Support for old loan

dandaman6196

In 2005 I took out a personal loan. 

Several years later I defaulted on it and it was sold to a 3rd party company, which has changed several times over the years. 

In 2019 the 3rd party changed again and I have made no payments since .
A new company saying that they are acting on behalf of Lloyds have now contacted me saying I need to pay the balance out of the blue in a very aggressive letter. 

I have asked for a copy of the original credit agreement and statements of payments ive made as the amount looks higher than I thought it was. So far they have been unable to provide this (5 - 6 weeks after I asked for it) 

If they cannot provide this information what rights do I have and can I challenge this? 

And is there a time limit on how long they have to provide me with this? I did ask the previous 3rd party company a couple of years ago for this information and didn't receive it. 

I am more than 3 years since I last made any payment on this loan, is there a cut off point? 

Thank you 

[Deleted User]

If they cannot evidence the debt is valid, then they can't enforce it.

They have until the debt is statute barred to provide the evidence, so another three years or so.

sourcrates

dandaman6196 said:

In 2005 I took out a personal loan. 

Several years later I defaulted on it and it was sold to a 3rd party company, which has changed several times over the years. 

In 2019 the 3rd party changed again and I have made no payments since .
A new company saying that they are acting on behalf of Lloyds have now contacted me saying I need to pay the balance out of the blue in a very aggressive letter. 

I have asked for a copy of the original credit agreement and statements of payments ive made as the amount looks higher than I thought it was. So far they have been unable to provide this (5 - 6 weeks after I asked for it) 

If they cannot provide this information what rights do I have and can I challenge this? 

And is there a time limit on how long they have to provide me with this? I did ask the previous 3rd party company a couple of years ago for this information and didn't receive it. 

I am more than 3 years since I last made any payment on this loan, is there a cut off point? 

Thank you 

Its called a CCA request, under section 77/79 consumer credit act 1978 and is one of your statutory rights.

You mention that "I did ask the previous 3rd party company a couple of years ago for this information and didn't receive it". 

If this was a valid CCA request, accompanied by the statutory fee of £1, then the time clock started ticking at that point, your debt is, and will remain unenforceable, until they provide what they are supposed to, you only need make this request once, it does not run out of time.

What it means in layman's terms is that the creditor cannot obtain a judgement against you in court, they can still take you to court, they can still ask for payment, they can still report your account to the credit reference agencies, what they cannot do is obtain a judgement against you as they do not possess any evidence that the debt is actually yours.

The only way around it for them would be if they issued proceedings and you failed to defend the claim, although protocol has tightened up a lot in recent years, and if they follow civil procedure rules this would be dead in the water at the LBA stage.