In need of some advice

STUDENTMW

Hello all!

I am new to MSE and am seeking some much needed advice.

I am currently in approximately £30,000 of Debt, most of which I have defaulted on.

My main concern is a debt which is currently standing at £18,000.

This particular debt started off as a Halifax current account which I opened when I was 18/19 years old (2007). I made one or two payments from my wages into this account but never really paid anything else into it.

I one day logged on to my online banking to discover that I had been offered a £10,000 overdraft, a few clicks later and the overdraft was available - being young and stupid, I spent my overdraft on moving into a house and buying myself a car.


Now, many years later after much maturity and burying my head in the sand, I need to sort out my debts.

I started by opening an equifax account to see how much debt I was actually in - to my disbelief, my debt with Halifax because of the overdraft is £18,000.

I have contacted Halifax whom have confirmed that the charges added onto my account were "fair" and are now looking into why I was offered so much of an overdraft in the first place.

I understand that at the time I was an irresponsible borrower and have already been attacked with these comments in another thread so please could comments be constructive and helpful.

Many thanks in advance

Tixy

Hi and welcome

To start
How old is the debt?
How long since you originally borrowed the overdraft money?

What default date is shown on your equifax credit report?

STUDENTMW

Hi Tixy! Thank you for your reply!

The account was opened on the 16/4/2007 and the overdraft applied about one month later.

The default date shown on equifax is 15/09/2008

Tixy

Ok. Well timing on this could be critical. Have you heard of statute barred debts or the limitation act?

Debts become statute barred after 6years if you pay nothing towards them and do not write to admit you owe the money, and if they creditor doesn't take court action against you (its 5years in Scotland so say if you live in Scotland).

Once a debt is statute barred you do not have to repay it and your creditor cannot take court action against you.

With overdrafts the relevant date for counting the 6 years from is slightly more complex and may be the date the overdraft was officially recalled (that it you were formally asked to repay it).

Can you remember or check statements to see when you last used the bank account at all? Do you have any paperwork still? can you tell when the overdraft was recalled?

STUDENTMW

Tixy wrote: »

Ok. Well timing on this could be critical. Have you heard of statute barred debts or the limitation act?

Debts become statute barred after 6years if you pay nothing towards them and do not write to admit you owe the money, and if they creditor doesn't take court action against you (its 5years in Scotland so say if you live in Scotland).

Once a debt is statute barred you do not have to repay it and your creditor cannot take court action against you.

With overdrafts the relevant date for counting the 6 years from is slightly more complex and may be the date the overdraft was officially recalled (that it you were formally asked to repay it).

Can you remember or check statements to see when you last used the bank account at all? Do you have any paperwork still? can you tell when the overdraft was recalled?

The account was last used in late 2007 and was sent to a debt collection agency in mid 2008 i believe - I may have some paperwork in my folder but this is doubtful.

When the debt went to the agency, I agreed to pay £50 a month however, lost my job and could no longer afford the repayments.

I have never heard of the statute barred debts or limitation act. If this was avoided for another year, would this still be shown on my credit report?

I would like to try and start making repayments but am not willing to do so when the overdraft is standing at £8,000 above the £10,000 limit x

Tixy

The debt will stay on your credit file for 6 years from the default date shown on file. At that point it will drop off your file regardless of paid/partpaid/unpaid.

When you agreed to the £50 payment - was that in writing? or by phone? Did you ever make any of those £50 payments and if so when?

STUDENTMW

This was agreed over the telephone, nothing was ever sent to me in writing. I may have made one or two payments before losing my job.

opinions4u

STUDENTMW wrote: »

This was agreed over the telephone, nothing was ever sent to me in writing. I may have made one or two payments before losing my job.

Did you or didn't you?

If you did, when was this?

That should help people to help you.

fermi

STUDENTMW wrote: »

I have never heard of the statute barred debts or limitation act. If this was avoided for another year, would this still be shown on my credit report?

See the info and factsheets here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=34905073&postcount=1