When is the 6 years for Statute barred started? date of last payment or dispute

Viberduo

Lets say I have a debt and I stop paying it and 3 years later someone contacts me about it and I say its disputed then do not hear back from the company for another 3 years would it be classed as statute barred then or 6 years from date of me disputing it?

Tixy

It is 6years from the later of the date you last paid (or used the account) and the date you last wrote to acknowledge the debt in writing.

If you wrote to dispute the debt it would depend on the wording you used - if it was a flat 'I have no knowledge of this debt or I dispute that I owe you any money' then it wouldn't count as acknowledgement. But possibly if you wrote to dispute the amount of a debt or dispute some of the charges on a debt for example you may have in effect acknowledged the remainder of the debt.

thats a really badly written sentence but hopefully the meaning comes across

matttye

The former - 6 years from when you stopped paying / acknowledged it in writing.

Viberduo

The reason I ask is about 5 years ago I got a phone contract with 3 and I had a dispute over costs as I was offered an upgrade and a £20 a month discount that was correctly applied for first few months then I was charged for usage despite being part of free allowance, also the contract ran monthly so was not a 12/24 month one and at the time they disconnected me for non payment and I said at the time I wanted the contract(was a good deal just error by them) but they still billed me for about 2 months after it was barred from both incoming and outgoing calls despite being a 30 day contract and I said I was happy to pay up to the date it was barred minus the overcharged calls and never heard anything back.

Just got a letter now asking for about £400 in "disconnection charges" from the account which was £15 a month and the disputed calls were like £30 worth as what happened was they charged me for the whole year at the FULL price not the discounted price.

I Just worry if I get a phone call for example and admit I had an account and there was a balance owing but I disputed it as it was wrong amount that would be me admitting it.

Though I am overthinking things just want to know to stop myself slipping up should this ever happen.

Tixy

Telephone conversations don't count for acknowledging the debt in relation to the limitation act. It has to be written acknowledgement.

That said if they did ring I wouldn't admit to owing the money on the phone, I'd just ask them to put details of the alleged debt in writing.

Viberduo

I suppose my reasoning is more that 12 years ago I had a CCJ because I "admitted" I owed money though that was for a court case and not a debt collector in the sense that I got a bill for college halls saying I never paid since I moved in, I responded that I had paid up to X date and then owed like £100 but I paid off at £10 a week but only stopped due to benefits being stopped and asked for a gap till it was reinstated which company refused.

Also mentioned that the company was charging me for a notice period despite the contract stating that the notice period would only be paid if the a new tenant wasnt found and as one was the amount was wrong.

Somehow they won the case on that as I admitted I owed money and then chucked on about £300 in charges for a debt under £100 and to me if I was struggling to pay a under £100 debt how would making it £400 change it.

I never paid that debt off but felt guilty about doing so but to me I would of paid the amount I actually owed.

Same situation here I would be happy to pay the portion of debt I owe not what they claim I owe nor the expenses they want.

Diplo

Does changing address without telling your creditors(not deliberately)affect Statute Barred limitations ?

fatbelly

Diplo wrote: »

Does changing address without telling your creditors(not deliberately)affect Statute Barred limitations ?

No, deliberately or not.

Diplo

Cheers for that Fatbelly, I appreciate it. Big help.


Sorry for just jumping in there with a random question.


Regards

fermi

From debt advisor training material.

'It is for claimants to prove that they could not reasonably have discovered the facts concealed by the defendant (Paragon Finance v Thakerar 1999). The mere fact that a defendant cannot be traced, with the result that the claimant does not commence proceedings, does not prevent (a cause of action from accruing and) time from running. Even where a person is deliberately hiding from a claimant the 'concealment' provisions relate only to concealment of the cause of action and not to cases where debtors conceal themselves from the claimant (Lowsley v Forbes 1999)

Diplo

Excellent!


I have a Statute Barred debt that has caught up with me, or rather, is being pursued by the usual rodents. Just getting my facts straight before I start getting cocky.


Thanks again.