Advice needed please

[jg78]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum so sorry if I have posted in the wrong section.

i am after some advise on my current situation , quite a few years ago I got myself into a real mess with debts , I buried my head and ignored letters / calls etc.

I was made redundant 3 times in 5 years and it just spiraled out of control

I was in a real mess borrowed money to clear debts even ended up having to sell my house to pay a secured debt , still owing thousands of unsecured debt.

anyway years later (still not having paid the unsecured) I thought it had all gone away (I know this is stupid) I lost track of anything relating to the debt I have since got married had a baby with my wife and moved into her home , we have no joint accounts and I checked my credit report to find all the defaults etc had gone including two CCjs , I know the the CCjs can still be enforced.

today I have returned home to find a letter from a solicitors trying to locate me , I have no credit anymore and never intend to again given my past bad record , I believe my debts would now be statue barred , this was not intentional I was genuinely worried about debts and convinced myself they would just go away if I ignored them.

I am now older and more responsible and do believe I should pay what I owe even though this will take along time as I can't afford a lot but am concerned at what will happen if I contact the solicitor , should I just ignore them or write to them to find out what it's about ?

what can they do if the debt is past 6 years which it most certainly is as it was on my credit report and no longer is.

Thanks for reading and any answers greatly appreciated , I am not after sympathy or judgement simply some advise on my situation , everyone has a past I know I have let myself and my family down getting into this mess but I want to correct it but not put pressure on my family

thanks again

[Inca]

Re: Advise needed please

Hi and to LB.....someone will come along and help you

[jg78]

Re: Advise needed please

Thank you for the quick reply , I am so worried about this I feel sick to my stomach , really feel like I have let everyone in my family down , my wife is fully behind me I just feel terrible though

[labman]

Re: Advise needed please

Hi jg,

Please try not to worry - I know that's easy to say, but being in debt is not a crime.

If your debts are Statute Barred (SB) then although the debts still exist, you are under no obligation whatsoever to pay them, and IMO you would be foolish to try. They can ask for you to pay the debt, but you are perfectly entitled to tell them the debt is SB and you are not going to, please will they stop pestering you.

Why has the solicitor written to you? I don't know. Does it say on the letter who s/he is representing, or even better, could you post up a redacted copy of the letter?

The CCJ's can still be enforced, but only if they go back to the court and give a good explanation why they have not collected them or tried to enforce them in the past 6 years.

If you do contact the solicitor, please make sure you post up here first. If you write to say the alleged debt is SB, it is critically important you do not acknowledge it, so the letter needs phrasing very carefully. I have a template you could use.

If it were me, I would ignore the solicitor's letter for the time being and see if they write again. Don't feel you've let anyone down, and don't feel any guilt about not repaying the debts - believe me, whoever lent the money in the first place will have offset the debt against tax. They'll then have sold it on, thus making a profit from you anyway. The debt has been repaid, just not by you.

So, ignore for now and wait and see what, if anything, happens next. Remember, if you need a SB letter template, let me know and I'll post one up for you. :beagle:

[jg78]

Re: Advise needed please

Thank you so much for the reply.

the letter from the solicitor is from a company called restons , it does not state who they are representing just that they are trying to locate me for a personal matter.

i did a little googling of them which led me to this forum and after reading some of the stories I understand they are not nice people to deal with.

Obviously as I stated I checked my credit report with experian and it is clear with nothing on there debt wise or ccj wise so I presume this means anything would now be over 6 years and therefore statue barred.

i guess the letter is just a tactic to try and trick me into calling but my concern is if I ignore it can they apply to the court for a ccj even though the debt has past the 6 year period ?

perhaps I should simply write to them asking what it concerns ?

If I went down this route do you have any suggestions on what I should write ?

I will try not to worry about it but it's hard , I haven't been able to sleep all night for thinking about it

thanks again

[Inca]

Re: Advise needed please

I would take the advice you have already been given and wait for furthur contact. Restons are fishing for information.
Please don't send any letters to them before checking here as to the wording,the last thing you want to do is set the SB clock ticking again,,it's 6 years in England but 5 in Scotland.
Please try not to panic (hard I know but rest assured,no big hairyarsed debt collector is going to rock up any time soon and take your Mother in Law hostage for your debts (even if that's a nice option for you ) )
Many many of us on here have been/are still in debt,some large amounts,some not so significant so you are definitely not alone,believe me.
Now,,stop worrying about the 'what ifs'..and let LB help you pour oil on your troubled waters ok?

