Today I have received three letters from the same DCA. Two letters are identical. They are asking me to get in touch about two very old debts with two different banks: last time I heard from Bank A was 2007 and the last time I heard from Bank B was Jan 2010 - and I have heard nothing since from either - and I have not made any payments or been in touch with either since those dates. I think, therefore, they are statute barred. Should I just ignore the DCA letters? Can they "default" me with the CRAs?

I have been chased for a number of years by Lowell for a debt. They go through phases of really chasing, then I don't hear anything for a while. In May of this year, the debt became statute barred. It has now disappeared from my credit file and my credit rating has gone to good again. However.... Lowell have REALLY started chasing the last few weeks. I have had letters galore, I have had about 5 phone calls a day and a couple of texts, and now they have started sending letters, addressed to me, to my parents house. My question is what action should I take. I know the debt is SB, but I'm concerned by their sudden chasing. Do I need to worry? Should I ignore it all, or should I write to them? I'm concerned as to why they are sending the letters to my parents address rather than mine, are they trying to get a CCJ by deliberately sending to the incorrect address? Is writing to them to tell them a debt is Statute Barred not an admission of ownership? Thanks everyone!

I am really grateful for this Forum. I am watching other people's reports with great interest so I thought I would share my own and see if I could garner some advice along the way. I am currently a Student with some Debts carried forward from a crisis past where I lost my home. I am pretty much on route to starting over. I never took the BR option but was hoping to wait out the clock ( didn't have any other options ) on some of the debts and deal with what I could. This is the second CCJ Claim and as far as I can make out it is over 6 Years since I have had any contact from the creditor. The particulars of the claim are as follows Debt Legally assigned from Tesco Personal Finance ( Ex Tesco Finance ) to Claimant Hoist Portfolio Holdings 2 Ltd who is being represented by Howard Cohen and Co in the county courticon Business Centre Credit Card Debt £3382.38 Interest pursuant to S69 of County Court Act 1984 £1621.96 Court Fee £410 Legal Rep Cost £100 I have followed the standard advice by sending a CPR request to Howard Cohen and Co and a CCA Requesticon to Hoist Portfolio Holdings. I have acknowledged the claim and submitted a holding defence. I am wondering how I will go about argueing that the debt is statute barred or should I wait for them to honour the requests I have made first. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I recently received a CC claim form regarding a Vanquis card from 2008. Leaving aside the issue of whether I did/didn't have such a card... my view is that they probably speculatively issued the claim, hoping for a default judgment knowing they didn't have the supporting paperwork and might not be able to get it. So far... Claim issued August 19, 2014. MCOL acknowledgment filed Aug 25. CCA/CPR letters sent by me August 26. CCA/CPR replies sent to me Aug 28. Defence due by Sept 21? CPR from Mortimer Clarke states: 'Taking client instructions... will come back asap... our client agrees to the extension of 28 days for you to file defence - please notify Court of this.' CCA from Cabot states: 'We don't have it... requesting from original lender... should be able to get within 40 days.' Looking ahead... The 28 days suggested by MC delays defence due date to Oct 19? Allowing for delivery to me, the '40 days' suggested by Cabot is beyond the original defence-due date, and very close to the revised date suggested by the MC letter. I didn't ask MC or Cabot for an extension - and neither need nor want one. I have other stuff to do, and don't want this dragging on. I'm inclined to file my defence now, basically one of 'I deny the claim; prove it.' Questions... 1 How specific does my defence need to be - I'm assuming I can't just say ' I deny it, prove it' without stating reasons? 2 If Cabot aren't able to produce the supporting paperwork in time, will the case likely be stayed? And if so, for how long, or is it indefinite?

