Santander current account default passing 6 years

Wilcouk

Hi there,

i need advice/help on a default i have with Santander....

back in 2005 i held an Santander current account but earning £800 and being constantly swallowed in a £1,000 overdraft and no help from the bank except to increase my overdraft so i can incur their charges and well generally live, i decided i had to start a new and fresh and away from the bank, so i left them and went with Natwest, Santander obviously not very happy with my decision not to be in debt to them and their negligent banking defaulted my account in April 2007 of a balance of £600.

It has never been passed onto any Debt recovery agents and always stayed within the bank themselves, I have had numerous phone calls to them within these years and asked for settlements of the account i.e part payment to settle but they never accepted until as of very recently where they accepted £250 settlement, i never made anything in writing to them, just phone calls.

my question is... it's almost 6 years in April 2013 (05/04/2007 is when they registered the default) if i just leave this and not pay anything (i.e the settlement of £250) till April 2013, is the debt now statute barred? can they do anything to get this back? bearing in mind i havent really heard ANYTHING from them unless i contacted them myself.

Tixy

The default date is not the relevant date for when a debt becomes statute barred.

The relevant date for starting the 6 year period can be a bit harder to determine with overdrafts than other debts but would likely be the date they formally recalled the overdraft. Although if you made any payments in or out of the account after that date then it could be the date of the last transaction that was caused by you (i.e not just them taking out their fees).

Thats assuming that they don't commence court action before it becomes statute barred that is (which is probably unlikely, but certainly possible).

Wilcouk

the debt itself is no longer in "overdraft" as in a current account and i can still use it, it's an actual "default" registered on my account, I believe the last payment into the account was back in 2006 when i commenced a bank charges refund but not really me personally paying into the account at all, more them paying themselves, i left the account at £600.

they never made any motion for me to pay them, more me wanting to get it off my credit report and making phone calls to them, they also never up untill now ever accepted a partial payment to clear the account off... i have on numerous occasions asked if i could pay half the sum of £300 to clear it off, it was rejected, now my new offer of £250 was accepted funnily enough near the anniversary date of 6 years, not a mere coincidence surely?

Tixy

Quite likely not a coincidence no. If its soon coming up to being statute barred then they are likely to want to get you to pay something. Equally if its recently become statute barred then they may well be thinking better to get a payment of half now before the debtor realises they don't have to pay.

If you do want to do a full & final settlment offer then you need it in writing from them first that your payment will be in full & final settlement of the debt and that it won't be sold on to any other party - if you don't get that and just pay over the phone then you will likely still be liable and chased for the remainder of the debt.

Wilcouk

So what would you suggest going forward? if it's a debt that is now 6 years, should i just now not pay them, wait for the default to fall off my account and be happy they can no longer frustrate me?

Tixy

If you were certain the debt was statute barred - I would send the statute barred letter to state that you believe it is SB, do not intend to pay and to say they must stop chasing you for it, see here Statute barred debts and the Limitation Acts

If you are not certain its SB yet then I wouldn't send that letter.

If you are unsure you could wait until you are certain it would be SB perhaps in a few months or whenever.