#NatWest 4yr old personal loan & overdraft

[pintodskid]

I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone can offer on my situation. Approximately 4 years ago (March 2007) now I took out rather a whopping £18,500 loan with Natwest. I lost my job in the construction industry very shortly afterwards and have had to re-train in a new indutry to find work. I am currently a full-time student and will continue to be so for the next year or so. I defaulted on the loan within a couple of months of taking it out due to having no work and have not acknowledged the debt or paid anything on it since Apr/May 07.

 

I checked my credit file with experian and equifax a few months ago and they both show that the loan and my current account were defaulted within 2-5 months after I took the loan out. In the past 4 years I have had a few letters from a couple of DCA's concerning these debts including Capquest, some of them threatening court action, but nothing has ever been issued on that front. I have also moved house a couple of times in the past 4 years which may have stopped them pursuing me at various times. I realise that within a couple of years both of these defaulted accounts will fall off my credit file.

 

My situation has changed a lot in the past year and in view of these changes I wondered what it is best for me to do. I am currently renting a house with my girlfriend but we will hope to get a mortgage once I graduate and have saved a little. I have received no correspondence regarding the Natwest debts as yet at my present address (I have lived here 6 months) but in view of the fact they have found me at every other address I don't think it will be long in coming. Since my credit file will not allow me to get on with my life at present I wondered if it is feasible to actively challenge these debts to have them removed, to find out whether Natwest have not sought a CCJ as they don't have the original CCA and therefore the debt is unenforceable? Would this be foolhardy given that there is only a couple of years remaining till they are statute barred? If they do issue anything serious though in the meantime will it not have seemed foolish to have left it when I could have potentially had it removed from my file and got on with my life (I realise I am perhaps showing my newbie naivety there). I suppose what I am asking is, is it worth raising my head above the parapet and potentially getting the debts removed, or should I grin and bear another 2 years and risk that in that time they don't attempt a CCJ?

 

Thanks for reading this and thank you in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this for me.

[dx100uk]

there is no such thing as a 'written-off' etc

just the speak of these reclaim co's

 

pers i'd keep your head down

 

only start to reply if you get claims forms appearing

 

the OC would have sold the debt on and gotten the tax back years ago..

so any letters you get will just be from phishing list DCA's

 

have a read of sequencis blog in my sig

 

dx

[pintodskid]

Thank you for your reply dx100UK. I'll have a good read of the blog.

 

I forgot to mention that at my previous address where I lived for over year, Natwest sent me two letters from themselves directly which threatened nothing, but basically just said this is a 6 monthly reminder that you owe us £X on these accounts. It just seems very odd that they would write to me without taking any action, and makes me wonder whether they are aware that the debt is unenforceable? Particularly when the debts are 4 years old and are ticking towards the statute barred stage. I would have asumed that they would have sent a CCJ as soon as they could confirm where I live if they felt they could enforce the debt in court?

[dx100uk]

or the debts are mainly unlawful charges or mis-sold PPI?

 

there are lots of reasons, but PERS i agree with your thinking....

 

dx

[pintodskid]

Certainly the overdraft on the current account is made up entirely of unlawful charges and there will almost certainly have been PPI on the loan, but I will have to look into what consitutes mis-sold PPI to see whether that would apply.

 

Basically the whole thing was sorted over the phone, and although I must have signed and sent off something I don't remember signing a CCA at the time. You're probably right though, it's maybe best to keep my head down unless something drops on the mat which looks to have serious implications. It's just tough knowing that financially my life (and my partners) is on hold for at least another two years at a critical juncture, when it might be possible to do something about it. Having said that, I've read how long and pain-staking the process can be to get defaults removed on an unenforceable debt and I suppose it could take me ages anyway?

[dx100uk]

yep

 

might be an idea to SAR on the PPI

it might well clears both the debts?

if you reclaim

 

see the 'notes for claimants' stickie on the PPI homepage

and p'haps read a few threads there too

 

dx