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Clive23 when you have a consumer credit debt that you have not serviced or acknowledged for 6 years from the date of default it goes off statute. Making a payment keeps it alive and resets the 6 year period.
So if the debt was formerly put into default by M&S in Jan 2013 it would go off in Jan 2019. If you made a payment in 2017 it would keep it alive until 2023.
I made the mistake of contributing to my consumer debts for years, then when I told them I could not afford to pay anything they asked for £5 a month each and then for £1 a month each to show willing. Finally I got decent advice and I stopped paying or communicating, I moved several times but if I had a credit check for anything they would be alerted to my new address and so it would all start again.
So you need to look for anything that confirms the date of default, with me it was a year before it was sold to the scavengers then passed around for all to "have a go".
What they bought the debt for is not really a factor, what matters is their right to enforce the debt. Of course it makes you sick, but what is more sickening is that the debt was insured, the money given to you was created out of thin air.
6 years passed and I have a lovely collection of letters for numerous consumer debts, it became clear to me that they use a series of promises and threats that are just designed to make debtor contact them and acknowledge the debt.
If the debt is still enforceable (within 6 year statute) then you have a number of options.
If you do not own your own home or any assets and can't afford to service debt then insolvency is an option; if all your debts are under £20k then it costs £90 to get a Debt Relief Order, you list all your debts, provide a financial statement and budget, then after a year if you still can't afford to service the debts all are written off. Note you could be forced to sell your car if owned and worth more than around £1500.
If the debt is over £20k then a full bankruptcy costs around £700 but perhaps less if you are on benefits.
Insolvency can feel like a nuclear option, but it can be a great relief if you have lots of debt. The debt charities have lots of pages on this.
If you own your own home you could sell up and move, then go off radar (don't register to vote, never use a company that uses credit reference database, etc) for 6 years.
You could also sell your home to your kids on condition that they give you a lifetime tenancy. The sale value would need to be realistic market rates but if they could get a BTL mortgage and you paid them rent it could work for you. A friend of mine who is a barrister did this many years ago when his father died and his mother wanted to do up her place, it was a sort of family equity release.
If the debt is still alive you could of course pay the debt in very small increments such as £5 a month, but I would first want an audit on all payments made and the amount actually owing. You probably have the information you need to do that on the CD.
Some might ask why I give advice on avoiding this debt, mostly it is because I feel that the lenders do not take adequate steps to prevent poor lending, they do this because they can invent money for 3% of the amount they lend yet charge 39.9% in interest, get paid out by insurance and still sell the debt on for recovery. This is why our economy will never be out of debt.
What should happen is that when they write off the debt the debt should be cancelled and written off. It is grossly unfair that once they sell the debt they are free to invent another debt of the amount they have just sold for 5p in the pound and again it costs them just 3%.
Do a spreadsheet and work out the interest paid on your original M&S debt, I suspect your debt may have started at £10,000 and grew to £13k with interest, yet the debt cost them just £300.
So if the debt was formerly put into default by M&S in Jan 2013 it would go off in Jan 2019. If you made a payment in 2017 it would keep it alive until 2023.
I made the mistake of contributing to my consumer debts for years, then when I told them I could not afford to pay anything they asked for £5 a month each and then for £1 a month each to show willing. Finally I got decent advice and I stopped paying or communicating, I moved several times but if I had a credit check for anything they would be alerted to my new address and so it would all start again.
So you need to look for anything that confirms the date of default, with me it was a year before it was sold to the scavengers then passed around for all to "have a go".
What they bought the debt for is not really a factor, what matters is their right to enforce the debt. Of course it makes you sick, but what is more sickening is that the debt was insured, the money given to you was created out of thin air.
6 years passed and I have a lovely collection of letters for numerous consumer debts, it became clear to me that they use a series of promises and threats that are just designed to make debtor contact them and acknowledge the debt.
If the debt is still enforceable (within 6 year statute) then you have a number of options.
If you do not own your own home or any assets and can't afford to service debt then insolvency is an option; if all your debts are under £20k then it costs £90 to get a Debt Relief Order, you list all your debts, provide a financial statement and budget, then after a year if you still can't afford to service the debts all are written off. Note you could be forced to sell your car if owned and worth more than around £1500.
If the debt is over £20k then a full bankruptcy costs around £700 but perhaps less if you are on benefits.
Insolvency can feel like a nuclear option, but it can be a great relief if you have lots of debt. The debt charities have lots of pages on this.
If you own your own home you could sell up and move, then go off radar (don't register to vote, never use a company that uses credit reference database, etc) for 6 years.
You could also sell your home to your kids on condition that they give you a lifetime tenancy. The sale value would need to be realistic market rates but if they could get a BTL mortgage and you paid them rent it could work for you. A friend of mine who is a barrister did this many years ago when his father died and his mother wanted to do up her place, it was a sort of family equity release.
If the debt is still alive you could of course pay the debt in very small increments such as £5 a month, but I would first want an audit on all payments made and the amount actually owing. You probably have the information you need to do that on the CD.
Some might ask why I give advice on avoiding this debt, mostly it is because I feel that the lenders do not take adequate steps to prevent poor lending, they do this because they can invent money for 3% of the amount they lend yet charge 39.9% in interest, get paid out by insurance and still sell the debt on for recovery. This is why our economy will never be out of debt.
What should happen is that when they write off the debt the debt should be cancelled and written off. It is grossly unfair that once they sell the debt they are free to invent another debt of the amount they have just sold for 5p in the pound and again it costs them just 3%.
Do a spreadsheet and work out the interest paid on your original M&S debt, I suspect your debt may have started at £10,000 and grew to £13k with interest, yet the debt cost them just £300.
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