Hi All, Hoping for some advice. I have today received a county court letter issued on behalf of a claimant called ME III Limited in regards to a very old loan with Blackhorse Finance from 2006. If memory is correct this loan was paid off back in 2010/2011 (it had previously fallen into arrears). this was paid via an ex partners bank who now lives in Australia so I have no way of verifying this with her. I have had no contact with any company relating to this debt since this period, and if in the event it hadn't been cleared as advised, I believe this would be Statute Barred due to the time period. I have checked Noddle and Clear score and neither have any record of this debt. How am I best to respond to this without proof of payment? Should I respond to the claim online stating it had been cleared or at least should be statute barred or should I contact the claimant solicitors with this information and a statute barred letter template for good measure? Would be grateful for any advice.

Hello all at CAG, I've received a second claim from Hoist/ cohens for a credit card. Name of the Claimant ? Hoist Portfolio Holding 2 Ltd Date of issue – 03 Feb 2017 Date to submit defence = - by 4pm Friday 03/03/2017 ? What is the claim for – Particulars of claim: (As Written) The claim is for the sum of £11079.33 in respect of monies owing under an agreement with the account no. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx pursuant to the The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) The debt was legally assigned by MKDP LLP (Ex Barclaycard) to the claimant and notice has been served. The defendant has failed to make contractual payments under the terms of the agreement. A default notice has been served upon the defenadant pursuant to Section 87(1) CCA. The Claimant Claims: 1. The sum of £11079.33 2. Interest pursuant to s69 of the county court Act 1984 at a rate of 8.00 percent from the 27/09/11 to the date hereof 1947 days is the sum of £4727.90 3. Future interest accruing at the daily rate of £2.43 4. Costs What is the value of the claim? £15807.23 (plus court fee £711.33 & Legal Reps Costs £100) Total £16618.56 Is the claim for a current account (Overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Credit card When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Approx 2000/ 2001 Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Debt Purchaser (hoist) Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Can't be sure Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? No Why did you cease payments? Business ceased trading and couldn't afford rent let alone DMP payments What was the date of your last payment? January 20th 2011 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt managementicon plan? Yes, Payplan DMP set up in Feb 2010 I wondered if I could use the statute barred defence or should I use the no paperwork? I have done the AOS on MCOL, should I send the CPR and CCA requests regardless of defence? Your help is much appreciated.

Hi all, Was just going to complete the defence myself as I didn't want to trouble you all with (what I believe is a pretty simple defence), but hopefully this can help others, who are in a similar situation. This morning (dated 6th June) received a claim form, details below: Name of the Claimant: Arrow Global (Drydens Solicitors) Date of issue – 6/6/17 What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? 1. The claim is for the sum of CA £7.5K in respect of monies owing by the defendant on a credit agreement held ny the defendant with MBNA under account number **************** upon which the defendant failed to maintain payments. 2. A default notice was served upon the defendant and has not been complied with. 3. The balance owed was assigned from MBNA to the claiment, and the defendant has been notified of the assignment by letter. Contact Drysdens Solicitors on ...... What is the value of the claim? CA 7.5K Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? CC When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Before 2007 Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Assigned Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Yes, after SB date had passed Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Not sure Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? No Why did you cease payments? Financial Difficulties What was the date of your last payment? End February 2011 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? No offered £1 per month untilI was in a better financial position but was ignored so ignore them and their letters. I'm assuming this is a pretty simple statute barred defence, the last payment was Feb 2011, so first cause of action would have been end March 2011. Looking at my credit report it says in June 2011 payment was up to 5 months late.. (5BB), defaulted in August 2011. Is there any point me filling in the AOS for an extra 14 days, seems I'm just giving these leeches extra time. Just to be clear my defence will be: 1 The Claimant's claim was issued on 06/06/2017. 2 The Claimant contends that the Claimant's claim so issued is a claim in contract and is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980. If, which is denied, the claimant contends that the Defendant is in breach of the alleged contract, in excess of 6 years have elapsed since the date on which any cause of action for breach accrued for the benefit of the Claimant. 3 The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £7500 (approx) or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied. Hope I've covered it all. Main question was do I really need to AOS to give them extra time? Thanks for all the help, both now and in the past. Just a quick note, it's odd they are not claiming interest. Not seen this before, just £410 court fee and £100 solicitors costs. Does that mean they've already paid £410 to issue the claim..?

