Lowell chasing relentlessly

Rileybaby

Hi,

can anyone advise what if anything I need to do. Lowell have recently purchased an old debt of mine that Barclays obtained a CCJ on some 9-10 years ago. I have never acknowledged any letters from anyone associated with this debt nor have I made any payments towards it (as I was unable to) they are threatening legal action but what action can they take?

The CCJ disappeared off my credit file 3-4 years ago.

any advice would be appreciated.

MorningcoffeeIV

Have they been making efforts to collect the debt over the years?

The problem with CCJs is they never become statute barred, so your only hope is that they haven't tried to collect until now.

Rileybaby

I’ve had the odd letter but nothing for a good few years. What can they do and what do I need to do? 

sourcrates

If judgement was granted all that time ago, its very likely Lowell are unaware the judgement ever existed, as it would have fallen off all records after 6 years, hence why they are threatening legal action now.

You can only be taken to court once for any particular debt.

Have you any evidence, paperwork etc the CCJ was ever granted ?

This is quite a tricky one, as the debt has not been acknowledged in 10 years, normally it would be statute barred, under the limitation act 1980, and that would get Lowell off your back straight away.

However, taking legal action, means you can no longer use the limitation act as a defence, but yet another little quirk in the law states, any judgement must be enforced within 6 years, otherwise court approval must be obtained, and after 10 years its unlikely to be granted, especially as no records of the judgement remain, and no reference numbers etc.

So what to do, do you tell Lowell about the legal action, and rely on them just giving up, as no evidence of this judgement may be forthcoming, and an application to the court would now be pointless, or, do you not tell them, and invoke the limitation act as your defence to this, in the hope they don`t know about the CCJ, honestly, I don`t know what to advise you to do for the best here.

OK, have Lowell mentioned they know of a CCJ being granted ?

If they haven`t, which is the most likely answer, then I would call their bluff and go straight in with the statute barred letter and see how that plays out, you cannot make your position worse by doing so.

New legislation comes into force in July with regard to the chasing of statute barred debts, which is probably one reason they have upped the anti here.

Rileybaby

As of yet Lowell haven’t mentioned anything about the CCJ they know the debt was in relation to a Barclays credit card account but that’s all the information they have given me. Being honest I’m sure Lowell had the debt many years ago when the CCJ was first in place  but didn’t do anything with it. 

sourcrates

Hmmm, I would go with the statute barred approach, send them the statute barred letter, and see how they react.

If they come back and say that doesn't apply because legal action was taken on such and such a date, fair enough, they had 6 years to enforce it, and they didn`t do so, so they can`t do anything with that. 

Or, they may, as I suspect, be unaware of any judgement, and agree that it`s statute barred, and that`ll be the end of that. 

Or they may say something else, I would go with this advice and see what happens.

Rileybaby

Thank you ill do that and let you know what response I receive