Just received claim form - 6 year old debt

Gemm83

I've just received a claim form (CCJ) in regards to a very old debt. Not proud of it. Young stupid and buried head in sand.

The debt it self is listed nowhere on my credit history. The last acknowledged payment would have been through a DMP which ceased existence 6 years ago in January.

How do I deal with this. I'm 100% the debt is time barred. Can it even get to the stage if it was though?

Tia

fatbelly

Then you defend the claim on that basis

There are resources and help here:
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues/received-a-court-claim

Gemm83

@fatbelly
Thankyou. I've been dealing with mortgage advisors since January this year and its never ever been mentioned. 

Gemm83

Just out of interest too....it was an MBNA debt, sold to Arrow and then transferred to Dryden Fairfax (according to the claim)... Would they just willy nilly send it to County Court on the "hope" they get something? I would have thought they would know its more than 6 months old? 

sourcrates

Anyone can take you to court for any reason, at any time, in the case of debts, there are certain time regulations that apply to consumer credit act debts, and to most other simple contract debts as well.

The limitation act (plural) 1980, basically states a debt will become uncollectable/statute barred, after the expiration of 6 years, (England & Wales) with no payment or written acknowledgement by the debtor.

But that in itself will not prevent legal action from happening, you must defend the claim, those that don`t, get judgement awarded against them by default, so if you think its statute barred, then that is considered to be a full defence to any claim, and you should defend it on that basis.

Just to add, you do not have to prove it is statute barred, they must prove to the court that it isn`t.

Gemm83

@sourcrates
Thankyou so much for your detailed response. I've been trawling through LegalBeagles and popped a post on there, but can't seem to find the answer that I need!! 
Should I acknowledge the court claim and send a SB letter to Dryden Fairfax, along with filling in the defence notice advising contacting Dryden Fairfax for SB......OR send an amended SB letter to the Court. All the letters I find are primarily aimed at the company as opposed to the Court.

I have also double checked my credit file and an MBNA debt is definitely not on there. In fact on Clearscore I've just got notification that I am preapproved for an MBNA CC! Why would they offer me a new CC if they want money off me from an old debt 🤷‍♀️

Gemm83

Also the correspondence has been issued in my maiden name, haven't been know as that for 7 years. Should I point this out to the Court? 

sourcrates

Gemm83 said:

@sourcrates

Should I acknowledge the court claim and send a SB letter to Dryden Fairfax, along with filling in the defence notice advising contacting Dryden Fairfax for SB......

Yes you should acknowledge service, and file a defence, its actually imperative that you do.

You can send the SB letter to Dryden`s as well, they may decide to dis-continue if they feel they may lose, but for now, you must follow the court procedure, and see where it goes.

Its not unusual in these cases for the creditor to go right to the brink, and then dis-continue at the last moment, unless/until, that happens, carry on regardless.

The fact that papers were issued in your maiden name is not so much of an issue to be fair.

Gemm83

@sourcrates
Thankyou for your help. I've acknowledged and filed a defence online. I used a time barred template letter for the  and amended it a bit to reflect that it's been sent to the Court. I have challenged Dryden/Arrow to provide proof of payment to the Court. Will also send a letter to Dryden. I've had a look at my bank statement and the last payment to my DMP was September 2014. I asked my MA for a copy of my credit report from Check My File which I sent to him in December, just to double check and there is nothing whatsoever 🤷‍♀️

sourcrates

Its now a waiting game then, see what happens.

Gemm83

Is there any kind of time limit I would expect to hear back from them at all, or does it all depend on how busy they are?!