This is a strange one, hope someone can help. I took advantage of an offer to switch current accounts for circa £100 in May 2009. I filled in the forms, my salary and debits moved across. The problem was that Santander did not agree to match my existing overdraft (£500) and didnt communicate that the overdraft had not been granted but moved my finances over anyway. So I quickly moved back to my previous account and requested that Santander close the new current account. I recall speaking to a manager on the phone, who agreed to close the account with no charges and in exchange they would not pay me the £100 switching fee. They admitted that they should have communicated better and did not make me aware that any adverse credit history would be reported. However, I have downloaded an equifax report to discover that it is still showing as late payments from May 2009 until it was settled in November 2010. Note, this doesn't show in my noodle report. I am thinking that as I have not used the account since May 2009 it would be SB and should be clear from my credit reports, is this correct?

Hi, Hoping I can get some advice here about a conundrum I have. I have an old debt for a personal loan which will become SB at the end of february. Having heard nothing for years I suddenly received a notice of assignment from a DCA about three weeks ago. Then yesterday a request for me to contact them about payment. I feel sure that I can probably stall them until it is SB with some careful letter writing followed by a CCA request, but im a bit confused about the wording of the 1980 limitations act and various comments ive read on forums and advice sites. Will it stop the clock or restart the SB period if i communicate in writing with them eventhough I will not be admitting the debt? Ive scanned all the relevent threads on here and just dont seem to be able to find a definitive answer. I feel that I do need to take some action because if I ignore them they could easily have time to put in a claim before it becomes SB! If any one could give me some advice here I would greatly appreciate your time and advice on the best way forward!

So, I was an irresponsible student who racked up some defaults for a small amount of 2500 I am in a position to settle these debts now, but many of them are very close to being statute barred, my main query is, if I was to settle these debt, how long until I would expect to see an improvement in my credit file?

Hi, just after a bit of advice here. I have been behind and over my limit for about 12 months but had been making regular payment all be it not enough for my account to be up to date. Today I recieved a letter. It said the following. Overdue amount: £..... IMPORTANT YOU SHOULD READ THIS CAREFULLY Notice of Default served under section 87(1) of the consumer credit act 1974 Youve broken your agreement ........ You must pay the amount overdue shown above. This payment must reach your account within 28 days of this letter. If youve already paid this or have made a payment agreement with - thank you. Please ignore this letter. Then it lists what they will do if I dont do the above ie shut account, chase debt. What I want to know is, I spoke to them monday and paid 70% of the above and agreed to pay the remainder of the arrears by friday. He did mention that a letter had been sent out but told me if I paid this it would be canceled. What I want to know is will they stick to there word?. Is this an actual default notice as I dont remember recieving a warning? Should I ring up and pay it today and argue that I didnt recieve the letter till friday or something because of the snow(foot deep here today). When he says canceled does that mean its already been put on my file and they will just change to satisfied or will it actually be removed or not even be added?. Will they have recordings of the call where he promised it would be removed on payment of the arrears and could I request that if need be?. Sorry to waffle, I know I have been a bit slack with payments but have my reasons and despite my current position, being 29 I could do without any nasty marks on my credit file and the letter seems a bit confusing, maybe deliberate to get me to pay I dont know? Thanks for your time, any advice would be much apprecieted.

I have a Capital One credit card from pre 2007 so it is possible that they won't have a true signed agreement. This I would like to query, however on my initial and subsequent cards and statements they have mis-spelt my first name. How would this affect my case ?

its approx £1980.00 and yes Ithink its been defaulted by abbey. no CCA as yet, just been avoiding it, and offered £50 per month and they refused unless he made a down payment of £400.00, 1st Credit then sent it to Connaught, which I have found out is the same company, and I have avoided them to be honest. The last letter was saying that they were preparing court papers, so god knows what comes next.

Hi all. I was discharged from Bankruptcy in 2011. ALL of my debts were included but there are a few companies flatly refusing to change my credit reporting entries and still reporting defaults on my outstanding balances. Also I voluntarilly surrendered my car at the same time over half way in agreement...but they also are still reporting a default on my credit. They surely cant be allowed to get away with this. My credit score is now worse than it was before my Bankruptcy. A lot worse.

