Debt we don't know about? Is it even ours?

user1977

In any event, they would need evidence that there had been a debt in the first place! You can't be tricked into admitting liability for somebody else's debt.

Does your husband actually suspect this might be related to him? Seems unlikely that a £9k+ debt would have been forgotten about until now.

prowla

lhead123 said:

user1977 said:

lhead123 said:

I've read that they can count a prove it letter as a form of admitting the debt

Where have you read this?

On the debtcamel site it says not to send a prove it if you know the debt is very old. 

I can’t remember where else I read it, I’ve been searching the internet for about 2 hours to find more info. 

Is the assertion there that in responding you are acknowledging that you exist?

lhead123

user1977 said:

In any event, they would evidence that there had been a debt in the first place! You can't be tricked into admitting liability for somebody else's debt.

Does your husband actually suspect this might be related to him? Seems unlikely that a £9k+ debt would have been forgotten about until now.

He had debts before I met him (though he thinks it was more like £6000) which he walked away from when his childhood home (that they were all registered to) was demolished to develop the land, and he moved 150 miles away. The postcode for that address does not exist any more when you search for it on Royal Mail. 

If the letter is related to that, it was 16 or more years ago that he last made a payment, and they’ve never contacted him since then so it would be statute barred now.
 

I don’t want to contact the sender of this letter in any way that they can decide that the contact counts for getting it un-barred - just in case it does relate to this historical debt.  

MattMattMattUK

lhead123 said:

Hi
My husband has today received a letter from Intrum saying that he owes more than £9000 and he has 'failed' to contact them.
He's not taken out any financial products for around 15 years, so if it is relating to anything from before that time, it will be statute barred.

I'm thinking it's more of a fishing letter to anyone with his name (it's not an uncommon name) - it doesn't have anything on it other than his name, our address and an amount of money. It doesn't have his DOB or anything. 

He wants to phone them to find out what it's about, but I'm worried that if it is his very old debt and is statute barred then this will reset that and he'll have to start paying. 

We have checked Equifax and Transunion and nothing is showing on his credit reports (thoughEquifax doesn't show his mobile and bank account that are showing on Credit Karma). Just waiting for Experian to send the info for his free one from them.

What should we do? I read that you shouldn't send a prove-it letter if it's an old debt (this says HFC Bank which I think went into liquidation in 2016/2017) as it can reset the statute barred time.

A "prove it" letter does not reset the statute bar, it is just you asking them to demonstrate that you owe them money. 

For the moment you can ignore that letter from them until they send a pre-action letter. 

You should check the CRAs as you are doing, as well as CIFAS to be safe. You might find that the reason his bank account does not show is that it is too old to have been added when created if it was created decades ago, it is odd that the mobile contract does not show though. Have you recently moved address and are you both on the electoral roll?

fatbelly

Answered on your other thread

Prove-it here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter

RAS

Let's start with the title of your thread. We aren't the subject of this allegation and even if the debt existed it was never ours. So ideally your OH needs to handle this and there is no way the creditor can involve you.

No-one can "un-bar" a statute barred debt. Once the 6 years limit is exceeded, the debt is statute barred even if the debtor re-started making payments and it is a total defence if court action is threatened.

The mad thing about English law, as opposed to Scottish, is that the debt still exists.

The creditor can still ask for it to be paid.
They can't report the debt to credit reference agencies.
They could still suggest legal action.

Based on threads here, some of them are inclined to suggest a CCJ was granted sometime within the 6 year limit.
But CCJs have to be enforced within 6 years, or the creditor has to seek court permission to pursue the debtor. So after 6 years all records of CCJs disappear from credit and court records.
But if they were to start legal action, all the debtor needs to do is remind them it is statute barred. 

Sending a Prove-it letter let's them know the person they've approached is half way savvy. They may disengage at this point or try suggesting there is a CCJ. At which point, unless there are court records of the CCJ less than 6 years old, the debt is statute barred under a different part of the Act.

MEM62

lhead123 said:

I've read that they can count a prove it letter as a form of admitting the debt

Then you read incorrectly.  it does nothing of the sort.  

prowla

MEM62 said:

lhead123 said:

I've read that they can count a prove it letter as a form of admitting the debt

Then you read incorrectly.  it does nothing of the sort.  

I want to query this unknown debt you have written to me regarding.

Aha, so you admit it is yours!

sourcrates

Just to clarify, the "Provit letter" is specifically worded so as not to acknowledge any debt.

Once a debt is statute barred, nothing can un-bar it.

You think this may be a very old account, so acknowledging it or not makes no difference either way, as it would have become time barred a very long time ago.

You only need worry about acknowledgement if the debt is less than 6 years old.

Sending the "Provit letter" should get you more information, and if indeed it is a time barred debt, you would write back and tell them so, and you will not be paying it.

That would be the end of the matter.

If you do nothing, they will continue collection activity, and could potentially start legal action, which if you continued to ignore, could result in a CCJ, so to avoid all that hassle, its much simpler to just send the letter.

MEM62

prowla said:

MEM62 said:

lhead123 said:

I've read that they can count a prove it letter as a form of admitting the debt

Then you read incorrectly.  it does nothing of the sort.  

I want to query this unknown debt you have written to me regarding.

Aha, so you admit it is yours!

 Nope!  That is not the way it works.