Hi forum, I know I havent made an introduction, but I kinda need help with a few things.
A few months ago, out of the blue, I started getting letters from Lowell financial about a supposed Barclaycard debt, which I *think* is statute barred. One of the letters (I dont have all of them in front of me) appeared to be them saying they were taking court action in x days, althou on closer inspection it was actually saying "if you dont respond in x days, we'll send it back to barclays for them to consider legal action".
Like I say, I dont know *exactly* what it said but it was *extremely* misleading.
I went to the citizens advice, which seemed to be a useless waste of time, and asked the advisor I saw about them writing to lowells to explain I thought the debt was statute barred, but I have no idea if theyve done this - Ive received a couple more letters from lowell (admittedly slightly less threatening) since then.
I received a letter from Phillips dated the 12th March (Im not sure when I received it, Ive been trying to figure out what to do before responding!) headed "Demand for payment" and stating:
"Despite out previous demands for payment you have failed to clear your arrears (as stated above) or make suitable repayment proposals. The amounts which remain outstanding to the above named client must be paid in full within seven days of this demand.
Should you be unable to pay the amounts outstanding, within 7 days, you MUST contact one of out customer service operators on (tel number) to arrange a suitable repayment play.
If you ignore this demand for payment or fail to arrange a suitable repayment plan within 7 days, Philips reserves the right to instruct our solicitors to recover the amounts outstanding on behalf of our client, or alternatively issue this case to one of our debt recovery agents to attend your premises to execute further recovery procedures"
That's exactly as it was written in the letter with the exception of me removing the phone number- Im sure no-one needs it!
the "Due date" theyve given for the debt is 18/10/2005, which I thinks inaccurate, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Now this morning Ive received a second letter, dated 31st March 1010
This one states
"You have failed to make suitable repayment arrangements concerning the above arrears which remain outstanding.
Our Recovery Agents may now attend your premises without any further warning to commence recovery procedures.
You must make the IMMEDIATE FULL PAYMENT of all outstanding amounts (as shown above) to prevent this action commencing.
YOU HAVE 7 DAYS FROM THE DATE STATED IN THIS NOTICE TO PAY ALL OUTSTANDING AMOUNTS IN FULL".
All the capitals are theirs an not mine!
The "date due" that phillips are claiming is 18/10/2005, which I know isnt right. The last time I spoke to Barclays on the phone was in about March 2005, and the entire conversation consisted of me telling them I wasnt speaking to them at the present time. I moved in December 2004/Jan 2005 and I know I hadnt made a payment for months before that - its rather a long story why unfortunatley.
Now onto the questions
As I said, Im not sure what, if anything the citizens advice have done, but is it possible that theyve done something to make the problem worse?
Ive read one of the statute barred letters on here, but Im not sure who to send them to - barclays, lowell or phillips?
If I send a letter, and phillips still persist, is it up to me to prove its statute barred or them to prove it isn't?
Id also like to know when *exactly* something becomes statute barred - is it 6 years to the day, or 6 years to the beginning of the year? It sounds stupid, but while Im 90% sure this thing is statute barred, Im not 100% - but at the same time I dont want to land myself with another 6 years of this on a very small chance, especially when it had definatley "dissapeared" for this length of time. I know I havent heard *anything* in about 5 years, and that didnt involve admitting/paying anything. If I send a letter saying I think its statute barred, and it turns out its not *quite* by a month or something, would phillips take that as an admission?
The next question is what happens in the meantime? If phillips ignore any letter I send and that *definatley* takes it over the statute barred period what happens then?
Thanks in advance!
A few months ago, out of the blue, I started getting letters from Lowell financial about a supposed Barclaycard debt, which I *think* is statute barred. One of the letters (I dont have all of them in front of me) appeared to be them saying they were taking court action in x days, althou on closer inspection it was actually saying "if you dont respond in x days, we'll send it back to barclays for them to consider legal action".
Like I say, I dont know *exactly* what it said but it was *extremely* misleading.
I went to the citizens advice, which seemed to be a useless waste of time, and asked the advisor I saw about them writing to lowells to explain I thought the debt was statute barred, but I have no idea if theyve done this - Ive received a couple more letters from lowell (admittedly slightly less threatening) since then.
I received a letter from Phillips dated the 12th March (Im not sure when I received it, Ive been trying to figure out what to do before responding!) headed "Demand for payment" and stating:
"Despite out previous demands for payment you have failed to clear your arrears (as stated above) or make suitable repayment proposals. The amounts which remain outstanding to the above named client must be paid in full within seven days of this demand.
Should you be unable to pay the amounts outstanding, within 7 days, you MUST contact one of out customer service operators on (tel number) to arrange a suitable repayment play.
If you ignore this demand for payment or fail to arrange a suitable repayment plan within 7 days, Philips reserves the right to instruct our solicitors to recover the amounts outstanding on behalf of our client, or alternatively issue this case to one of our debt recovery agents to attend your premises to execute further recovery procedures"
That's exactly as it was written in the letter with the exception of me removing the phone number- Im sure no-one needs it!
the "Due date" theyve given for the debt is 18/10/2005, which I thinks inaccurate, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Now this morning Ive received a second letter, dated 31st March 1010
This one states
"You have failed to make suitable repayment arrangements concerning the above arrears which remain outstanding.
Our Recovery Agents may now attend your premises without any further warning to commence recovery procedures.
You must make the IMMEDIATE FULL PAYMENT of all outstanding amounts (as shown above) to prevent this action commencing.
YOU HAVE 7 DAYS FROM THE DATE STATED IN THIS NOTICE TO PAY ALL OUTSTANDING AMOUNTS IN FULL".
All the capitals are theirs an not mine!
The "date due" that phillips are claiming is 18/10/2005, which I know isnt right. The last time I spoke to Barclays on the phone was in about March 2005, and the entire conversation consisted of me telling them I wasnt speaking to them at the present time. I moved in December 2004/Jan 2005 and I know I hadnt made a payment for months before that - its rather a long story why unfortunatley.
Now onto the questions
As I said, Im not sure what, if anything the citizens advice have done, but is it possible that theyve done something to make the problem worse?
Ive read one of the statute barred letters on here, but Im not sure who to send them to - barclays, lowell or phillips?
If I send a letter, and phillips still persist, is it up to me to prove its statute barred or them to prove it isn't?
Id also like to know when *exactly* something becomes statute barred - is it 6 years to the day, or 6 years to the beginning of the year? It sounds stupid, but while Im 90% sure this thing is statute barred, Im not 100% - but at the same time I dont want to land myself with another 6 years of this on a very small chance, especially when it had definatley "dissapeared" for this length of time. I know I havent heard *anything* in about 5 years, and that didnt involve admitting/paying anything. If I send a letter saying I think its statute barred, and it turns out its not *quite* by a month or something, would phillips take that as an admission?
The next question is what happens in the meantime? If phillips ignore any letter I send and that *definatley* takes it over the statute barred period what happens then?
Thanks in advance!
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