Old Debt

[adlucchi]

Hi,

In 1999 I had a credit card and was unable to continue making payments as I got into financial difficulty. Due to my financial difficulty I had to leave the country to try find employemnt elsewhere. Therefore, I never heard anything regarding this matter, entered into any correspondence around it nor paid any of the debt.

I have subsequently return to the UK a year ago and last week recieved a letter from Tower Investigations asking me to call them about an investigation. When I called them they asked me if I lived at the address where I was living in 1999 to which I replied no and if my year of birth was a specific year, to which I also replied no.

I'm obviously a bit concerned that this is all comming back to haunt me. However, from what I've been reading if the debt is over 6 yrs old (which it certainly is) it is statue barred so cannot be enforced. My concern is that a CCJ may have been taken out against me, which I believe does not have a time limit. So I'm wondering if this is still enforcable and what my options are?

I have considered doing a search on the registry to see if I have a judgement against me, however I'm not sure of my old postcode or house number as it was such a long time ago and I was not living there for very long. Also, I'm not sure if this will in anyway flag this up to the debt collection agencies notice.

I'd appreciate any advice you could offer?

Thanks
Adrian

[garythecat]

Well for a start they do only have 6 years to commence Court proceedings against you. So if they haven't done so already then you should get away with it. If they issued proceedings and obtained a Judgment against you then they have 6 years from the date of Judgment to enforce. You need to check on the Register of County Court Judgments or via a credit check (ie. Experian) if there is a Judgment registered against you. This will not flag up to the debt collection agency so don't worry. The search will be conducted on your full name but if you need to get a postcode for the old address the Royal Mail website will help. If they have a Judgment and time left within which to enforce it then either best thing to do is just wait and see if they catch up with you before their time runs out or if the CCJ is a problem for you make contact with them or the Court and make an arrangement to pay the debt off. Hope that helps.

[LegallyAware]

The Limitations Act 1980 outlines the time limit within which a creditor can chase a debtor for outstanding debts. The Limitations Act 1980 only applies when no contact has been made between the creditor and debtor within the given time limit and only applies to residents of England and Wales.

Creditors are given a fixed period of time to chase their debtors, which is outlined in the Limitations Act 1980. The time scale mainly depends on the type of debt and can be extended at the courts discretion. The time limit begins when you last admitted owing the money or made a payment.

Should the creditor fail to maintain contact with the debtor, for a period of 6 years or more, it is possible to claim that the outstanding debt is "Statute Barred" under the conditions of the Limitations Act 1980.

The Limitations Act 1980 also has additional effects, depending on the type of debt in question:

Unsecured debt
You may have assumed that your creditor has "written-off" a debt if you have not heard from them for a long period. In many cases, it could be down to your failure to inform them of a change of address, but the debt will still exist and creditors are entitled to chase the debt indefinitely (even after the debt has become Statute Barred), however they can only use the legal system to recover the monies for up to 6 years after the last payment was made to the account.

Remember, creditors are still able to pursue an unsecured debt if:

They have previously obtained a judgement against you (a CCJ);
You have made a payment to the account within the last 6 years (this includes anyone else named on the credit agreement)
You have established any contact with the creditor (this can be a phone call or letter to request a balance or change your details), except to deny that the debt exists.