I just got a letter from Metropolitan Collection Services of Coventry. They're pursuing an overdraft I had with HSBC. Last activity on the account was I think December 2010. Shortly after they withdrew the overdraft cos I wasn't paying into the account regularly. The debt is now in the region of £1250. I'm on benefits here and I can't afford to pay this of in a way they'd find satisfying. They have also floated the possibility of taking me to court in 'the country where you live.' Anyone got any advice on how I might call off the dogs?

Hi Just wondered if anyone had any information of time limitations when an item is not as described? I purchased a chocolate faux leather bed frame from Argos in Jan 15 it was delivered in 2 boxes in March 15. For various reasons we have only today opened the boxes and have found that while box 2 of 2 contains a chocolate coloured headboard, box 1 of 2 contains the side and bottom panels in black! I called Argos Customer Services today and the young lad (following a script) said there was nothing they could do as it was 5 months past the 12 months guarantee. After refusing to accept that, I was promised a manager call within 4 hours but surprise surprise no call has materialised. I know I should have checked the contents and lesson learned for future but both boxes are marked Chocolate. Any advice/ideas welcome. Thanks in advance

I'm currently trying to assess whether a debt is statute barred or not. It is in relation to a current account overdraft where my last activity was in May 2009. The amount overdrawn was £3,000 at this point. The bank defaulted the account in August 2010. This is what is shown on my credit file. Between my last activity and the bank default date a number of interest charges were added by the bank. The amount at date of default was just under £4,000. Can someone indicate when the statute barred clock starts ticking, is it from my last activity in May 2009 or from the default date? Many thanks in advance.

Says it all in the title really. Without naming names, I sued a financial institution a little over a year ago, the case was compromised by Tomlin. For various reasons [mainly because the terms were thrashed out in 20 minutes in front of a slightly grumpy dj] the agreement made no mention of CRA's. Not particularly a biggie as I got 90% of the money I was claiming and the default was due to drop off about 60 days later anyway. Roll forward a few months and it [a few weeks ago] began reporting the account again. This time without the default marker but with an erroneous £12.00 balance [would have to assume its created a balance with a late payment/other charge]. Ergo, the account was reported as defaulted for 6 years, disappeared for a few months and later reappeared at year 7 with no markers. My problem is....... .what exactly within the DPA prescribes the 6 year data reporting. The ICO guidance [at January 2014] certainly defines that it shouldn't be but what within the instrument says that it must cease at the expiry of 6 years and what prescribes that the account cannot return to normal status at any point during or after 6 years of reporting a default? Is this a simple matter of acting contrary to principle/s in manipulating the data?

Hello all. Been using website for reference on many occasion, so now time to ask a question. I have a debt with Hoist Portfolio Holding 2 Limited for £186, balance opened 07/12/2002. The balance status is "gone away", and defaulting since Aug 2014. [Noddle] For approximately 3-4 years I wasn't paying the balance on account that I was unemployed and the account had insurance, which was being paid for me, for 8 years. (Sorry I don't know much about this, PPI maybe?). I moved address in 2010 and subsequently didn't notify the lender, RiverIsland. Last week I checked my credit file to find I've been defaulting since Aug 2014. I suspect this is when I registered as self employed. I have two questions, firstly does the Limitation Act protect me regarding the debt being older than 6 years since I last acknowledged the debt, even though the balance was being paid on my behalf by insurance? I'd only used the account once in 2002 and not made payment against the debt for 8 yrs or so. Just received statements each month confirming the minimum amount was being paid for me. If the Limitation Act doesn't protect my credit file, is it possible I can agree to pay off the balance in full, and the default notice on my account be removed somehow? It's not the debt which is concerning me, but the detrimental effect on my credit file. I'm not sure if it helps, but they hadn't sent me any letters regarding escalating the debt, (my ex-wife still lives at my original address). Thank you for any advise.

