Statute barred

never-in-doubt

theorangenut wrote: »

Hi I'm new to this so any help will be gratefully received. I rec a letter from a debt rec agency today asking me to contact them regarding a personal matter. I then called them and was told it was in relation to an outstanding debt from 1995 of £605. Apparently no one has been able to contact me even tho I've been on the electrol reg since then. The address they had is correct for 1995 but I moved to my current add in 1997. I was told by he company that they were unable to trace me. What I need to know is can they still claim this money after 14 years. They say their records are limited and cannot give me any information on what this relates to. Can anyone advise if this would be classed as statute barred as no contact has been made to me until today. I have made no payment and have not contacted anyone. They are going to call me tomorrow to confirm a reduced payment even though I advised I wasnt going to be paying anything.
Thanks

Send this - stop talking to them on the phone as well - they are acting illegally:

14. Statute Barred Debt (England & Scotland)
You would send this letter to the lender after 6yrs of not acknowledging the debt.

GeorgeUK

It's usually best to start your own thread for queries, but this one's so easy it won't take long to explain

They say you owe a debt but can't even tell you what it's for?
If they don't know what it's for then how do they know it's your debt at all? Oh, you owe me money too, but i can't tell you what thet's for either.

If you have made no payment towards the debt or acknowledged it in writing for 6 years, then it will be statute barred. The debt still exists so they are allowed to ask you to pay it, but they cannot enforce the debt. This means that they cannot take you to court or do anything to make you pay it - all they can do is ask.

I would tell them that you have looked through your own records and could not find anything that this may relate to so you do not intend to pay. Also make them aware that even if the debt were yours, you know the debt would be statute barred and they would be unable to enforce the debt.

Thank you and hang up.

If they call again, you should write to them (there are template letters available on the board if required) stating that you will not be making payment to the statute barred debt. Once they are notified in writing that you will not be paying they should not contact you again, but they may sell the debt on to another DCA. Over the phone, you can't prove that you have told them to go whistle so they may call a few times if they're one of the more troublesome DCA's.

theorangenut

Hi George UK

thanks for your helpful reply, just one more question. Does the statute barred start from the beginning of the debt (ie the date you defalted on the debt ), I ask because although the debt is from 1995 the debt agency obviously bought it and the 6 years is up in april, but as they have contacted me before the 6 years does this mean the debt is not statute barred???

thanks

chickencurry

The 6 yrs is up from the date of the default. x

GeorgeUK

The 6 years start from the date you last acknowledged teh debt - either by making a payment towards it or acknowledging it in writing.

If you have not acknowledged teh debt for 6 years (or almost), the DCA contacting you is not you acknowledging the debt. If they start threatening court action, you could request that they prove the debt is yours (still not an acknowledgement) and by the time all the letters went back and forth 6 years would have elapsed and the debt would be statute barred.

Do you know when the last payment you made was, or is it the DCA that has said that the debt is not yet statute barerd?

jamie1974

Hi guys, thank you for this wealth of information, it's been extremely interesting and helpful.

My questions are;

What is preventing people from taking out massive loans, going 'under the wire and undetected' for 6 years, then becoming Statute Barred, regaining a credit status only to repeat the process over and over? I heard of a similar situation on BBC radio 2 last year, that there's a guy who's found a loophole somewhere, so he takes out credit and loans, to the tune of £50k, becomes bankrupt, then within a year, can start building up his credit score again and he does the same thing.

Also, if a debtor is under the wire, so to speak, how is it possible to detect whether CCJ's have been taken against the individual and how will that affect Statute Barred debts?

Many thanks.

never-in-doubt

jamie1974 wrote: »

Hi guys, thank you for this wealth of information, it's been extremely interesting and helpful.

My questions are;

What is preventing people from taking out massive loans, going 'under the wire and undetected' for 6 years, then becoming Statute Barred, regaining a credit status only to repeat the process over and over? I heard of a similar situation on BBC radio 2 last year, that there's a guy who's found a loophole somewhere, so he takes out credit and loans, to the tune of £50k, becomes bankrupt, then within a year, can start building up his credit score again and he does the same thing.

Also, if a debtor is under the wire, so to speak, how is it possible to detect whether CCJ's have been taken against the individual and how will that affect Statute Barred debts?

Many thanks.

It is fraud/theft to deliberately take a debt and do a runner. If the bank get the police you could be in serious trouble.... Basically, the difference with normal statute debts is payment was made for a period of time prior to struggling with repayment.

Its not that simple to pull off, nor hide for 6 years - there are systems in place to catch you, for instance N Hunter / CIFAS / GAIN / CAIS/INSIGHT... etc etc

A CCJ debt doesn't become statute barred quite the same.

Regards to the guy you heard of, this is untrue - factually. Reason being although the bankruptcy may be spent, the defaults/late payment markers would remain for a period of 6 years plus the bankruptcy notice is available on registry trust forever but certainly for the last 6 years and all banks check this prior to issuing credit....

I think you've been reading too much nonsense lol.... whilst it can be done, it would be extremely stoopid to actually perform such a crime. :eek:

isis333

Hi everyone

Just need a bit of clarity on the statute barred thing.

I have a debt in my maiden name (married 8 years ago). Every year aroung feb/march i recieve a letter from the company or a debt agency about this debt. I contacted them around 6/7 years ago to only tell them I had a new address, I have never acknowledged this debt. By sending me letters every year does this mean the time starts again for statute barred or is it my contact with them thats important here?

I would like to know if I can claim statute barred for this debt.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Tixy

Hi isis (and welcome)

It is contact by you that is important. Was it a letter or a phone call you sent 6/7 years ago? If a letter then you need to be certain it was over 6years.

And I assume you haven't made any payments for that amount of time either?

Providing there is no CCJ for this debt then it sounds like it would be statute barred.

isis333

Hi Tixy

Thanks for the quick reply.

I sent a letter in either late 2003 or Jan/feb 2004. I remember doing it as I had moved away for a few months and was trying to sort my debts out when I got back around this time. I didnt keep a copy of the letter tho, normally i do with things like this.

I have never made any payments on this debt. Usually they contact me Feb/March time with letters and phone calls but I normally ignore them. Then it stops untill next year. They always threaten court action but never do. (no ccj) There have been 4 different companies contact me by letter over the years.

Should I send the statute barred letter to them now?