how old does a debt ave to be before it is wiped

[pagan1973]

I have been contacted by a debt reovery team after a 6 yr old debt i have made an offer over the phone but they refuse to except with out me filling in a finacial statement which i refused to do they got shirty with me and put the phone down on me do they have to except my offer or can i just refuse to pay them after all this time please advise

[dzug]

By making the offer over the phone you have acknowledged the debt. They now have another 6 (I think) years to pursue you for it.

They don't have to accept your offer. They might if they were convinced it was all they would get but without the financial statement they are not going to decide that. Even with it they might decide they could get more.

[themas]

If, when you made the offer, the debt was already more than 6 years old AND no payments had been made or acknowledgement of the debt made for 6 or more years, then the debt is statute barred and your offer now cannot alter this. The exception to this is if the creditor got a CCJ before the 6 years were up - if they did then statute barring does not apply.

So you need to be absolutely sure about the length of time that had elapsed before you made the offer. If the debt is statute barred it does not cease to exist. You still owe the money but they cannot take you to Court to enforce it. In this case it might be best to make a very small offer to settle the debt on a full and final basis. Otherwise you could find repeated contacts occur, and the debt could be put on your CRA files & affect you getting further credit.

[pagan1973]

Thank you for you advise, is there anyway i can find out how old the debt is ,when i spoke to them they said feb 01
was the date the account was open but this is the first correspondence i have had and cant remember ever having this loan but obviously i did its not that i dont want to pay it off is just i feel they have enough info on me already and dont wish to divulge anymore to them especially went they are extremely rude and talk to you like your a complete and utter idiot

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Dont even speak to these people if you are not convinced the debt is yours. Ask for contact details and write to them, stop taking calls from them because they can switch and change their conversation to suit them.

If you can afford X then fudge the figures on your financial statement to reflect this. Say you are self employed so they dont get details of your employer. If they ask for accounts, say its your first year of trading etc etc.

But first and foremost get evidence the debt is yours and the amounts they are asking for are the correct.

[themas]

If it is your debt, and it was opened on 1.2.01 then it is not statute barred. At this stage, if you are not convinced it is yours, you must ask for written evidence to prove it is yours and refuse to pay them anything or give them any details of your finances until they provide it. Get their address and write to them (recorded delivery) asking to be told who the creditor is (name & address) that they are acting for and the account no. of the alleged debt.

They will probably not give you proof it is your debt so,
when you have the creditor's details and if it appears that the debt is one under the Consumer Credit Act, go here:

http://www.debthelpuk.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB. cgi?board=On_Topic;action=display;num=11321687 59

About halfway down the page is a draft letter from "Skiannach" which you have to send to the creditor (recorded delivery). Add to the draft a sentence saying that the payment you are sending (the �1) is not a payment on the alleged debt, but purely the statutory payment for the information you are requesting.

If it is a CCA debt and they do not provide the information then they cannot enforce the debt.

Throughout, keep a copy of your letters & a note of any phone calls (name of caller, date, time & a summary of what was said).