BW legal- chasing for debt from 2012

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't bother.  If you've denied the debt and told them it's statute barred, that's all you need to do.

pogofish

BW Legal are well known over on the Parking Tickets Board - Plenty of detailed advice on dealing with them there too. 

mmw92

pogofish said:

BW Legal are well known over on the Parking Tickets Board - Plenty of detailed advice on dealing with them there too. 

I saw! But because there were so many abbreviations used and so many people were saying they’re being taken to court I panicked and just set up my own thread. I didn’t want to annoy people by asking my own questions there 

sourcrates

It’s perfectly legal to chase any debt of any age, however, under the Limitation act 1980, simple contract debts such as this, become statute barred after 6 years (5 years in Scotland) as long as no payment or written acknowledgment by you, has been made, that means they cannot use the courts to enforce their rights, but they can still ask you to pay.

You say you have sent an email, to be fair, you should send a letter, then you have a proper legal paper trail, however you have done the right thing, and statute barred is a full defence to any court action, so don’t worry about that.
Under current guidance, BW should now either provide evidence that’s it’s not statute barred, or advise you they are dropping the matter, and closing their file on you.

BW and companies like them, rely on your ignorance of the law in these matters, and there false timeframes for responding, to panic you into a response, tactics which work with a lot of people.

They are a law firm in the broadest sense of the word, they rely on bulk claims to make their money, it’s all a numbers game to them, if they can panic 50 percent of folk into paying a statute barred debt of £200 or however much, which they bought for less than £5 quid, they will do so willingly and still make money.

Thats how the debt purchasing world operates.

If they continue to ask for payment, (once you have told them it’s SB, all collection activity should cease), you should make an official written complaint, and escalate to the FOS if necessary. 

nyermen

Added point re credit check - it's likely just a soft search (only seen by you).  Hard searches / seen by all are more tightly controlled.  I'm also pretty sure they can't just randomly charge "25% fees" etc, based on short term threats to pay on (likely) statute barred debt.  The debt is the debt, with fees added as per (most likely) the T&C you signed at the time (if indeed it is your debt).
And TBH - if they've only just tracked you down after all this time, with a super super super unique name, then that is also against them.

mmw92

sourcrates said:

It’s perfectly legal to chase any debt of any age, however, under the Limitation act 1980, simple contract debts such as this, become statute barred after 6 years (5 years in Scotland) as long as no payment or written acknowledgment by you, has been made, that means they cannot use the courts to enforce their rights, but they can still ask you to pay.

You say you have sent an email, to be fair, you should send a letter, then you have a proper legal paper trail, however you have done the right thing, and statute barred is a full defence to any court action, so don’t worry about that.
Under current guidance, BW should now either provide evidence that’s it’s not statute barred, or advise you they are dropping the matter, and closing their file on you.

BW and companies like them, rely on your ignorance of the law in these matters, and there false timeframes for responding, to panic you into a response, tactics which work with a lot of people.

They are a law firm in the broadest sense of the word, they rely on bulk claims to make their money, it’s all a numbers game to them, if they can panic 50 percent of folk into paying a statute barred debt of £200 or however much, which they bought for less than £5 quid, they will do so willingly and still make money.

Thats how the debt purchasing world operates.

If they continue to ask for payment, (once you have told them it’s SB, all collection activity should cease), you should make an official written complaint, and escalate to the FOS if necessary. 

Thank you for the explanation. Yes, I know a letter would’ve been better, but I don’t have a postbox near me and I don’t have a car to drive to one and in these current circumstances I don’t want to take the public transport. I don’t even have a printer to print it out so would need to go to a shop first 🤦🏼‍♀️ Citizens advice bureau told me next best thing to do is just email and not to call them so that everything is in writing of some sort. I was just wondering why I still haven’t heard back from them a couple of weeks later but I guess they’re maybe trying to gather evidence or something. Who knows. 

mmw92

nyermen said:

Added point re credit check - it's likely just a soft search (only seen by you).  Hard searches / seen by all are more tightly controlled.  I'm also pretty sure they can't just randomly charge "25% fees" etc, based on short term threats to pay on (likely) statute barred debt.  The debt is the debt, with fees added as per (most likely) the T&C you signed at the time (if indeed it is your debt).
And TBH - if they've only just tracked you down after all this time, with a super super super unique name, then that is also against them.

Yes I contacted someone else and they told me that it looks like a soft search so I should be okay. So stressful though to have seen that come up on there. And I agree- if they really tried to track me down it’s not that hard- I didn’t notify my pension company from my old job about change of address and they just tracked me down using a service company to do that within a few weeks. It’s not that hard, so why did they even wait so long is beyond me. The 25% is also so weird- it says that for now I can pay less if I settle before end of this month, but afterwards it will go up by 25%. 

Fighter1986

BW Legal's activities are very close to, if not just beyond the edge of the law.

You've notified them that the debt is statute barred. Don't follow it up, don't sweat it, don't think about it any more at all.

If you get any more letters from them, put them back in the letterbox unopened marked "RETURN TO SENDER - UNSOLICITED"

You're in the right. 

mmw92

Fighter1986 said:

BW Legal's activities are very close to, if not just beyond the edge of the law.

You've notified them that the debt is statute barred. Don't follow it up, don't sweat it, don't think about it any more at all.

If you get any more letters from them, put them back in the letterbox unopened marked "RETURN TO SENDER - UNSOLICITED"

You're in the right. 

Thank you for taking the time to give advice. I really appreciate it! 

mmw92

Fighter1986 said:

BW Legal's activities are very close to, if not just beyond the edge of the law.

You've notified them that the debt is statute barred. Don't follow it up, don't sweat it, don't think about it any more at all.

If you get any more letters from them, put them back in the letterbox unopened marked "RETURN TO SENDER - UNSOLICITED"

You're in the right. 

Hi there! 

I just got another letter through from BW legal, showing that they sent a letter in 2014 to my old address where the internet broadband was set up in my name. Whilst the 'debt' is from 2012, it looks like they were following it up in 2014- but this is the only evidence they were able to show me- nothing later than 2014. The letter says that I now have to settle this, and that this letter concludes any outstanding queries. If i do not settle this within the next 10 days  it says they will move to further collections activity. I am very scared now, because just at the start of this week I have applied for a mortgage and I am worried this will now complicate things. Even though the contacted me in 2014 ( I never received this letter, at all, and they aren't showin g me any further attempts to contact me since 2014), does this mean I have to pay this bill? I live with my parents now, and once I move they will remain at my address- I don't want them being harrassed by debt collectors.