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CH1NNV

sourcrates wrote: »

Statute barred is a full defence to any action and would be easier to prove than your original defence would of been.

Your choice, but I would go with the statute barred option.

Thanks @Soutcrates

The only thing that makes me think it might fail on the statue barred is if this debt has been purchased by another company, no matter how old the original debt was?

The reason for the confusion here is where it says contract dated on or about 01 Mar 2007, assigned to the Claimant on Sep 24 2015.

My thinking is surely it's from 2007, as a debt could simply get "sold" to another company in theory every 5 years and never be statute barred?

CH1NNV

sourcrates wrote: »

Selling the debt has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on when an account becomes statute barred.

Six years from the last payment or written acknowledgement, a debt will become statute barred in England and Wales, regardless of how many times it's sold or assigned.

Thank you so much for your help - I really do appreciate it. Can respond to the claim online it seems so I'll do that now with a Statute Barred template.

StepChange_Private_Messages

CH1NNV wrote: »

I've received a letter last week from Northampton County Court regarding a debt with Capital One from 2007.

This has the N9A/N9B forms etc. I had a solicitors letter a couple of months ago which I put to one side to do something with later, as it said Capital One and this debt was settled back in 2007/08 - so presumed it was a clerical error. I have nothing to prove this - the full outstanding balance was paid by my Mum back then and I paid her back - Mum died in 2009 so I have nothing of hers I am able to show this was paid in full.

I think I have a 5 more days to respond to this but I don't know how to approach it - its for £1750 (now just over £1900 with fees), and I can only dream of having that sort of money lying around (however I wouldn't pay it as it was 100% paid 8 or 9 years ago) - and I'm trying to get my money in shape at the moment and really don't want this to set me back.

I've read about debts being statute barred, but why would a court allow a statute barred debt to even be chased - it says on the claim form:

Claimant claims payment of overdue balance due from the Defendant under a contract between the defendant and Capital One dated on or about Mar 01 2007 and assigned to the Claimant on Sep 24 2015.

£1740.36, total amount with fees £1925.36.

Does anyone have any advise they can offer on this please?

Many thanks in advance

Hi there

Thanks for your message and welcome to the forum.

It's important to respond to the claim that you have received in the allocated time, as failure to do so will see a decision made without your input, most likely resulting an a judgement for you to pay in full (judgement in default).

From what you describe, you have the option to respond with a defence (N9B). You could defend the claim on the basis that you have already paid the debt in full. There is no reason that a claim should be brought against a person for a debt that they have already paid. The only reason I can assume this is happening is that the creditor has no record of the debt having been paid and so they have filed a claim against you.

If you go down this route, at some stage, both yourself and the creditor would be asked to show evidence to support your argument. For the creditor this would be a case of showing the payments they have received and the outstanding balance.

For yourself, this could be harder given the time that has passed. You could contact the person who handled your mother's estate on her passing, they may have access to some of her financial records. You could contact the bank that she was with to ask for any information that showed when and how the payment was made. I appreciate this could be difficult to source, but these are just ideas of where to look for proof of payment.

The court will allow any creditor to file a claim for any debt even if the limitation period (statute barred time) has passed. There is nothing to stop a creditor making a claim against someone for an old debt. It would be up to the person defend the claim if they feel that there are relevant grounds to do so.

As you are probably aware, you are able to declare a debt as statue barred when the limitation period relevant to the debt has passed. In this case the time period is six years and it would start from whichever of the following is most recent:

· Earliest date the creditor could take court action to recover the full amount (default)
· Date of last payment
· Date of last written acknowledgement

So, if six years (or more) has passed since all of these points, the debt will be statute barred. At this point, the Limitation Act provides an absolute defence against any court action.

This means if a creditor begins a claim after the end of the limitation period, you can stop them using the defence that the debt is statute-barred.

We're not legal experts so I can't advise on the likely success of either route. All I can do is advise that you respond to the claim in time in whichever way you feel is most appropriate for the situation.

