Debt Collection/Robinson Way

Comfy_Slippers

Hi all,

This might be a long post so please bear with me.

I have some old credit card debt for £940 that has gone unpaid in a hangover from my mis-spent youth. For that past 12 months or so I have been receiving occasional phone calls and letters from Robinson Way urging me to contact them, start payments etc. Today I received another that listed three things that might happen if I don't contact them before the end of Jan:

*Being referred to the clients solicitors and asking them to issue a County Court Claim
*Send a report to credit reference companies
*Attempt to make contact through former places of work/old contact details etc.

This debt was from a credit card taken out approx 9 years ago, and if my memory serves me correctly there have been no payments made towards it in approx 5 years (though maybe slightly less than that). I don't know how long Robinson Way have "owned" this debt.

I am at a stage in my life where I am ready to start settling down with my partner and Ive decided that the ostrich head in the sand approach to these things is no longer acceptable, I have decided that this needs sorted out once and for all. My partner doesn't know anything about this debt, and I've tried to keep it that way so far, mostly through embarrassment and shame at being unable to face up to these things.

I checked my credit report for the first time this morning through noodle, and this debt is on there as "defaulted", everything else appears to be in order as I have always made utility bills, mobile contract payments on time. As you can imagine this has given me the wonderful credit score of 541 and a credit rating of 1/5 which is far from helpful when it comes to future planning.

So after that background, here are my questions:

*I am in Scotland and I am aware that debt "expires" after 5 years here. Does this same time frame apply to this (former Barclay Card) Debt?

*If a County Court Claim is issued, is it applicable in Scotland? Or does it get the Scottish equivalent? I've read that this is unlikely to happen, but the last thing I want is someone turning up at my door.

*Do I write to them and ask for proof that I owe them this? I have never acknowledged in writing that I owe them, or signed any kind of repayment plan. The only contact I have ever made was to call them and change the address they were sending letters to, as they were being sent to my former address at my parents house and I wanted to stop that.

I am not denying that I owe this, and if it has to be repaid so be it. Should I offer a part payment in order to clear it? I am employed, but I don't get a massive wage and I don't have vast savings, I could perhaps pay £300 maximum towards it. I am reluctant to do that in one lump as its taken me a long time to be able to save anything at all due to my employment situation, and Id rather not go back to having nothing put aside.

*I have seen some people suggest offering to pay £1 a month. Is this sensible? I feel like I'd be paying that off until the end of time. Id rather just have rid of it completely, so I can start sorting out my credit rating.

If repaying this is my only option, what is the best way of going about this? I want to avoid raking up more debt and typing myself in knots with these people.

Apologies for the long post, I have tried to read as much advice as I can on these forums about this but everything I read seems to apply to England and Wales, and it all gets a bit confusing after reading so much.

Thanks in advance for any advice that can be given.

sourcrates

Hi,

The statute of limitations in Scotland is 5 years.

So if its been 5 years since your last payment or written acknowledgement, then you can claim the account is statute barred, and the debt should be extinguished.

I would be very careful about your next move, if they do issue a court claim, it will be the Scottish equivalent of that, my gut instinct says wait as long as you possibly can till your sure the 5 years has expired, then send the statute barred letter.

Just so you know, statue barred is a full defense to any court claim they care to issue also.

Comfy_Slippers

Thanks.

Is there any way I can find out if it is statute barred without acknowledging the debt? Should I write and ask for proof that I owe it or just sit tight?

National_Debtline

Hi

Any court action for a consumer credit debt should be started in the courts with jurisdiction for where you live. That means they should apply for a decree in the sheriff court, rather than a CCJ, although it does still happen in practice.

What date is the default on your credit file? Defaults are normally added 3 – 6 months after contractual payments were missed so that might help to narrow down how long it’s been, unless you were making payments after you defaulted.

This factsheet explains time limits for recovering debts in Scotland.

www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/23%20SCOT%20Time%20limits%20for%20recovering%20debts/Default.aspx

You can use this sample letter to send to debt collectors explaining that you think the debt is extinguished, without acknowledging it. Ideally you want to be fairly sure it's over 5 years before sending it though otherwise you might encourage them to go to court.

www.nationaldebtline.org/S/sampleletters/Pages/Time-has-run-out-to-recover-the-debt-(sole-name).aspx

James
@natdebtline

sourcrates

As James says, your credit file will be the font of all knowledge.

It will list the default date, so you can roughly assume the countdown clock would of started some 3 months prior to that.

If all that falls into place, then you should be ok.

Comfy_Slippers

I have looked again at my credit file it it says that I defaulted on this May 2014, though I am almost certain there were no payments for at least 12 months before then. Obviously I could be mistaken, if I am then I have quite a while to go before it is statue barred. Should I just bite the bullet and pay it?

I did receive a few letters from another company before this was sold on again to RW, but I can't remember the name. Would this affect it?

Thanks for all the advice so far. I am learning a hard lesson this week about not ignoring these things, and keeping proper track of my finances! Better late than never I suppose!

sourcrates

Comfy_Slippers wrote: »

I have looked again at my credit file it it says that I defaulted on this May 2014, though I am almost certain there were no payments for at least 12 months before then. Obviously I could be mistaken, if I am then I have quite a while to go before it is statue barred. Should I just bite the bullet and pay it?

I did receive a few letters from another company before this was sold on again to RW, but I can't remember the name. Would this affect it?

Thanks for all the advice so far. I am learning a hard lesson this week about not ignoring these things, and keeping proper track of my finances! Better late than never I suppose!

It could well of been defaulted earlier, and when Robinson way acquired it, altered the default date to the date they acquired it, something there not supposed to do, but it happens.

If it were me, I'd give the original creditor a quick ring, and ask them when the account was first defaulted.

fatbelly

Hi

It's not unknown for default dates to be inaccurate when reported by debt buyers.

Can you go through old bank statements to find when you actually made your last payment? If May 2013 then you are very close to this being statute barred.

Comfy_Slippers

I definitely received letters from either RW or the previous company prior to the date reported on my credit file, unfortunately those all went in the bin so I have no proof of those.

I'll contact the credit card company and see if they can give me info on when it was first sold on, and will try and get hold of bank statements from that period as well.

Comfy_Slippers

Just had a quick look through my online bank statements before bed, and it looks like the last payment to Barclay Card was October 2012. So almost, but not quite, statute barred.

Not quite sure what my next move should be...

fatbelly

It seems from your records that a payment due in Nov 2012 was not made, and the debt has not been acknowledged by payment or in writing, since that time. So it will expire in November 2017.

You can

pay it
pay it on receipt of a court claim (with the added costs)
offer a settlement (if carefully worded this does not acknowledge the debt)

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/S/sampleletters/Pages/Full-and-final-settlement-offers-(sole-name).aspx