Pretext: Have been looking into the possibility of building a solar panel from scratch as part of an allotment project. Bit of fun more than anything. Discovered one of the major hurdles with building any solar panel (commercial or otherwise) is condensation and water vapour. It can severely damage the panel and reduce output, sometimes destroying it altogether. One of the ways they deal with this in commercial panels is to encapsulate the solar cells in a resin or epoxy, which are usually silicone based. Apart from being horrendously expensive to purchase, research is starting to show these encapsulants may still allow moisture to permeate. (You also have to wonder how "green" these resins and epoxies actually are!) Problem is there is not a lot of long-term data to state with any certainty how durable these solar panels actually are, especially in the UK climate. Many manufacturers and green organisations state panels can be expected to last 25 years or more. Installation guarantees are typically 5 years; product workmanship guarantees vary between 5 and 10 years; power output guarantees are usually 25 years. The expected payback time of a solar array is usually around 10 years. The question: If one or more commercial solar panels fail, in reality what protection does the consumer really have? Assuming of course these failures start to occur several years down-track. Are these guarantees really worth the paper they are written on?

Hello everybody, I've googled so much and found your board to be very helpful. Hopefully, you are able to help a friend of mine as well. The issue is the following: My friend was in London in 2009 with his car (German). As there were bikes on the back, the car did not fit in any of the car parks. And as there was no parking on the street, he eventually ended up using a parking lot that was for residents only. Upon his return, he had received a parking ticket for that. After he returned from his vacation, he had also received a further ticket via post. It said that he had a) not paid the London city toll and b) entered the restricted area (environmentally) without the "green sticker". Each would have cost 1,000GBP (or 800?!) but they said one they wouldn't charge as they would accept that a foreigner wasn't aware of that. He doesn't remember which of the two he should have been aware of and was thus fined. So one ticket was 800-1,000GBP, the other one around 240GBP. A google search informed him that it was not possible to execute the fine for a foreigner, so he did not pay. At the beginning, there were a few letters from debt collectors and the amount went up like crazy, but after two or three letters, they stopped trying. He was in London in the summer of 2009. He avoided travelling to the UK as the only info he had found was a summary of statutes of limitation in the EU where the UK was mentioned and it said those fines were expiring after 3-7 years. But he doesn't know which number applies to the UK. The problem is: He will travel via Heathrow soon. On the way back, he had planned a longer stop-over to see a friend (half a day). Could they still make claims for the tickets? For both options, i.e. also just stopping over in Heathrow, or only when leaving the airport on the way back? He had totally forgotten about this. It will have been 5.5 years by then. Would he risk anything if travelling or is he safe? Thank you SO MUCH in advance!

hi all why doesn't limitation apply to reclaiming ppi, mortgage charges etc?

Hi All Can anyone offer me advise on the following: Thames Water have accepted responsibilty for incorrectly billing my business for 13years. So far I have negotiated a 45% discount on the money owed and they are adament that in line with the Limitation Act1980 they can back charge me 6 years. They quote: Time limit for actions for sums recoverable by statute. (1)An action to recover any sum recoverable by virtue of any enactment shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. As no bills were sent for 13 years, and TW did not discover there error until June 2104 - does the cause of action start in June 2014 when they discovered the error or June 2008 the 6 years prior they say they are entitled to backdate? There had be no communication from TW prior to June 2014. Any thoughts? thanks DEC

Evening All - I'm just after a someone who is in the know about company finance issues and placing default notices on company credit file if possible? To give you a very brief background into my case I was employed by a government organisation and in October 2003 it was revealed that they had made errors with many employees salaries and subsequent pension contributions dating back to 2003, to summarise they are now applying The Limitation Act 1980 to make reduced payments to all the affected 250 staff members identified. As the organisation is refusing to pay me in full I now view all the outstanding monies owed as a debt and will be treating its as such, hence my intention on placing a default notice against the organisation in question. I have established that I have a reasonable argument under S.32 The Limitation Act 1980 subsection ©. to bring a civil claim against my former employers, as a mistake is a major part of the problem AND a reasonable level of due diligence was carried out each month when receiving my monthly salary, also the fact 250 members of staff did not realise that their monthly pay had a shortfall further emphasises the gravity of the problem. For more details see my other post the link can be found in my profile - I can't post the direct link as I only have 5 posts and require 10 posts or more to put links on here I would like to know if possible: 1. Can I place a default notice on the organisations credit file? With Experian / Equifax etc? My former employers have admitted that mistakes with my pay amounted to £10k dating back to 2003 however they have paid me just £1,001 using The Limitation Act 1980 to make this reduced payment 2. This case will be going to court shortly so could I write to the credit reference agencies and ask that a default notice is placed before a court judgement is made based on the correspondence that I have and limited payments made by the organisation? Again any input or advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Again, muzzy17

