How do I go about this?

busdriver1

I have a fairly large amount of debt (that has been brushed under the carpet so to speak), with creditors who we just ignored any reminders etc, and some who I had a short relationship with, and then thought 'stuff it, I can't be bothered to pay them anymore, if you get the drift.
But it has come to a time now where I am fearfull of any brown envelopes that come in the post.
Some of my creditors I can't remember, some I don't know how much I owe, some have been passed to numerous debt collection agencies etc.
Top and Bottom of it is what is it best for me to do, open the can of worms again, or just tackle debt collection as and when it occurs, you here about PPI claims and that, I must be owed at least some money, but again if I was to reclaim PPI would it open the dreaded worm can.
Can anyone advise me please?

Freshstart2012

Hi

I suppose it all depends on the type of person you are. I'm not the type of person who likes to live always looking over their shoulder, I would rather be the one in charge

If it was me I would write to the three credit reference agencies and request a copy of your credit report. You can then see who you owe money to and either start to repay them or not, at least you will know how much you owe and who to.

You could then set up a DMP or make an offer of repayment yourself. If you haven't made any payments for 6 years to the debts then that's a whole new ball game, you can do as I say or choose not to pay them.

Good luck whatever you decide, I'm sure a more knowledgeable person will be along shortly.

TakingControl

Get your stat. credit report (the £2 one) from all 3 agencies however be aware that ceditors might contact you again after you do so. This should show you who you own too and if you have defaults and any CCJ registered against you. You can do this online by the way.

If you haven't acknowledged or paid towards a debt for 6 years (5 years in Scotland), it should be statue barred and although you can still be contacted about paying, a creditor can't enforce this in court. Be aware a CCJ makes a debt non statue barred.

Once you have all the info, post a SOA here with all debts and incoming/outgoings and see if you can serve the debt without the need of a DMP or the likes

Little_Miss_Uni-Debt

Start opening post. Get a tray, box or folder and just start gathering all bills up from everywhere you can think of. Get into the habit of separating junk & envelopes (into the bin) from actual important letters.

If you start to find you've got hundreds of letters for the same account, keep the most recent 1 or 2 (ensure to shred the rest)

Sign up to Noddle.co.uk (free & instant credit reports) they should give you an indication of what accounts are still open and a rough balance. The balances aren't always spot on but they're usually just a month or two behind the real balance.

I would also bear in mind that any debt you haven't made a payment to for 6 years+ is statute barred (i.e they can't enforce the debt)

If you have any debts that are getting close to that 6 year mark since last payment, don't start making payments to them now as this will make the debt enforceable again.

Still you DO want to know what your situation is.

Also be aware that there have been some cases where people start to look at their credit reports and mysteriously old debts start to contact them again - I don't know if credit report companies are sharing information but it has been heard of.

Don't just say 'stuff it', it really does feel better to start clearing things down.

Over the course of a few weeks to a month, you should start to get an idea of the total that you owe. Once you have your total amount owed & know the interest rates etc, you can post your SOA (budget sheet) up here for further advice.

Then you can start considering re-claiming PPI, sending off statute barred letters and officially reducing down what you need to pay back.