paying £1 a month on a card that defaulted in 2010

nic_c

HillStreetBlues said:

nic_c said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Catsacor said:

However, financial lessons are what this subforum is about and everyone reading this thread gains valuable information that might well relate to their own situation 👍👍

My reading of it isn't about lessons.  It's simply the morality of trying to avoid a debt that is owed.

There is the morality of whether a debt is fair though. We often take it as if someone has borrowed the money, they should pay it back. However it's not always as simple nor black and white as that.

There are plenty of cases where the financial ombudsman has upheld irresponsible lending.

Given the age of the OP's friends default, there were several credit card companies that did not do due diligence on fully checking credit files, or only checked when they gave a very small limit but did not check when the limit was increased several times each time the customer reached the limit. When in reality the spending up to the limit whilst paying the minimum should have been a red flag for further investigation.

But that's a different question,  if the debt is unfair and ruled as such then there is no debt owed.

okay true. I agree if the debt is valid, then morally they should pay it back, obviously depending on their ability.

TBH when someone is paying a debt back at £1pm, not sure why the need to weasel out of it. That's £12pa, under £500 for 4 decades, and usually these debt companies will write it off long before then as it becomes uneconomical to collect if that's all they are getting. 

HillStreetBlues

nic_c said:

HillStreetBlues said:

But that's a different question,  if the debt is unfair and ruled as such then there is no debt owed.

okay true. I agree if the debt is valid, then morally they should pay it back, obviously depending on their ability.

With the advice I give I try and stay amoral, just looking at the legal side, that's from both sides of the fence.

nic_c said:

TBH when someone is paying a debt back at £1pm, not sure why the need to weasel out of it. That's £12pa, under £500 for 4 decades, and usually these debt companies will write it off long before then as it becomes uneconomical to collect if that's all they are getting. 

It will depend of the situation, but if the OP's friend as little money, then I agree just keep paying.

The OP's friend should check her credit reports.

sourcrates

No morality in money lending, or money lenders, and certainly not in debt collection, never has been, never will be.

The reason why no legal action has taken place is twofold.

(1) the company is receiving a constant payment stream, small as it may be.

(2) anyone only paying £1 a month is unlikely to be able to afford more, so there is no advantage to taking legal action as a court would likely sanction the same payment, it would be a waste of time and money for them.

Each time a payment is made it acknowledges the debt, you could do a CCA request, see if it remains enforceable or not, also try and save up some settlement funds to clear it off once and for all perhaps, they have had it on their books so long, you never know what they might accept ??