Hello, Back in 2007 I took out a loan with Welcome Finance. It was to pay off debts for a wedding which never happened. I went through a bit of an emotionally rough time and I don't even think I made my 3rd monthly payment. TODAY I received a claim form from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton. LOWELL PORTFOLIO LTD are chasing me for the money owed and attempting to obtain a CCJ on the debt. The debt is certainly STATUE barred. I've never acknowledged the debt, certainly not in writing, and no payment have been made within the last 6 years. Should they be attempting to obtain a CCJ if they know this? or are they known for trying it anyway? My worry is that I might be missing something, surely the court would throw this straight out otherwise? Thanks for any advice, really appreciated.

Hi A quick question, if you think that debts are statue barred is it best to SAR or wait to see if any action is taken against you before doing so. It's been quiet and I don't want to upset the apple cart but on the other hand I would love to be one step ahead should I receive any claims against me. Thanks in advance S.B.

Hello, I keep getting bombaded by messages saying I can claim PPI charges back. Now, I not to fussed, strangely, if i have anything to claim, but if I instruct any of these agencies, I assume they will take a percentage of my claim, which again I'm not too worried about. Can anyone though recommend an agency who could work on my behalf. Regards, M

Hi Not sure if this is the correct way to post. But having been a member of the forum for sometime and found this information useful. But this time I have a small problem with the above who have issued proceeding in the county court. The alleged is held by Lowell who I believe must have purchased from a company Equidebt a company I have never heard of and have not had an advance as regulated by the consumer credit Act 1974. I believe this may relate to a debt that is statue barred from over 6 year ago (when last payment was made as I disputed and no longer acknowledge ) I have request detail of debt under CCA and all other details as to the originator of the debt. Carter replied that the court protocol as follows under direction 7c point 1.4 (3A) I believe this mean they are stating they do not need to provide these details, and that evidence will be provided at the courts direction. 1/ how can I reply as I have no knowledge of this allegation so can not enter a defence. 2/ if the debt is barred how would I know as they are not providing details as requested any help would be most appreciated

Hiya, Recently we received a letter from a company calling themselves "Absolute Locate" which suggested that they required us to verify some information. We rang these people to be told that an organisation calling themselves "Global" (for some reason they said that one name was the only one they and omitted the "Debt Recovery" part of Global Debt Recovery) had contacted them and we were given the phone number for the latter. (As an aside I have a feeling that Absolute Locate and Global Debt are actually the same company under two different names.) We rang Global Debt to be told that they had been instructed to collect two outstanding debts from 1997. The people we spoke to from Global Debt were obnoxious (in our opinion), especially when we suggested that debts from 1997 were probably statute barred. We were told the debts were not statute barred because we had moved and not informed the creditors of our new address. We were then accused of having deliberately "hidden" to avoid paying the debt - we did not. We moved house because it was a rental property and we were asked to vacate it. Both debts are, purportedly, from a bank account. We are not sure if these debts actually existed (it's almost 20 years ago), but have no recollection of any overdrafts or loans with the bank we told we have a debt with. We have spoken to the bank and they cannot see anything on their computers - the lady we spoke to suggested that the bank doesn't pursue debts after about five or six years and also that it sounded like a [problem] to her from the information we had. We would be grateful for any advice or comment. Thank you.

