Orbit just came to the door

Magic_Sister

I have been ignoring Cabot and Orbit over a matter from 25 years ago when my abusive late ex husband made me sign a loan agreement for a car. He died and did not pay it prior to that. It obviously disappeared from my credit file years ago and I have worked hard to rebuild my credit. I have never responded to them. 

Orbit have just come to the door. Telling me I have to get my phone and call someone. I refused and asked where this evidence of any such debt was, and he said he doesn’t have that due to ‘Data Protection’. He has handed me an envelope and said I must call them to avoid ‘further action’. 

I have not admitted to any such debt. What should my next move be please? TIA

fatbelly

It's clearly going to be statute barred. Once you have told them that you will not be paying because it is SB, they have to stop collection activity. Now is the time to send a SB letter to both parties. Email is fine

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6027755/statute-barred-debts-and-the-limitation-act

Magic_Sister

Many thanks for the links. 

sourcrates

Also try to avoid talking to these people at the door, any future contact you have should be in writing or email only.

Magic_Sister

So I sent them the email stating that I do not recognise this debt and consider the matter bleed, wording from the link. I have just had this in response. 2008 was when my DV Exh had just died, life was in utter turmoil… I did not have this car, he did. What should my next move be please? I do not want my excellent credit rating affected in case I have to get a new rental property some time!! All advice appreciated! 

“As a County Court Judgement was obtained on this account on 20th May 2008, this account is unable to become statute barred and the balance is still outstanding.”

sourcrates

Magic_Sister said:

So I sent them the email stating that I do not recognise this debt and consider the matter bleed, wording from the link. I have just had this in response. 2008 was when my DV Exh had just died, life was in utter turmoil… I did not have this car, he did. What should my next move be please? I do not want my excellent credit rating affected in case I have to get a new rental property some time!! All advice appreciated! 

“As a County Court Judgement was obtained on this account on 20th May 2008, this account is unable to become statute barred and the balance is still outstanding.”

If they obtained a CCJ, they are correct in that the debt will never now become statute barred, as legal action taken before the "cause of action" date, removes sec 5, of the limitation act, as a defence.

However, sec 24, of the same act allows creditors six years in which to enforce a county court judgement, and since 2008 is now 17 years ago, time has  l-o-n-g  since run out to enforce this one, so for all intents and purposes, its now regarded as being unenforceable.

So you still have a similar defence to before, its just under a different section of the limitation act.

Now that the judgement is unenforceable, they basically can`t go anywhere with this, although they will I suspect try, there is a clause that allows a creditor to extend the period a judgement is valid for, but that must be applied for before the original judgement expires, and can`t be for longer than 12 months, so they are still years too late now.

Yes technically the debt does still exist, but without a legal route to enforcement, its basically dead in the water.
The default and the judgement will have dropped off credit files years ago, and nothing can ever bring them back again, so your credit report will not be affected going forward, no matter what happens.

They may still try to get you to pay by concentrating on the fact a CCJ was granted, it has been explained (above) how that works given the time that has passed, but they will play on this fact to try and "persuade" you to pay, so you may want to prepare a letter/email, pointing out the above as I have explained it.

Magic_Sister

Thank you so much Sourcrates. I really appreciate the time that you have taken. 

RAS

It's not statuted barred, but it is unenforceable, as sourcrates explains.

We seem to be getting more of these very old debts re-surfacing.

It's almost as if they are thinking "They got in a mess over a decade ago and now have a decent credit record. Let's see if we can frighten them into coughing up even though we have no legal right to enforce."