I have a qestion one of my friends have recieved a letter stating Baliffs will attend in 14 days to remove property for a very old debt from HSBC which was sold on to PRA Group Ltd. After checking her credit file a CCJ was issued against her for her debt by PRA Group Ltd in Oct 2016. The thing is the debt was Statute Barred when the CCJ was issued so surely it is not enforcible, any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatfully received.

Hi all I have received a claim form from Restons Solicitors on behalf of arrow global for a debt from 2003. Arrow say they purchased it in 2011 and I remember a claim form from them in 2012 with Bryan Carter. I'm pretty sure it's the same alleged debt but it was statute barred in 2012 it still is now. This debt is 14 years old. They've tried before it's no different now. I've asked them for the prove it and also made my defence of statue barred. I just wanted to know, can they keep filing claim forms with Northampton county court? or is this harassment because arrow has already been told once that it's statute barred. Thanks in advance

My credit record has two 'defaults' registered, both originally Egg cards, but following a CCA request for the original docs they were unable to provide those, so in effect unenforceable. One of the entries is by Barclaycard(£5306) the other (£1285) by a DCA, Cabot, I've never had any correspondence from at all (though there have been 4 DCA's trying to get money!). Barclaycard registered a default date of 01/03/12, even though the DCA dealing with it at that time was Moorcroft. Cabot registered the other as 24/01/12. None of these 3 has ever sent any Default Notice of any kind. I understand the legally effective date from which a Statute Bar is applied is either a (lawful) Default Notice, or the last payment made by me to the alleged creditor. That date would be 01/07/11 -I have proof that was the last payment I ever made to Egg via CCCS as it used to be, now Foundation for CRE. I now want to get these two 'defaults' removed from my credit record -I know they will 'drop off' in a few months time,but I want to act now. How should I go about this? Thanks for any help!

I took out a hire purchase agreement on a new car in 2009, in Scotland. Two years later in 2011, I ran into relationship issues and became homeless with no fixed abode. I lost track of life in general and became very lackadaisical with money. Circa Feb 2012 I received a call on my mobile from a man, whom never identified him self. I answered. He told me I had not been keeping up with payments and I should hand my car back. I said I'd check the bank and would report back. I never did get back to him. In 2016 after hearing nothing about the debt for 4 years, I started receiving numerous letters, almost daily, from Link Financial at my current address (don't know how they found me) telling me I owe them £12k. I didn't acknowledge the letters as I was under the assumption the debt would be "statute barred" within a few months. After the date that I believed the debt was time barred, they sent a letter telling me they would be passing it on to a law firm. Several months and nothing. Then a letter from this law firm appeared. Strongly worded. A breakdown of what it says is: - They are acting on behalf of Link. - The agreement is now terminated. - Their clients are the owners of the vehicle, they have been instructed to recover it along with a payment of £2200. - The balance after the fact will be £9.8k however the sale of the vehicle will reduce the outstanding balance. - Failure to pay and return the vehicle may result in court action being raised which may result in wage arrestment etc etc. Now is this them just using scare tactics and upping their game, or do I have a case to answer here. The facts from my end are: - The last payment I made to the original creditor was August 2011 - On my credit report, the default date of the account is October 2011. An entry made by Link Financial. - The car is not reported as stolen but does have a HPI marker. - No CCJ or court action has been raised before. - Approx 40% of the original agreement was paid, if it bares any relevance. After which I failed to keep up payments and the original creditor passed the debt on. Advice very much appreciated. Extremely worried as I don't know if these are scare tactics or I could now be facing serious trouble.

