Student Loans hassling for old paid debt

[moneytrouble]

My partner took out some loans when at uni is sure it was £1500, but cannot remember what year exactly is was taken out, or when he paid it back exactly, but was in 2000.

No contact from them for the last 7 years, now they are sending letters asking for immediate payment to avoid further litigation.

He also received the same from another co. Honours student Loans, who apparantly bought loans from SLC, and they bought apparantly £4000 of loans that my partner took out. (or it is now £4000 which charges etc), which he also disputes.

He has never heard of these people, and has requested they send him copies of his alleged debt.

He cannot prove he has paid as it was so long ago, his bank account is closed (old student one) and he obviously does not keep statements that long, did not think he needed to!

Anyway, both these co.s claim he has CCJs for the oustanding amounts. He knows nothing about these either! He received a copy of a loan that he had apparantly taken out in 1999, but it has not been signed by the student loans company (it is left blank) and is for a different amount than he is sure he took out.

So, some questions.

Has anyone else experienced problems like this?
Is there anything he can do to get this sorted without paying a fortune to a solicitor?
If he has a CCJ surely the court would apply to him directly for the money? Or chase him directly?
Is this going to get really messy?
Any other advice too!

Perhaps the CAB could help? It almost sounds like a case of mistaken identity. If you have CCJs then as far as I know the court will issue you with summons directly, so you would have to be aware of it. If you google Honours student loans there are other people having problems with them.

thank you. Its all just become so confusing. I google them see what comes up. Neither of us had heard of them before my DP got a letter saying 'your payments are overdue' as if he owed them money, and like it was a month overdue!
I have just been reading with interest information about debts or 'alleged' debts being statute barred after 6 years. Anyone know if this would apply should there be county court judgements related to this/these debts?

Also, if there are CCJs, can they be overturned if they should never have been requested in the first place?

Also, whose responsibility is it to prove/disprove this debt? Its taking a lot of time, and hassle and effort, and we have a whole bunch of other stuff going on which needs our time/stress and we would like to just be able to say to them, go away, prove this or leave us alone.

? Or are we just gonna have to fight it out?

Have tried CAB, but keep getting a/phone. DP left messages, awaiting a response.

HSL are a complete nightmare. Dh deferred his loan repayments for 3 or 4 years in a row and each time they managed to cock it up.

It sounds as though it's a case of mistaken identity. HSL took over at least a couple of years ago. If your dp had genuinely owed money they would have been sending out letters long before now.

Moneytrouble

1. It is up to the creditor to prove the debt.
2. Get in touch with a credit checking company like Equifax to see if the CCJ's are listed on your DP's credit file, If they are, then you need to find out details and approach the company that obtained the CCJ's - there is no way they should have been able to do this without getting in touch with your DP - obviously if he has moved house this may have affected their ability to get in touch, but he can probably have CCJ's questioned in any case. 3, Statute of limitations on unpaid debt is usually 7 years, but in the case of student loans I think they only write them off after 20 or 25 years - can't remember which.
3. Your DP should ask for all details of outstanding debt, i.e. copies of applications, details as to how much of debt is original loan and how much is interest etc.
4. His old bank should still be able to provide details of payments - they will probably charge an admin fee, but if it turns out DP was right and he has paid loan back, he should ask SLC to pay admin fee.

Dweezle and chugnuts - thanks for you advice. Seems a little clearer!
Dp is really quite annoyed at having to do the chasing with his old bank for details, cough up money which could be used elsewhere to pay admin, for a mistake that is not even his! But I think he will have to do this.

This is what he is doing

1. Writing to both sLC and HSL, telling them he knows nothing of the debt they are talking about, and that any debt he did have was paid in full, years ago. It seems that, at least whilst this is being looked into, they will stop hassling us.
2. He is writing to credit people for his report. See what is says. And is intending on asking for a note to be added to say he disputes the CCJ (he can do that?) whilst this all gets sorted.

Dweezle - in ref to loans being expired after 25 years, I think, but dont know, that is in relation to the 'new' style loans? The ones we took out were different to the ones currently in place, where the money is taken out from wages and is a lower threshold. Does this apply to the old style ones too? (I still defer mine )

Thanks for your help, its all such a mine field.

He has always had trouble getting credit btw, but we just presumed this was due to us both being crap money managers as students, and we concentrated on improving my credit rating first, then his! One step at a time!
Maybe its because he has CCjs?

If you check out bank action group (google it - I'm crap at links, sorry!) they have an ace template letter for this sort of thing.

Basically, over 6 years it's statute barred - paid or not. Could he have thought he'd paid it all but not cleared all of several balances? Easily done.

In which case, the loan company will have sold the statute barred debt to a bottom feeding enforcement agency, probably for about 5% fave value - & THEY are now bluffing you.

Check out the stuff on BAG but essentially, without a genuine copy of the original agreement WITH HIS SIGNATURE, they can't touch him. These companies operate by frightening people.

Raven - he has a copy sent by SLC with his signature on, which seems to be a different amount to what he thought he had borrowed, but possibly another one? He says not, but well, we were students and signed up for everything. However, what concerns him is that he does not remember this amount, and it is not signed by them? And the first section in terms and condition states that the loan agreement will be in effect once signed by them after signature by him...

You are right about them being bottom feeders, love the expression!

Its typical really, neither of us have been wonderful at managing our finances over the years, but we have always taken responsibility for the shit we got ourselves into, and worked hard to get back out again. We have just had a baby, just bought an apartment, just about to get married, all good, but all v stressful...this makes me want to just find their offices and camp outside until they apologise and undo all the shit they are likely to create!

Raven - is it statute barred if there is a CCj against it? I was hoping so, as DP can just then send a letter telling them to sod off. But if there is a CCJ against it? what can happen? Obviously nothing whilst he disputes it?

Do CCjs expire? Can he just tell them to sod off anyway? He wont, but its nice to have the option!

Good luck with the SLC, my DP has had probs with them too, similar to this...let me us know what happens...

Sorry, just seen this.

There's lots of people on moneysavingexpert or bankactiongroup who'll give you more reliable advice than me.

My understanding, though, is that if there's been no contact for 6 years, the debt is statute barred (some suggestion Student Loans are an exception?).

I think it counts from the last convo the debtor & the debt owner have - so if your dp has heard nothing about this/hasn't agreed a payment plan then you should be in the clear.

It won't stop them pursuing you, because the companies who buy up these debts assume that at least SOME of the people who originally defaulted will now have jobs/family/mortgage & will be scared into paying to avoid a crappy credit rating. But they are taking the piss, frankly, & you CAN call them off with a form letter.

The response I got (after an attempt to chase a 10 year old loan allegedly taken out by me - I suspect my late dh forged my signature ) was a letter confirming they 'would not be pursuing this further, in view of your letter'.