Good evening everyone, I recently decided I need to deal with the Lowell Group as they started to pester me too much and started doing unlawful actions?? Let me explain. I had a contract with O2 that started in 2007 and somewhere about April - May 2008 I received a letter from them to pay off my 720£ contract since I was unable to repay due to being unemployed. I left UK to try my luck elsewhere and when I came back to UK again in 2012 I started receiving letters from Lowell again and it continues until today. I had a 120 pounds debt with Lloyds Tsb which was on my credit file and it was sold to Lowell as well, decided I will start paying it off since that wasn't such a large sum so I've setup a direct debit and am currently paying it off through Lowell, now what happened just recently is that Lowell Group has setup a second direct debit WITHOUT any acknowledgment from me!! I cancelled the direct debit immediately since I didn't agree to anything like this. I was ignoring all the letter from them for my O2 contract. What they are saying is "If you don't call us to resolve the matter... We will cancel the repayment arrangement that we have agreed with you (I haven't agreed to anything!!) and pass your details to our legal division (Hamptons Legal). I started reading after this and found out that a direct debit has to be agreed by both parties, how could they setup a direct debit without my consent? Could someone please tell me what would be the best action to undertake? 1. I am not sure if the debt is statue barred What steps should I take next?? Any help would be greatly appreciated Thank you

i recived a letter from welcome saying they sold my debt to mkdp, but welcome have not contacted me since 2007 and i have moved house twice since then is this debt sb as i never made a payment as the car was not fit for purpose any advice please i know they record defaulf six months after so called last payment so that would of been early 2008

I had a loan from Bank Of Scotland for some £3,000. When I lost my job due to continual time off following a heart attack, I expected the PPI to cover the payments. Yeah right. 7 years later and the debt had risen to £9.500 due to costs. I had not answered any of the letters from First Credit who had the loan, and following advice from this forum sent them the statute barred letter. I do not believe it but I got a reply agreeing the debt was statute barred and I would not hear from them again on this matter. Thanks CAG.

Hi, I dont know how but my daughter was touching a statue at a restaurant and it came down and it was beheaded. It was made of stone. When I lifted it up it was really very heavy. When I put it back it was a bit wobbly. I told the manager that it doesnt seem to be very stable , there should be a sign of some sort to warn but she dismissed it as saying that its not a hospital they dont need a sign that it wasnt wobbly in the original position. I tried fitting it in few different positions but still didnt feel very stable. I dont understand how a 6 year old girl managed to bring it down, she wasnt even climbing on it. the manager contacted the owner and she asked me to pay £175. I left my details and they took £50 as payment from my card. Then I got an email from her asking for the rest of the money as I asked her what kind of statue was it, if it really was costing her that much to replace. I found a few similar ones for about £125 ext VAT so i thought i might offer her that but she said those are resin ones hers was pure stone and she said similar ones cost around £40-60 but their weight is about 80kg and hers was no way near that weight. She also threatened me that if i dont pay the remaining amount of £125 she shall take legal action and recover more than that. When this incedent happened no one was there. as it was outside. The staff were all inside. The owner was informed by her manager. There didnt seem to be any cctv camera. Some people i talked to said I should have walked away , also it should be covered by her insurance. I was willing to pay her but after that legal threat i really dont want to pay. Have already paid 50 , one of my friends said i should ask her to even return that. Had it fallen on her or the other kids, also had a newborn nearby it would have been a totally different case. I dont know what to do . What can she do, what kind of legal action can she take especially if she doest have any proof, or is it the case that because i already paid £50 and gave her my details does it mean i accept that it was my daughter's mistake. At that time she was shaken and crying and standing next to the statue i assumed it was her fault but i didnt really see myself what happened. Any advice would be appreciated

hello there i hope that you may help me. i had taken out a credit card in 2001 but had stopped paying in 2004 because of financial trouble i plan on using the statue barred defense

Claim for a believed statue barred debt has arrived. I am going to defend all. About 8 years I had problems with debt and believe sorted them all out. I do not recognise any of the figures on the claim form . Any help appreciated. I intend to fill in the Acknowledgment form. Do I send in the defence page at the same time because I am not sure of any details of the debt [it might be one I missed in the early years]. Any help would be appreciated ,thanks

Could someone clarify this as I was asked by a friend this morning They had an account with Natwest, last used in 2008 Jan. Tried to claim fees for hardship in 2010, and never went through with it. Has this reset the clock as I can't seem to find anything ?

