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Original poster

Credit agency has employed a solictor and I had a letter today - can they do this and why this time of year?

88 replies

HousewifeNumber1 · 11/12/2020 18:18

Some years ago I took out a credit card, spent £1k and got into trouble with it.
Back in 2007. I've since pretty much - since 2012 been a SAHM with the odd bit of freelance work. My husband is the main earner, but I am retraining and building up a business.
I've got just about enough money to pay my tax on time.
Then today I got a letter from a solictor saying they wanted me to pay the £1k - it has been on my radar to pay it but I lost 5 months work this year and I'm a start up. Why are they demanding it be paid off now? I've ignored their letters by the way. I can pay it off but it will mean I will be late paying my tax.
What do I do? I wish they'd waited till February then I could have paid it.

OP posts:
JingleJohnsJulie · 12/12/2020 19:37

*A CCJ won't go on her file if she has not acknowledged the debt in the last five years.

They cannot legally recover it that, way, the law is very clear on this*

Sadly, that may be how it works in theory but it happens to an awful lot of people in practice.

PegLegTrev · 12/12/2020 19:43

Were you hoping it would go away? It’s annoying but totally foreseeable.

ShinyGreenElephant · 12/12/2020 19:57

If its from that long ago just keep ignoring it. I ran up awful debts as a young mum - my ex had a drug problem and spent evrry penny he earned on that while I used credit cards / store cards / loans to keep us afloat, baby fed and leccy on until I eventually got up the strength to kick him to the curb. I always planned to pay it once I was working but being a single mum wasn't easy and it never happened. Then it went on for so long I realised they obviously couldn't do anything about it or they already would have so I just binned all the letters and forgot about it. Been about 12 years now and theyve given up sending me letters ages ago. Never paid a penny back. Not my proudest achievement in life but I'm not losing any sleep over it either

AwaAnBileYerHeid · 12/12/2020 20:30

@HopeAndDriftWood "If you’re in Scotland, it’ll already be statute barred as long as it’s definitely been over five years since you communicated with them."

When you say last communicated with them, would it be last communicated to admit to the debt or would contacting them and stating that you aren't aware of what the alleged debt is for but that if they can prove it then you'll pay, count towards resetting the clock on the five years? For example, default in 2018 so should be statute barred in 2023. However she sent a letter in 2019 asking for proof of alleged debt and they replied. Would this reset the period which they can claim to 2024?

I'm trying to help a friend of mine out and am not getting any clear, definitive answers on the definition of what exactly would reset the clock.

MarieG10 · 13/12/2020 07:18

@HousewifeNumber1

Get some advice before speaking to them as other posters have said.

Who has written to you. The company or a debt collector?

The debt collectors are notions for sending out fake "Letters before Claim" which is what is required to issue court proceedings. Given the debt is so old, and for a small a out it has probably been sold on and the debt collector is trying it on hoping you will lay it. It happens a lot with the private parking companies as well as people get hounded by multiple companies to try and get them to settle.

See what is advised, ie by CAB but it sounds like time barred

SnailortheWhale · 13/12/2020 07:34

How about posters stop offering the OP advice on how to steal money. Spending someone else’s money and refusing to pay it back is theft, plain and simple. Thirteen years you’ve spent not paying this back. Thirteen years! You say you were a SAHM in which case your husbands money is yours, pay it back and move on with your life.

flowery · 13/12/2020 16:40

@SnailortheWhale

How about posters stop offering the OP advice on how to steal money. Spending someone else’s money and refusing to pay it back is theft, plain and simple. Thirteen years you’ve spent not paying this back. Thirteen years! You say you were a SAHM in which case your husbands money is yours, pay it back and move on with your life.
Exactly.

I’m finding this an odd thread really. It’s one thing giving factual information about time barred debts, but the number of people actively encouraging deliberate non-payment of a debt surprises me.

canigooutyet · 13/12/2020 16:54

You have basically 3 choices
Let your dh pay it off.
Ignore and get it barred
Or use one of the many templates online, suggest an affordable amount and a payment plan and pay it off, even if it's a pound a month. Do this whilst you wait to hear back from them, and as long as it's paid they will leave you mainly alone.

There should also be online templates on how to get the debt reduced due to various charges etc that would have been applied to the account.

There's loads of info in CAB and MSE. There's also various FB groups who have the various templates at hand.

Also look at the laws around this. SOME can be very threatening and intimidating when they really shouldn't.

CantBeAssed · 13/12/2020 17:50

For those sitting on their high horse telling op to pay back the money and saying it is theft, you do realise this debt has probably been sold by original lender to debt collection agency, so at this point, if op decided to pay the original lender would not see a penny, it would be the debt collector that has bought the debt for a few quid that would benefitHmm

PegasusReturns · 13/12/2020 17:52

If the OP pays the debt collector the original credit card company won’t get a penny. They’ve already written the debt off.

They’ll have sold the debt to the collection agency for a few pounds.

flowery · 13/12/2020 17:59

@CantBeAssed

For those sitting on their high horse telling op to pay back the money and saying it is theft, you do realise this debt has probably been sold by original lender to debt collection agency, so at this point, if op decided to pay the original lender would not see a penny, it would be the debt collector that has bought the debt for a few quid that would benefitHmm
That’s quite a low bar you set there- thinking someone should pay back money they owe is being on a “high horse”?

Ok then. 🤷🏼‍♀️

wewillmeetagain · 13/12/2020 18:01

If the debt is over 6 years old there's not a thing they can do, they are just trying their luck! Ignore them

SnailortheWhale · 13/12/2020 18:04

Yeah...I’m actually glad my moral standards aren’t in the gutter @CantBeAssed

If seeing theft as wrong means ‘being on my high horse’ then I’ll stay up here thanks!

