Debt management repayments... advice needed

evans85

Hi. I have a very old loan that is still ongoing. It was a joint loan with an ex that i am no longer in contact with. It was for 15k but interest pushed this up to 21k in total. After we split and split the finances 50/50 i was left with this loan to pay as my half of the agreement between us.. a year or so later i could no longer afford the 250 pounds a month repayment so i have been on payment plans with various companies ever since. I am now with a new company, 1stcredit, and they are now the owners of the full de t outstanding of around 12k. They have offered me a reduction of the amount i need to pay back down to 8.5k for £140 per month for 60 months... but i am not sure whether it is a good idea to accept this or not??? I am now in a better financial situation but this may be a stretch to pay this amount. Should i try and get them to reduce further?? Any advice would be great.. thanks

sourcrates

Hi,


You say it a very old debt, how old exactly ?


If it pre-dates April 2007, you should CCA 1st credit, because to me it sounds like they may not have the requisite paperwork for this loan, and are trying to gain a good profit from you.


Ok, this is what you should do, don't agree anything with 1st crudit, send them a CCA request, using the template letter here, from National Debtline :


https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/39%20EW%20Credit%20agreements%20-%20getting%20information/Page-04.aspx


Enclose a £1 postal order, which is the fee payable under the consumer credit act, send your letter recorded delivery, wait and see what they come back to you with.


Whilst you do this, your account will be placed "on hold", all collection activity will be suspended, until the creditor responds to your request.


Basically, if they cant provide the copy you requested, the account will become unenforceable in court, and all legal remedies will be removed from there arsenal, you would not have to pay it, or, you could offer a small amount to make it go away.

evans85

Hi.. firstly thank u for getting in touch!

I just checked my credit report and the loan started in feb 2007 so i will be following your advice and writing this letter to them.

So if they cant provide the details in 12 working days does that make it unenforceable, or if they cant provide it at all??

Thanks again

sourcrates

evans85 wrote: »

Hi.. firstly thank u for getting in touch!

I just checked my credit report and the loan started in feb 2007 so i will be following your advice and writing this letter to them.

So if they cant provide the details in 12 working days does that make it unenforceable, or if they cant provide it at all??

Thanks again

They are just guidelines, and will take much longer than that, expect to wait at least a month.
The account will be unenforcable from when they recieve your letter, till when they provide you with what you asked for, however long that may be, if they can't provide it, they can't enforce it.

evans85

Ok i think i see how it works then. So presuming they at some point provide that info, i would then negotiate a plan with them as they would then have the legal grounds for repayment to be made, however if they didnt then i would be able to not pay or like u say, offer a small "Partial settlement".
I shall see what they say...

Also, the original default notice was june 2010, would this fall off my credit file next june? Or would the fact that 1stcredit have now appeared on it make it a further 6 years?

sourcrates

evans85 wrote: »

Also, the original default notice was june 2010, would this fall off my credit file next june? Or would the fact that 1stcredit have now appeared on it make it a further 6 years?

After six years it will fall off, settled or not, no matter who owns it, or what its status is.