First time posting. I want to thank this site and everyone on it! Beginning of August I received a notice from CCBC that Lowells (via BWLegal) were beginning court proceedings against me for ~£6500 (HFC Bank loan from mid 2007, defaulted 2008). Lowell bought the debt in 2012 and re-defaulted it! I had spoken to them shortly after explaining that I had tried to renegotiate my monthly repayments with HFC but they outright refused and ignored all letters I sent their way - loan was then defaulted June 2008. Lowells apparently ignored all this and just sent bailiff threats and endless phonecalls demanding payment in full. I ignored them. So this notice of court proceedings... obviously by August 2015 the debt was statute barred for over a year. I browsed these forums and found everything I needed to issue a full defence through mcol (deny claim/claim is statute barred). Sent my request to BWLegal for them to send copies of my of my credit agreement (never received). SAR sent to HFC for all account details (received 51 days later :/). Low and behold, Lowells had no legs to stand on and today I received a Notice of Discontinuance from BW . All I need to do now is see if I can get the default removed from my credit file! So again, big thanks to this site. Don't let them get you down! -Craig

This doesn't affect me or anyone close to me personally, as all statute barred debts have been formally declared statute barred. However, I was just wondering what might happen to someone's estate, if it was the case that that they had a lot of statute barred debt and hadn't actually declared it as such? Would it make any difference? I do know that some companies tend to write off debt after a customer dies, regardless of whether it is statute barred or not, but there are no doubt always a few unscrupulous rogues about. Could they potentially claim that deceased debtors were still intending to pay their debts at the time of death? Furthermore, I get the impression that quite a few people don't bother going through the paperwork motions, after a debt becomes statute barred, so maybe this is something that could be more actively encouraged? Just some thoughts I had.

Hi, looking for a bit help if possible. I have received a County Court letter for a debt for an old Barclaycard which i cannot remember being in contact with for well over 10yrs, i'm wanting to put in a defense against it under the limitations act but not to sure as to what is the best thing to say, also not sure if i should send the claimant a letter stating the same facts. The County Court Letter is dated 27/01/2016 and i'm getting really stressed because i was told i only have 14 days to respond. Claimants are IDR Finance and the solicitors dealing with it are Kearns. Any guidance on this matter would be gratefully received , i'm just hoping i can do something about it. Thanks

Hi all In October 2009 I defaulted on an HSBC overdraft, £700 of which was charges, the other £700 ish the actual overdraft. They didn't get in touch until last year (I had previously looked in to a DRO but HSBC wouldnt confirm the details to me as it had been passed to a DCA, my circumstances then changed and I was able to negotiate the other debts I had at the time) The account was originally opened in 2005. I sent MKDP LLP a CCA request, they took a long time to respond and finally responded saying that the account was opened 'interpersonally' (whatever that means) and therefore no agreement was necessary? I've read elsewhere on the forum that pre-April 2007 CCA agreements are required or the debt is unenforcable, can anyone confirm? I now can't afford to pay this debt having exhausted my options previously; I'm begrudged to play ball with them / HSBC when there are so many charges on there and this could have been resolved years ago if they had given me the info I needed for a DRO!

letter today from Lowell offering reduction on an old catalogue debt, they said it is equivalent to charges and interest previously applied. do I accept?

I just wanted to share with you what I hope is good news. One of my sons was being pursued by Lowells for a debt that was nearly nine years old and for over £7000 .He had ignored the letters as he knew the debt was statute barred but was served with a county court summons. Using the advice given on this forum I put together a defence based on the fact the debt was statute barred . It continued through the court process up till the notice of allocation to small claims track. He then heard nothing as to whether they had paid a hearing fee for a date set later this month. Today he received a letter from Lowell's solicitor Bryan Carter serving him with a Notice of Discontinuance. I am still distrustful as to whether this is genuine but intend to visit the county court to verify this as I would hate to think this was a trick by the solicitors to stop my son attending the hearing and them getting judgement by default. I really hope that this is an end to it .

