ACI (and other collection agencies)

RedDeadEd99

Hello all, long story short, I have approx 20k of debt spread across 5-6 credit cards that all defaulted sometime in 2021.

The debt was accrued during my previous marriage. I worked full-time, my ex didn’t; choosing to do various different further learning courses and be a full-time parent, rather than work. We, therefore, had to rely on credit cards to support ourselves and 2 children.  Usual story of initially using a 0% purchase card and then transferring that to another one and so on. I was repaying the minimum amount but once the 0% period expired I was just repaying the interest. 

When my ex and I separated I was keen to start repaying all cards off in full, however, as my ex didn’t work she was unable to contribute. My ex’s father also worked for CAB at the time and advised to not repay, allow to go to default and then wait for it to be statute barred. I was unable to repay the debt on my own, therefore, felt I had to proceed with this.

It is now approaching the 5 year limitation period and I get daily calls from various collection agencies (ACI, OPOS, Link). All pretty standard, however, ACI have recently mentioned referring my case to TM legal. From reading the forum I understand that TM legal are owned by ACI?

I’m curious to know what people’s experience is of agencies going further than the standard letters and phone calls and debts being referred to court before the 5 year limitation?

I live in Scotland, and spoke with CAB again last week, who also said that I should just wait it out as it’s so close to the 5 year mark but that letter from ACI spooked me a bit.

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Grumpelstiltskin

Advice, hold on, if you get a letter before claim from these people ( it will be by snail mail ) come back for further advice.

RedDeadEd99

Thank you @Grumpelstiltskin, much appreciated. Will nervously wait it out and report back if anything progresses.

Out of interest, do you (or anyone else reading) know what the hit rate is for these agencies to take things further?

From what I can see (particularly ACI) seem to have a habit of chasing people for debts that are already prescribed/statute barred, but I can’t see much on what effort they put in towards debts that are still within the 5 year limitation.

sourcrates

How long to go before they become prescribed?

The law is more succinct in Scotland, once they reach prescription, the debts no longer exist, and all collection activity has to cease.

RedDeadEd99

The debts will become prescribed between March and July of 2026.

From reading other threads, seems like ACI are becoming a bit more pushy with chasing debts but as I said previously, they seem to be chasing debts that are 6+ years old.

sourcrates

RedDeadEd99 said:

The debts will become prescribed between March and July of 2026.

From reading other threads, seems like ACI are becoming a bit more pushy with chasing debts but as I said previously, they seem to be chasing debts that are 6+ years old.

Yea, they have form for that, all you can do is stay radio silent and hope they move onto easier targets.

Are you dating these from the date they defaulted, or the date you last paid them, can I ask?

RedDeadEd99

Going off the date they defaulted as per my credit report.

That was something I have never been too sure about though. Some sources say go from the date of default, others say go from the date of last acknowledgement i.e. date of last payment.

Which is correct?

sourcrates

Court of appeal ruling confirms its the date of default or as near as possible to that date.

The actual date is the date the default notice was issued, but the court decided the date of default recorded on your credit file would be the "cause of action" date for limitation purposes.

RedDeadEd99

Thank you both for your input and advice.

I’ll update the forum with how this plays out for anyone else that may be in a similar situation in the future.

DankVielen

RedDeadEd99 said:

Hello all, long story short, I have approx 20k of debt spread across 5-6 credit cards that all defaulted sometime in 2021.

The debt was accrued during my previous marriage. I worked full-time, my ex didn’t; choosing to do various different further learning courses and be a full-time parent, rather than work. We, therefore, had to rely on credit cards to support ourselves and 2 children.  Usual story of initially using a 0% purchase card and then transferring that to another one and so on. I was repaying the minimum amount but once the 0% period expired I was just repaying the interest. 

When my ex and I separated I was keen to start repaying all cards off in full, however, as my ex didn’t work she was unable to contribute. My ex’s father also worked for CAB at the time and advised to not repay, allow to go to default and then wait for it to be statute barred. I was unable to repay the debt on my own, therefore, felt I had to proceed with this.

It is now approaching the 5 year limitation period and I get daily calls from various collection agencies (ACI, OPOS, Link). All pretty standard, however, ACI have recently mentioned referring my case to TM legal. From reading the forum I understand that TM legal are owned by ACI?

I’m curious to know what people’s experience is of agencies going further than the standard letters and phone calls and debts being referred to court before the 5 year limitation?

I live in Scotland, and spoke with CAB again last week, who also said that I should just wait it out as it’s so close to the 5 year mark but that letter from ACI spooked me a bit.

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

I had so many consumer and other debts but only three consumer debts ever came close to a CCJ, one got a backdoor CCJ with no collection activity at all for 5 years.  The other two just faked it, of these two one send a fake Judgement which was so realistic that I thought they had obtained a CCJ but no Court Stamp and it never even went to Court.  You see for some legal procedures the claimant is asked to enclose a draft copy of the order they wish the Court to make.  This is what they used and it was a big debt solicitor firm but not not TM Legal.

The other one was another big debt solicitor firm they wrote some of the nastiest letters I have ever seen, but it came to nothing because I gave them nothing and I was so totally off radar that the debt owner could not make a decision to spend more on the debt.

Different owners have different approaches, but mostly it comes down to whether there are any clues to the ability of the debtor to pay.  I was at the bottom of the barrel so even if someone got a CCJ and an attachment to earnings order they would likely get £1 a month for 72 months at best. However, that would be assuming they could actually find me which I made almost impossible by that time.

SO as others have said, wait it out and DO NOT ENGAGE until you get a REAL letter before action.  Some firms send Court forms that they have no place sending, forms such as an acknowledgement of service which is a form the COURT not the DEBT SOLICITOR sends AFTER a claim has been filed.  This is dodgy practice in my opinion and I would report it to the Ministry of Justice and the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Only you can decide if you want to pay the debt to avoid it going to Court, personally a CCJ means nothing to me, it has a life on the credit reference agency database and then it falls away.  For me once we are at that stage I am in the "they are getting NOTHING" mode, but you might still need a credit record for a loan, car or mortgage, so your decision.

Finally, do not do anything that shows you spending money on a new phone or car or loan on your credit record.  That gives them hope of collection. Lock down your social media if you are foolish enough to post stuff publicly.

Do let us know what happens in due course.

RedDeadEd99

Thank you very much @DankVielen. All of that is extremely helpful.

My concern is what effect my current earnings would have on all of this; but my outgoings are high due to having to borrow from family members to pay off lawyers fees for a custody battle I’ve been forced into - so have little disposable income. I’m unable to get any new lines of credit anyway so wouldn’t be making any applications. I was just hoping to have all of this off my file and behind me to allow me to having a healthy credit score and buy a home some time in the future.