UK debt collectors
Dec 15th 2009, 10:58 pm
#16
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Wanganui/Whanganui
Posts: 164
Re: UK debt collectors
If you acknowledge the debt...............
IHTM28384 - Law relating to debts: statute-barred debts
If a lender allows time to pass without receiving any payment an action for recovery may become barred.
Under the Limitations Act 1980 the time limits are
in simple contracts, 6 years
in contracts under seal, 12 years.
If the debtor acknowledges the debt in writing or makes a part payment within the original limitation period, then the time limits start to run again from the date of acknowledgement or the date of payment.
Even though the lender may be barred from pursuing recovery, a debtor may decide to pay the debt after the expiry of the time limits. Because of this you should allow a debt which is otherwise statute-barred if the personal representatives pay the debt and you receive evidence that the payment has been made.
IHTM28384 - Law relating to debts: statute-barred debts
If a lender allows time to pass without receiving any payment an action for recovery may become barred.
Under the Limitations Act 1980 the time limits are
in simple contracts, 6 years
in contracts under seal, 12 years.
If the debtor acknowledges the debt in writing or makes a part payment within the original limitation period, then the time limits start to run again from the date of acknowledgement or the date of payment.
Even though the lender may be barred from pursuing recovery, a debtor may decide to pay the debt after the expiry of the time limits. Because of this you should allow a debt which is otherwise statute-barred if the personal representatives pay the debt and you receive evidence that the payment has been made.
Dec 16th 2009, 6:47 am
#17
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2008
Location: Rijeka
Posts: 9
Re: UK debt collectors
Thank you all for your advice and support here and on the Martin Lewis and Consumer Action Group forums.
Seems I have won the battle. In my case I think I managed to run circles around the debt collectors to the point where they actually provided me with the evidence that I wasn’t at the address at the period that the debt was accumulated. Electoral rolls and such like are not such great evidence of an individual’s location over short periods of times at various addresses. And of course the fact that I wasn’t physically in the country during this period either, stumped them. If you keep them on the run and bombard them with facts and figures, dates and quote the various consumer laws via email then it seems they get fed-up.
I reckon that if you know for sure that you are not guilty then it is just a game of cat and mice with debt collectors and for me it is more satisfying to have proved my case then to just tell them to take a hike and forget about it. Now I feel a bit more comfortable about travelling back to Blighty.
Never admit, never sign, never pay!
Seasons greetings, cheers all!
Seems I have won the battle. In my case I think I managed to run circles around the debt collectors to the point where they actually provided me with the evidence that I wasn’t at the address at the period that the debt was accumulated. Electoral rolls and such like are not such great evidence of an individual’s location over short periods of times at various addresses. And of course the fact that I wasn’t physically in the country during this period either, stumped them. If you keep them on the run and bombard them with facts and figures, dates and quote the various consumer laws via email then it seems they get fed-up.
I reckon that if you know for sure that you are not guilty then it is just a game of cat and mice with debt collectors and for me it is more satisfying to have proved my case then to just tell them to take a hike and forget about it. Now I feel a bit more comfortable about travelling back to Blighty.
Never admit, never sign, never pay!
Seasons greetings, cheers all!
Dec 21st 2009, 9:25 am
#18
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 280
Re: UK debt collectors
This sounds very similar to my experience with a Water company... I recently posted up details in a different thread but can't figure out how to link specifically to my post within that thread, so I've borrowed from it below:
In a vageuly similar vein, I had a situation some years back when completely out of the blue a debt collection agency contacted me chasing unpaid water bills from a flat I used to rent. I was in the car driving back from a place called Applecross in Scotland at the time, but the dates (of residency at the flat) that they quoted didn't quite ring true... I told them I'd check and get back to them.
I then did some digging. North West Water (now called United Utilities) had apparently beein pursuing me for some time AND had even registered a CCJ against me (I just thought the difficulties I'd had getting credit were because I was "young") without me ever once receiving any kind of letter or phone call or anything from them.
