Paying off NatWest debt

NorwegianWood

Morning! I've recently checked my credit rating and can see on there that I still owe NatWest around £400 from a student account I closed years ago. This is obviously affecting my credit score and I would like to pay it off. How would I go about this? I tried speaking to NatWest but they required account information from me - account information I have no idea about due to this account being inactive for around six years! Does anyone have any advice for me?

Also, once this payment has been made and the debt settled, how long will it remain on my credit score?

Thanks in advance, Murray.

sourcrates

Hi,

Are you familiar with the Limitations act 1980 ?

If the debt is 6 years old, or more, then it would be statute barred, but, as its still showing on your credit file, it looks like they may of defaulted it later than that.

Paying off the debt wont remove the default, only time will do that, so your credit file will not improve until the default disappears.

Your made up credit score will fluctuate for the most stupid of reasons, you should not pay much attention to those numbers.

So what can you do ? basically wait until you are chased for this debt, by then, it may be SB and a letter to that effect should stop collection activity, it will be gone from your credit file 6 years after date of default anyway.

NorwegianWood

Hi,

Thanks very much for the information! I had a letter from a company called Wescott around a year ago (which I posted on here about) regarding the figure, but I wasn't sure if it was legitimate and opted to ignore it. I heard nothing more from them and assumed it had simply gone past the cut-off date you mention above. Is there any way to check how long ago it defaulted?

If not, who would I send the letter you mention above to in order to have it removed?

Thanks,
Murray.

sourcrates

There is no "cut off date" as such, a creditor can still chase a debt older than 6 years, they can still obtain a CCJ as well, its up to you to inform them that as the debt is over 6 years old, and has not been paid or acknowledged in that time, then once you have done that, they must prove otherwise, or accept what you say, and close the account.

Information and template letter here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/time-limits-for-recovering-debts/statute-barred-debt.aspx