to be taken in the time allotted.

RAS is right - please phone NDL or CCCS in the morning.

Dontpanic

No idea who this is? Sorry for ignorance.

Lensman_2

Sorry, I forgot to add a link for you.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?170-Legal-Issues
You can read threads of people defending against claims and get a good idea of what you are up against.

Although Statute Barred is a complete defence (and your debt appears to be) you need to go through the right steps at the right time to get that defence to stick.

Was this a joint debt - or in your name only?

VitaK

I cant add anything.

Found this letter requesting some usefull information.

Dontpanic

Thank you all for your swift and helpful advice - and the links.

I have abandoned the paper claim form and gone online and filed my defence online. I have completed it all and well within the 14 days allowed. Their letter was dated 26Oct and they allow 5 days which means today is day 1 of the countdown.

If all else fails, should I go Bankrupt?

And yes, this debt is in my name (as are any others I have and am paying). I forced my ex to take ownership of his debts and as far as I know he has either paid, or is still paying them off.

Lensman_2

You have entered your defence, so you are past the point of no return as far as I can help you.

You can post up a thread on CAG to have your strategy checked and I highly recommend you do so.

Good luck with it.

P.S. Park the bankruptcy thoughts. If you are lucky, this is indeed SB, they will not spring any surprise £1 payments from 2009 on you and you will have a good judge. No need to worry until judgment is entered. If you loose, judgment and costs can go in your BR.