Advice on old debts, Opos letter

haymaker78

Evening,

Great forum and resource. 

I’m looking for some advice about some debts we have from the late 2000’s. 

We moved overseas for a ‘one year plan’, but we very quickly settled down and have only just returned to the UK. When we left back in 2010 or so we did have a few debts that we continued to pay but we very quickly lost track and wrote to them all to update our address to overseas. We did receive some letters but I’ll be honest we parked them thinking we’d sort it out later, but never followed them up. 

Fast forward to today and we’ve now returned to the UK and I’ve recently received a letter from Opos about one of the debts I had. They have stated they are representing Intrum and have immediately offered a 75% discount on the outstanding balance. Options are to pay in one lump sum, or spread out over 12 months, providing a login to a portal to accept.

It’s been over 12 years since we last acknowledged any of these debts in terms of correspondence or payment, and I’ve checked and our credit reports are clean (which I guess isn’t surprising given the timeframes). 

Looking for some advice on how best to proceed here - I’m pretty sure this debt is one I recognise so not necessarily questioning whether it’s actually owed, but questioning the enforceability and the best way to proceed. 

Thank-you.

fatbelly

It won't be enforceable and that's why they have offered to settle for 25%. That also tells there is no ccj on this.

It will be statute barred under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980.

I can't tell you what you should do.

haymaker78

Thanks for the info - appreciate quick response.

I did read quite a bit about SB last night (mainly on these forums), but my understanding is that it’s only SB’d if a CCJ wasn’t lodged within 6yrs from last acknowledgement/default date.

If a CCJ was lodged (but has since fallen off owing to time frames), could they return to the courts to re-open?

Brie

I'd suggest sending a prove it letter to OPOS.  See what they come back with, if anything.

haymaker78

Sounds like an option may be to just ignore, but the prove it letter sounds like a good next step. Is there a template prove it letter you’d suggest would be best.

sourcrates

Any extension to a court judgement must be applied for prior to the judgement expiring.

Whatever the scenario, the debt is either barred by statute or unenforceable due to limitation.

Don`t complicate matters, send them the standard statute barred letter and that should be sufficient.

haymaker78

Could someone please send a link to a current SB letter? Thanks very much. 

sourcrates

haymaker78 said:

Could someone please send a link to a current SB letter? Thanks very much. 

All debt related, relevant letters are kept here in debt free wannabe:

Debt-Free Wannabe Sticky - Provit & Statute Barred Letters, Defaults, Help and Guidance, All Here... — MoneySavingExpert Forum

There is a list of potential letters to use in different circumstances, scroll to the top and use the first template -

"Letter to use in England and Wales".

haymaker78

Thanks for that.

Just reading through everything - there is no date on the letter that they have sent detailing when default happened - so, if I state it’s statute barred but I don’t acknowledge it’s mine, how do I know its statute barred? 

Would a prove it letter be more appropriate? 

sourcrates

If its over 6 years since default, the entry will no longer be on your credit file.

You say 12 years have passed.

If it was still showing, it would not be over 6 years old, and therefore would not be statute barred.