Name of the Claimant ? Lowell Potfolio 1 Ltd Date of issue – 11 May 2017 What is the claim for – 1.The Claimants Claim is for the sum of £564 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a Financial Services agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 between the Defendant and HFC Bank Limited under account reference XXXXXX and assigned to the Claimant on 23/12/2011 notice of which has been given to the Defendant. 2.The Defendant failed to maintain the contractual payment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served and not complied with. 3.The claim also includes statutory interest persuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8.00% per annum (a daily rate of £0.12 from the date of assignment to 22/12/2012 being an amount of £43.92. What is the value of the claim? £738 Is the claim for a current (Overdraft) or credit card /loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? Loan When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Before Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Assigned - Lowell Portfolio Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Yes Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Unknown Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? Don't think so. Why did you cease payments? Financial difficulties. What was the date of your last payment? Probably June 2006, but proven as before Nov 2009. Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No. Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? No. Hi all. I have read several threads on the forum, and could probably work out how to do this on my own, but I would feel a lot better with some experienced guiding hands. I have received a court claim from Lowell Porfolio regarding a loan taken out originally in 2005 with HFC for goods purchased from a high street retailer. If I remember correctly, there was nothing to pay for 6 months, followed by 6 months interest free payments. Failing that it was to revert to 36 payments with interest. I believe that I only made one initial payment, before falling into difficulties. I have managed to find a statement from HFC stating the balance in Nov 2009, and that is the same balance that has appeared on all correspondence to date, so I can show that nothing has been paid since then at least. I do have a letter dated Nov 2012 stating that the loan had been assigned to Lowells. Any help on my best course of action would be gratefully received.

Over 10 years ago I bought a motorbike on HP. Shortly after buying the bike, my circumstances changed and I moved overseas to work. I stored the bike in a garage and it stayed there. I did not make any payments while overseas. I recently returned back to the UK and the bike is still where I left it. Can the finance company repossess the motorbike or is it now time barred? Are they even interested in a 10 year old debt?

I've recently started to receive letters from Lowell and today, out of the blue, a phishing letter from Robinson Way. I've plumped for a free Noddle file and can see Mkdp and Lowell. Lowell have mentioned a Barclaycard and their balance reflects what is in my file. I presume Robinson Way will follow the phishing letter with demands for payment. I presume both relate to old Barclaycards. The default dates show mid 2010 however I was thinking the dates would have been 2009. Is there a chance the default dates are wrong? How do I go about moving this forward? One account was opened in 1994, one in 2003. I'm confused about what I should be asking for having read different things about a CCA pre 2007. There will be charges no doubt, not sure about PPI. I need to engage with Lowell now as they've been persistent , but will wait for Robinson Way to say exactly what it is they are chasing. The Lowell account is a card account that was sold to Barclaycard , maybe an egg card. When would a true default date be?

Hi, I stumbled across this website and I hope you can help me. I'll be so greatful if you can. I have a defaulted Lloyds account which I last used in 2007, and in oct 2013 it defaulted. The overdraft had grown from about £250 to over £1600. I received not a single letter... .up until 2013 when I got one from a credit collector demanding I repay it. I have been arguing it is statute barred for some time now, and they have supplied me with statements showing no activity since 2007 and a steadily increasing debt. It defaulted shortly after maxing out and defaulted. I seem to be going round in circles, after reading what feels like the whole internet on this topic, my point is that LLoyds could have taken action after a nominal two years of inactivity, thus starting the SB clock. Is lloyds had withdrawn the account as per their own T&C then it would have defaulted a long time ago, and been a much smaller debt. Do you think that is a fair argument? If it is, clearly it's not in their interest to agree, so how do I force the issue as I don't want this to go on another 2 years! Thanks for any help you can offer

Hopefully I can get a bit of clarity of where I actually stand. Having racked up a bit of debt in younger years I had little choice but to default. Due to circumstances I simply stopped paying (although I did enter some dialogue for a short time but the overly aggressive stance of the creditors meant it never progressed) - this would have been circa 2007/8. Since then I've had a fairly troubled life - never having any money to pay off the debts and simply ignoring any letters sent. I've not heard from most for 18 months or longer. I'm now in a position where I want and am able to sort my life out, took the plunge and ordered a credit report from both Noddle and Equifax. Both are showing as clear, with no debts, defaults or CCJ's showing. The only thing listed is my basic bank account. Am I correct in thinking these debts are statute barred or are they likely to come back and haunt me? Also, what impact are they going to have in the future, for example will I ever be able to get a mortgage or even a mobile phone on contract? Thank you in advance for any advice.

