Running away from debt....

jimmy900

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Just out of interest Jimmy, go on to Noddle and see what shows up there and what score they give you as that gives an indication of how credit worthy you are.

I am not going to give a moral judgement as others have done that but in general avoiding paying debts is a bad thing to do as it may affect you later in life if you need a mobile phone contract, to rent a property or take out a mortgage or loan or credit card. Being unable to pay is another matter though but still it is better to let banks/creditors know and see if you can reach an amicable arrangement.

Thanks for the advice, is Noddle a soft search of the credit file as it's me doing it?

Sorry, still dipping my toe back in to all this.

enthusiasticsaver

jimmy900 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, is Noddle a soft search of the credit file as it's me doing it?

Sorry, still dipping my toe back in to all this.

Yes, that won't show as a search and it is free. It is just an indication of what is showing as defaulted etc. I think it shows roughly the same as experian except you do not have to pay for it.

jimmy900

lambda wrote: »

I would just like to say sorry to the OP if my initial reactions to this post were a bit harsh on the morality.

It's just I have only just paid off a huge chunk of debt myself, and the wording of this initial post really made me annoyed. I probably shouldn't have reacted to it so quickly.

None taken. I respect all the people who take charge of their debt and take ownership of it. I was not trying to troll anyone or brag about running from my not inconsiderable debts but to say I wanted to make good and repay them after this length of time would have been an outright lie.

I was fully aware of how this would be taken but didn't want to skirt around the facts that I had no intention of repaying and my post was basically asking if the DCA's could still touch me legally.

I've grown up now, moved one with my life and am a different person to the carefree youth I was. That won't do much for the people who insist I approach the DCA's and try and get the red out of my ledger but I guess we'll have to differ on our moral code there.

DCA's act just as a bad, if not worse, as I have so some would say I'm in good company with them.

jimmy900

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Yes, that won't show as a search and it is free. It is just an indication of what is showing as defaulted etc. I think it shows roughly the same as experian except you do not have to pay for it.

Not letting me get onto the website at the minute. I'll try again later.

Thanks!

Sanctioned_Parts_List

jimmy900 wrote: »

I just assumed I would be held accountable for the debt when I graduate and start working and it would be a repayment process.

Good answer.

But just in case anyone stumbles across this thread and thinks, "hmm... I could do that," had you borrowed money with the explicit intent of not repaying (including using the cards after deciding, "ah forget it"), then that breaks a rather different law, which is pursued, and which is not covered by the statute of limitations. If it can be proven.

sourcrates

jimmy900 wrote: »

I am sure I read somewhere that the DCA can then go to court to have the debt "unbarred" if I respond with a statute barred letter - basically admitting that I once owned the debt.

Not true, once statute barred, always statute barred, nothing can change that fact.

If you were taken to court in the future, you wound defend on the basis that time has run out to collect on this debt.

Statute barred is a full defence to any action.

jimmy900

sourcrates wrote: »

Not true, once statute barred, always statute barred, nothing can change that fact.

If you were taken to court in the future, you wound defend on the basis that time has run out to collect on this debt.

Statute barred is a full defence to any action.

Brilliant, basically the advice I was here for many thanks for the honest replies.

Also thanks to the people for the other advice it is all gratefully received regardless of any character judgements or whatever. We all make mistakes and we pay for them in different ways I guess.

Apologies once again if anyone was offended by my decision to avoid and evade these mistakes to the point where they were none recoverable but then as people point out future credit worthiness is its own punishment.

hohum

I think you should take whatever action you need to put these debts to bed, whether that's getting confirmation of them being statute barred or starting to put aside so you can offer a full and final settlement to clear them, should they ever come after you.

The reason I'm saying that is that it will take a weight off your shoulders to decide to take action, and not run. I don't think that stopping running necessarily means paying back everything that you owe, but deciding a course of action and facing these issues can be very empowering and do a fair bit for your self esteem. You become a person who can handle it, whatever 'it' is. I would never have thought of myself as being able to pay back a £2k overdraft which I'd carried around for 10 years..but with a budgeting app and this site, I did. It sounds to me like you're not really OK with continuing to avoid this issue, whatever you might present as deflective humour or telling yourself about debt collectors. You have probably done some damage to how you'd score on a credit check, OTH it's possible that these debts haven't been acknowledged in long enough that thy simply don't appear. However you know they exist, and that you are avoiding paying them. That seems fairly stressful to me.

I was convinced I had a CCJ for non payment of council tax. There were plenty of reasons for me not to pay that debt -it was joint with my ex boyfriend, it was incurred because the benefit system assessed my student loan as income that should be supporting my unemployed partner, the system couldn't accommodate my weekly part time pay so it was probably worth appealing against. However when they got in contact with me a year or so after we split, I had the money and paid it off. It was the cost of freedom, and not having to think about that period or my ex regularly again. And recently when applying for a mortgage, turns out there was no record of a CCJ.

Council Tax is different from consumer debt, and will follow you around in a much more persistent way. However I do urge you to think through what potential decisions will cost you, not just in financial terms.

jimmy900

Finally got Noddle sorted, registered and logged in.

Not sure what it all means really but I think it's "okay".

Credit score 608
Credit rating 3/5

Nothing in the Public Information relating to Bankruptcies, Insolvencies or Judgments.

No notices of correction

No CIFAS warnings

This is only one agency but this will likely correlate with others not withstanding some variances in the credit rating and scoring?

The closed accounts has no information relating to any of the 3 banks I defaulted.

hohum

Sounds to me like for now, you're OK. I wouldn't poke the bear any further. If I were you, I'd start building up an emergency fund that could be used as full and final settlement should anyone start chasing you. They are probably unenforceable but you might consider lowballing an offer to settle. And if they don't, you have an emergency fund which is a great peace of mind bringer! There's lots of threads on here about whether a debt is enforceable, and how to make full and final offers. Although as they're not on your file, you may choose to ignore them. Whichever way, it would probably give you some peace of mind knowing that if something did happen, you have a bit of back up and a plan 'just in case'.