Lloyds Bank alleged I had a debt to them of about £1000. I always disputed the debt and Lloyds never took me to court. About two years ago the debt became statute barred Very shortly afterwards a company called 1st Credit, based in Redruth, started demanding I pay them the full debt. I reminded them the debt was statute barred and unenforceable. Ever since they've ignored me pestered me with phone calls and letters, all of which I've ignored. 1st Credit freely admit the debt is statute barred and unenforceable but they say they will persist in attempting to recover the debt. Can anyone tell me how to make them just give up and go away or perhaps I should continue to completely ignore them.

Hi, and firstly thanks for the great wealth of information on his site. I have received 2 claim forms in the last few weeks out of the blue, its close to the dates for statute barred on both of them. Could someone please confirm they are both statute barred as I'm a nervous wreck about them. I have just been flicking through this forum looking for statute barred templates and noticed an explanation which made me question if I'm right or wrong. I have a claim form dated issue date 30th Nov, it is with Arrow global Limited for a credit card with Sainsburys taken out in 2004. I have acknowledged online that I am going to defend and am about to go through the statute barred defence. It is extremely close to the date for the six years to be up by just a week or so, im hoping! I have a letter from Sainsburys which shows the first payment I missed was on 24th November 2009 and the last payment being made one month before this on the 24th October 2009. I havent paid or acknowledged the debt since. Is this ok as statute barred? The second claim I have received is dated issue date 11th of December 2015. It is for an MBNA credit card taken out in 2003. The last payment made was 02/12/2009. After initially checking I was relieved as I read statute barred came into effect '6 years from the date of the last payment', I just noticed the explanation linked to the word statute barred on this forum says '6 years from the payment due date'. This could mean that both are within six years as its from the date they didn't receive a payment. I know its late in the day to check but please can someone confirm if they are definitely statute barred. I havent been moving house or anything like that. I initally CCA'd them before I put the accounts into dispute and ceased payments at the time in 2009. I have all my correspondences to and from with recorded delivery stamps from the time which back up the dates I have quoted.

I owe money to several creditors to which i make regular payments to when they have confirmed they owe the debt etc etc and i know who im paying is correct, but im having problems with MBNA/Connaught/1st credit ....The steps i have taken are below and can anyone confirm the next step for me please; ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 April 2010 - Sent CCA Request/Do not acknoweldge debt 24 May 2010 - Statutory Demand Issued 25 May 2010 - Sent 2nd request as above 28 May 2010 - Letter received confirming my request for CCA on the 25th May 2010 saying take longer than 12 days 22 June 2010 - Statutory Demand Set Aside Confirmed due to no cca provided 30 June 2010 - Sent template letter saying "Account in Dispute" 05 July 2010 - Letter received confirming my 2nd letter and that they are yet to supply information and saying not valid request as falls under Schedule 2 section 2(a) of this Act, or grounds upon i rely on the notice 20 December 2010 - Documents received from Connaught and requesting payment in 7 days. Faint copy which says “Credit card agreement regulated by consumer credit act 1974” your lender is MBNA bank. Also copies of weekly statements 26th April 2006,20th April 2006,22nd March 2006. Also what looks like internal banking statements headed " A&L CONVSN REG MONEYBAC" showing transactions 04 January 2011 - Hassling for payment as saying paperwork sent 12 January 2011 - As above but saying any payment made will be doubled by them Recent - Mackenzie Hall and J&P solicitors letters demanding payment in full ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can i have some guidance please in the next step for me, i realise they have took longer than allowed to provide documentation but i have left it longer than 6 months to complain but i just want to set up and agree payments i can afford if they are the right people to pay. Thanks again

