Debts from 1997!

[hoganknowsbest46]

Hello everyone I hope someone can help!

 

I went to university in 1997 when I was 18 and it all started then - bank accts with overdrafts (several accts as many offered massive overdrafts and credit cards), credit cards, store credit, mobile phone debt, student loans. As the years have gone on I have added to that by defaulting on other overdrawn accts, cheque cashing companies (as some cheques even with guarantee cards were rejected). I also forgot to defer my student loans so the repayment arrears have been passed to a recovery company. More mobile bills. I'm sure you get the picture. All unsecured debt. 99% being dealt with by recovery companies. Accumulated over 15 years. Now I need to sort this mess out but do not know where to start. An IVA would be an option but have just seen in touch with payplan who want details of every debtor. There are so many I cannot remember and do not have all the info. I started collating info from the companies sending me recovery letters over the past 6 weeks and have all the info from my credit file, and student arrears but that is all. What if there is more debt in my name that I cannot find out abt? Payplan said about the limitations act but what if there debt is more than 6 yrs old but they wrote to me say 6 months ago? That means I may not add them towards my IVA so after this is all sorted they will chase up their debt?. I'm not trying to ignore this anymore but want to get this all sorted so to get my life on track. Is an IVA even the best option for me? £60000 debt? Say it is can they chase me up for debt I did not know about? (ie if its really old but show some proof that they sent me letters?) What about debt from prev. addresses? I cant remember where I lived at in my student digs..... Could I advertise in a financial paper for any debtors to come forward? Any help on any of these points would be great!!

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

A few simple points.

Statute Barred, no payment or acknowledgment i writting in 6 years,

phone calls in or out do not restart the 6 year clock.

Any creditor/dca writting to you will also not restart the clock as long

as you do not write back making an acknowledgment of the debt.

As you have as a priority checked Experian (Credit Expert) and Equifax to see which

debts if any are showing there.

What is the result.?

 

Sorry to say the rest of your ideas are unlikely to help.

help in any way

[Sidewinder]

As a first step you need to look at the debts individually rather than as a whole. It is entirely possible that some of your accounts could be Statute Barred - that is where no payment or formal acknowledgement of the debt has occurred within 6 years then the creditor cannot do anything to enforce it. It does not matter whether they wrote to you 6 months ago - the important thing is whether you have been making payments against any of them.

 

Your credit file is a good starting point as it will list all live information, and any CCJs which have been obtained. If you prioritise the debts with CCJs at the top of the list, and any which are Statute Barred towards the bottom, it may be that your situation is not as bad as you think.

 

Can you tell us any more about what (roughly) might be owed to whom? Appreciate that you have so many debts that you cannot remember them all, but it may also be that some are so old that you will never hear anything more anyway!

 

This information will help others to post more accurate advice - an IVA may be a solution, but without knowing more details, it would be impossible to give that advice.

[hoganknowsbest46]

As a first step you need to look at the debts individually rather than as a whole. It is entirely possible that some of your accounts could be Statute Barred - that is where no payment or formal acknowledgement of the debt has occurred within 6 years then the creditor cannot do anything to enforce it. It does not matter whether they wrote to you 6 months ago - the important thing is whether you have been making payments against any of them.

 

Your credit file is a good starting point as it will list all live information, and any CCJs which have been obtained. If you prioritise the debts with CCJs at the top of the list, and any which are Statute Barred towards the bottom, it may be that your situation is not as bad as you think.

 

Can you tell us any more about what (roughly) might be owed to whom? Appreciate that you have so many debts that you cannot remember them all, but it may also be that some are so old that you will never hear anything more anyway!

 

This information will help others to post more accurate advice - an IVA may be a solution, but without knowing more details, it would be impossible to give that advice.

 

Most of the debts are now with recovery agents from bank overdrafts and credit of all versions. I'm not quite sure I understand this statuate thing. I haven't made one repayment to anyone for 15 yrs. does this mean I ignore the debts prev to 2006? Won't they still keep chasing me?

[rebel11]

Thread has been moved to the correct forum.