In 1994 I obtained a mortgage. A condition of the mortgage was that I had adequate insurance to cover buildings and contents. The mortgage company said the most convenient way to arrange this insurance cover would be for them to arrange it. They would also decide if another insurance company was supplying adequate cover. To do this I would have to pay their expenses of £25. Rather than go through all this I agreed to the mortgage company arranging insurance for buildings and contents. After 5 years I found out this combined insurance was about twice as expensive as other insurance policies offering the same cover. When I stopped paying I was forced to pay the mortgage company a fee of £25. I was also told to take out separate Life insurance to ensure the mortgage company would be adequately protected in the event of my premature death. The mortgage company told me which insurance company to take out the Life cover, I had to pay the insurance company separately but the mortgage company was the sole beneficiary of the insurance. Faced with no other alternative I took out this Life insurance. I paid if for about 5 years until 2000. I found out about mis-selling of various insurances just a year ago when Lloyds announced it could not defend PPI claims and CMCs' sprung up everywhere. Questions: * was the Life insurance mis-sold, * is it now too late to claim as it was more than 6 years ago, * if not too late is my claim with the mortgage company or the insurance company * can I claim to recover the contents part of the combined insurance * can I claim to recover the difference in cost between the mortgage company buildings insurance and the subsequent insurance company I chose * can I claim to recover the entire insurance

In 1993 I took out a mortgage. I was told that a condition of the mortgage was that I paid £14 per month PPI for accidents and unemployment. After about 15 months I changed building societies and I'm not sure if I paid for PPI to the new lender. (I just cannot find out) I have been reading the Limitation Act. am I right in thinking (a) that for mortgages and other secured debts the limitation period is 12 years and (b) the limitation period for reclaiming PPI is also 12 years. If I am right then this still leaves me outside the 12 years BUT is it true that the limitation period runs from the time when a person could reasonably have known they could have a claim. In my case this was the case where Lloyds realised in 2011 that they would lose any court actions over PPI. Am I right in thinking this. If I am could 2011 therefore be the start of the 12 year limitation period. Generally the Limitation Act 1980 seems fairly straightforward but there are parts that I find difficult to understand. Can anyone please help me out; it seems to me that the limitation period of 6 years for say unsecured debt applies IF your lender doesn't contact you about the debt, and you don't acknowledge the debt in writing, and -you don't make any payments towards it... My questions; 1, Must ALL three conditions exist or just one 2, What is meant by the term "Acknowledge" 3, Does the six year period start from the time a creditor is informed that no more payments will be made and none are made 4, Does the six year period restart anytime within the six years if the creditor just tells the debtor that they owe money 5, Does #4 apply if the debtor refuses to answer correspondence

Hi I have been reading various threads on this forum with interest but need to know if anyone can clarify dates for me with regards to the limitations act and statute barred debts. I know if a County Court Claim is issued within 6 years then it is valid. However the creditor (Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd) has jumped straight to a Bankruptcy Petition. My last payment for the debt was in July or August of 2006 and since then I have not paid towards or admitted the debt. In June 2012 a Statutory Notice was served on me personally, though I was asked for no id and no signature. I did not respond. This was served it appears (though records are fuzzy going back 6 years) just within the 6 year period of when I last paid/admitted the debt. In September 2012 the petition was presented to the court which is outside of the 6 years. The hearing date is in December. National Debtline believe the 6 year limitation is from the date I last paid/admitted the debt to the date of the hearing which is outside of the 6 year period. The date the petition was presented in September was outside of the 6 years. But the date the statutory demand was personally served was within. So is the debt Statute Barred??? Interestingly the Petition itself was posted and served personally, but the Statutory Demand was only served personally, no letter.