Hi Everyone Would really appreciate some help with this matter. About a week ago I received a claim form from Northampton County Court originally dated 22 May 2015. The reason I only received it now is because I have recently moved and despite setting up a redirection service with Royal Mail, this letter was delivered to my previous address. The particulars of claim on the claim form are as follows: 1. The Defendant entered into a credit agreement by the original creditor as Capital One Bank (Europe) - credit card and having account number xxxx ("the account) 2. The Claimant, a UK Limited company with company number 3757424, is the assignee and legal owner of all rights previously enjoyed by the original owner of all rights previously enjoyed by the original creditor in respect of the account. 3. The defendant in indebted to the claimant is respect of the account in the sum of 1246.58 4. The Claimant claims the said sum of 1246.58, plus costs The Claimant on however is down as Cabot Financial UK Limited and the solicitor I guess is Weightmans LLP I have done the following: 1. Submitted acknowledgement of service on 25/06/2015 2. Submitted a request for extension to file a defence to the court due to the claim form being delivered to the wrong address on 29/06/2015 3. Sent a standard statute barred letter to Cabot Financial services via recorded delivery, cc'ing Weightmans on the 25/06/2015 4. Sent a standard CPR 31.14 letter to Weightmans, cc'ing Cabot on the 25/06/2015 To my knowledge, I have not made any payments or had any correspondence regarding this debt in at least the last 6 years although it could be closer to 10 years. I received a letter back from Weightmans dated 29/06/2015 stating the following: In response to your Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 31.14 request, we advise you that this claim is likely to be allocated to the small claims track. Under the CPR, for which we enclose a copy of Part 27 CPR for your perusal, you will note that CPR 31 does not apply to the smalls claims track. As such, should you proceed to make an application on the basis of CPR 31, we hereby put you on notice that we will defend such an application and will seek our costs of doing so at the hearing. Please note that once directions have been provided by the Court to take the matter to trial, a deadline will then be provided for the partied to disclose all documents which they will seek to rely on at trail, which are likely to include some, in not all, of the documents listed above. You will therefore be in receipt of all documents relied upon in advance of any subsequent trial. With regard to both your CPR 31 request and your argument that the debt is statute barred, should you with to defend this claim to trial you must fine a defence to proceedings, in accordance with CPR 15.2. As you will be aware , the specified time for you to file you defence has expired. This said our client is willing to provide you with an extension of 14 days. Please ensure you notify the court of the same, in writing, in accordance with CPR 15.5 In the event that you fail to do so, our client could request a default judgement be entered against you pursuant to CPR 15.3 and CPR 12.3 Please note, in the event that you fail to file a defence within the specified time period, resulting in our client obtaining a default judgement against you which you later seek to have set aside, we will draw the contents of the correspondence to the Court's attention bot in opposition of your application to have the default judgement set aside and on the issue of costs. My question is what do I do now? I don't have any documentation for this account any longer (if it was even mine!). Do I file a defence as they say I should and wait to see what documentation they have.... Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Stefanie

Yesterday I began receiving phone calls from a 0203 number, which turns out to be PRA Group Debt Collectors (Aktiv Kapitol). They are now bombarding me with calls (even the number is on auto reject) and automated voice mails requesting I call them. I used to have dealings with Aktiv over an old HSBC debt which passed in statute bared status over a year ago (if not longer). I won't answer these calls and will only deal with them in writing (if I have to contact them at all) but other than that what can I do? I am unable to pay off the debt (and it is unlikely I ever will be able to) and to be honest I thought I had put the days of being chased by DCA's behind me. Also, why start bothering me now when I have had no contact with Aktiv for years (save for an account statement last year)? The debt is no longer on any credit file (I check all of them religiously) although I am worried they will try to [problem] me in some way. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

