Old debt

jenny+luke

Hi all,

back in 2009 my husband took out a credit card and paid for a holiday with it, spent around £2000 on it. A few weeks later we moved house and he lost his job due to illness. He assumed the bank would find out where he lived but would give him some time to hopefully get better, find another job and be able to afford the repayments. We have heard nothing until last week. Hubby got a letter from Lowell saying that he owes £2200 and that he needed to call and make payment or set up a payment plan. I read lots of the posts on here and advised him to send a statute barred letter as he hasn't make a payment for well over 6 years or had any contact with them. We sent the letter via email. The day after Lowell replied and said that the default date on the account was 10/6/10 so that the debt is not statute barred and he needs to make payment.

I called national debt line, they advised me to send their limitations letter, I got the same reply from Lowell stating that they can see no payments have been made for over 6 years but the account didnt become fully due until the default date.

So my question is, does this communication with Lowell now mean that the 6 years starts over? It's only 10 days until 6 years from the default, is it worth resending the limitations letter on the 11/6 and seeing what they say then?

Also my husband hasn't had any other credit since then, (he cant be trusted with cc etc) where would we stand if we were to get a joint mortgage as he has nothing in his name and I would expect this debt to be off his credit file soon. Would it be best if he took out some credit in order to build up his file or would the best solution be to get a mortgage in my name only?

thanks for your help

SusieT

As far as I am aware (and assuing you have not paid or acknowleged the debt in between) the date would go from a month after the cause of action was, so if the payment was due for example on 1st September then SB would be 1st October 6 years later. I would resend the letter or contact national debtline or CAB and get them to confirm it

sourcrates

This is typical of Lowell.

They are trying to make you beleive the default date, is the cause of action date, the time from when the statute barred clock starts running.

This is utter codswallop, the cause of action date would normally be many months before the default date, this responce from them is very common, they are attempting to deceive you.

They would never say this to a court, once a debt is statute barred, nothing you do can re-start the clock.

You do not have to prove anything, it's up to them to prove it isn't statute barred, you have made your position clear, if they were to start a court claim, you would defend on the basis the account is statute barred.

jenny+luke

Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it.

We will not contact them again unless they send another letter, I will resend the limitations letter again after the default date and surely they will then close the account.

thanks again