Why are Barclays still writing to me?

susieq87

I received a letter from a debt collecting agency on behalf of Barclays for £830 which was an overdraft before they closed my account in 2006/2007. the account was defaulted around this time as well i think. the debt got removed from my credit last year June and no longer apppears.
should they still be chasing me for this outstanding balance or can i just ignore them until they go away?

also, it might be worth mentioning that i just took out 2 credit loans with them from DFS when i bought a sofas for myself and my mum. these credit applications were accepted and i have been paying them for the last 2 months. prior to this i hadnt heard from them in over a year or so; could the new credit agreement i have with them under DFS prompted them to check what else i owed them?

MrSilk

If no payment has been made against the debt, and no acknowledgment made within the past 6 years, it may well be statute barred.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2606811

National_Debtline

Hello there,

Although the debt may no longer appear on your credit file, the debt collection agency can still chase you demanding payment. As MrSilk mentions, the debt could be 'statute barred'. If you write to the agency stating that the debt is statute barred - and they cannot prove otherwise - they should leave you alone.

We have a useful fact sheet which discusses what 'statute barred' means in detail, you can find it here.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

susieq87

MrSilk wrote: »

If no payment has been made against the debt, and no acknowledgment made within the past 6 years, it may well be statute barred.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2606811

thank you. i used to pay £20 a month for a bit but stopped a few years ago (maybe 2/3 years ago?) and am i right in assuming that statute barred means i wouldnt have paid anything at all for the last 6 years which wont apply to me. since it no longer appears on my credit file - if i dont pay them anything could it still affect my credit rating? can they put the debt back on?

MrSilk

susieq87 wrote: »

thank you. i used to pay £20 a month for a bit but stopped a few years ago (maybe 2/3 years ago?) and am i right in assuming that statute barred means i wouldnt have paid anything at all for the last 6 years which wont apply to me. since it no longer appears on my credit file - if i dont pay them anything could it still affect my credit rating? can they put the debt back on?

If they can prove the payments where made by way of statements then it wouldn't be statute barred, and I don't think they can place the default back onto your credit file, however they may 'try' a CCJ

thebritishbloke

I doubt it's statute barred if you've been making payments.

I'd contact them and offer to pay them £200 as full and final settlement, see what they say. In the grand scheme of things, that debt isn't by any means high, best to just settle it off.