Hey this is my first thread but i've been following closely in the background for a long while. I'm not sure if this should go here or the scottish debt forum :/ Hbos have a default registered on my current account dating back to an alleged debt that was last acknowledged in October of 2009 by way of a transaction by myself. I had forgot all about this until recently when I checked my credit report on Noddle so in response knowing the age of the account I fired off the template provided on here for debts affected by scottish law. In response I received this back: I therefore raised a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman outlining the same complaint and informing them of the response and failure to comply with the relevant legislation/financial guidance. This was the response from the ombudsman: So rather than appealing via the ombudsman, following their failure to make a decision based on the actual complaint of hbos pursuing a statute barred debt I emailed a complaint to Antonio Horta-Osorio(CEO). To which I received the following reply: So I'm kinda lost and not sure where I go from here... any help would be appreciated.

Date of claim: 27 May 2015 What is the claim for – Claimants claim is for sum of 51xx being monies due from the defendant to the claimant under an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 between the defendant and Coop under account ref xxxx/xxxxxx and assigned to the claimant on 08/01/2013 notice of which has been given to the defendant. The defendant failed to make contractual repayment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been issued which has not been complied with. What is the value of the claim? £6k + Is the claim for a current account (Overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Loan account 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. Debt purchaser (via solicitor) Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Yes, don't remember receiving NOA but would assume this has been sent Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes, dated 28 April 2009 Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? Not that I am aware of Why did you cease payments? Advised by Citizens advice, made an offer to pay non priority debts in Dec 2007 the offer was rejected by original claimant and no further payments made as I had priority debts to pay What was the date of your last payment? Some time before Dec 2007 (at least 6 months before) Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? As above really, the account had gone into arrears and despite making offers to pay it was rejected Did you communicate any financial problems to the original credito r and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? Yes, via CAB in Dec 2007 Acknowledgement of service was submitted on 02/06/2015 and I will send CPR 31.14 request today (see my next post below) I wrote to Claimant on 16 April 2015 as letter arrived out of the blue using statute barred template, they responded on 24 April. 'Our clients position is that the limitation period runs from the date original creditor became entitled to demand payment. The account fell into default on 03 July 2009, therefore it is not statute barred and remains payable' I have (as above) default notice issued via original creditor dated 28 April 2009 (with a date of 12 May 2009 arrears to be cleared) this letter makes mention of 'termination' which I would understand would be from 12 May 2009 but may this not be the case. Is it the claimants argument that the date they mention above would be default notice + say 28/30 days then termination date plus 28/30 days? That is the only way I can get the dates to tally? I have also letters from CAB showing an offer to pay arrears was made in Dec 2007 would argue that my account was probably in default at this time but I only have the above at the moment. as I understand it this is going to hinge over a 4 month period (if the 2009 dates are used) but it seems this is statute barred, what are others thoughts. This would be the basis of any defence which I hope to make. Regards

Hi all, although its a much discussed topic "Statute Barred" I'd thought I share some recent communication between myself and ecashwindow otherwise known as Early Pay Pay Loans. A month or so ago I received an email from ecashwindow stating that a CCJ was "being" issued at my home address. without acnowledging anything I responded to the email with "You will need to send me copies of any signed paperwork and documents relating to the suggested loan I have with you. Sending me threatening emails suggesting court action will not prompt me to make any payments unless you can provide the requested information". Then yesterday I received the same threatening email and replied with the same response. I at no time sent in a letter with any personal details or form of payment requesting hard copies. But I did get a response on email from them with a copy of a loan agreement with all my personal details on it. However the loan was from 2008 and defaulted in 2008 so it is now statute barred. So they are being hopeful of getting the payment with threatening emails. I guess what I am trying to say is for anyone being chased by this company be sure that you ave all the facts in place before you think about making any payment. It is just scare tactics. I am also seeking advice from the people that know on this site. The email they sent me yesterday contained personsal information such as; Full name and address Full bank name, account number and sort code Bare in mind I have not confirmed who I am or agreed that the loan was mine, so surely they are breaking some kind of data protection by sending out personal details such as this . If they are then I will need help in building a case against them.