[jg78]

Re: Advise needed please

Thank you both again , I guess I will just wait and see then , if I get any more mail should I just send it back as not known at this address ? Or can that make it worse ? If I just ignore and don't open anything etc I'm worried I might miss something important ?

at present of course I don't know what it's about but as I know I have buried my head and technically avoided my debts I am sure it will be for a past and now non enforceable debt

sorry to go on and on

[Inca]

Re: Advise needed please

Thank you both again , I guess I will just wait and see then , if I get any more mail should I just send it back as not known at this address ? Or can that make it worse ? If I just ignore and don't open anything etc I'm worried I might miss something important ?
You won't miss anything important except maybe BIG RED SENTENCES.

at present of course I don't know what it's about but as I know I have buried my head and technically avoided my debts I am sure it will be for a past and now non enforceable debt
And you don't want to accidently restart the SB clock.

sorry to go on and on

You go on and on as much as you like hun,,this is YOUR reality,,we at LB can help and will do so,but we always remember,it's REAL people,with REAL problems and REAL fears..so whatever you feel you want to post up,no matter how daft you think it is,post it up and we'll see what we can do
LB puts up with me and you can't be as batty as me

[wales01man]

Re: Advise needed please

Restons ONLY deal im debt collection read theor website its all they do and charge up to 50% they are tying to con you into yelling them they have the correct gor you in replying they will know and the threatograms will start.
Its the OPS decision but maybe the best choice is to ignore everthing and get more advice if more letters come please don't sit there and worry,
There are many of us on LB who are deep in debt who are we to judge you?no one sets out to get so deep into debt that they have problems paying it chin up get on with your life money owed is not the most important thing in your life

[jg78]

Re: Advise needed please

Thanks for the reply walesman The most important thing in my life is my family and I just don't want to have my past effect them , by myself I am worth nothing , I have a job but nothing of any my real value that anyone could take the house is my wife's name as it is hers we have no joint accounts etc , I told my wife about my past debt to be upfront and I did not want her to inherit any of my past problems.We are wanting another child and this has now come out of the blue and the last thing I want is for any excess pressure on my wife.

[wales01man]

Re: Advise needed please

Don't bottle it up your wife knows all about it make sure she knows eveyrthing that develops and I expect you will find she backs you 100% you can control the situation by taking advice and you will be okay,Maybe like us you can look forwards not backwards I for one came through it all and like you o KNOW family are more important,should at any stage you want to or have to pay you will only have to pay what you can afford no more.
The past has gone the future is ahead

[jg78]

Re: Advise needed please

I have an additional question if anyone can help

if my debts no longer show up on my credit report does that mean they are statue barred ?

I certainly haven't been in contact with any of the Company's during the time debts were on my report , as I stated in my first post I moved house (I had to sell to clear secured debt and a mortgage) so they will certainly have tried to contact me back then but obviously I wouldn't have replied and with them no longer being on the report I presume this means they will be past the statue barred limit.

sorry to ask more questions but if I can get my head around the state of them it may make me feel a little better , I know they won't go away and will keep trying to get money but if they have to prove the debts I presume the fact that they are past this limit pretty much means I need to admit to them in order for them to have any chance.

thanks in advance

[labman]

Re: Advise needed please

It's impossible to say without knowing what the debts are for a starter, then what is defined as the 'cause of action' for each debt and finally establishing the date of this.

Without this information, nobody can answer your question I'm afraid. :beagle:

[jg78]

Re: Advise needed please

Any debts I had were credit cards and one personal loan (unsecured) , they were all a cause of each other if that makes scense , I had a credit cards and was using each to balance the other etc I also got a loan to pay them off then lost another job , tried to balance things here there and everywhere obviously failed.

you say 'cause of action' what do you mean by this ?

i know they were on my credit report as defaults but have since come off the report I can say that 2 were CCjs , I only found out about these after they appeared on my report I don't ever remember getting court papers etc as I would have responded if this were the case.

i actually went to a court over failing to keep up with payments on a secured loan and resorted to selling my home to a buy to let company as I needed a quick sale and obviously needed somewhere to live , when I sold the house I did not have much left over at all as another debt had been secured against the house that had to be cleared when sold they I had not been aware of.

anyway as I say this was all years ago and I have got myself back in a position with a supportive wife and I have no cards / loans etc , she is great with money and I completely understand now how important this is.

i would like to get myself clear the right way but do not have much spare cash , my wife will also be losing her job soon as the company she works for close in December so every penny I earn will be spoken for.

i have no savings and as I said previously the house belongs to my wife it was hers before we got together and I am not on her mortgage so I have nothing to secure a loan on and I would not want to do this either.

[labman]

Re: Advise needed please

The future is looking good for you - I'm pleased. It definitely seems to add up to ignoring the communications from post 1.

The cause of action for a simple contract debt is usually the date when your agreement states the creditor can take court action against you because you've fallen behind with payments. This would seem to cover all your debts. For other debts, things can be very different.:beagle: