To think you can never run away from debt?

[NotQuiteBelieving]

Have NC for privacy as lots of details may out me if linked with previous threads.
Basically I've been with my DP for a couple of years. I have a teenage DS and DP's children are grown up and moved out. DS lives with me at weekends. I moved in with DP a few months ago as I was in rented and it felt emotionally and financially the sensible thing to do for us.
Anyway we decided the other day to look into moving. I knew DP had had a few financial hiccups about 10 years ago (got into debt seriously, house at risk of repossession, ended with a charge being put onto the house by a loan company). Anyway when we spoke about moving, DP kind of dropped hints about credit rating not being great and there being more debts other than the ones which got charged to the house. We spoke about it and they opened up and told me that although there's also about £40k on various credit cards, it's apparently not a problem as all the companies have given up chasing, having been given the runaround for the last 5-6 years. DP never answers the landline nor answers the front door and it turns out that all the credit card companies have backed off and nothing has been heard from them for about a couple of years now. I am shocked, firstly at the level of debt that has just been ignored and secondly at the fact that DP has seemingly got away with this. Is this likely to be the case?

Am now thinking that a mortgage is not going to happen for us...no equity in house after charge from loan company, very little deposit and credit rating shot to bits. I'm employed but my salary will not be considered anywhere near enough to get a mortgage for that house. And to be honest I'm not sure I want to get financially tied to someone who can't see the seriousness of that level of debt :(

I'm having nightmares over the credit card companies coming to chase the debt up. Have they really disappeared? Has anyone got any experience of this? Sorry for the long post :(

The client I was supporting had debt going back 10 years, sold on to debt recovery agencies, and literally no way of ever repaying 1% of the money due to circumstances. They were still chasing him.

You can't get blood from a stone. If he's not paid anything towards any debt for 6 years then it's highly likely that the lenders have decided it's not worth the cost to chase him for it. They could sell the debt on and a new company could decide it's worth a go but as others have said, he's pretty much past the point where they can legally do anything to force him to pay.

Whose credit file did you check? Yours or his? It might be worth seeing what's on his but I should think the chances of getting a mortgage would be very low.

Ehric - that's not true, it's nothing to do with the creditor not chasing. They sell off the debts for pennies to debt collectors and they will just chase and pass it along forever.

If you go on www.debtquestions.co.uk there are letters to print out to send to dca's about statute barring

I did debt advice for cab last year

What about checking if your DP has a CCJ recorded against him. You can do it HERE on the Www.gov.uk website for a small fee.

Did the credit check turn up anything interesting? Was it a full check?

Shakey1500, those text messages about 'new government legislation allows you to write off debt' are likely referring to Debt Relief Orders. They allow a debt to be written off IF the person has no assets greater than £300 (a car allowed only if its value is less than £1000), IF they owe in total less than £15000 and IF they have £50 or less left every month after paying bills.

It's not some free-for-all where people get away with it. The criteria is strict and rightly so. Most people get into debt because of a major life change through no fault of their own, like a partner buggering off and not paying maintenance, or illness.

I just wanted to address some of the misconceptions on this thread.

OP, I would be having serious doubts too. It's not the debt that's really the problem, it's the inability to see the seriousness of the situation.

Please note they can still chase, still send ridiculously letters from fake solicitors, still send pretend 'this is a court judgement' document, still send increasingly hysterical letters, visit your house, make phone calls that are very harassing.

but they cannot legally enforce the debt after 6 years of no payment and no acknowledgment by the debtor

Not sure That, the numbers came out lower than DP expected so the laptop was quickly closed.

London definitely no post since I've been there, it's me who's home first.

All cards 100% definitely registered at this address.

lucid pretty sure DP is not bankrupt as is still a homeowner.

Also sure there's only 1 charge on the house, it was a consolidation loan to clear credit cards which got out of hand and ended up being charged against the house. Then it turns out DP ran up the credit cards again hence this situation.

Will check on CCJs tomorrow - what does this mean if there are any there?

For the debt to become statute barred it is not enough not to pay for 6 years. The creditor must have given up on it for 6 years and the debtor not acknowledged the debt for that time.

Not strictly true. It is nothing to do with the creditor giving up on it for 6 years.

To get a CCJ he would have had to have been taken to court and had a judgement against him,

And what are the consequences of that earth? Sorry if I sound dense, I've never had experience of this kind of thing before...

but they cannot legally enforce the debt after 6 years of no payment and no acknowledgment by the debtor

^ this. You can write to creditors without acknowledging the debt.

It would mean if he had a CCJ that a judge has deemed that he does owe x amount of money.

This could either be by being taken to a court and a judge ruling against him. Him acknowledging the debt when he received court papers or by him not responding to court papers and the creditors getting a judgement by default.

He does have to pay this. Either in full or agreed instalments. If he doesn't the can enforce or go for a charging order on his property.

Goodness, you're going to be on edge every time the postman walks down the drive or the phone rings. 40K is a hell of a lot of money. Things happen, people lose jobs or become unwell and struggle to pay debts (I've been there and am almost debt free), it's irresponsible to stick your head in the sand and hope they go away though.

Somesortofdeliciousbiscuit Whatever the criteria, it's still people shirking debts (I reiterate though I am not meaning people who have fallen on hard times through illness or through lack of maintenance etc)

But from the criteria, someone could be renting, have no vehicle, be employed on minimum wage (thereby eligible for credit card) spend £14000 on whatever and have it written off? I know that it will be a minority but there's no denying that the ethos surrounding debt has shifted massively in the last 10 years or so.

lucid the house wasn't maintained because DP was trying to pay the debts off over a few years when the debts first started and things went wrong, e.g. heating, mice, woodwork breaking etc but there was no "spare" money at the end of each month to sort things like that out. Soon after was when DP stopped paying things as it was just getting worse and worse and they didn't want to go down the route of bankruptcy. Scary thing is that a lot of the issues are still there but DP hasn't done anything about them. Surely if you had any pride in where you lived and (now) had the money to sort it you would? This is one of the things that makes me wonder about MH issues. Outwardly DP is so neat and polished and enjoys being like that, yet the house is the exact opposite but DP can't/won't see that :(

There are also scrupulous debt collectors out there however that add on ridiculous charges and what could be a manageable debt turns into completely unmanagble.

Absolutely I would not be with someone who didn't face up to his debts and start paying them off. No way. That is completely immoral. He ran up the debt and had a great time spending it, he should pay it back.

If someone gets a CCJ against them and they do not pay it as directed by the court, the creditor can:

1. Apply for a charging order to secure the debt against home (this is the most popular option).
2. Apply for an attachment on earnings, i.e. have payments deducted at source.
3. Use bailiffs to collect the debt. Creditors don't usually bother with this for homeowners, they just apply for a charging order. As of 06.04.2014 bailiffs must give 7 days' written notice before visiting, and the most important thing is not to let them in (they can't break in, but do have powers to clamp and seize vehicles, so also move car). You can apply to the court to suspend the bailiffs, plenty of info online about this, or feel free to PM me (I work in advice sector).

That was then though, NotQuiteBelieving. It's been years so surely he could have made arrangements between then and now? I'm really not meaning to sound harsh, I'm sorry if I am.