Hi there and wonder if anyone can help. Unfortunately, my husband passed away a couple of years ago and he handled all the payments of bills, etc. since the 90s we hired a company to tend to the garden once a month and they billed us quarterly. The problem is that two years ago when i went to pay for the services for the proceeding months ahead, they told me we haven't paid them since 1997 and gave a bill for a few thousand as they are saying it's back dated from then until now. i told them that my husband would have paid them, and he always paid things like this in cash, and they should have a record as i cannot find any receipts of payment. They said they will take me to court if i don't provide receipts as proof of payment but i cannot find any receipts . I told them if it's true that he didn't pay, why was service still continued after all this time? Their response was that the computer automatically generated the service to be met i told them I cannot find anything but shouldn't they be providing proof that money is owed??? Also wouldn't this be classed as statute barred as well? In actual fact, when i was first presented with this information about this so called debt, i did pay them for the next six months as i still wanted the service of the gardener but the money was not to go towards the "debt". How should i proceed with this one. Thanks in advance.

Hi All. I've an old statute barred debt with a credit card with Bank of Scotland / HBOS and I'm sure that I was sold PPI as part of this. Last contact was 2007, so we're talking well over statute barred timescales. The question is - should I put in a PPI claim, or will this end up being swallowed by HBOS ( the remainder of the debt was in fact charges and interest and I told them I wasn't paying that, as it was unfair - I'd paid off what I owed them as the capital amount). Thanks in advance, lukeyboy1

Hi all , Over the years I had remortgaged several times , mainly whilst self employed and used a broker to do so. It had been at the back of my head that somewhere along those remortgages there had been some kind of charge as the figures didnt add up compared to what we owed ,and I felt there had been some kind of early repayment charge. After contacting my wifes bank and paying for copies of statements I found out that one of the remortgages was with GMAC RFC now Paratus. Apparently gmac/paratus contacted current customers after I had remortgaged onto someone else regarding claiming back unfair charges and so I was not contacted because I had moved my business elsewhere. Movind back to now I phoned Paratus with my concerns about unfair charges/early repayment charges and they said they would start a complaint/investigation for me , I have no proof of any charges other than the sums dont add up. I recently received the following rejection stating my complaint is time barred. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated ,Thanks Andy.

I touched on this in a recent post but very recently a letter received by my Aunt sort of confirms my thoughts. Debt with a bank, no payment/acknowledgement for some 10 years now, the debt is most certainly stat barred. However, due to a recent restructuring on her finances she was able to sort a small loan out to consilidate her outgoings (no DCA's as there are none left in the pool) The loan was obtained and the outstanding bits and pieces all paid off as part of the loan (paid by her not the bank) 3 weeks later in a letter dated 17th February a well known bottom feeding DCA sent her a letter quoting ' (wording may vary) 'Recent activity on your credit file suggests you may have made a significant payment to one of your financial accounts, In view of this contact is requested from yourself to us to agree an payment plan and where your financial circumstances can be discussed' This is just so wrong, no fincancial relationship with this DCA exists, they have over the years tried to collect on the alleged debt but where no payment/acknowledgment exists and now some 15 years since anything was heard from the OC. Course of action? Yes to ignore but why are these miscreants allowed to continually scour credit files on debts that have long since gone past the stat barred and at the same time as this they quite obviously have software linked to the CRA's that flag individuals activity Just so very wrong.

