Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

nottoolate

National_Debtline wrote: »

I’m not familiar with how the OneBill account works but you described it as being like an overdraft. With an overdraft the limitation period actually starts running when the creditor calls the overdraft debt in and asks for it to be repaid.

I suspect this might be a particular payment which Secure Trust forgot to bill for though, so it’s certainly worth using the statute barred angle.

they said its just a way of spreading it over a few months though so i would imagine under that it should have been due and payable within a few set number of months.

so the overrdaft analogy would not really be an apt one as under it you would not just wait till they called the debt in.

so time would run from when it had to have been paid by.

FireWyrm

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi Roakes

If the debt is for some stand-alone charges to Secure Trust Bank rather than for the actual mortgage payment it can be statute barred under the 6 year Limitation Act law if you’re living in England or Wales.

I’m not familiar with how the OneBill account works but you described it as being like an overdraft. With an overdraft the limitation period actually starts running when the creditor calls the overdraft debt in and asks for it to be repaid.

I suspect this might be a particular payment which Secure Trust forgot to bill for though, so it’s certainly worth using the statute barred angle.

There is a sample letter at the end of the factsheet nottoolate linked to which can be used to send to Secure Trust Bank.

James
@natdebtline

Ah, but is it an overdraft or is it a loan since this company are loan providers administered by the FCA or so they claim? Either way the OP did not agree to it, could not have agreed to the Ts&Cs and they cannot have formed a contract by it. You cant enter into a contract by omission regardless of circumstances.

National_Debtline

FireWyrm wrote: »

Ah, but is it an overdraft or is it a loan since this company are loan providers administered by the FCA or so they claim? Either way the OP did not agree to it, could not have agreed to the Ts&Cs and they cannot have formed a contract by it. You cant enter into a contract by omission regardless of circumstances.

I'm not sure how the OneBill account works but I agree, the debt wasn't dealt with correctly either way.

James
@natdebtline

Hanky_Panky

Why is everyone talking about the debt being statute barred when he has been paying them regularly for the last 13 years?

OP if you signed up to their scheme and agreed they could amortise your payments over a period of time then yes you do have to pay them back. The 2003 date is a red herring.

You may have some sort of case if at no point have they been informing you of balances owed etc - have you received any statements from them at all?

Hanky_Panky

FireWyrm wrote: »

Hold on, not so fast there. This debt relates to a mortgage and the rules are very different. The 6 year statute barred situation only applies to simple contracts and debt which is non-secured. A mortgage is neither. Usually, mortgage arrears can be collected for up to 20 years as can forced-sale shortfalls.

This is nonsense.

roakes

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

Why is everyone talking about the debt being statute barred when he has been paying them regularly for the last 13 years?

OP if you signed up to their scheme and agreed they could amortise your payments over a period of time then yes you do have to pay them back. The 2003 date is a red herring.

You may have some sort of case if at no point have they been informing you of balances owed etc - have you received any statements from them at all?

Hi,

The only statements I receive are a breakdown of what bills are being paid by them, how much each one is and when each is being taken from them, as well as the total lump sum to be taken from me and what date. There are never any statements which indicate any kind of outstanding debt or shortfall in payments. As I said it baffled them when they realised I had an outstanding debt and took them 5 days to work out where it came from. If I had known about it I would have been questioning it years ago.

Kind Regards

Russell

roakes

They have just been in touch the £510 was actually made up of some fees that I should genuinely pay and have agreed to (£240 worth) and then £270 for the mortgage payment.

They have agreed to half the amount I owe them for the mortgage to £135 due to the oversight but unfortunately for them, knowing what I know now, I have refused to acknowledge the £270 debt so they have escalated it to the complaints team to investigate the statute of limitations claim.

...now I await another call.

Hanky_Panky

roakes wrote: »

They have just been in touch the £510 was actually made up of some fees that I should genuinely pay and have agreed to (£240 worth) and then £270 for the mortgage payment.

They have agreed to half the amount I owe them for the mortgage to £135 due to the oversight but unfortunately for them, knowing what I know now, I have refused to acknowledge the £250 debt so they have escalated it to the complaints team to investigate the statute of limitations claim.

...now I await another call.

Excellent result in getting the amount reduced but as I mentioned the statute barred bit is a red herring - you could only claim this if you hadn't paid or acknowledged the debt for 6 years or over - you have been paying them and therefore your mortgage for the last 13 years.

nottoolate

has not been paying against this debt

in acknowledgement to restart the clock you need to be making acknowledgement that the specific debt in question exists and is payable. did not happen here as was not known about by roakes.

in payment, payment has to be against that particular debt in the intention of the payer for it to restart the clock. again cannot possibly be here.

roakes

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

Excellent result in getting the amount reduced but as I mentioned the statute barred bit is a red herring - you could only claim this if you hadn't paid or acknowledged the debt for 6 years or over - you have been paying them and therefore your mortgage for the last 13 years.

The £270 debt was caused by a one time glitch on their side which failed to charge me for a payment they had made on my behalf to the mortgage company. This amount then sat there without me being notified of its existence for 12 years, the payments I have been making to them have been to cover my normal bill payments month on month and at no time up until now has the existence of this debt been revealed or have any payments been taken that have been used to reduce this outstanding debt.