Advice on old/current debt. Out the blue.

Hullster

So i have received the letter below as 1 of 2, personal Credit card and a seperate one more or less identical for a personal loan. Looking for some solid advice on how to proceed. Just received them and do not want to leave something too late.

Background info :- IT Contractor.

• Had accident in August 2018 was ill for a long time, still not quite right.
• Was contracting for 8 years prior to that point.
• Using Ltd company for billing with same bank as my personal account. Still use personal account.
• Spoke the to bank for quite a while after illness that i can remember through summer 2019.
• Bank had the credit accounts on hold all that time, no follow up other than a 3 monthly check in type conversation.
• Last payments on the accounts would have been the same month and one of either Aug/Sep/Oct or Nov2018. Not sure which as i was in bed for 3 months after lung surgery.
  
• Been on Universal Credit since accident.
• Not heard from anyone in years.
• Company had to go dormant, was about to close it.
• Getting closer to working again as im on the mend and in preparation have had to jump through hoops with bank to get the company account unlocked and out of dormancy. Now done finally after 4 weeks i thought i would have another go at it. I miss it.
• Had to do a change of address too on accounts recently.
• Dont have the work yet, but could do soon.
• Accident now 7 years and 2 months ago
• I thought i would check my credit file to see what famage has been done through all this. I am familiar with the format of it all as i went through an excercise while contracting to get 999 top credit rating by having several loans and paying all of them off early and a credit card. There are no credit accounts at all on my credit file. 

So this has come out the blue. What should i be doing here? Many thanks for your time.

sourcrates

Moorcroft are just acting as a collection agent, as they say in the letter, which means all they can do is ask you to pay, they cannot enforce anything through the courts.

So the debt doesn't show on your credit file and the last time you acknowledged it by payment would have been 2018, in which case its likely it defaulted a little after that time and has since dropped off your credit report.

Are you familiar with the limitation act 1980?

Basically a creditor has 6 years (in England &Wales) to collect a consumer credit debt, if its not been paid or acknowledged in writing during that time, it becomes what`s known as "statute barred".

Verbal comm`s do not count.

This means that although the debt may still exist, time has run out for the lender to take action through the courts to recover the debt, and once you have told them its statute barred, they should cease all collection activity, and in this case return it to HSBC.

Now if your certain the debt is yours, and the dates are correct, go straight in with the statute barred letter, however, if there is any doubt about any of it, just send the prove-it letter first to get more information, you can always send the statute barred letter at a later date.

Grumpelstiltskin

OK First thing get  a new basic  ( no overdraft ) bank account with a banking group you don't owe any money to.

Do not contact Moorcroft under any circumstances.

Do not answer any phone calls, ignore E Mails or Texts.

fatbelly

Not much point in engaging with Moorcroft. They just run through their letters then send the debt back.

Probably is statute barred though

Hullster

They have stepped up their endeavours and called now 3 times a day for several days, then 4 times last 2 days 2 of which between 19:00 and 20:00. and 3 times so far today. I have block so it goes straight to voicemail. 

Just to confirm that the last payments were indeed in 2018 Either Aug/Sep/Oct or Nov, definately not after. The last time i did a budget sheet was with the business debtline in April 2021 as i owed £1,200 corp tax. Everything was on hold because of covid and i had lung surgery, so i was hiding away. The corp tax was cleared, no company debt exists. Thats how i remember timescales.