Hi There, I posted another thread a few days ago and thanks to the comments received so far. I'm now considering to send a letter stating the debt is statue barred however i just want to run something by the members here. I took out the loan back in around 2004ish. Defaulted on payments around 2006ish so technically i believe it's now statue barred. The question I've got is what happens after i've sent this? Will they update my credit file stating it's settled? Could they take legal action to recover the debt still? Any advice would be welcomed.

It's been a while since I last posted but need some advice on the following and how a discontinued claim can effect the timing for Statue Barred debt. 7 years ago defaulted on a loan, with the help of this site was able to fight then off. In 2008 original creditor issued a County Court Claim, I submitted a full defence, creditor's solicitor invited me to withdraw my defence as it had "little chance of success". I refused and claimant applied for Summary Judgement. I submitted Witness Statement for and then 3 days before hearing Claimant withdrew from the hearing and "for commercial reasons" discontinued claim in full with both parties meeting own costs - which I was happy to agree to. Heard nothing further from either original creditor or anyone acting on their behalf until recently when I received a very nice and friendly letter from a DCA inviting me to "put forward my proposal for the repayment of the outstanding balance on the account". They are happy to accept monthly instalments or offer a substantial discount if I am in a position to pay off as a lump sum. I also have 21 days to respond to their letter and they look forward to hearing from me in due course. Aren't DCA's such nice friendly people these days - so polite and helpful - till you acknowledge the debt (which I have no intention of doing). My question is how does the discontinued claim affect the clock for a debt being Statue Barred. Documents supplied by OC show date of last payment as being in 2006. Does the Statue Barred clock restart form the date of the claim being discontinued which would be 2009 or does it just carry on from the date of the last payment in 2006 - as if the County Court Claim had not happened.? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. B40

Hello I have received a letter from Aktiv Kapital regarding an old debt they have managed to drag up. I requested an SAR and they sent me the signed contract and photocopies of all the last few statements to GE Captial Bank where I have made no payment and they have charged me all sorts of legal costs. The last date on this document is 12/09/02 and this is not a payment I made but charges I incurred. This debt is no longer on my recent credit report and one I had forgotten about to be honest. Does this mean I would be ok sending a statue barred letter to them? Any advice would be grateful, thank you.

