17 year old debt rearing its ugly head.

glassfish_2

Hi all, newbie here.

I received a phone call tonight from Portfolio Recovery Associates, said that they needed to speak to me regarding a personal matter.

He told me that they have bought a debt from a credit acceptance company. I denied all knowledge and asked him when this was from. He said it was when I bought a Ford Sierra. I asked him again when this was (I've had a lot of cars since 1989). I entered this agreement in March 1996.

Now, although I did not admit it to him, I do recollect this. I had struggled to get car finance at the time having been reckless with money right from leaving school which is why I ended up with this company. I'm pretty sure he got his dates wrong though. Anyway, as you can probably imagine, I ended up having the car repossessed and I suspect that they chased me for the balance for some time. I can say that there has been no contact about this debt for many years, certainly many more than six.

The chap on the phone said that I owed over £2000. I still denied all knowledge and asked him to provide me with the written agreement.
I have read about statute barred but I'm worried that this applies only to unsecured loans. This was secured on the car.
My finances are a lot better these days, I'm married and have a family and things are ticking along quite nicely (not brilliant, but ok). I certainly can't afford £2000. Can these people chase me for this debt? Will they go away?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

stevemLS

The limitation period may be 12 years if it is not a "simple" contract (which unsecured CCA agreements are).

I think you need to do some digging and find more detail of dates etc.

rizla_king

Still 6 years on a car loan.

FireWyrm

Nope. 6 years as per Rizla. Ignore and bin any correspondence, they are barking up the wrong tree.

Tixy

When (if) they write to you could either ignore, or you could send the hybrid letter that states you have no recollection of the debt and it would be statute barred regardless.

If you send a letter to state that you believe the alleged debt is statute barred then at that point they are required to stop chasing you, if you just bin the letters then they may continue to write (and 'phone as they have your number).

glassfish_2

Thanks to you all. Even if it's 12 years, they're still too late. I'll be sending them a letter and see what happens.
You get to a point when things are starting to look better and then someone tries to take it away again.
I've been monitoring my credit files for sometime now and all the bad stuff dropping off is great. I wonder if they have access to this information and can see that I'm in a better position now to potentially pay this off.

FireWyrm

glassfish wrote: »

I wonder if they have access to this information and can see that I'm in a better position now to potentially pay this off.

Possibly, but the law says you dont have to. It was precisely for this situation that the law was enacted. Creditors cannot pursue debtors indefinitely for a debt they could not be bothered to enforce within 6 years.

rizla_king

A Ford Seirra wasn't worth paying much for at the time, so I certainly would pay for one now on an 18 yo debt.

km1423

Simply do a credit check on yourself. You will soon see if its hanging over you.

rizla_king

17 year old debt should not be on credit files now.

glassfish_2

Hi again,


Well they did manage to send me the original agreement which surprised me. The finance company wrote to me in Jan 2008 at the address I left in 1998 so I'm not going to lose any sleep over this.


rizla king, you're quite right about the value. They included the garage's original purchase invoice for the car; £750. I managed to pay just over £3000 after they bolted on all the insurances that apparently I needed. Desperation and naivety made me buy that car, should have bought a run about with the £500 deposit I paid.


Live and learn.