Old Debt Repayment Questions

Blaz

Long story short - I was young and silly and took out a loan for £2000 back in 2004 not even realising what APR or interest even meant. In short Welcome Finance saw me coming and pounced! The loan was a joint loan in mine and my ex girlfriends names. We split up and shock horror she moved back to Northern Ireland and stopped paying. I tried to be the good one and kept paying my half of the debt, while they kept telling me theyd keep chasing my x for her half. After a while I asked for a statement to actually find out what we owed thinking itd be around £2300 with interest, i was very wrong and SICK to discover it was actually £6000+

Anyway after a few years of me paying and them quite happy to harass me for money and not my X, i had enough and said im not paying any more until you make my x start paying. That was around 2007.

Fast forward to right now, i stuck to my word and stopped paying. The threatened me with court etc but nothing happened and they eventually couldnt contact me anymore as id moved around a bit. Anyway my dad has started receiving letters from a debt collector for me, he's contacted them and said i dont live there and thats it.

I checked a credit report a couple of years ago and there was no mention of the loan being taken out in 2004 (too long ago?). There was a default in 2007 thats it but that should be gone by now.

So my questions are -
1) As its been nearly 10 years since I took this loan out, am I still required to pay it back? They mentioned court action in a recent letter but a guy from experian told me that after 6 years they cant do anything.

2) Can they still add defaults to credit report after all this time or are they only allowed to do it for x amount of years etc.

Tixy

They are not allowed to add another default to your credit file once the first default has dropped off. If a debt collector does this you need to complain to get it removed.

If there has been a period of 6 years where neither you or ex paid anything towards the debt and didn't write to acknowledge you owe the money and if they didn't take court action within those 6 years then the debt becomes statute barred.
That means that whilst it still exists they can no longer take court action against you (or if they try you would use the fact that it is statute barred as your defence against a CCJ being granted).

Info here - Statute barred debts and the Limitation Acts

Blaz

Ive just checked and I made a payment to Lewis Debt recovery Nov 2009 .. so it would be 6 years from that date?

Tixy

Blaz wrote: »

Ive just checked and I made a payment to Lewis Debt recovery Nov 2009 .. so it would be 6 years from that date?

Yes, providing your ex hasn't/doesn't pay anything towards it in the meantime, and providing they don't commence court action against you before Novemer 2015.

If they do take court action and obtain a CCJ against you then this would then appear on your credit file for a further 6years (unless you can afford to pay off in full within 1 month of the judgement).

One thing to look out for - there is an increasing trend in debt collection tactics for a debt collector to add a new recent incorrect default to your credit file, whilst you can argue to get this removed this then makes contact with them and they then start chasing you for payment etc again before the debt becomes statute barred.

Blaz

Thank you so much Tixy! At least I know where I stand now, if they do keep chasing then I suppose they will have to come up with proof before I start making payments. The sad truth is I wanted to settle this years ago, and asked them to split the debt in two, so i wouldnt be liable for my x girlfriends half but they werent interested. Thanks again very useful information!

SammenForLivet2

Blaz wrote: »

Thank you so much Tixy! At least I know where I stand now, if they do keep chasing then I suppose they will have to come up with proof before I start making payments. The sad truth is I wanted to settle this years ago, and asked them to split the debt in two, so i wouldnt be liable for my x girlfriends half but they werent interested. Thanks again very useful information!

I'm afraid to say, that they where right, when they did not want to separate the loan into half.

You are JOINTLY liable for the full amount of the loan, and while it may feel unfair, if one of you fails to make payments (in this case, your 'X') - then the other person is liable for servicing (re-paying) the full loan.

This said, I do think that they should make it more clear when running joint applications, that you're both liable for the full amount of the advance/loan.

Blaz

Like I mentioned earlier theyve recently been in touch, Lewis Debt Recovery passed it onto Lowell Financial, Lowell have passed it onto Fredrickson International and I have someone called Bryan Carter Solicitors threatening with court. My dad rang them and said i dont live there (which is the truth). It was Lewis i made the payment to in 2009 ... wonder if i deny the debt would they be able to find proof ... since this debt has been passed around so much.

As my dad rang them and told them i dont live there ... they said no more letters will be sent etc. This mean im in the clear for now?

Tixy

They will likely try to trace you through your credit file to start with. If they cannot easily trace you they may decide to dig a bit further to look for you or may decide just to pass the debt on to someone else again.

If they do contact you and you want to reply with anything then the 'safe' letter to send is the prove it letter, as it specifically does not acknowledge the debt is owed. Letter when you know nothing about about the debt - AKA "Prove it" letter

What you won't know is whether they have put something on your credit file (incorrectly) regarding this debt. But if you check your credit file that may provide them with your current address details.

The other issue is that if they do decide to take court action against you is that you may not know it is happening - as they only need to send letters to your last confirmed address. So they could obtain a CCJ without you even knowing about it.

Blaz

Well when my dad rang he said they asked how long since I lived at the address and he answered 5 - 6 years, i dont know if thats significant to them issuing a CCJ without me knowing at a previous address.

psychohell

Blaz wrote: »

Like I mentioned earlier theyve recently been in touch, Lewis Debt Recovery passed it onto Lowell Financial, Lowell have passed it onto Fredrickson International and I have someone called Bryan Carter Solicitors threatening with court. My dad rang them and said i dont live there (which is the truth). It was Lewis i made the payment to in 2009 ... wonder if i deny the debt would they be able to find proof ... since this debt has been passed around so much.

As my dad rang them and told them i dont live there ... they said no more letters will be sent etc. This mean im in the clear for now?

Fredrickson International/Bryan Carter/Lowell are the same company the latter having purchased the former. Just so you know. Not that it helps your anxiety much. All sounds very formal and threatening when they use all these different names. If one subsidiary is working on behalf of another, I.e Fredrickson International on behalf of Lowell, how can you owe anything, assuming the credit agreement wasn't with Lowell in the first place, which it wasn't. So, logically, you could deny the debt 'cause you owe Lowell nothing having never taken out credit with 'em. Unfortunately, due to the absurd contractual law, any cooperation can be construed as an admittance of liability. Boo! Anyhow... I been dealing with these soul-less cretins for years, as has my other half. These companies make the world a little worse, unfortunately. Could luck.

Blaz

Its almost a year since I started this thread, I have til Nov 2015 until this debt becomes statute barred - I checked my credit file just to check I haven't been taken to court without my knowledge and I haven't (which is good!). But they've recently tried calling my mobile and I was alerted that theyve done a trace enquiry - is this because I checked my file it's alerted them somehow?

Also i'd like to ask - why hasnt anyone tried to take me to court about this yet, the debt is from 2004 - whats stopping them taking me to court without my knowledge? Could it be they have no knowledge of the original credit agreement (do they need to take you to court?).

Thanks