Help - three saying I owe money after 10 years

Nsw888

Hi not sure what to do. Three recently contacted me saying I owed them over £300 for a contract 10 years ago! The money has been building up as I didn’t pay apparently. It states on the letter that they couldn’t contact me .. but why now? I’ve been on the electoral roll at all of my addresses and they had my email address when I was with them. I do not recall owing any money to them and they have not tried to contact me or it hey did they obviously haven’t tried hard enough. I phoned and asked for proof of contacting me and proof of the bill. They said they would post it out and I never received anything. Last week I received a letter from the debt company they have sold my debt to. I have heard they can’t go after people for a debt older than 6 years?
Please help! Thank you

Jon_01

The 6 years before the debt becomes 'Status Barred' is from the point of last contact, not from the date of the debt.
So, it Three can prove that they made contact with you anytime in the last 6 years they can still chase you.
If they can't prove that, then they can't.

You need to contact the agency and get any action put on hold until you've resolved the above with Three.

d123

Jon_01 wrote: »

The 6 years before the debt becomes 'Status Barred' is from the point of last contact, not from the date of the debt.

'Statute barred' is the term you're looking for.

So, it Three can prove that they made contact with you anytime in the last 6 years they can still chase you.
If they can't prove that, then they can't.

The OP has to have acknowledged the existence of the debt (for eg. made a payment or proposed a payment plan), not simply that Three made contact with him.

Jon_01

d123 wrote: »

'Statute barred' is the term you're looking for.

.

Thanks, one of the reasons I hate autocorrect!! (but I should have checked. . .).

Nsw888

Ok thank you. Also read something about it being 5 years for Scotland do you know anything about this?

Nsw888

Ok so I should get in contact with three. So pretty much if they provide me with proof of them trying to get in contact with me in the past six years then I have to pay this? If they can provide me with proof of the bill too.

mobilejunkie

They will have also trashed your external credit files for the 6 years. I suggest you check those to see what's on there. The six years may now been off depending on when they regisstered a debt.

Kernel_Sanders

You might be able to get a payment from a cashback site for checking through them.

Nsw888 wrote: »

Ok so I should get in contact with three. So pretty much if they provide me with proof of them trying to get in contact with me in the past six years then I have to pay this?

Looks like they don't have the proof. I suspect the case has been sold cheaply because of this, and the purchaser is just trying it on. Personally, I would just ignore them.

Buzby

Yes - the maximum is 5 years for those in Scotland, however this is only od any relevance should it actually come to a Scottish Court. Most firms in England will pursue by a standard template showing 6 years.