Letter regarding old debt from out of the blue.

greyroofer

Pay it.

It won't appear if if hasn't already. if it is sold to 'Debt Managers Ltd" they will place a default within a week.

I used to work for Next and they are extremely helpful. If you phone them and say you thought this had been paid, they will be forgiving - but they won't report it if they haven't already.

Why risk your Mortgage on £262.

NEIL7480

Yeah my thoughts exactly. I dont want to risk anything for £262. If i pay it though, will it automatically show on my file?

Thanks for all the help.

Nasqueron

If it has been over 6 years since you acknowledged or paid anything towards the debt, it's over, they cannot put the debt back in place, cannot get a CCJ, cannot black mark your file etc

Edit to include quote below

They can take legal action, should they wish, and if they won, said CCJ would appear on your credit file for another 6 years.

If court action was instigated, you would either have to pay up, to avoid a CCJ on your file, or, defend the action on the basis the debt was statute barred.

The fact it's been sold on would suggest 2 things:

1) It's inside 6 years so they are prepared to accept a few pence in the pound from a debt agency who think they can get you to pay
2) It's outside 6 years but the agency reckon they can trick you into paying and are gambling on it

If it's not on your credit files, chances are it's out of the 6 years but be careful with it - as said above, if the DCA contacts you, send the "prove it" letter to get them to show it was done inside the last 6 years - they cannot place a default if the debt is over 6 years old (or they can but you can get it removed again).

Given your username, if you are called Neil and your DOB is 7th April 1980, it's not beyond the realms of possibility the debt company will know it's you posting on here - especially with a new poster whose first post is to tell you to contact them and acknowledge the debt

skintandfat

greyroofer wrote: »

Pay it.

It won't appear if if hasn't already. if it is sold to 'Debt Managers Ltd" they will place a default within a week.

I used to work for Next and they are extremely helpful. If you phone them and say you thought this had been paid, they will be forgiving - but they won't report it if they haven't already.

Why risk your Mortgage on £262.

If a debt is sold on they cannot place a second default- a debt can only have one default.


If you pay this debt it restarts the clock and the debt will show on your file again as it is a ongoing issue.


Wait and see what happens and once you hear from the new crowd who have bought it send them a prove it letter (without acknowledging the debt)

sourcrates

Nasqueron wrote: »

If it has been over 6 years since you acknowledged or paid anything towards the debt, it's over, they cannot put the debt back in place, cannot get a CCJ, cannot black mark your file etc

Thats not entirely accurate.

They can take legal action, should they wish, and if they won, said CCJ would appear on your credit file for another 6 years.

If court action was instigated, you would either have to pay up, to avoid a CCJ on your file, or, defend the action on the basis the debt was statute barred.

If six years has passed since the last payment, you must inform the creditor of this, and also that you intend to use the Limitations act 1980 as your full defense.

Failure to do so can result in a CCJ by default.

OP, you need to determine when you last paid this account, then either rely on the Limitations act, or pay the debt and be rid of it.

NEIL7480

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Richey_

From experience a DCA could (wrongly) place a default until you challenge it and get them to remove it. At such a critical time why risk it, I'd just pay it asap as advised by ex Next employee. If it would fall in a time when the bank would review your bank account statements just get someone else to use their card and pay them back once you have the mortgage.

There will be plenty of people who disagree with me (and I to a degree disagree with myself) but why risk the mortgage for such a small sum, if they default you it could take months to fight to have it removed and you could/would likely lose a house in the mean time

baldelectrician

sourcrates wrote: »

Thats not entirely accurate.

They can take legal action, should they wish, and if they won, said CCJ would appear on your credit file for another 6 years.

If court action was instigated, you would either have to pay up, to avoid a CCJ on your file, or, defend the action on the basis the debt was statute barred.

If six years has passed since the last payment, you must inform the creditor of this, and also that you intend to use the Limitations act 1980 as your full defense.

Failure to do so can result in a CCJ by default.

OP, you need to determine when you last paid this account, then either rely on the Limitations act, or pay the debt and be rid of it.

If a CCJ is paid within a month of decree it does not appear on a credit file
http://www.trustonline.org.uk/understand-judgments-fines/ccjs-and-county-courts/ccjs-what-are-they


Staying off the register

Nearly all CCJs go on the register:

• Paying within a month The CCJ will be removed from the register if you pay in full within one month of the day of the judgment.
• Satisfied vs unsatisfied If you pay the CCJ after this, it stays on the register but it will be recorded as 'satisfied' (see Certificate of satisfaction). If you don't pay it, it's shown as unsatisfied.
• CCJ removal The only way to remove a CCJ is to ask the court to set aside the judgment because you have a genuine reason to dispute it.

Ben8282

There is something not quite right here.
The OP says he had been checking his credit reports consistently for 'the last year or two' and presumably this account has not appeared on any credit report for the entire period. That means that whatever occurred happened well over 6 years ago.
It is rather strange for an original creditor to stop reporting an account, not default an account, not send statements, not send correspondence then long after the debt would appear to be statute barred send out a letter to say that they intend to sell it to collectors. I don't believe that this letter is genuine.
Do you have no way of checking your bank statements for some sort of indication of when the last payment to this account was made? Does this letter contain information like a correct account number or something so that you can be sure it is genuine? Have you verified that any phone number you are being asked to call really is Next and not a debt collection agency or a fraudster?

MABLE

DCFC79 wrote: »

Yes.

Hope you aren't paying the monthly fee for Experian.

So do I when this could go towards his commitment to Next.