PRA Group and 'Cancelled' Payday loans

Orphan86

Hi all, Years ago i had a bit of a mar4e and was young and stupid and got into the whole payday loan cycle taking out one to pay off another etc etc. In the end i defaulted on a whole bunch of them and obviously they were big black marks on my credit report.

Over the years i have worked to gradually pay them off but some were still unpaid.

More recently, in the last 2-3 years due to the mis-sold loans thing i have had my accounts with the various payday lenders reviewed I've been awarded some compensation (pennies really because of lenders being in administration) and any outstanding loans were written off and all loans removed from my credit reports.

This has obviously been great since it cleaned up my credit report significantly.

However I am being contacted by PRA group. I know that they buy bad debt and I believe that the debt they are pursuing me for is one of the payday loans which has subsequently been written off. Aside from Statute Barred, do PRA actually have any legal right to claim this debt from me?

I appreciate that they bought the debt from the lender but surely since the original loan was missold and the debt cancelled they can't claim that from me?

Orphan86

For additional info, I don't know exactly the loan or value which PRA are chasing because i haven't engaged with them. They go to my voicemail and leave an automated message.

sammyjammy

Orphan86 said:

For additional info, I don't know exactly the loan or value which PRA are chasing because i haven't engaged with them. They go to my voicemail and leave an automated message.

So how do you know that its one that was written off.  Do you have paperwork for all of this loan activity?  If you can evidence it was written off then you need to prove that to them.

Orphan86

I  know it has to be written off because ALL my loans are now either fully paid or written off.

All the communication from the lenders regarding compensation and review was electronic so i will have the emails which confirmed compensation and write offs. I hope that will suffice as 'paperwork'.

Can you confirm that they have no right to claim a written off debt even though they presumably bought it before the debt was written off? I don't want to engage with them until i know where i stand because i know they will try and talk around it.

sourcrates

The debtor (you) do not have to prove anything, the debt collector/purchaser chasing the debt, is the one who has to prove to you that the debt is live, and collectable, the onus is always on them, not you.

This is why its so important to do things in the correct way, you never speak to a debt collector on the phone, all they want is payment, they are not interested in your little dispute.

You do everything in writing only from now on, in these situations, we recommend you send the "provit" letter, available here -

Letter when you know nothing about about the debt - AKA "Prove it" letter — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Edit the letter to your individual circumstances, then send it to PRA Group.

They are now legally obliged to send you proof of your liability for this account, so wait and see what response you get, and dependant on what they send you, that will then determine your next move.

Its the next step to inform them the loans are written off, if that becomes necessary, so keep us informed.

Orphan86

Thank you. Thanks good to know. I haven't made contact with them yet, where would i find the appropriate address/email to send the provit letter to? As I said all I've got so far are automated answerphone messages.

sourcrates

Orphan86 said:

Thank you. Thanks good to know. I haven't made contact with them yet, where would i find the appropriate address/email to send the provit letter to? As I said all I've got so far are automated answerphone messages.

In that case wait until they can be bothered to write to you.

You do not have to respond to messages/emails/texts or calls, if they want to put this debt to you officially, they must write to you, when they do, respond with the provit letter.

Suseka97

Also to add, you should block their number so you are not pestered by the calls and they can't go to voicemail.  Then do as sourcrates says, just wait until they write to you - assuming they have your current address.

Karonher

The debtor (you) do not have to prove anything, the debt collector/purchaser chasing the debt, is the one who has to prove to you that the debt is live, and collectable, the onus is always on them, not you.

This is more for my information than anything. If the new owners of the debt, or alleged debt have paperwork to say it is owed but nothing to say it has been written off or paid would the OP not have to prove that they no longer owed it. All the courts would see would be proof it belonged to the OP.

fatbelly

Just to clarify, do nothing until they write.

Then send a prove-it.

Goodness knows what they have bought. All we know is that your phone number has been connected to it. Block their calls if you can. You can post again when they write. But our response is likely to be 'send a prove-it.'

jonesey1985

"Written off" can have two meanings.  Either "that's the end of the matter" or "we're not going to chase it anymore (but we might sell it off to someone who will.)"  It appears this debt was the latter.