Hello Long time lurker who now has to step out of the shadows and is requesting help please Long story short I have various debts that due to breaking up with a partner and being made homeless and leaving the house with just the clothes on my back i could not afford to pay. This was in September 2008 and at that point I stopped paying all of my monthly payments because i simply couldn't afford them. I have not paid or acknowledged any of the debt since then but up until that point i had made the appropriate payments to the accounts as per the agreements. I have received loads of letters over the years about various debts from DCA's and filed them where they belong in the bin but unfortunately my new wife found the most recent one and got into a panic about it not knowing the rules on these things. So to allay her fears and knowing that everything should be SB from that time i (foolishly) sent the DCA the standard statute barred letter (sent recorded and signed for).. .. and recently received a response from them saying "Under the limitations act 1980 a creditor has six years to pursue for most unsecured unpaid debts. The limitation period starts from the time of your last payment or acknowledgement of the debt, not the total length you have been making the payments. The account was taken out on July 2007 and later defaulted on 28 December 2010 due to non payment. The above balance still remains outstanding as this is not statue barred so please contact us to arrange payment. If no response is received a claim form may be issued incurring costs. If you do not respond to the claim we may apply for a county court judgement....." Now I know for a fact nothing was paid or acknowledged in this time from me stopping paying my normal payments till the adding of the default to my credit file over 2 years later. As per usual with DCA letters i decided to call their bluff on this correspondence.... unfortunately yesterday i get a letter from Northampton County Court saying that they have applied for a CCJ and the relevant forms for me to fill in and send back, the date on the court letter is the 29th September 2016. Now in my mind i have narrowed the debt down to either a laptop or a sofa that was taken out on finance. The amount sounds more in line with the laptop i brought but that was through HFC who i know sold various debts but im not sure who to. The original debtor on the DCA letter is described as creation finance which is who i took the sofa finance out with but the amount seems to low to me for it to be the sofa.... as stated i know for a fact that i have not made payments for these items and hadnt paid any funds in front for it not to be defaulted for a further 2 and a bit years. What has really put doubt in my mind is the long delay on adding the default to my credit file (which i havent checked). But its such a poignant date and time of my life for me not to remember exactly when it was, even now.. .. unfortunately i have no access to the bank accounts i had back then to confirm when i stopped paying. So to the great people and contributors of the consumer action group i ask what you recommend i do from here please. . obviously i want to defend the CCJ as i feel it is statue barred but i have no proof other than my word that i know its statue barred... Should i call Creation finance and try to find out what the original payment dates were? Will a straight defence on the court forms be that i know it is statue barred be sufficient?...... Should i send the acknowledgement of service to buy me the time to decide what to do? I am fully prepared to attend court if needs be to argue this but would like to request that it is moved to a court closer to me as Northampton is an hour and a half drive away is this doable? Please help and thanks in advance.

I have a large number of accounts which are now statute barred (I'm debt free with a great credit score; fwiw). If I were to reclaim charges / PPI on these accounts would it restart the clock? Most accounts are now 10 years old. I'm happy with where I am but just an idle thought. Thanks

Hi All hope you're all well? I still haven't worked up the courage to sort out my CC's, but I have an interesting tale to tell. Bare with me I may go on a bit. About 10 days ago I went into a strange bank to pay one of my cards, I paid the min on B Card. A couple of days later I had a Phone call from said bank (Lloyds) inquiring if I had adequate service on my visit, I said it was fine. He said he noticed I was paying interest on the card, also that I used to have a Lloyds CC that I closed some years ago, he said I qualified for a new card and 1 year of 0% and asked if I would like one and to transfer the balance, I said sounds like a good idea, he said he would be in touch but to continue paying until then. A couple of days later I got in the post a pin mumber. A couple of days later I got the card with £3500 limit. A couple of days later I got the agreement to sign. Followed next day by a letter telling me they had transferred the balance. I don't quite know what to make of it. Any comments anyone. Watch this space. Cheers

