Advice needed please

jbias18

Hi was just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction in regards to a letter I received from Mortimer Clarke. I was sent a letter last October saying that I owed money and needed to make contact to avoid a claim being entered against me. I then sent out a cca request on October the 10th had proof and confirmation that it was received. I then sent out another letter template off this website.Saying that I had still not received said cca request and that the account was unenforceable until such time this was sent and received 31st October. I then sent another template a section 10 notice I think? That was sent 15/12/14 and received. I heard nothing back apart from all information has been requested from the client which is marlin.

The debt has dropped off my credit file I defaulted around January 9th 2009 and made no payments since that.

I then receive a letter dated 19/2/15 from Mortimer Clarke with the cca and a letter stating that the clients position is that the debt is enforceable as they have complied now with section 77/78 request. They have also said that they don't agree to cease processing data in relation to 10(2) data protection act 1998 and then quote it.

They go onto say that they don't consider the processing of my data to be unwarranted and that their client has a legitimate interest in the recovery of the debt.

I know it is a bit long winded but my questions and help needed are, is it statute barred? and is the debt now enforceable or are they trying their luck with it as they didn't send the cca on time? Any help is greatly appreciated or am I best in paying to see a soliciter as it is too complicated?

[Deleted User]

Forgetting the legal bits for a minute- how much is the debt? Do you acknowledge that you racked it up? What was it for?

fatbelly

You say that you have made no payments since 9 Jan 2009. Are you saying that that was the date of your last payment?

If it was, then the debt would become statute barred (England/Wales) on 9 Jan 2015 provided that you did not acknowledge the debt by payment or in writing in the period between those 2 dates.

You admit that you wrote three letters in that period. Even if we saw the exact wording of them it would be hard to be definite about whether the account is statute barred. Only a court could determine that.

As you seem to agree that they have now complied with your s77-79 CCA request, you may soon get the opportunity to test those SB arguments. Although this may still be bluff. After all they have been threatening court action for 6 months now.

sourcrates

You don't say how old the debt is, this may be important from the CCA point of view.
Just because they have complied with your sec 78 request, does not mean the agreement would automatically stand up in court.
If the copy they have sent you is defective in some way for instance, however this does depend on age of account.

FireWyrm

If it is statute barred, then nothing you do or say can unbar it. It doesnt mean that they cannot pursue you for the debt, only that it is no longer enforceable in court. Stat-Bar goes from the date of the last payment or explicit acknowledgement of the debt in writing (yeah, I owe it gov, its a fair cop). A simple CCA request isnt acknowledgement, it is a request for information.

If it isnt stat-barred, it is possible that the debt is too trivial to pursue depending on how much it is. Remember, it costs them money to lodge papers and begin the process and the whole thing costs hundreds of pounds in time and effort. This clearly isnt worth it for a debt of sub £100 or so, but for a few thousand, they might be tempted to try.

You need to be clear on your timeline. What was the date of the last payment for instance.