Arrow starting legal proceedings.

Helpless50

Hello.
In 2008 i left work to care for my terminally ill mum at my parents home. She died later that year and after that me and my dad had a big falling out and i left and only in last 6 months have we been talking thanks to my partner and her dad.
Last week my dad soad i had some mail so i opened it and there was a letter from Arrow saying they have transfered the near £5000 debt to Restons for court action. Yesterday a letter from Restons arrived and said i have till 6/04/2016 to pay or make an offer.
The last time i paid i anything was i think was early 2009 but most of my paperwork was destroyed by my dad but i got a new bank accout in Jan 2010 and i never payed them using that.
I am living with my girlfriend at her fathers house as he is not too good and i only work part time and have no savings.
My dad is quite upset with me but he said that he has £1000 to give me which was from my mums state which she gave the 4 siblings £1000 each but i have not got mine.
I know this all my fault but do you think they would take the £1000 as a F & F offer or is it passed the 6 years as i have been doing some reading on here.
Thank you for any advice good or bad.

fermi

So they have not actually issued a court claim yet? just passed it to solicitors who are threatening one?

I would real carefully this --> Time limits for recovering debts

then give National Debtline a call on freephone 0808 808 4000 discus with a professional debt advisor to see if they think that applies to this debt.

sourcrates

fermi wrote: »

So they have not actually issued a court claim yet? just passed it to solicitors who are threatening one?

I would real carefully this --> https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/PDFs/25%20EW%20Time%20limits%20for%20recovering%20debts.pdf

then give National Debtline a call on freephone 0808 808 4000 discus with a professional debt advisor to see if they think that applies to this debt.

Links not working for me Fermi ?

fermi

---> Time limits for recovering debts

Forum decides to put spaces in long uls sometimes. Above should work

sourcrates

Helpless50 wrote: »

I know this all my fault but do you think they would take the £1000 as a F & F offer or is it passed the 6 years as i have been doing some reading on here.
Thank you for any advice good or bad.

Hi,

I would refrain from making any offers, as it's likely the debt is now statute barred.
If you think it's past the 6 year limit, send the statute barred letter from national Debtline.

Don't be intimidated by Restons, statute barred is a full defence to any court claim they may attempt, also the onus is on them to prove its not SB, not up to you to prove it is.

Helpless50

Thank you for replying.
The debt is not on Noodle and has not been for over a year when i started using Noodle.
I don't want to contact them unless i have to. When i left my dad's in 2008 i had online banking and any money i paid was from that account and that was closed by them in mid 2009 as no money was going into and i was overdrawn and i stopped all/any dd's and S/O from it. I opened a new account early 2010 and have never paid anything to the debt. I did payoff the old bank account though.
I only wished i had the old bank statements and other paperwork but my dad threw all that out after i left.

National_Debtline

Hi

I understand why you don't want to contact Restons but if you leave it there's a chance they could start the court action being threatened and you would then need to defend in court.

If you send this sample letter you could deal with it at an earlier stage and could make life a lot easier. Restons would need to prove the debt isn't statute barred or cease collection.

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Time-has-run-out-to-recover-the-debt-%28sole-name%29.aspx

James
@natdebtline

Helpless50

Hi

I understand why you don't want to contact Restons but if you leave it there's a chance they could start the court action being threatened and you would then need to defend in court.

If you send this sample letter you could deal with it at an earlier stage and could make life a lot easier. Restons would need to prove the debt isn't statute barred or cease collection

James
@natdebtline


I thought i had posted on here yesterday but it's not showing.
If i send a prove it letter will that start the 6 year clock again?
I am still not sure of the exact date of default or last payment i made for the debt.

fatbelly

A prove-it letter will not count as acknowledgement.

A statute barred letter might.

I prefer the one Fermi linked to, rather than James, as it has the heading 'without prejudice', making it more difficult for the solicitors to use against you.

It's difficult to predict which route might work best for you:

ignore
send a prove-it
send a SB letter
make an offer

My feeling is if they feel they can get a claim in before a date they can say the SB clock would have expired, then they will do that, regardless of what you do.

You would then be advised to let legalbeagles help you to defend.

If their next letter offers you a discount to settle, then maybe they already realise they are out of time

Helpless50

Hello.
If i send a prove it letter will that stop any court action starting as i have to reply by 6/04/2016.
Where can i find a prove it template please?
In the Restons letter it says contact them to sort out the debt by submitting all my income and outgoings and then they can work out a payment plan or the other option was to make a SUBSTANTIAL lump sum offer.
On some of the threads on here people have been advised to start at 10% but i dont think Restons mean that do they.
If they start court stuff will an offer or payment plan stop that going ahead?
I am all muddled this morning as been in the hospital with the girlfriends dad who has had bowel cancer and the last treatment meant he had to stay in for 2 days so only got home at 4AM.
Thanks again for any advice.

fatbelly

In the Restons letter it says contact them ... to make a lump sum offer.

Prove-it letter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247

I didn't realise they were already suggesting a full & final settlement. See my last post: "If their next letter offers you a discount to settle, then maybe they already realise they are out of time"

You don't have to dance to their tune. This is probably statute barred and they know it.