Old debt rearing it's ugly head.

BenH207

Around 10 years ago I had a business that went under, unfortunately with it came a lot of personal debts. I buried my head in the sand for a number of years and then finally faced up to them and made offers to all my creditors. I came to agreements with them all and paid the debts off. Due to the time lapse they are now erased from my credit file and no longer appear. I have a good credit rating according to experian and none of the debts are showing. 

I have had no correspondence from any of the companies for years and then yesterday I come home to find a letter from a company called Hoist Finance who I have never had any dealings with whatsoever saying that they have purchased the debt from my bank and I owe them £7630.94. I haven't been in touch with them yet as I don't want to stir up a hornets nest but then I also don't want to bury my head in the sand again and end up in trouble. 

Any help and advice would be welcome. 

EssexHebridean

First things first, track down when you last contacted them/made a payment to them - if the 10 years you refer to above was the last time the debt was acknowledged and this was definitely a personal, not business debt, then it will very likely be statute barred. You've absolutely right not to contact them until you get all the details in line though. 

sourcrates

Sending the provit letter will get you the finer details, and proof of liability, all without formally acknowledging the debt.

If its been 6 years (5 years in Scotland) or more since either -

The date of default
The last payment
or written acknowledgement, then....

The debt will be statute barred, and you won`t have to pay it, you will however, have to inform them of its SB status, in writing, to formally end the process, otherwise they can still obtain a judgement against you, as most folk assume statute barred applies automatically, well it doesn't, you have to inform the creditor of such in writing, lots of court judgements are granted in default, because people think they don`t have to respond to them, due to the statute barred assumption, when in fact you do.

Once they confirm the debt is past the limitation period, then the matter is over.