Hi, Not sure if anyone can help me with this. My husband applied for reconsideration of his DLA award last October (was getting low rate care only). This was denied following a fictitous report by an Atosh 'Dr' (for example, stated my husband had no problems with stairs whilst sitting 8 feet from the stairlift just installed by the council). He is now appealing but this will apparently not be heard until at least March next year. Now the problem, hubby is 65 in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if we should be applying for DLA again before that time in case his appeal fails on a technicality. My concern is that although he needs the care as stated on the form, his most recent illness was within three months of the application for reconsideration so I am worried he will be turned down on this basis and will not be able to claim again as he is too old. If anyone can advise whether he should apply again before he is 65 and whether this will affect his appeal I would be really grateful. Many thanks

Hi there, In my 2nd year of uni I left in Dec 2001 but received my 2nd grant payment in Jan 2002. I never heard anything about this until I received a phone call about it a few months ago and now a letter dated 30th June 2012 requesting payment in full, £1450. My question is, before I contact them to make offer of payment within my means, is this not covered by the Limitations Act in that after 6 years they cannot pursue me for this date? I am aware that Student Loans post 1998 are exempt, I have a student loan also which is paid through my salary when I am working. However this is a grant. Your advice appreciated. Cheers, Maxine

Someone I am helping is being taken to court by a party claiming an alleged overpayment of wages relating to payments made to her that began in early 2003. These payments varied in the first year but remained a fixed amount since 2003 until the middle of 2010 when their employer noticed the payment. The former employer admitted that the employee had not caused these payments to be made in any way. Several times, it was pointed out to the employer that payments made six years prior to their discovery were certainly statute barred. They tried quoting the part of the Limitations Act that allows the clock to start from "the discovery of the mistake" but I pointed out to them that could only be the case if the mistake could not have been found, with reasonable diligence, earlier. They have ignored this. The employer are in possession of no more facts than they had when the payments were made. The former employee has not accepted that this debt is owed. In one communication, it was actually asked why this question was being ignored as though it did not exist. In 2011, Ascent are pursuing every single payment. Irwin Mitchell are pursuing the payment. They were advised that the whole sum could not be pursued as this included payments that were made in 2003. This year, the party, took her to court and have unbelievably refuted the Statute Barred defence with their defence that they did not discover the mistake(s) until 2010 and claimed that stopped the claim being Statute Barred. They have never claimed that the mistake(s) could not have been found with reasonable diligence at the times when the payments were made. Although, the individual payments have been supplied, the actual net payments made to her have never been broken down. Only the total net payment has been requested. It gets better, the party who are pursuing the debt are... wait for it ... the one and only Ministry of Justice. There are also other issues that can be had with their claim but I am interested to know about the time barred element of this situation. Am I out of perspective by stating this situations is BONKERS?

HEY THERE EVERY ONE. THE PART OF THE ACT THAT IS IN RED SAYS ABOUT STATUTE BARRED CANNOT BE STATUTE BARRED IF A CREDITOR/DCA DEMANDS MONEY IN WRITING. SECTION 5 OF THE ACT IS SIMPLE CONTRACTS WHICH I ASSUME IS LOANS/CREDIT CARDS STORE CARDS, ETC. DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE STATUTE BARRED TIMER RESETS EVERTIME I RECEIVE A LETTER? MY DEBT WAS A CREDIT CARD. 6 Special time limit for actions in respect of certain loans. (1)Subject to subsection (3) below, section 5 of this Act shall not bar the right of action on a contract of loan to which this section applies. (2)This section applies to any contract of loan which— (a)does not provide for repayment of the debt on or before a fixed or determinable date; and (b)does not effectively (whether or not it purports to do so) make the obligation to repay the debt conditional on a demand for repayment made by or on behalf of the creditor or on any other matter; except where in connection with taking the loan the debtor enters into any collateral obligation to pay the amount of the debt or any part of it (as, for example, by delivering a promissory note as security for the debt) on terms which would exclude the application of this section to the contract of loan if they applied directly to repayment of the debt. (3)Where a demand in writing for repayment of the debt under a contract of loan to which this section applies is made by or on behalf of the creditor (or, where there are joint creditors, by or on behalf of any one of them) section 5 of this Act shall thereupon apply as if the cause of action to recover the debt had accrued on the date on which the demand was made. (4)In this section “promissory note” has the same meaning as in the Bills of Exchange Act 1882.