Sottish Law on debt

Jambo1874

Hi guys!
My first ever post on this site and looking at all the fab info you guys throw around here I thought I would post my problem....
I couple of weeks ago I got contacted by a debt recovery company and they told me that I was due £5000 on a credit card I took out in 1998. I said to them there must be a mistake as I went with a debt management company in 1999 as I got into serious trouble with money, so 8 years down the line I get this delightful phone call saying I have to pay up or go to court, being how I am I lept straight onto the defensive claiming no knowledge of this. They then told me the name of the credit card company and at that point my backside fell out my trousers. i then offered a settlement minus a discount wich they were happy to take (£3000). I paid this off and then it twigged to me that the limit of that credit card was only £1000 so the rest was made up of charges and Phantom letters that I never recieved!
My query is, is there a chance I could reclaim the charges or fight to get it written off and reclaim my money ?

Ps, I never recieved letters and have been paying tax and insurance as well as being on the electors roll for all that time........Cheers Guys

itsnever2lateisit?

Oh dear not much we can do now that you have paid them, make sure that they write to you acknowledging F&F settlement, and make sure that nothing is put on your credit file.

For future reference debt becomes 'Statute Barred' in Scotland after 5 years have passed between either the last payment or written acknowledgment of the debt. After that time the debt is unenforcable. As to whether you can recover the £3000, I am doubtful, but hopefully someone more knowledgable will answer that one

GeorgeUK

I would suggest trying to get weller in on this. You should see from her posts on the link below that she managed to reclaim monies paid to a DCA. Not sure what you do if you have made a full settlement, but probably at least worth trying. Re the charges - you should still be able to reclaim the CC charges from the DCA as they own the debt. There are template letters on the site for claiming from banks but i would try to get back all the money first from the DCA.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486

GeorgeUK

Hopefully you're in time to cancel any cheque you've sent to them or get the payment stopped. Hope you only sent it off yesterday???

One thing i'm not too sure on is whether the bank or the DCA is responsible for the charges. Although you can't technically claim further back than 5 years in Scotland (so that would be 5 years worth of charges), some people are arguing that this is only for lawful charges. These charges are unlawful (and not covered in the English test case with the FSO). Some people are reclaiming back up to 15 years of charges, so this is something you may want to look at if you don't get anywhere with the DCA. The consumeractiongroup has more details on that.