Intrum/Resolvecall chasing 2005 MBNA debt - Please help...

stressedcarer

On Saturday morning (6/4/24) I received two letters - one from Intrum saying they were passing a 2005 credit card debt with MBNA to Resolvecall who would be contacting me to arrange a visit at my house. Resolvecall letter confirmed this, no date set as yet but stated I had to contact them with 7 days of date of letter which was 2/4/24.

The debt in question was accrued when I had to give up full time work to look after my very ill mother, after my father had died. I had tried to negotiate a time time pay deal with Connaught Collections up till 2007 when they issued a Statutory Demand against me on 14/05/07 because they wanted the full amount clearing (£4,700) which I was unable to do I was existing on just Carer's allowance of £58 a week. In the end I just left the letters largely unopened and I definitely didnt answer anyone as I knew it was pointless, I had no assets, no money and lived with my Mum. The last known letter I received was in 2010 from Ruthbridge which was a Debt hardship service notice which I again ignored as my situation had remained unchanged.

My Mum sadly passed almost a year to the day I got these two latest letters and I'll be honest, it's shattered and upset me so much. I've spent all weekend researching all the excellent advice on here already I also did an Experian search and its absolutely clean, my score is 'excellent'  I have now printed out the National Debt 'Too much time has evolved/Statute Barred letters to each company, ready to send recorded delivery later today. 

My question is: is there anything I should add or say please in the letters? I've thankfully got many of the original letters still - the absolute last thing I want is some debt collector turning up on my doorstep especially as I'm feeling so vulnerable and still grieving my mum. I inherited our home but have very little cash and am now, in my mid 60s having to try to rebuild my life and what bit of career I can muster just to pay the bills so am still, after almost 20 years of being a lone, 24/7 carer, in no position to repay this debt and am utterly terrified of what's to come...

sourcrates

Has legal action ever been taken against this debt?

Don`t fret about Resolvecall, plenty of stories about them on this forum, they are just self employed collection agents, no power whatsoever, and you don`t have to engage with them at all, just tell them to go away and refuse to comment further.

If the answer to the above is no, and you have not paid or acknowledged this debt since 2007, then it will be statute barred.

stressedcarer

Hi and thanks for your kind reply. The only thing legal I can find amongst my papers was Statutory Demand on 14/05/07. I never replied to it and as far as I know that was the end of the matter. I was caring for Mum around the clock and very sleep deprived all through this so I stopped opening letters as it stressed me out more, I know that sounds silly but its the only way I could cope. There's no CCJ's on my Experian.

sourcrates

A statutory demand can be issued with or without a county court judgement, but it sounds like they were trying to put the frighteners on you on the cheap, and never pursued it further.

A judgement from that period would not show anywhere now anyway.

Go with the statute barred letter, see what response you get.

Intrum is the new owner, and will likely not be aware of events prior to purchasing the debt, Resolvecall have been appointed collection agents, only Intrum has the power to take action on this matter, and that`s why you should get that letter in the post today if you can.

Resolvecall usually just leave a calling card with a phone number, you can just ignore them, they are irrelevant in all of this, deal with Intrum, they are the organ grinder, you don`t need to deal with the monkey.

stressedcarer

Thank you so much Sourcrates - I'm off down the Post Office shortly with Intrum's letter. I will let you know what response I get.

Re the statutory demand I'd already explained my situation when I made Connaught an offer to pay a weekly amount - ie change of circumstances/surviving on carer's allowance, no savings or assets so I would think that a court order would have been deemed only be throwing good money after bad in their case. I certain any can't find any papers now and definitely no bailiffs ever came here.

Presumably anyone taking over a debt have powers to check whether it's still 'live' or not? Am worried why it's surfaced again now or do they just purchase very old debts for peanuts in far off hope of getting payment response?

sourcrates

stressedcarer said:

Presumably anyone taking over a debt have powers to check whether it's still 'live' or not? Am worried why it's surfaced again now or do they just purchase very old debts for peanuts in far off hope of getting payment response?

They buy these things in bulk, many 1000`s of accounts at a time, very cheap, they have no idea of a debts particular status, its all a complete gamble to them.

Sometimes they get lucky, and people pay up, sometimes they get challenged, if they can`t provide proof of liability it ends there, some are statute barred or unenforceable in other ways.

What they lose on some accounts, they make up for on others, that`s how the debt purchasing game works.