TNC collections

[Sj16]

Good Afternoon

I left University back in 2012 due to some personal issues, I was liable for the full years payment of my halls of residence. However, I failed to make any payment and was chased for it - back in 2013, they had emailed me and my Dad emailed back acknowledging the debt and made an offer of payment (he signed it off as me, thinking he was being helpful and trying to resolve ongoing debts). However, no payment was made and no admittance of liability was made in writing.

Now, with 4 months until it is statute barred, TNC are now chasing me for the debt and are threatening court action - Is it possible to argue that the debt is statue barred because there's been no payment or acknowledgement of the debt in writing by me since the beginning of 2012. My Dad is happy to confirm that he acted on my behalf but without my consent.

I have read that email is often interpreted as written acknowledgment but as I've said, I didn't personally send the email.

Additionally - what are the chances of TNC being able to gain a CCJ against me in 4 months?

[ploddertom]

The clock stops when they serve the Claim. You would find it very awkward to try and argue who said they acknowledged the debt unless of course your day used his personal email - even then you will find it difficult. Might pay to play letter tennis with them to see if you can make the time go down, TNC are just a debt collector and imagine they would have to defer back to the University, it may be worth asking what TNC have on you.

[Sj16]

Thanks for your reply - any suggestions on how to play Tennis?

[Sj16]

Can anyone provide any further assistance with this? I've had no further correspondence but I'm worried I'll be served with a CCJ

[Amethyst]

Have TNC issued a claim as yet ? Have you heard anything further from them since December ?

Was any response received to the email your Dad sent in 2013 ? Presumably it's the email you're basing as the start on the clock for the statute barred date as a safety measure ? but as the last actual contact you had was 2012 you should stick with that in any future comms and let them bring up the Dad helpful email if they know about it/find it etc.


( Btw they don't serve you with a CCJ - they have to first issue a claim, which you then have 14 days to acknwoledge, then a further 14 to defend, then they have 28 days to reply to your defence, then it's sent to a local court, then they do some shizzle and eventually you get a court date for around 6/8 months after the claim was issued - so there's plenty of time to find out all the info you need and negotiate an out of court settlement if that's what you wanted to do - the clock on statute barring though does stop as soon as the claim is issued so the court process time won't affect that IF they do issue a claim )

[Sj16]

Hi

Thanks you for response - I can't tell you how helpful it is to have your advice.

The initial claimant did send me a copy of the email but TNC collections haven't sent this to me. I've based the statute barred date on the date of the email to be safe yes.

Do they have to send me anything specific before the claim form? I've not heard anything since early December. I'm praying that they don't issue me with a claim form before it is statue barred.

Thanks