Default is almost 6 years old

SDavies84

I'm not sure if I've made a mistake! I am trying to sort out my debts and when logging on to Experian I saw there was a debt from NatWest credit card for £1400 that will be defaulted for 5 years in August. They haven't tried to recover the debt and I haven't heard from debt collectors or anything. I even forgot I had it as I heard nothing. I was feeling all sensible and grown up and called them to speak to them to try and arrange a payment plan (not set up yet) and now I'm wondering if I should have just kept quiet as it might drop off my credit file next year? Can anyone confirm if this is the case?! If I set up a payment plan for monthly installments, will this cause it to remain on my credit report?

Swoosh84

No, it will not remain on your credit report, soon as 6 years from the date of default passes it will drop off.

But if you let it be for 6 years (5 in Scotland) then it becomes stature barred and unenforceable which would have resulted in you not having to pay anything towards it.

By calling, you may have acknowledged this debt and thus reset the 6 year countdown. Depends if they recorded you or not!

sammyjammy

Assuming you're not in Scotland it will indeed be removed from your credit report in August 2022, now that you have made contact with them they can and will chase you for repayment.

Swoosh84

As Sammy notes - They may now activly chase you for this now you have made contact, only time will tell if this is the case. Are Natwest aware of your current address? They could potentially go for a CCJ and would be legally entitled to send this to whatever address they have registered on file. If this is an old address they will end up with a default judgment from the court. Rock and a hard place, usual advice would be to update them with any new addresses but this will probably just further increase the risk of them chasing you.

Definitley a mistake calling them, should have came here first and asked. But either way, no one knows whats going to happen now. You could ignore and they take no action and it drops off come August 2022 or they could pass your file onto a debt collection agency who activlty chase you for this.

SDavies84

😭 I was afraid of this. They do have my new address. I guess I will wait and see what happens. 

Swoosh84

SDavies84 said:

😭 I was afraid of this. They do have my new address. I guess I will wait and see what happens. 

This is a big plus, worst case scenario here, you get correspondence through chasing you. If it’s not paid then they may (stress the word 'may') take further action and raise a case against you. If this is done, would you be in a position to pay in full? Any CCJ obtained will be detailed on your credit report and then stay there for a further 6 years.

Do you know what the date of the last payment on this debt was? The 6-year period starts from the date of last payment, if no payment or acknowledgment of the debt is made in a 6-year period then it becomes stature barred and unenforceable in court.

jefaz07

Swoosh84 said:

No, it will not remain on your credit report, soon as 6 years from the date of default passes it will drop off.

But if you let it be for 6 years (5 in Scotland) then it becomes stature barred and unenforceable which would have resulted in you not having to pay anything towards it.

By calling, you may have acknowledged this debt and thus reset the 6 year countdown. Depends if they recorded you or not!

Correct me as I may be wrong...I thought the acknowledgment has to be in writing and that a phone call (recorded or not) wasn’t enough for that!? 

Swoosh84

jefaz07 said:

Swoosh84 said:

No, it will not remain on your credit report, soon as 6 years from the date of default passes it will drop off.

But if you let it be for 6 years (5 in Scotland) then it becomes stature barred and unenforceable which would have resulted in you not having to pay anything towards it.

By calling, you may have acknowledged this debt and thus reset the 6 year countdown. Depends if they recorded you or not!

Correct me as I may be wrong...I thought the acknowledgment has to be in writing and that a phone call (recorded or not) wasn’t enough for that!? 

I stand corrected, you are correct!

"If the debtor acknowledges the debt in writing or makes a part payment within the original limitation period, then the time limits start to run again from the date of acknowledgement or the date of payment."

SDavies84

Swoosh84 said:

SDavies84 said:

😭 I was afraid of this. They do have my new address. I guess I will wait and see what happens. 

This is a big plus, worst case scenario here, you get correspondence through chasing you. If it’s not paid then they may (stress the word 'may') take further action and raise a case against you. If this is done, would you be in a position to pay in full? Any CCJ obtained will be detailed on your credit report and then stay there for a further 6 years.

Do you know what the date of the last payment on this debt was? The 6-year period starts from the date of last payment, if no payment or acknowledgment of the debt is made in a 6-year period then it becomes stature barred and unenforceable in court.

Thanks for your reply.

I am not in a place to pay it in full, but the person I spoke to said they would even accept something as small as a couple of pounds a month. 

It looks like I last made a payment 2 years and 6 months ago, but Experian says defaulted date 26th August 2016.

Swoosh84

SDavies84 said:

It looks like I last made a payment 2 years and 6 months ago, but Experian says defaulted date 26th August 2016.

This makes it somewhat more difficult for you. Yes, the default will still drop off in August 2022. But they will have another 3.5 odd years to chase you for this debt and raise a claim on it.

SDavies84

Swoosh84 said:

SDavies84 said:

It looks like I last made a payment 2 years and 6 months ago, but Experian says defaulted date 26th August 2016.

This makes it somewhat more difficult for you. Yes, the default will still drop off in August 2022. But they will have another 3.5 odd years to chase you for this debt and raise a claim on it.

  I've really got myself into a pickle! 🥺 I thought I was doing the sensible thing, but seem to have made things worse. I guess I will see if I receive any correspondence and will probably come back on here for advice.