Just as a query Scenario; DCA collect on a debt, alleged debtor, stops paying and fills DCA's mailbox with CCA's Sar's, nothing provided, DCA keeps reqesting payment even though they have not provided paperwork, in the end the allged debtor says file for court or bugger off. 4 Years later since the last correspondence and out of the blue a court summons lands on the doormat of the alleged debtor from the DCA. Defence is filed, no admission within the counter defence is given, debt is denied. The DCA acknowledge receipt of the defence via the online court system and the next move is theres. ..regular checks are made on the court website, no letters from the courts are received and as such the case does not head to court, it's not stayed, no application from the defendant is made to stay/strike it out or whatever the terminology is but thats where it stayed. 7 years from the last payment made and 3 years from the intial court summons/counter defence being filed and and still nothing heard. is it right to assume that it's now stat barred anyway and that no clocks are reset when filing a counter defence in a court actin where no admission or acceptance of the debt is given is said defence? I know the answer but it would be nice if it could be confirmed? The alleged debtor was considering going back to the court to have the original application struck out , but I see no sense in that. Deb

Early last year my husband received a county court summons for £11,500 for a credit card debt sold on to a DCA. He replied and defended the action on the basis of the limited information on the summons and that he was awaiting a reply to the CCA letter sent to them on the day the summons was received. He never received a copy of the CCA, just a letter from them saying the debt was no longer enforceable and they could not proceed any further through the courts, but would he please call them to discuss a repayment plan. They also promised to forward the copy of the CCA. That was over a year ago and we are still haven’t received the CCA, but what he did not advise them was the debt would not really be statute barred until last October , three months after their letter. Move forward to now, and I have received a letter from the same DCA and they are chasing a debt for £8.250 for a card of mine. This will become statute barred in the middle of August when it will be 6 years since the last payment. I received a letter from them dated 6 April but not received until 12 April, saying if I did not contact them within 14 days they would commence legal action. My understanding of statute barred debts is they expire six years after the last payment or admission of the debt and the creditor has until this time to obtain judgement. Is this correct and can the DCA request to the courts an extension this period for the time it takes to transfer to a local court and to a hearing? The default for this will expire soon and I am l keen to keep as clean a record as possible after eight years of financial misery. I appreciate I am morally wrong but this DCA will have purchased the debt for peanuts,

Hi Guys, I received a chasing letter from Lowell for a debt I thought was SB they have replied saying it is not. I have been paying this through a DMC but stopped payments in 2012 (i checked my statements). Thing is I completely forgot about this and sent them a prove it letter. The debt is a store care debt and total £299.00 - They have said they have placed my account on hold when they request the contract from the creditor. What shall I do when they do reply? Thanks for your help

Hi. Robinson Way own an old account of mine that I have not made payments to since Feb 2010. I thought that it would now be Statute Barred I sent them the 'stat barred' template letter last week. I have a response from them today. 'After reviewing your account we write to confirm that this debt is not statute barred. The default date on you account was 19th March 2012 and therefore this is within the 6 year period.' Are they correct? I always thought that the 6 year period began from the first missed payment. Thanks. Paul.

Hi, apologies if this is posted in the wrong section, I am posting on behalf of a friend whom has recently started talking to his parents again after 6 years. He moved away and hasn't made contact until recently. His mother has kept a gigantic amount of mail dating back years all unopened, we got to work sifting through them. Have come across a letter from Lowells dated August stating that he has failed to make payments against the CCJ they issued against him, she has every letter that was sent to the house in his name, there are no court papers and no prior letters to this one from Lowel or letters since that onel. Its all very strange. The debt they have got a CCJ against him for is a mobile phone contract on Orange/EE he had around 7 years ago so this debt would have been statute barred, he isnt even sure if there was money outstanding but is adamant he closed the account after contacting them due to having no signal in his home, this was discussed with a customer services operator and they both decided it would be the only option. He doesnt remember anything else. Where does he go from here because obviously he did not receive any court summons and if he had he would have defended against it with the supposed debt is barred. What is the next step for him in sorting this out? Any help appreciated Thank you

Hi Can someone clarify if one should or should not send the SB letter before receiving a claim form. There appears to be some disagreement over which course of action to take. I have received a 'nice' letter asking me to start talking to them about repaying a debt that I last acknowledged at least 8 years ago.