NRAM Delinked Unsecured Element of Together Mortgage - Defaulted 3.5 Years ago

[firkin_ejit]

Hi,

Below is a history of an NRAM debt along with some questions at the bottom.
I have done as much research as I can but it’s a difficult one as I believe there’s a lot of outdated info out there on the net.
I’ve tried to keep it factual and avoid the fluff around why it happened and what should or shouldn’t have been done at the time.
I’d really appreciate input from anyone who has knowledge in this area as to what the next action or maybe inaction should be!

Thanks in advance!

INFORMATION ACCORDING TO CREDIT FILE HISTORY

OWING TO: NRAM LTD
CURRENT BALANCE: £16K
OPENING BALANCE: £18K
START DATE: MARCH 2007

PAYMENTS TIMELINE:
MAY 2015 TO JUNE 2016: ALL MONTHS SHOW MISSED PAYMENTS
JULY 2016 TO JULY 2017: ALL MONTHS SHOW OK [SHOWS AS IF PAYMENTS WERE MADE]
AUGUST 2017 TO SEPTEMBER 2017: ALL MONTHS SHOW MISSED PAYMENTS
OCTOBER 2017 TO NOW (MAY 2021): ALL MONTHS SHOW IN DEFAULT

INFORMATION ACCORDING TO ME!

• In March 2007 I took out a Northern Rock Together Mortgage for a house in England – I don’t have the exact figures but I believe it was around £125k secured and £18k unsecured, £143k total.
• In 2014 / 2015 / 2016 I got behind with my payments (the reasons are for another discussion!), long story short this culminated in court action in early 2016, I went to court and proved that I was actively engaging in selling the property at a value that would pay off the secured debt and the judge ruled in my favour giving me I think 3 or 6 months grace to sell the property before they could return to court and try again. I made no further payments at all to the mortgage (secured or unsecured) from this point.
• No charging orders were ever made to secure the unsecured element on the property.
• I successfully sold the property in November 2016. At this point the secured element of the Together mortgage was fully paid off obviously by the solicitor processing the sale and the remaining funds returned to me.
• There was not enough money to pay off all the unsecured element so I did not pay this off and nor did I make any further payments towards repaying it. I also did not provide either my solicitor or Northern Rock with any new address details.
• I understand that by default when these loans become ‘delinked’ they revert to a personal loan at a higher rate.
• The period for July 2016 to July 2017 shows payments were made to the account, I did not make these payments – the only thing I can assume is that due to one of the automated refunds for the various well documented Northern Rock mistakes the account somehow became in credit and they used this to make the monthly payments.
• The last time I actively made a payment towards this unsecured element would have been prior to May 2015 (unsure exactly when so going by credit file)
• I was sofa surfing for the first couple of years after selling the house and wasn’t really registered anywhere for anything
• I then moved to Scotland and stayed there at the same address for a couple of years, utilities / council tax were in my name and bank was registered to that address.
• Now I am back in England and have been since the end of 2019 (same address, utilities / council tax in my name and bank registered here) and as of yet I have had zero contact from Northern Rock, NRAM or any of their other identities.
• I haven’t appeared on the electoral roll since I was at the property I sold and still don’t currently but think I will show up on there soon.

MY OBSERVATIONS / QUESTIONS

1. The default was registered almost 1 year after I moved out of the property but presumably still sent to that address knowing full well that I wasn’t living there, does this matter / have any relevance? (I accept that I didn’t provide any new address details so I guess they didn’t have a choice?)
2. Should the payments in the period July 2016 to July 2017 really have been shown as they are if it was indeed for a credit due to their previous mistakes and if not does this matter / have any relevance?
3. Should they have defaulted me earlier? If so would it be relevant to object? – pulling my default back date thus possibly making it either statute barred or closer to that time limit.
4. Why haven’t they taken the step of getting a CCJ yet? – Is this a sign of weakness that they perhaps think the debt is unenforceable or would they just not try for a CCJ knowing they don’t have my current address?
5. Am I right in thinking if they contact me or if I choose to contact them the first step would be to respond with a CCA request? (Further down the line and assuming the debt is enforceable, there may be a possibility of making a full and final settlement)
6. Am I right in thinking that as the agreements is Pre April 2007 they have to provide the original signed agreement?
7. If contact is made on either side is there any benefit in doing an SAR also? And if so is there any preference in order of CCA request and SAR? Can / should they be done in one?
8. By making an SAR or CCA request am I acknowledging the debt?
9. The key question I guess is do I wake the sleeping lion? They have not contacted me and I’m sure if they wanted to find me they could so do I just leave it and hope that if drops off my file and becomes statute barred in October 2023, if they contact me before then, do point 5?