I hope this helps.
Richard

CH1NNV

Thank you Richard for the comprehensive reply, really helpful. I've submitted the defence with a "statute barred" template online now.

My sister and I both took care of Mum's estate after she died but anything financial was shredded a couple of years ago. Didn't anticipate this cropping up! The debt was settled it hasn't been on my credit report for several years and I have copies of this. Other than that it might be difficult to get any evidence of the payment as I don't have records of Mum's old accounts anymore.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

changeforbetter

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me advice about what to do (or usual practice) about adding ad-hoc payments in a DMP.

I understand that if I had a permanent change of income, then I could change my regular size of monthly payment, but unfortunately any extra cash I have is always temporary (partly being due to short term contract work).

I may like to add to my DMP payments (would love to reduce my debt faster) but not really alter it fundamentally as I can't afford to do that permanently.

Is there usually a way to add to the payments, without altering the basic DMP?

Many thanks for any advice.

Joanna_jinxed

Hi all

Quick introduction. I got myself in to a lot of debt after graduating from uni and I've now reached crisis point after struggling for the better part of two years. I work full-time, and I own my home with my husband outright (due to a death in his family, he bought it with joint ownership shortly before we married) so no mortgage to worry about. I feel so ashamed that I got myself in this situation - I've been hiding how much trouble I'm in from my husband and it's really taking it's toll on our relationship.

In total, I owe 23,410. . I owe 16,300 in unsecured personal loans, 6,910 in credit card debt and 2000 on my overdraft. I have a hire purchase on my car which costs me £142 a month, but my car is an essential to my job (which involves a bit of travelling between hospital sites). I've not reached a point where I have £250 a month after all my bills are paid and I cannot survive on it any more. I don't want to get in to the payday loan spiral and I need to do something to get my payments in to one affordable lump. I've been looking at my options but I'm honesty baffled by what is best to choose. IVA? Debt Management Plan? Bankruptcy?

Any help and advice would be very gratefully received.

CH1NNV

Hi Joanna, I'm sorry I have no experience to help you out here (but I know it will not be long before someone in this thread comes back to you - I was helped out really quickly), but I just want to say you will get this sorted.
But my personal thought right now, would be to try and talk to your husband sooner rather than later if you feel able to.
I'm sure he'll be more understanding than you think, obviously if you feel it's not the right time yet (is there ever a right time?) then just think about how you'll broach the subject.
I just wanted to wish you the best. It feels horrible right now but within a couple of paydays time I'm sure you'll already be seeing a difference with the advice people here will offer you. Keep smiling, behind every cloud is a blue sky.

Joanna_jinxed

Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm actually having a little cry at my laptop because I've been burying my head in the sand for so long and thinking I could cope when clearly it was just getting worse and worse. I know my husband will be understanding, he's a good man. He's so sensible with money and I've just been so ashamed as I feel like at this point in my life and career I should have it more together - I have a good job, and I've never missed a payment, but trying to live on £200 a month is just not do-able any more.

CH1NNV

I'm pleased to hear your husband is supportive, it's nothing to be ashamed of although I know that's no help to you.

The same goes through my head every day, I should have a comfortable life by now and my own place, Mum died 7 years ago leaving me at 25 years old with enough money to put a healthy deposit on a house and probably furnish it throughout with some change, but I lost everything.

So I certainly know how you feel when you say you think you should have it all together by now - I'm still having money troubles now but know I will get through it, and you will as well.

It's good to have a cry as well, no harm in that whatsoever. You're tackling it now and that's the main thing, the hardest thing I find is doing income/expenditures and not letting people twist me into paying more than I can afford so you may have that to come but I can see there's some really good people here willing to help and you're on the right path now.

I've probably derailed the thread slightly; but do wish you the very best.

sourcrates

Guys, ladies, just as a "heads up" this is the stepchange debt advisors thread.

Please feel free to post in the general forum if your looking for general advice, then others can reply to you.