To stop paying old debt

[OvertheRainbow2U]

Hello all, I have been paying old debts from around 20 years ago monthly for many, many years. It is a small amount that I am able to afford. The debt clearly gets sold on regularly as I am often offered a reduction from different companies if I pay a certain percent in full and they will wipe the rest. I am in no position to be able to do this. My question is - should I just stop paying now as it has been so many years? I will add that I have had awful credit ratings for the same amount of time due to the debt. TBH I ws only paying it to rid my terrible credit rating which never happened (it is old ,now non existent credit cards that were literally thrown at me when the kids were young and I was broke (still am btw:)) I'e heard about the debt being spent after 6 years - is this true? Also will I be in breach of anything if I stop? Any info gratefully received thank you

@OvertheRainbow2U
What interest rate are you paying at the moment?

You might find that most of your monthly repayment is going towards that month's interest and hardly any towards reducing the capital. I second others' suggestions that you get professional advice about how to manage this better.

Reminds me of DB, he owed a lot about £40k,he'd moved around a lot when he was younger and stopped paying his debts and buried his head regarding everything.
Some of his debts on credit cards were statute barred, amounting to about 15k. You have to be certain that you haven't paid anything or acknowledged the debt in 6 years. There's letter templates online to send (always use signed for delivery) to say that - you don't acknowledge the debt in any way, and that it would be statute barred regardless.
You may still get the odd letter from them but if it's SB then it's safe to ignore.

I managed to get DB's statute barred debts written off, and the rest of it is getting paid off at around £50pm in total.

Loads of reliable info on MSE regarding this, also a forum to ask for advice.

You can afford to pay it then pay it. Own your debt.

As its roughly 10k then you're eligible for a dro if you do not own your own house and meet other conditions regarding your valuables etc and savings and cars.

You pay 90 pounds to apply if applicable (after you've gone through setting a budget etc with an agency like stepchange) and if accepted (aka you haven't lied to then about owing more debt etc) you don't have to pay anything for a year. Then if you've continued to follow the dro rules (aka avian, not lied or got into more debt etc) you're discharged and you owe them nothing.

It stays on your credit file for 6 years and then they disappear.

I cannot recommend you get in touch with stepchange or a similar FREE debt charity. They will change your life.

Cannot recommend enough * even

I stopped paying mine many, many years ago.
They have gone now, unenforceable.

That said, I now no longer touch credit of any sort.
Everything I own is mine, except for my HA home, and my motability car.
Even my Sky TV has no contract.
I'll do my best to never be in debt again.

Suggest you contact CAP, they're an amazing charity helping people make sense of financial issues like this and will advise you on the best action.
capuk.org/

@tiredanddangerous

By all means stop paying but be prepared to end up in court.

Don't talk shite.

There's always so much rubbish on here regarding debts, go to money saving expert forum where people know what they are talking about

I'd suggest you contact Stepchange or Christians against Poverty - you have probably paid off your original debt many many times over due the interest laid on over the years.

And yes, credit cards do get thrown at you. When I had 4 maxed out credit cards and an overdraft, card companies were lining up to offer me more cards and increase my credit limit.

Now I have one card paid off in full each month I never hear a word.

A lot of old debts are unenforceable as the lender can't product CCA agreement docs for the debt when asked. This means they can't take you to court for the debt, it doesn't mean the debt is wiped though.

If you want to go down this route send a letter asking for the CCA, there's a lot of advice about this on the moneysavingexpert forum.

However I would only do this if the debt has already defaulted as they will still put a default on your record. A default stops you getting any credit, even a phone contract, for 6 years.

The upside is that if a debt is unenforceable many people stop making the payments which is money that can be put towards making a 10-20% offer to wipe the debt later on.

I would do as AnnaMagnani and contact Step Change or CAP for proper advice. You don’t know who is qualified on this forum.

thanks JosieCRn

@OvertheRainbow2U

thanks JosieCRn

Be careful before giving your details to the above site. I'm not saying they're scammers as I haven't heard about them (not least because they appear to be based at scottish people and I am in England ) but also because the bottom says:

2021 .DebtFreeze.site Do not provide debt advice, we are a marketing company who will guide you in the right direction on becoming debt free, We direct all of our clients to our partners who will then provide free debt advice. To find out more about managing your money and getting free debt advice visit, Money Advice Service, an independent service set up by the Government to help people manage their money. *81% of debt write off is based upon the performance of IVAs administered by our debt solution providers, on average our customer writes off 67% of their debts

So they are a marketing site who sell your details on to people and companies you don't know who will bombard you with marketing calls and may not be legit.

Your best bet really is one of the well known free debt charities like stepchange and cap etc as mentioned. Please don't get yourself into more debt and more problems going with someone who charges or who sell your details to unknown people.

If you don't have a property, I would look into bankruptcy. I have relatives who did this.

From skim reading it seems there's quite a lot of judgement on this thread. I've never racked up debt but recognise I have been privileged enough to have financial stability that is not all thanks to me. I have however seen friends getting into lots of trouble esp when kids were small and it seemed impossible to make ends meet, so you have my sympathy.

£10k after 20 years is a lot of debt though, you have probably paid off way more than you ever borrowed, so please do get some sound advice from reputable sources and I really hope.youre able to clear it easily.

Good luck.

How much was the original debt and how much have you paid over the 20 years?

20 years is a long time to be paying it back OP - that's longer than we had our mortgage! Do please look into it because if you're not covering the minimum payments you'll be racking up interest and it will never be paid back, it will just go on and on forever. Stepchange debt charity have a very good reputation from what I've read, they may be able to stop the interest. Get a plan in action and get it paid and be free from it, 20 years is too long to be paying this.

it is too long - but I'm trying to fix it now - thanks all for your advice - greatly appreciated - apart from Doris

@GingerFoxInAT0phat

Make a post on money saving expert, they usually have great advice about debts. I feel like I read something about when your debt gets passed on (especially when it’s old debt like yours) they need to be able to prove they have all the details from the original debt. They will know much more about this over on the MSE forums.

This is good advice. You have financial experts on the MSE Forums. MN is not the best place for advice judging by the comments.

I would also really recommend money saving expert for financial advice, there is such a great community that is supportive and knowledgeable and people on there who have had experience of paying huge amount of debt off, to people on repayment plans to people who have gone through bankruptcy and gotten things back on track,

I used to work in debt advice and have to say don't take any action without seeking specialist, regulated and free advice

The Money Advice Service has recommended, free debt advice support here: www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/debt-advice-locator

I personally wouldn't use anyone not on the list.

The organisations will be able to help you look at your rights and options OP.

@Dashel

I would also really recommend money saving expert for financial advice, there is such a great community that is supportive and knowledgeable and people on there who have had experience of paying huge amount of debt off, to people on repayment plans to people who have gone through bankruptcy and gotten things back on track,

I think that forum is helpful for support, but not as a replacement for regulated debt advice.

The debt support here is all regulated and they will be up to date on any changes and current laws etc www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/debt-advice-locator

Have a look at the charity Stepchange website. They are excellent. They negotiate with the creditors on your behalf to reduce payments or settle them completely. They can even get the interest frozen so you pay back what you actually borrowed. The online appli action form is really easy to complete and once they have agreed they will do everything for you! It is such a relief to have someone in your corner. 20 years is a long time to repay a debt. I think Stepchange try to get it down to 5 years or less. They are also very good at advising you on what other Benefits you may be entitled to. Good luck!