how long can you be chased for your debts

bamberbamboo

anybody got any ideas??

I married young as you didn't live together then, brought a house and unfortunately the marriage broke down so I left leaving ex-husband in the home only to find out several years later he had it repossed and being naive my name was still on the mortgage, so now approx 15 years later I have recieved a letter searching for me and my parents have had telephone calls looking for me, I recieved similar letters about 6 years ago and ignored them on the advice of a friend who said as long as I didn't contact them I was ok an now these are from a different agency so is the debt just transferred from one debt company to another if they get no contact? and how long am I liable for this debt? Anybody any ideas ?? please ???

Robin_T_Cox

Debt collection agencies do transfer claims from one to another. But normally the 6 year limitation applies.

See:
http://www.clear-your-debt.co.uk/limitation-act-1980.htm

also see the UK Home Repossession page for more useful info:
http://www.home-repo.org/

In particular, read the section Do's and Don'ts:
http://www.home-repo.org/reposses/dos.htm

- especially the para headed ' After they contact you and demand cash'.

bamberbamboo

Thanks so much for the info going to sit an have a read now.

Margaret_Millne

If you had similar letters about 6 years ago then they may be trying again before the 6 year rule kicks in. I think that the Statute of Limitations (which is basically what the 6 year rule is) is that after 6 years of not being contacted about the debt, you cannot be forced to repay it. Note that this is not 6 years from when the debt was incurred, but 6 years from when your creditor last attempted to obtain payment.

Also certain creditors, like the Government of course!, do not have to comply with this - I don't know whether mortgages come into this category or not.

bamberbamboo

??? This is very confusing, so even if I have not answered any letters to themselves they can still send letters to any address they think I have lived at and that counts as having contacted me in each 6 year period? because they don't actually send these letters to my address they go to my parents where I haven't lived since 1985 or two of my old addresses which the new occupiers pass old post from as I happen to know them.

:-[

DiggingOut

Presumably you haven't notified them of your new addresses, so of course they wrote to your old addresses. Since those letters haven't been returned, they obviously (and rightly, in this case) assume that you have received them.

The fact that you didn't answer means nothing, as far as the legal situation is concerned. To them, it just means that you don't intend to pay.

Your solicitor should have helped you get the mortgage issue sorted out when you divorced. One possibility is to go back to that solicitor and ask why you were not warned about this situation, and what can be done to resolve it.

Presumably they will have recovered most of the mortgage from the sale of the repossessed house, for how much money are they pursuing you? I would guess after all this time they would be willing to settle for a pretty small amount, just to get something out of it.

Unfortunately, I suspect you do have a legal obligation here, though obviously, from what you say, the moral obligation lies with your ex.

bamberbamboo

Hi "Digging out",
Thanks for your response, I haven't notified them of my new address(or any address that I have lived at since leaving my ex no-one except my family new where I had moved to) as I moved quite a long way away from the marital home so I think they found me by the electral role maybe looking for my name, the letters where returned as "not at this address" and my parents who live another 200 miles away where contacted as that was my address before I had got married so that was the only proper address they had for me and my parents said they had no contact address for me and that was about eight years ago and only recently they had someone phone looking for me? so as they have had no actual contact from myself and they it seems only catch up every couple of years can they really pursue me on the fact that they send letters to anywhere they believe I may have lived in the past 15 years even if the letters I know about where returned to sender unopened? ???

thanks

DiggingOut

I don't know the answer to your question, exactly. But it sounds to me like they've continued to try to contact you. It isn't as if they just went to sleep and forgot about you and now are coming back 20 years later to chase an old debt. They would say their inability to contact you is not their fault but yours, since you went on the run (from their perspective) and never gave them a new address.

The purpose of the 6 years is not to help people get away from debts, but to prevent the lenders messing up and then expecting people to make up for their mistakes.

I'm not saying you've been trying to get away from debts, it sounds to me like your solicitor kind of let you down on this one in your divorce. But that is what it will look like to the lender (and presumably, the court if it goes that far).

I'm sorry, I wish I could say differently, and for your sake I hope the legalities do come down on your side. And I'm certainly not an expert on this subject.

I think you might do well to go see Citizens Advice. They are experts.

bamberbamboo

Thanks again for your help "Digging out", my solicitor certainly didn't advise me but that might of been because I said the ex was keeping the house, and my first knowledge that I was being chased was after the six years so I wasn't avoiding the debt didn't know they where after me until then, and the advice from the c.a.b. that I was given then was that after 6years if no contact then it was usually ok which is why I got really confused now with them trying to contact me again, I believe there is a debt of about £8000.00 but am scared to contact if they then say they want that amount, if I offered a smaller amount how would I know what would be reasonable or do I hope that there will be no contact till the end of the next 6 years again? it's so confusing

DiggingOut

CAB are experts on this, please talk to them. I think it would be helpful to people if you let us know what they tell you, though. Good luck.

bamberbamboo

will do, many thanks for your support