\Lowlifes registering a default after debt becomes 'Statute Barred'

[cerberusalert]

Put you 'Flak Jackets' on Lowells:D

 

Dear Mr Cerberusalert

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry. We understand from your email that a debt collection has added a default notice to a credit reference file after it has become statute barred.

 

A default notice is issued by creditors when a customer falls behind with their regular payments to a debt; this is a standard procedure which is required before a creditor can take court action, as detailed in the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Your credit reference file will hold your financial history for a total of six years, after a six year period has passed the information will automatically drop off your credit reference file. A default notice is usually added to a credit reference file after the first few missed payments, however if an arrangement previously exist and you have kept to this, this would explain why a default was not registered at the original time of default. A Debt Collection Agency (DCA) is not entitled to add a default notice to a credit reference file after it barred in accordance with the Limitations Act.

 

We would recommend that you complain directly to the DCA and request they remove the information; you may also want to bring this to the attention of the Office of Fair trading (http://www.oft.gov.uk), local trading standards at you Local Authority and also the Financial Ombudsman Service (http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk). If you do not get a satisfactory response from the credit reference agency then we suggest that you progress the complaint further to the Information Commissioner (Information Commissioner's Office - ICO) You can also dispute this directly with the Credit Reference Agencies and they can contact the creditor on your behalf - please see our attached factsheet for the credit reference agencies address'.

 

We have also attached our factsheet about the Limitations Act which details information about when a debt becomes statue barred. For a debt to be statute barred there must not have been any written acknowledgement to the debt, no payment has been made towards the debt during this period, and no legal action has been taken against you, then the debt will be statue barred.

 

The Limitation Act stipulates that when a debt is statue barred, the creditor is unable to obtain any county court judgment to recover the money from you. In accordance with this, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued a document called 'Office of Fair Trading's Debt Collection Guidance. This states that a creditor is not able to pursue somebody for a debt that is statue barred once the debtor has claimed that the Limitations Act applies, if they continue they would be effectively causing harassment and you may proceed to make complaints to the FOS and OFT. We can send a copy of this to you if you can forward your address to us.

 

We have a standard letter which you can use to send to the creditor to claim that the debt is statue barred, the burden of proof is then with the creditor to prove that the debt is not statue barred rather than you having to prove that the debt is in fact statue barred.

 

If they continue to pursue you for this debt without providing you with evidence of a payment or acknowledgment over the last 6 years, we would recommend that you complain to the Office of Fair Trading.

If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Kind regards

 

National Debtline.