Should I respond to a text threatening legal action?

[Simon1176]

Hi all,

I recently received a text from threatening legal action against me. The message makes several claims that I strongly dispute and want to refute.

My question is, do I need to respond to this message, or can I wait until I receive an official legal notice? If I ignore it for now, could that be seen as accepting the claims as true?

I have a meeting scheduled with a solicitor next week to discuss this, but I’m concerned the person might contact me again before then. There was no deadline for response in the message.

For brief context it is regarding a business debt which is in their name. I advised them consistently over a 4 year period to speak to the creditor and now it has been referred to collections they have threatened me suggesting they will report it as fraud unless I pay it.

It is also worth nothing that they have been aware of this debt for over 8 years without taking any action.

Any advice on how to proceed in this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[echat11]

Hi Simon1176

Welcome to LB

Try not to worry.

a) My question is, do I need to respond to this message, or can I wait until I receive an official legal notice? If I ignore it for now, could that be seen as accepting the claims as true?

You can wait for a Court Claim to be sent to you. When you receive the Court Claim, you can 'deny' the whole claim and defend the claim.
So by ignoring it, you aren't admitting it. But as long as you adhere to the CPR protocols, then you'll be fine.

b) I have a meeting scheduled with a solicitor next week to discuss this, but I’m concerned the person might contact me again before then. There was no deadline for response in the message.

This sounds speculative, normally they say you need to do this, do that etc by a certain date.

c) For brief context it is regarding a business debt which is in their name. I advised them consistently over a 4 year period to speak to the creditor and now it has been referred to collections they have threatened me suggesting they will report it as fraud unless I pay it.

The collections agency might be breaking their own Guidelines, if it's 'fraud' then they should report it, they shouldn't be saying 'if you don't pay, we'll report it as fraud', I'd raise a complaint with the Collections agency. Follow their complaints procedure on their website.

d) It is also worth nothing that they have been aware of this debt for over 8 years without taking any action.

The debt might be statute barred.

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...ed-debt-letter