Spending someone else’s money and refusing to pay it back when you are able to is theft, stealing, nothing else. I imagine the OP finds it more palatable not to think of herself as a thief but that’s what it is.

Bunnyfuller · 13/12/2020 18:08

How haven’t they come after you sooner? Not making minimum payment every month would make it a lot more than this!

Sorry, I’m not buying this, literally makes no sense.

If the husband has the money just pay it fgs! Completely weird way to try to gain some middle class £ympathy via pm

CantBeAssed · 13/12/2020 18:10

@flowery..but the money wont be received by original lender, why would you advise someone to pay a debt £1000 to a company that probably bought the debt for £20...thats a profit of £980 to the company that cleans up on other peoples woes..including the original lenders..the op would be better off throwing the money out a window..at least people that really need it would benefit...Hmm

CantBeAssed · 13/12/2020 18:12

@snailorthewhale..ffs..she cant pay it back to original lender now even if she wanted to! It goes to the debt collector that bought the debt for next to nothingHmm

Oliversmumsarmy · 13/12/2020 18:17

I would ask for the original credit agreement.

Don’t acknowledge anything.

There are template letters on line.

Also check your credit file. That will give you dates and information on how long it will be on your credit file.

Once it had been 6 years and you haven’t paid anything or acknowledged the debt it will be off your credit file.

As someone upthread said this is a debt collection agency chancing their arm that you will say you owe the money and they will get some sort of payment out of you. Anything over £100 and they are in profit.
The original credit card company will have written the debt off

flowery · 13/12/2020 18:39

[quote CantBeAssed]@flowery..but the money wont be received by original lender, why would you advise someone to pay a debt £1000 to a company that probably bought the debt for £20...thats a profit of £980 to the company that cleans up on other peoples woes..including the original lenders..the op would be better off throwing the money out a window..at least people that really need it would benefit...Hmm[/quote]
Two reasons really.

  1. Because paying it back is the right thing to do. It’s not her money.
  1. If (1) doesn’t matter to you, how about giving it some thought about who this actually costs long term? Debt collectors will pay more for debts they have a higher chance of getting money from. If they get full payment of this one, they might be prepared to pay more for future debts from the credit card company. Therefore the credit card company makes less of a loss next time. A loss which would be covered by interest charged to ordinary people.

That might feel very distant. But that’s the reality. Like stealing from Tesco’s isn’t the victimless crime some people try and convince themselves it is.

But as I say, (1) would be enough for most people.

SnailortheWhale · 13/12/2020 18:48

Fully agree with @flowery. Or better still, she should have paid the debt back she’s ago, to the original lender. It’s not the best defence is it, it’s not a problem any longer because I’ve kept someone else’s money for so long that they’ve given up chasing it themselves Confused A wrong doesn’t stop being a wrong because more then a decade has passed-it’s just made it worse.

And let’s be honest, if the OP’s concern was that she was paying back someone she didn’t borrow from them she could have given the sum to a debt management charity but she hasn’t done that has she? No, she just wants to get away with not paying back what she has taken. Inexcusable when the money is there and available in the family pot. Saying it’s her husband’s money is a joke when she was a SAHM for years apparently. If that’s her belief, that she has no right to use the money he has earned, then she should have been working to pay back her own debts.

MarieG10 · 14/12/2020 07:29

OP. Suggest you post up what you have received but obscure an identifying text or reference numbers

HijabiVenus · 14/12/2020 08:01

If the original debt was from s large bank, they would have a team of lawyers to take action to enforce the debt at the time. Sounds like they fid not.
Debt collection agencies will use means close to, and on the other sideof the law frequently. Letters which look to be from solicitors are a well known trick. Often the employees are on commission only and sometimes overseas "kick back at the bad evil british".
Ask for evidence of ythe debt, lists of payments and make the debt collection agency prove beyond all reasonable doubt to you before you agree to the debt and pay a penny.

As regards Do your duty to England and the Queen, do you think Slebs who live in tax havens, use lawyers to avoid paying tax here would do their patriotic duty to Capitalism?

Original poster
HousewifeNumber1 · 14/12/2020 09:17

This is the letter I had - I'm going to call the debt Step Change to check when I made my last payment as it could have been under 6 years ago.
Those people having a go here I was told I couldn't afford to keep paying it - at the time.

Credit agency has employed a solictor and I had a letter today - can they do this and why this time of year?
OP posts:
Oliversmumsarmy · 14/12/2020 09:55

You can see on line when you last ade a payment. It will be on your credit file.

That looks like a court letter. I would start by sending a letter to the finance/debt collection company who are taking you to court and ask for the original credit agreement
Then call the courts and tell them you dispute the debt and they will be able to point you in the right direction to get the case put on hold and buy you more time to see if the debt still stands.

Couldn’t read much of the blurb but it looks like M&S sold the debt to these people in 2017

More than likely it is time barred now so they are just chancing their arm.

Oliversmumsarmy · 14/12/2020 10:03

Interesting article on this agency and interesting letter to send them

As it says just because someone tells you that you owe a debt it isn’t proof you actually do.

www.scottishtrustdeed.co.uk/creditor-details/moon-beever/

flowery · 14/12/2020 10:22

”Those people having a go here I was told I couldn't afford to keep paying it - at the time.”

Yes. “At the time.” You can now, and have been able to as long as your husband has been able to. You’re just choosing not to.

And if you’re referring to me when you talk about “having a go”, I was “having a go” at people on here who have actually been encouraging you to avoid paying your debt.