Debt

Pri12

[FONT=&quot]At 17 years I stupidly took out a mobile phone contract for my friend around the 25th June, 2007. On 29th July 2007, when he reneged on his promise to make monthly payments I contacted Orange requesting that they barred all further calls on the numbers associated with the contract. I was advised to visit my local Orange shop where they deal with my request. Regrettably this was not the case and the debt went up from £2,585.34 in August 2007 to £3,920.27, reaching £4,517.28 before they actually disconnected use. I am left with this debt since and feel aggrieved for the way I was treated by Orange, now Carphone Warehouse. Any advice would be greatly appreciated on how to move forward with this situation.[/FONT]
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splishsplash

How were you able to take out a contract at age 17?

MoneyMission2015

Wouldn't the debt be statute barred now?

January2015

If the debt was taken out when they were 17 it doesn't need to be statute barred. It should not be enforceable regardless of whether it has, or has not, been acknowledge. You cannot be legally held to a contract you make when you are under 18 (there are some exceptions such as housing costs but mobile phone contracts is not one of them).

HappyMJ

January2015 wrote: »

If the debt was taken out when they were 17 it doesn't need to be statute barred. It should not be enforceable regardless of whether it has, or has not, been acknowledge. You cannot be legally held to a contract you make when you are under 18 (there are some exceptions such as housing costs but mobile phone contracts is not one of them).

They should never have been able to take a mobile contract out if aged under 18. If fraud was involved to get the contract then it's a criminal offence and the court can order payment be made so some exceptions do apply. However, it's very rare for a mobile company to report this to the police. They'll just keep asking for the money but can never enforce payment using the county court.

sourcrates

You just send a letter to whoever is asking you for money, stating the facts you have told us, something along the lines of :




Dear Mobile phone company,


Account Number/mobile number : xxxxxxxxxx



The account holder you refer to, was under the age of legal responsibility at the time this contract was obtained.
As a child or young person, you cannot normally be taken to court for debt. This is because you cannot be legally held to a contract you make when you are under 18, in this case, a mobile phone contract.

The person you refer to was 17 at the time the account was opened, DOB xx/xx/xxxx. (copy of birth certificate enc)

Therefore this contract, and the associated debt, is null and void.
Please amend your records accordingly, and do not contact me again about this matter.


yours sincerely




pri12




Enclose a copy of your birth certificate, or other document that proves your age, and that should be the end of the matter.

ViolaLass

Why has this question come up now? Have you done anything about this debt for the last 8 years? Have they suddenly started chasing it?

fatbelly

If there is a statute barred argument, I would add to the letter Sourcrates suggests:

...this account would also be statute barred under the Limitation Act 1980

Under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 "an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued".

I would also point out that in their Consumer Credit sourcebook, the Financial Conduct Authority states the following rules:

"...a firm must not attempt to recover a statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if the lender or owner has not been in contact with the customer during the limitation period." 7.15.4

"A firm must not continue to demand payment from a customer after the customer has stated that he will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred." 7.15.8

To be clear, if they started a court claim on Tuesday 1 Dec, and you believed it was SB, they would have to show you acknowledged the debt by payment or in writing between 1 Dec 2009 and 1 Dec 2015. Did you do that?

cms-help

You took out a phone contract for a friend and a month later they failed to pay you as promised and, at that point, the debt on the bill was around £2,585.34. How on earth can you run up such a big mobile bill in a month? And another month later the bill was then £1400 more?

ViolaLass

cms-help wrote: »

You took out a phone contract for a friend and a month later they failed to pay you as promised and, at that point, the debt on the bill was around £2,585.34. How on earth can you run up such a big mobile bill in a month? And another month later the bill was then £1400 more?

Might have been using data abroad, for example.

cms-help

ViolaLass wrote: »

Might have been using data abroad, for example.

Very trusting friend to take out a phone contract for a friend who is going travelling! I thought phones were immediately locked down the minute the first DD bounced? I know my friend's was several years ago when she was switching bank accounts.

Why didn't the friend take out their own contract, assuming they were a similar age then bad credit isn't going to be an issue.