Unclaimed money from my Iva creditors has been sent back to me help!

Paula1301

Hi everyone,
I would be very grateful for some advice please.
My IVA came to a successful end in 2011but took another 18 months has to receive the completion certificate as debt free direct was chasing PPI payments from my creditors. I was really annoyed by this as it kept me officially within the IVA for any extra year and a half than I should have been, in the end they did close it and only managed to claim £80 of PPI in the end!
Anyway yesterday I received a cheque from debt free direct saying that they are sending some money back to me that has been unclaimed by one of my creditors despite them trying on several occasions to give them their share.
The letter says that I should bank the cheque a and keep the money on trust as the creditor can still claim the money from me if they wish too.
My question is how long does the creditor have to claim the money from me?
I could really use some advice on this as I don't want to use the money and then regret it.

mwarby

I know LBG and Nationwide both allow you to open savings accounts online, and give them names. I'd bank the cheque then open a savings account(not a special one where they only allow 1 of) for the funds and transfer them.

National_Debtline

Hi Paula1301,


This is a very odd scenario and I would suggest you get some legal advice. It is possible you may be able to argue that if the creditor hasn't asked for this money after 6 years from date the IVA completed then they may have no claim under the statute of limitations. However, this is a very unusual situation arising from an IVA which is legally binding, so I think getting some legal advice would be the best bet.


Laura
@natdebtline

Pinkprincess33

I have also received a cheque and the same letter. Have paid into my bank waiting for it to clear. My IVA finished in 2014. I'm wondering if it is extra payments made from PPI claims they made after the IVA finished.

Tinks74

I have known of one creditor, HSBC, who had their representative TIX, return an old dividend cheque as their records showed the debt as written off. When chased directly it was discovered that HSBC had sold the debt, as far as they were concerned they didn't want the money, unfortunately when they were asked who now owned the debt so the cheque could be forwarded on their response was that 'they didn't know' who it had been sold to!

I have also had to send a cheque back to a debtor that was returned 6 years after the arrangement was satisfactorily ended. Luckily we were able to locate the debtor who was given the same advice, tbh, no one was quite sure how long the creditor or new owner of the debt had to claim the amount, the consensus from the IP's leant towards the statute of limitations being key, so in this case the debtor probably didn't have to worry.

I have seen it happen 5 or 6 times in the last 12 months, mostly from the same agent TIX, who we had been told were undertaking a huge account reconciliation process, so who knows if there will be more.