Paid Opos demand on behalf of my wife

kraven_t_punter

I have to confess here, I have been a bit naughty and opened a letter which was addressed to my wife. We have had incidents in the past where we have got into trouble due to bad debts. She is a lot more flippant about debt than I am, but as we now have a mortgage together, this always stresses me out.

The letter was from Opos regarding some historical debt (from 2008) for just over £1000, but to clear the debt they were offering to settle it for one-off discount of £250.

Not wanting her to get into further trouble, I got my credit card out and paid it there and then.

I've since done some digging on these forums about Opos (I realise I should have done this first!), and it seems like they are a pretty shadey debt collection company, which go after historic debts, but have very little (if any) legal power to enforce them.

I'm now wondering if I have done the correct thing? Maybe I should first have at least demanded they prove this debt? As I paid it on a credit card, would I be able to claim the money back under sectinon 75? Having said that, now I have paid, is this an acceptance of liability?

Grumpelstiltskin

Yes you should have checked before you jumped into paying these people.

No chance of Section 75 working it was your fault entirely.

mjm3346

Probably out of time for them to have taken legal action but they can still ask for payment - probably not worth time/effort to do anything about it 

Rob5342

Well you shouldn't have done anything as it's not your debt. As it's so old the chances are that it's statute barred in which case she would have had a defence against any legal action and would never have had to pay it. I'm not sure what you can do as you willingly paid her debt for her.

sourcrates

Do you live in Scotland?

The law there is more succinct, after 5 years the debt becomes prescribed, and no longer exists in law, if you have paid it, you can re-claim your money.

If you live in England or Wales, then your out of luck I`m afraid.

They buy these old debts for around 12p in the £, so they made a tidy profit on this one.

The limitation act gives lenders 6 years to chase bad debts (England & Wales), after that they become statute barred, and they can`t take legal action to recover them, instead they will sell them in bulk to chancers like this for a few quid.

They then attempt to get some money out of the original debtor, a simple prove-it letter would have told you the debts age, and possibly its status, and saved you £250, a lesson learned for the next time you open your wife`s mail perhaps.

kraven_t_punter

Thanks all for the responses.

No I don't live in Scotland unfortunately.

I take it there's no chance of recovering this money then?

I presume at the very least they will now stop pestering for payment?

sourcrates

kraven_t_punter said:

Thanks all for the responses.

No I don't live in Scotland unfortunately.

I take it there's no chance of recovering this money then?

I presume at the very least they will now stop pestering for payment?

You could raise a formal complaint with them, citing FCA rules on the collection of statute barred debts.

Its a long shot, but if they won`t uphold your complaint, you can then escalate the matter to the FOS to decide on.

You might get lucky if you remain persistent.

Grumpelstiltskin

Sourcrates surely it will have to be the OP's wife who raises the complaint about statute barred debt, the OP has in law has  nothing to do with the debt.

sourcrates

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Sourcrates surely it will have to be the OP's wife who raises the complaint about statute barred debt, the OP has in law has  nothing to do with the debt.

Yes your right, data protection etc, which is where it might get complicated as it wasn`t the debtor that paid the debt.

kraven_t_punter

If I complain to Opos, do I have any chance of them refunding it?

kraven_t_punter

OK thanks - I guess it can't help but to try. I have just submitted a complaint on their website so will see if I hear anything back.