Hi Would like to have any suggestions on what to do.please. A debt with MBNA became statue barred in February 2011 and it was subsequently removed from my credit file by Experian. In November 2012 I started to receive phone calls from the DCA (which I didn't answer) and they left voicemail stating that they're calling about this original debt dating back to September/October 2003. These I ignored and by January 2013 I was receiving 3 to 4 calls a day for 4 days out of the week. One call was even at 8.45pm which but my back up. They also started writing letters to my neighbours during the latter part of 2012 enquiring as to my whereabouts and my address details, which I found to be an invasion of my privacy. They also started writing me letters "begging" that I contact them to pay the debt. These I ignored as the debt was statue barred and in September 2012 I wrote to them stating that the debt was statue barred to which they just carried on sending me letters asking for payment. September 30, 2012 Letter: "Dear Sir/Madam Acc/Ref No You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself. I would point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.” I would also point out that the OFT say under their Debt Collection Guidance on statute barred debt that “it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period”. The last payment of this alleged debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from us in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, we suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against us to recover the alleged amount claimed. The OFT Debt Collection Guidance states further that “continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to harassment contrary to CPUTR2008 I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed and that no further contact will be made concerning the above account after that last letter. I look forward to your reply. Yours faithfully" This letter was never replied to by the DCA. As a result of the phone calls and letters I wrote the following letter January 11, 2013 to them: "Dear Sir / Madam Your reference : I refer to your letter of January 2, 2013. For the purposes of clarity and the avoidance of doubt, please take careful note of the following : 1. This letter is sent to you to avoid any “miscommunication” and to give an unequivocal statement of intent. 2. This letter does not acknowledge any debt owed to you or your affiliates, agents, owners or otherwise. 3. I understand this debt was last acknowledged over 6 years ago and falls within the remit of s.5 of the Limitation Act 1980 (which, in case you need reminding, states that an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after 6 years from the date on which the cause of action occurred). 4. I wrote to your company on September 30, 2012 explaining that I had no wish to pay towards a debt that was barred by the statute of limitations Act 1980. 5. I am now of the view that your actions are of pure harrassment and in breach of CPUTR 2008 in line with the Office Of Fair Tradings guidance on debt collection. 6. The same guidance states it is unfair to pursue a payment after a debtor has already stated they will not be paying due to it being statute barred. I am informing you once again, that even if the debt were mine, I would not pay it. 7. I am sure you are also aware of the provisions of the Protection from Harrassment Act, which makes it an offence to harass a person with a demand for payment, or concerting with others to do the same. Whilst the Act provides relief, it is available only where it is permissible in law to take the offending action (which, as pointed out, it is not lawful as it is statute barred), as well as that action being reasonable. I trust the above is perfectly clear and I now expect you to forward me your official complaints procedures within 7 days. Failure to do so will result in me filing complaints with the Offfice Of Fair Trading, The Financial Ombudsman Service, Trading Standards, my local MP, and Undersecretary Of State For Trade And Consumer Affairs. I hope this letter makes my position COMPLETELY clear." I also sent them the following letter " January 11, 2013 Your reference Legal notice under the Data Protection Act 1980 To: The Data Controller/Compliance Manager (their address and details) Dear Sir/Madam, Please be advised that this is a formal notice issued under Section 10 of the Data Protection Act 1980 I demand that you cease processing of my Data by any means whether written or electronically, with third party individuals and organisations. In addition to processing, this also means passing, ammending, sharing and management in any form of my Data in whatsoever filing, both manually or electronically. In compliance with the Information Commissioners guidance, I give you 14 days to comply with this request. The purpose of this request is that I am of the understanding that your continual processing/controlling of my data will cause distress harm and damage. Specifically because; (i) My credit worthiness is being or has been damaged by your actions as a result of your entries to my credit files, which relate to unfair charges currently in dispute, and found by the Office of Fair Trading to be unfair. (ii)That recorded defaults on my credit files by yourselves are in dispute. (iii)That I fully expect to show that adverse data was wrongly filed which would mean that earlier processing was unfair and unjust. (iiii)That matters in relation to adverse data you have entered onto my credit files are currently in litigation. (iiii) That the adverse data you continue to process, manage and pass on to third parties impedes my ability to apply for credit, mortgages or other financial services. (iiiii)That as a data controller/compliance officer, you have a responsibility under the Data protection act to observe all principles set out therein within the act. I expect an acknowledgement of your intentions to comply, and if you do not agree, your reasons for being unable or unwilling to do so. I will give you 14 (fourteen) days from date of this notice to forward this to me in writing. Under the Data Protection Act, a county court has the powers to order compliance of any breaches it sees fit together with compensation at the discretion of the court. Should you fail to comply, or give just and reasonable reasons as to why you will not comply, I will consider making an application to my local Court on notice to force compliance together with costs and compensation. Yours Faithfully" January 21, 2013 the DCA replied to state that after investigations that the debt was not statue barred as a payment had been received on May 10, 2011. This I find rather amusing as I was not in the country on that date and also I limited sight after undergoing major eye surgery which prohibited me from conducting any form of business for 12 weeks. After my letter of January 11, 2013 to the DCA all phone calls and letters have ceased. The DCA letter also states that they're within their rights to now pursue this debt as payment was received on 10 May 2011, however I did not make any payment, as why would someone give a token payment after the debt has been cleared as being statue barred. The DCA has now reinstated the debt on my credit file, after it was removed as being statue barred in February 2011. I wrote to the DCA January 31,2013 asking for proof of this payment as it was not made by me and also stating that I was not able to contract and business over that period due to my eye surgery. This letter they've not replied to. On March 4, 2013 they wrote to me stating " Further to our letter dated January 21, 2013 regarding the above account, we note no response has been received. (Obviously my letter of January 31, 2013 doesn't in their opinion constitute a response) Due to the above, we have been left with nooption but to request you now accept this letter and our letter of 21 January 2013, acopy of which is enclosed, as our final response in this matter. If you are dissatiesfied with the outcome of your enquiry you may refer to the Financial Ombudsman ......" I do find that if mail addressed to them is not recorded then they don't reply. I'd appreciate to hear of any suggestions on the next step I should take. Thank you all

