When bailiffs come

[PomBearWithoutHerOFRS]

If they can't get goods to the value they're trying to collect, what happens next?

Firstly, don't let them in and don't sign anything. Contact your local CAB ASAP.

If it gets to that point, it gets returned to court for committal, which may result in a prison sentence.

Is committal thing a foregone conclusion? Or like a hearing with anything taken into consideration?
Does it matter what the debt is? Secured or unsecured, how old it is etc?
And after jail, is that then it, or do they still keep after the money? (About 5k)

Prison sentence?? You don’t get sent to prison in the U.K. for being in debt!

Depends what the debt is for - council tax you can go to gaol.

It's either credit card from over 25 years ago, or catalogue. Both unsecured.

The only debt you get sent to jail for is if you fiddle the government ie universal credit that kind of thing or the tax man .if urs fraud its different but pure debts no you get made pay them off slowly so dont panic

Have you made any payments or acknowledged the debt in 25 years? Tbh you'd probably be better asking on the mse forums

Hold on. The debt is 25 years old?

It is a hearing thing, they tend to be lenient. I only really know about council tax debt to be fair but people definitely do end up in prison for it.

Advice still stands, do nothing until you have spoken to the CAB. Try not to worry, they send horrible letters to scare you into paying up. The CaB should be able to set up a repayment plan.

The bailiff knocked today, but asked for me by my old married name. DS obviously had no idea who mrs.X is so said "she doesn't live here" and bailiff went away.
The entire contents of the house aren't worth the debt, we're on the bones of our arse as they say. Would they take something ridiculous like a fiver a month? My own personal income into my account is currently less than £150 a month. I get child benefit for 2 sons. That's it.
Can they make DH cough up? The UC is £1100 a month into his account. That's all we have.

You need to know the different between bailiffs and high court enforcement officers. The former have no power to enter your home, the latter do.

@PomBearWithoutHerOFRS please go over onto the Debtfreewannabe board on MSE and ask them. The folks on there are incredibly knowledgeable and will help you. The first thing to do is don’t panic, don’t pay anything or contact them.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

You need to post on MoneySavingExpert forum, they’ll guide you through it.

When a debt gets over 6 years without you acknowledging it (making payments, replying to letters about it and saying “yes this is my debt”) then it becomes statute barred and they can’t legally force you to pay it.

There are other things that make the debt statue barred - no copy of the original agreement, etc - and the good people on MSE forum will walk you through it.

If the bailiff turns up tomorrow you need to not open the door, DO NOT sign anything, and keep all external doors and windows locked until this is sorted. If you have a driveway and a car then try and park it a few streets away/somewhere out of the way.

If the “bailiff” turns up again tomorrow then talk to him through the letterbox, and ask him if he’s a bailiff, a debt collector, or a high court enforcement officer. He’s probably a debt collector and they have no right of entry or right to seize goods — these fuckers like to pretend they have bailiff powers to scare people into paying up.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post on MSE forum, giving the full and actual story about the debts you think this could be about, before you talk to anyone or the “bailiff” comes back. You’ll probably find that this is an unenforceable debt and can safely tell bailiff to piss off.

I worked in the debt industry a few years ago. Some excellent advise above. Consumber Action Group also has an excellent forum and help for "statute barred debts".

The only ones with real powers are high court bailiffs.

consumber = consumer!

The weirdest thing - I can't post on mse, because I can't find a username it will let me join with!
No matter what I try, it just say "user name unavailable"
I have tried about 100 things, and none work.
Am starting to feel like the entire universe hates me lately

If you have any health condition or disability, show the bailiff proof of medication or a doctor's letter & then they have to treat you as vulnerable, I had a bailiff knocking for payment of an unpaid parking ticket, I showed him my medication for depression & never heard anything from them again.

I had a bailiff arrive at a flat I renting once, didn't let them in.
Told them I wasn't the person they were looking for and never heard from them again.
I expected them to try again but they didn't.

Chances are he wasn’t a court-ordered bailiff - but just a bullying fuckwit with a clipboard.

These bastards operate on fear - and commission. 🤔

A 25 year old debt is unenforceable.

Ok - I’m terms of what can they take?

They can’t even enter the kids room(S).

They can’t take your white goods.

They can’t take much in the way of furniture.

They can’t take your computers/phones/consoles (all contain personal data).

They can’t take your tv if wall-mounted (classed as fixtures and fittings).

They can’t take your car if it’s in finance.

What they CAN take:

Your faberge egg collection.

The Picasso over the fireplace.

Your little bag of diamonds.

That shabby broken bookcase in the hall held together by sellotape and hope.

Deep breaths - they can’t do shit unless you sign it over.

He’s just a common or garden bully with a clipboard.

I am on so much medication I rattle!
We have an old banger of a car - I can't drive, it's DHs, but we need it to take no4 son to hospital appointments, he has MS. That's the worrying bit. If they take the car we're fucked. It's chemo day on Friday and we do a 100 mile round trip to hospital (every month, and extra trips to four different hospitals depending which consultant he's seeing)
Also, he has a PlayStation that was a donation shortly after his diagnosis. Can they take it? Should we move it to his bedroom? It's in the living room now.
We have nothing else really, or nothing worth worrying about, it's all at least six years old and/or second hand.

No, they can’t take the car because it’s needed for medical reasons - I mean I’d pay money to see a judge’s face if they tried that one!

They can’t take the PlayStation (personal data).

These wankers can have that old rolling pin you never have the time to use. Any old CDs knocking about?

Court-ordered bailiffs are generally very level-headed and sensible - and they know when they’re flogging a dead horse and have the ability to strike a line through it all. But, you would’ve had paperwork had it gone to court - and given it’s all statute-barred, if they sent it to the old address, you can get help with court fees and basically say “I have no fucking idea what they’re talking about, I received no summons and this is statute barred”.

Big bully boy bailiffs on £10/hr plus OTE rely on you being shit scared enough to just cough up or beg a relative to put it on a card.

The law is on your side and the courts don’t like these bullies any more than the rest of us.

Try rest.

First thing don’t panic, don’t let them in,. The 25 year old debt is probably not enforceable anymore.
Unless it’s for council tax you won’t go to jail, even then unlikely.

I agree with all the advice above OP, but to help you not worry too much IF you do still have to pay your debt, we have been paying £1 a month for a debt of £15,000 for 17 years. Every few years they check to see if we have anymore income available to us yet, but my husband is now retired and I am virtually bedbound, so unfortunately we still have no more cash available to us. A sudden change in circumstances caused our problem.