Total Fitness Debt - 6+ Years and Court Letter

GrahamsHill

Hi all - I’ve had a search but can’t find anything on my situation so need to ask.

In recent months I’ve been receiving letters from a debt collector demanding £119 from a total fitness membership I had. I ignored the letters thinking they were just another debt collection agency trying it on. Anyhoo, I got a demand from the County Court today for the debt, which has now risen to £204 with fees etc!

It says on the claim the the membership was from 15th August 2012, with the company taking over it in March 2014. The court papers were issued yesterday. So I have 2 questions:

1. If the court papers were issued more than 6 years after the original debt, is this now classed as Statute Barred?
2. If I pay it before the court date, is that it ie there is no CCJ on my credit report?

Thanks in advance.

National_Debtline

Hi GrahamsHill,


So, you will have 14days to reply to the court forms, plus 5 days for postage if they are from Northampton county court business/ money centre. If you wish to defend then you can file the acknowledgement of service form to get a further 14days to complete your defence, if that is what you decide to do.

If the membership started in August 2012, then I am afraid it is unlikely it will be statute barred. Under the limitations act, the 6 year period begins from when the debt 'falls due', which is when they can first take action to recover the debt (not when it started). With a debt like this it will depend on the type of gym membership and if it was a monthly rolling one, or a fixed period and how you cancelled it.


If you do decide not to defend this, and pay it instead, then if you pay the total claim before a judgement is entered then nothing will show on your credit file. Equally, if you pay it in full within 28 days of a judgement actually being entered, it would be removed/ not entered on your credit file.


Laura
@natdebtline

GrahamsHill

Many thanks for your quick reply. It looks like I’ll have to pay it then, but if I do so before it goes to court it’ll be £119 and not £204 so I’ll save myself £85 and pay it tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

National_Debtline

Hi GrahmansHill,


As the claim form has already been issued you will need to pay the full balance of the claim, including the fees, in order to prevent the matter going any further. The only exception to this would be if you were able to negotiate, in writing, a settlement with the claimant to pay a reduced amount of the claim and ask them to withdraw the claim (so effectively leaving themselves out of pocket) and to mark your credit file as £0 and settled/ partially settled.


Please be aware that if you have only paid part of the balance on the claim the creditor can continue with court action, and this would result in a CCJ. If you pay off a CCJ in full within 28 days of it being entered then there shouldn't be any entry on your credit file or the register of orders, judgement and fines. Best of luck,


Laura
@natdebtline