Old Debt Resurfaced. What are my options ?

[aarchiee]

About 25 years ago i took out a loan with Lloyds bank for £10k (which tbh they shouldnt have agreed to, considering my then salary) Unfortunately I was unable to continue paying it back. i was then given an attatchment of earnings order @ £50 per month. When i changed jobs, i wrote and notified them and heard nothing after. No payments have been made and theres been no contact since. Now, 18 years later i have just received a letter from a company called Resolvecall representing Intrum UK finance asking me to call them regarding this 20 odd year old debt. Should i acknowledge it or what ? What are my options ?

[aarchiee]

On doing some research see that Intrum UK finance are a debt purchasing company. So it seems they purchased the debt from Lloyds and are now trying to make cash out of me. Does this mean the 6 years statute barred would only apply from when Intum purchased the debt or from when the debt was originally to Lloyds bank ?

[PallasAthena]

Did Lloyds take you to court for the debt and get a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you? An attachment of earnings order suggests they did. If so statute barred is not relevant

Creditors have 6 years to enforce a CCJ. So if the position is that Lloyds have not attempted to enforce the CCJ for 18 years they could not enforce it now without going back to court and getting permission to enforce. After all this time they would have to have a very good reason why they had taken no action for so long. It is very unlikely a judge would give permission now.

Selling the debt to Intrum makes no difference. Intrum have no better rights than Lloyds had and would have to go court to get permission to enforce. In reality they are not going to do anything of the sort and are just hoping that if they hassle you enough you will pay them something to get them off your back. They will have bought it for pennies in the £ as part of a whole portfolio of old Lloyds loans.

Ignore the letter and see what they do next. They will probably follow up by saying a Resolve all field agent will come to your house. Then you reply to them saying they must not come to your house and you will only deal with them in writing by post. Get Proof of Posting.

Do not admit to them that you know what the debt is for or that a CCJ was obtained. If they persist demand they send you a copy of the CCJ. They may well not be able to find it!

[aarchiee]

Did Lloyds take you to court for the debt and get a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you? An attachment of earnings order suggests they did. If so statute barred is not relevant

Creditors have 6 years to enforce a CCJ. So if the position is that Lloyds have not attempted to enforce the CCJ for 18 years they could not enforce it now without going back to court and getting permission to enforce. After all this time they would have to have a very good reason why they had taken no action for so long. It is very unlikely a judge would give permission now.

Selling the debt to Intrum makes no difference. Intrum have no better rights than Lloyds had and would have to go court to get permission to enforce. In reality they are not going to do anything of the sort and are just hoping that if they hassle you enough you will pay them something to get them off your back. They will have bought it for pennies in the £ as part of a whole portfolio of old Lloyds loans.

Ignore the letter and see what they do next. They will probably follow up by saying a Resolve all field agent will come to your house. Then you reply to them saying they must not come to your house and you will only deal with them in writing by post. Get Proof of Posting.

Do not admit to them that you know what the debt is for or that a CCJ was obtained. If they persist demand they send you a copy of the CCJ. They may well not be able to find it!

They did send a letter out about a visit i just replied with the Statute barred letter template from here, not acknowledging the debt and also added that i would only deal with them by mail and there was to be no home visits, ( with proof of posting ) so i will wait and see what happens. Bit stressful as i am about to go into hospital for cancer surgery. ( it never rains but it pours! )