Hello, I'm confused about the criteria of Statue Barred Debts, specifically if a Creditor writes to the Debtor. For instance if an alleged debt is over six years old BUT the Creditor has maintained contact and demanded payment throughout those six years but the Debtor has not acknowledged the debt by way of payment or written acknowledgement. Is this debt considered Statue Barred? Thank you.

Just a quick query if any one can help; If a debt is close to becoming statue barred is it worth making a full and final offer, i think im right in thinking that on your credit file it would drop off after 6 years but if a full and final payment is made it would it stay on the credit file for a further 6 years from that date but it would just be marked settle or satisfied. hope that makes sense cheers Wato

I had a credit card with Capital One, got into difficulties, debt passed to Lowells, I then got a Debt Management to look after this debt. Debt management went bust. Now I have Robinson Way after me on behalf on Lowells and Capital One. Looked at what little paper work I had and it looked like it might have been six years since last payment, so I wrote to Robinson Way saying statue barred. this is the contents of their letter. (We do not accept the statue barred on this account. and if you were to demonstrate that this debt is time barred the debt still legally exists and will be reported as such .we would consider a substantial reduction to settle this accounti

Hello, I have had a hand delivered card from the lovely people at Scotcall . I am not too concerned at all infact am rather relaxed. The debt is 14 yrs statued barred. Are they daft enough to take this to court , I am hoping they will to be honest. Part of me thinks just ignore them and let them waste money in chasing , or do the standard letter telling them its SB. What would everyone else do.....

Hi guys I took out a credit card on 05/01/2007 and was unable to keep up payments the date of default was 04/12/2007 does that mean I havent paid any payments since? and also the second account is 20/11/2006 and the default date is 24/07/2008 so if these debts are indeed statue barred what is my next step?

I have two debts for students overdrafts taken out around 2001. #1 I have not paid anything towards this debt or acknowledge it for about 10 years. I have received a few letters regarding it but binned them all. There is no CCJ for this debt. Am I right in thinking it is eligible to be statue barred? #2 I have a CCJ for another student overdraft account. The CCJ is dated April 2006. I have paid nothing and not been contacted about this debt for over 6 years. Does there come a time when this CCJ can be written off? What is the life time of a CCJ? Thanks for reading.

OK....so I'm certain this will have been covered in other posts but I'm confuzzled by the sheer number! I have about £25k of debt dating back several years and I plan to finally sort things out once and for all. I got a full credit report and have all the relevant details but I'm unsure about a few things. I realise that 5 years have to have elapsed and this seems to be the case for all bar one of the debts (that one reaches the 5 year mark in December 2011). Can I start the 5 year count down from the date of my last payment to each as the default dates ar are all several months after? Do the relevant companies HAVE to respond favourably to my standard letter or can they challenge my application for the debts to be statute barred even if I meet all the criteria? If any of the companies in turn tell me that it is not in fact 5 years after all, and produce evidence that I in fact had contacted them and acknowledged the debt (something I'm sure isn't the case but I'm trying to cover all the bases here), will they then begin to pursue me relentlessly to ensure they get their money back before 5 years HAS elapsed? I should reiterate that as indicated in my post title, I am in Scotland. Many thanks in anticipation of the usual high quality advice