The best of it was, I had kept all my utility bills from the flat and not only could I supply them with a final statement showing my balance at £0.00 I was actually able to prove, from my tenancy agreement and the termination paperwork I'd signed for the housing authority, that the earliest of the unpaid water bills they were chasing me for were ran up 6 months AFTER I'd left the flat!
United Utilities ignored my phone calls and letters requesting the reversal of the CCJ and the Debt Collector's kept harrassing me.
So... I sued United Utilities. No solicitor, no legal advice, I just went in to my local court (Barnsley) explained my situation and what I wanted to do. The clerk gave me all the paperwork I need to complete and a few weeks later I was sat in front of a judge with my father-in-law next to me as a witness.
Less than 10mins later, after reviewing my paperwork (and United Utilities not showing up) he'd passed judgement that the CCJ should be removed and (to my surprise) that United Utilities should pay me compensation... I'd been so focused on getting the CCJ reversed I'd not actually contemplated compensation... thinking on my feet I asked for the cost of the "hearing" (£50) and the cost of parking (£6) whilst attending the court. And so he awarded me £56 (WHooo!) in compensation.
The bar-stewards at United Utilities never paid though... so this time I got to send the bailiffs round!!
Sadly I think the bailiffs may have been in cahoots with United Utilities as a letter came back basically saying "sorry we couldn't find them" (yeah right... only one of the largest companies in the region!!) and I never got around to sending them back again... but it still makes me smirk when I think that "I" sent the bailiffs round to the offices of one of the largest companies in the region, because they owed me £56! I would have LOVED to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation!
Apparently, I've still got time to send the bailiffs back if I want... hmm... this thread brings back all the adrenaline surrounding the matter now!!
:-)
I then did some digging. North West Water (now called United Utilities) had apparently beein pursuing me for some time AND had even registered a CCJ against me (I just thought the difficulties I'd had getting credit were because I was "young") without me ever once receiving any kind of letter or phone call or anything from them.
The best of it was, I had kept all my utility bills from the flat and not only could I supply them with a final statement showing my balance at £0.00 I was actually able to prove, from my tenancy agreement and the termination paperwork I'd signed for the housing authority, that the earliest of the unpaid water bills they were chasing me for were ran up 6 months AFTER I'd left the flat!
United Utilities ignored my phone calls and letters requesting the reversal of the CCJ and the Debt Collector's kept harrassing me.
So... I sued United Utilities. No solicitor, no legal advice, I just went in to my local court (Barnsley) explained my situation and what I wanted to do. The clerk gave me all the paperwork I need to complete and a few weeks later I was sat in front of a judge with my father-in-law next to me as a witness.
Less than 10mins later, after reviewing my paperwork (and United Utilities not showing up) he'd passed judgement that the CCJ should be removed and (to my surprise) that United Utilities should pay me compensation... I'd been so focused on getting the CCJ reversed I'd not actually contemplated compensation... thinking on my feet I asked for the cost of the "hearing" (£50) and the cost of parking (£6) whilst attending the court. And so he awarded me £56 (WHooo!) in compensation.
The bar-stewards at United Utilities never paid though... so this time I got to send the bailiffs round!!
Sadly I think the bailiffs may have been in cahoots with United Utilities as a letter came back basically saying "sorry we couldn't find them" (yeah right... only one of the largest companies in the region!!) and I never got around to sending them back again... but it still makes me smirk when I think that "I" sent the bailiffs round to the offices of one of the largest companies in the region, because they owed me £56! I would have LOVED to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation!
Apparently, I've still got time to send the bailiffs back if I want... hmm... this thread brings back all the adrenaline surrounding the matter now!!
:-)
Dec 21st 2009, 3:10 pm
#19
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 53
Re: UK debt collectors
It seems to be very much "one sided"-especially in a case like yours whereby even the bailiffs are having problems recovering a court judgement...in your favour!One wonders the point of all this Court exercise in the first place.
