Defaults and Archived debts!

matski

Hey Guys,

Wondering if someone can help shed some light. I have a number of debts, 6 in total, totally just over £5k.

I set up a repayment plan about 2-3 years ago which I then had to cancel as I was out of work. Then shamefully between that time I just tried to pretend none of it existed.

I want to sort it out now, I have an appointment with Payment Plan later tonight to go over this and hopefully set up a plan but I have hit a bit of a snag.
A small Loan and Overdrawn current account I have with Natwest has apparently been Archived. What this means is that in order to get the total amount owed I have to write to them. I am able to make payments over the phone but they cannot give me a balance and they told me explicitly that another company would not be able to make payments on my behalf. This sounds ridiculous to me, I was told they wont chase me for it but they could sell it to another company in the future. I was also told that even though its Defaulted, they don't think they sent me a Default notice through the post (I don't recall receiving one), isn't there a legal requirement to send a letter?

I guess what will happen is that I pay my other creditors through Payplan and arrange a different repayment plan with Natwest.

Secondly I had an overdrawn current account with Halifax (just a few hundred pounds) this Defaulted until 2012 where according to my up to date credit history was then Settled. I never settled this myself, should I chase this or just assume the Bank has decided to let me off? that seems rather strange. I assumed it may have been sold to a debt collection agency however there is no such credit agreement on my history.

Would appreciate anyones thoughts on all this, hopefully I can come to an arrangement and get myself debt free and perhaps one day actually get a mortgage!

sourcrates

matski wrote: »

A small Loan and Overdrawn current account I have with Natwest has apparently been Archived. What this means is that in order to get the total amount owed I have to write to them. QUOTE]





Hi,


How old are these debts ?, they usually only archive a debt if its over 6 years old, which if you had not made a payment to it in those 6 years, would mean it was statute barred, a creditor can issue a default notice at any time, once you have defaulted.
Your other question about the Halifax, they may have written it off, more likely it has been sold and some point in the future you may get a letter from a DCA about it, or you may not !!

Monkeyballs

Hey Matski,

Sounds pretty ridiculous to me? I've never heard of a loan being archived and the customer having to write for a balance? I'm sure that other people will be along to comment soon but the best I can offer is to see what Payplan have to say...

If it was me, I'd probably ignore it and hope it was never chased until it goes statute barred - if it does get sold on and you have a DMP in place then you could first challenge it with a 'prove it letter' and depending on the result add it onto the DMP which would result in a re-jig of payments, not an increase because if you don't have it, you can't pay it... As for notifying you of an account going into default, I thought they had to send a letter of notice within 6 weeks but I could be wrong and again Payplan should be able to help here

As for the overdraft? If a debt is sold, I don't think it gets marked as settled? I reckon it was small enough to just be written off - they would have weighed up their options and writing it off would probably be the cheapest option.

These are my thoughts, other will either agree or have their own opinions but regardless it's god to hear that you've decided to take your head out of the sand and look at repaying your debts!

MB

eyeopener2

Sounds like it's statute barred.

If they are not asking for it, and nobody's chasing you, I'd just ignore it.

Don't over complicate matters by digging up ancient, historic debt that not even the original creditor is interested in. It won't be on your credit file (probably) so just let it lie.

If anything does come up in future, do as monkey balls says, and send a prove it. COS let's face it, if the bank has archived it then any lowlife DCA ain't gonna have the proof.

matski

sourcrates wrote: »

matski wrote: »

A small Loan and Overdrawn current account I have with Natwest has apparently been Archived. What this means is that in order to get the total amount owed I have to write to them. QUOTE]





Hi,


How old are these debts ?, they usually only archive a debt if its over 6 years old, which if you had not made a payment to it in those 6 years, would mean it was statute barred, a creditor can issue a default notice at any time, once you have defaulted.
Your other question about the Halifax, they may have written it off, more likely it has been sold and some point in the future you may get a letter from a DCA about it, or you may not !!

Hi sourcrates,

They told me if there is no activity on the debt over about 2 years it will become archived which is in line with how long I have left it.
Thanks for your reply, I guess I should explain this to Payplan who may be able to chase it up.

matski

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Hey Matski,

Sounds pretty ridiculous to me? I've never heard of a loan being archived and the customer having to write for a balance? I'm sure that other people will be along to comment soon but the best I can offer is to see what Payplan have to say...

If it was me, I'd probably ignore it and hope it was never chased until it goes statute barred - if it does get sold on and you have a DMP in place then you could first challenge it with a 'prove it letter' and depending on the result add it onto the DMP which would result in a re-jig of payments, not an increase because if you don't have it, you can't pay it... As for notifying you of an account going into default, I thought they had to send a letter of notice within 6 weeks but I could be wrong and again Payplan should be able to help here

As for the overdraft? If a debt is sold, I don't think it gets marked as settled? I reckon it was small enough to just be written off - they would have weighed up their options and writing it off would probably be the cheapest option.

These are my thoughts, other will either agree or have their own opinions but regardless it's god to hear that you've decided to take your head out of the sand and look at repaying your debts!

MB

Thanks Monkeyballs,
I am tempted to take the same course of action as you suggest, presumably if they do sell it off I wont receive a Default from that debt collection company until I fail to pay them? so essentially between now and then there is no benefit in paying it off, especially if its likely that the the debt collector will accept a lower payment.

I had a debt with Barclays which was settled upon being sold off to another debt collection agency so I believe they can settle it.

matski

eyeopener2 wrote: »

Sounds like it's statute barred.

If they are not asking for it, and nobody's chasing you, I'd just ignore it.

Don't over complicate matters by digging up ancient, historic debt that not even the original creditor is interested in. It won't be on your credit file (probably) so just let it lie.

If anything does come up in future, do as monkey balls says, and send a prove it. COS let's face it, if the bank has archived it then any lowlife DCA ain't gonna have the proof.

Thanks eyeopener2,

It is on my credit file as defaulted, presumably this will disappear after 6 years?

matski

Payplan seem to think I should pay them back for the archived debts. They still arent settled so I dont know really.

Monkeyballs

matski wrote: »

Payplan seem to think I should pay them back for the archived debts. They still arent settled so I dont know really.

Hmmm... I guess they have to look at the most equal repayment plan without favouring any of the others... Are they willing to start the plan without the exact information from Natwest as it could take aaaages for them to reply, if they ever do?

MB

matski

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Hmmm... I guess they have to look at the most equal repayment plan without favouring any of the others... Are they willing to start the plan without the exact information from Natwest as it could take aaaages for them to reply, if they ever do?

MB

Yeah they wont go ahead without me sorting that. Natwest seemed to think I should get a reply within 7 days so thats fine I guess. Either way Natwest explicitly said that Payplan wont be able to pay on my behalf and if Payplan come to the same conclusion I wont be able to start a DMP with them as I will have under the 5k of debt you need in order to have one.
I do however feel pretty certain that I will be able to arrange a payment plan with my other creditors, its just obviously nice to be able to have one payment coming out each month and have a company help keep track of everything.