Playing With Debt Collection Agencies

Nickyboy2d

Hi I'll keep this as brief as possible. I'm a fairly level headed mature student however in my younger days I was given loans and credit cards at the drop of a hat. My debts are around £40,000. Most of my debt is with the Halifax and Bank of Scotland although have smaller debts with Barclaycard and MBNA. Now to my knowledge all these debts are getting passed from pillar to post and to be honest I have no idea who holds what debt. Letters and phonecalls are a twice weekly occurance.

I am wanting to tackle these debts at the latter part of the year head on but was wondering if any experts can shed any light on what to do. And if i'm taking the right direction.

1) I need to get a credit report and know that i will be rock bottom
2) Find out who actually owns my debt
but
3) is my most important query. Do DCA's actually legally own the debt. Say I had a £5,000 credit card with the Halifax. Has the Halifax officially written this off when they pass to a DCA? Does the DCA buy this for say 5% of the debt i.e.£250 in this example? Does the DCA have all original paperwork of the original contract.? And can I find out how much they bought the debt for ?
4) I have on the whole ignored these debts since summer of 2009 . What is Statute Barred and does this mean my debts will be written off in say 5 years.

Any advice help would be appreciated. I really want to write to a DCA and say hey you bought my £5000 debt for £250. Lets call it quits and I'll give you £275 haha.

Tixy

Getting copies of your credit files will confirm or provide your current address - this can lead to an increase in chasing from debt collectors etc.

Sometimes a debt collector is collecting on behalf of the original creditor and sometimes the debt is actually sold to a debt collector.

The debt collector should be able to provide all information and paperwork on the debt. You are not entitled to know how much the debt has been sold for. In practice debts are sold in large bundles for an agreed price, not with an attributable amount for each debt.

Regarding statute barred debts - a debt becomes statute barred if there is a period of 6years where you do not pay the creditor or a debt collector, do not write to acknowledge that you owe the debt and only if they don't take court action against you in that time.
When a debt becomes statute barred it is not written off, it still legally exists, but you cannot be forced to pay and it cannot be enforced against you legally.

If you last paid in 09 then there is still plenty of time for creditors or debt collectors to commence court proceedings against you. Given the level of your debts it seems unlikely that none would take court action before they became SB.

Its possible to offer reduced full & final settlements to debt collectors, and they will often accept (although probably not at £275 for a £5000 debt).

inamess1985

when a debt gets officially sold on, the original debt (your debt) with the bank is extinguished, the DCA bought the debt therefore paying it, and as you have no contract with them saying you will repay them id say stuff um, your original debt and contract of agreement was with the bank and they can't just sell the agreement over without your signature

DevCoder

inamess1985 wrote: »

when a debt gets officially sold on, the original debt (your debt) with the bank is extinguished, the DCA bought the debt therefore paying it, and as you have no contract with them saying you will repay them id say stuff um, your original debt and contract of agreement was with the bank and they can't just sell the agreement over without your signature

Care to quote the law that states that?

They can sell (and this debt can be resold time and time again) to anyone they want.

The debt may also not be sold in this case but a DCA might be acting on behalf of the bank.

Tixy

inamess1985 wrote: »

when a debt gets officially sold on, the original debt (your debt) with the bank is extinguished, the DCA bought the debt therefore paying it, and as you have no contract with them saying you will repay them id say stuff um, your original debt and contract of agreement was with the bank and they can't just sell the agreement over without your signature

The original terms & conditions with the bank, that the debtor agreed to, includes that they may assign the debt.
Saying 'stuff um' to the debt collection agencies on this basis is very poor advice.

ValHaller

inamess1985 wrote: »

when a debt gets officially sold on, the original debt (your debt) with the bank is extinguished, the DCA bought the debt therefore paying it, and as you have no contract with them saying you will repay them id say stuff um, your original debt and contract of agreement was with the bank and they can't just sell the agreement over without your signature

Absolutely. BUT the law being an asre (form of donkey), the courts take the opposite view and would slap a CCJ if that was the only argument anyone tried to use. And being bigger asses, the Credit Referencing Agencies will record your CCJ. So unless you are offering certificates of absolution which will annul CCJ's and cancel adverse entries in credit records or your audience don't mind CCJ's and adverse entries in their credit records there is not a lot of mileage in the argument.

eyeopener2

You have to fight them with the law. Unenforceable debts, statute barred debts is the way to nail the blood suckers.

Saying stuff them will end up with a ccj and a lot of hassle.

fatbelly

Have you considered bankruptcy and a clean start?