Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

[roakes]

Hoping you can help with this to see where I stand regarding some outstanding debt.

For 13 years I have been using the OneBill service operated by Secure Trust Bank (http://www.moneyway.co.uk/onebill)

Essentially they pay all bills then charge you a lump sum monthly which aids in bill management and they spread out any debt from unexpected high bills (water bills, car tax etc.) over subsequent months.

I have been happily using them for 13 years but decided recently to stop using them as all bills can now be paid by monthly direct debit with the individual companies and so there will be no further large quarterly/annual shock bills.

Having requested to close my account with them they have identified a £270 debt on my account, one that came as a surprise to both myself and the advisor I was talking to as I have always paid them on time.

After 5 days of investigation on their side they have concluded that the debt is genuine as back in 2003 I changed the date my mortgage payment was due, this caused something to go wrong at their side and the payment was made to the mortgage company but wasn't subsequently charged onto me meaning the debt has been outstanding since that day. This amount then sat there without me being notified of its existence for 12 years (I receive no statements indicating an outstanding debt), the payments I have been making to them have been to cover my normal bill payments month on month and at no time up until now has the existence of this debt been revealed or have any payments been taken that have been used to reduce this outstanding debt.

Just to clarify the debt is not with the mortgage company, it is with Secure Trust Bank. They paid my mortgage payment on time to the lender but then neglected to pass that charge onto me.

I have discussed this with them and it is with their complaints team, they have offered to reduce the debt by 50% but I don't think I should owe any of it.

The question is, where do I stand on refusing to pay this debt? Is there a statute of limitations on these sorts of things especially considering I had no knowledge of the debt?

Thanks in Advance

Russell

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Welcome aboard

Having requested to close my account with them they have identified a £270 debt on my account, one that came as a surprise to both myself and the advisor I was talking to as I have always paid them on time.

After 5 days of investigation on their side they have concluded that the debt is genuine as back in 2003 I changed the date my mortgage payment was due, this caused something to go wrong at their side and the payment was made to the mortgage company but wasn't subsequently charged onto me meaning the debt has been outstanding since that day. This amount then sat there without me being notified of its existence for 12 years (I receive no statements indicating an outstanding debt), the payments I have been making to them have been to cover my normal bill payments month on month and at no time up until now has the existence of this debt been revealed or have any payments been taken that have been used to reduce this outstanding debt.

Just to clarify the debt is not with the mortgage company, it is with Secure Trust Bank. They paid my mortgage payment on time to the lender but then neglected to pass that charge onto me.

I have discussed this with them and it is with their complaints team, they have offered to reduce the debt by 50% but I don't think I should owe any of it.

The question is, where do I stand on refusing to pay this debt? Is there a statute of limitations on these sorts of things especially considering I had no knowledge of the debt?

Yes, there is, the limitation period for mortgages and other secured debts is 12 years. From 2003 it may not be SBd just yet.

[Nibbler]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Just to clarify the debt is not with the mortgage company, it is with Secure Trust Bank. They paid my mortgage payment on time to the lender but then neglected to pass that charge onto me.

So this is an unsecured non mortgage debt owed under a contact to another party completely separate from the mortgage?

It was just accrued becasue they paid your mortgage payment, and now you owe them under a separate non mortgage contract?

[roakes]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Sorry I really should remove any mention of mortgage as it can muddy the water. The debt is to Secure Trust Bank (the bill management company) who paid the mortgage payment on my behalf (so the mortgage lender isn't chasing anything) but then failed to pass that cost onto me.

Basically they pay all of my bills then I pay them, they paid a bill (regardless of who to) then forgot to charge it onto me and left the debt to stagnate for 12 years and it only came to light when I tried to close my account recently.

[Guest]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

This is an interesting one.
I do not think it is twelve years because it is not on a loan secured by a mortgage. Also it is not a breach of contract, i suppose it could come under section 6 as a loan, if this is the case then the six year period would commence on the demand for payment. Also there is the matter that the OP presumably would have been making payments on the arrangement in the interim, this would restart the SB period under section 29.

[Nibbler]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Depends on the terms of the contract. If this amount had been charged properly, when contractually should it have been paid by?

[roakes]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

The whole point of the OneBill system is that any debts that accrue due to unforeseen charges are automatically spread out over the year by increasing the monthly payment required by them.

If their system had worked correctly the £270 should have been spread over the next year increasing my payments to them by £22 until the debt was paid and then it would revert back to the original amount, but this didn't happen.

The problem as I see it is that due to the nature of the product they offer these situations are just supposed to get worked out in the background and the only way I know there has been an extra payment made by them on my behalf is when one of the items on my bill schedule from them increases proportionally to cover the extra they have had to pay. (So say the monthly amount they are charging me for my mobile phone bill increases by a few pound)

Other than that I never have any indication from them that a shortfall has occurred. I do not receive statements showing my current debt to them for any shortfalls as theoretically a repayment system is in place automatically and I do not need to be informed.

In this case their automated system failed and the shortfall remained unpaid for 12 years until they came to settle the account.

[Guest]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

From what you say i don't think this is a statue bar issue. It seems that they were contractually obliged to provide a service and the under payment was a result of their error.

I cant see any court awarding them any payment on this TBH.

[Nibbler]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Not available to new customers, but https://web.archive.org/web/20071209...ducts/onebill/

[roakes]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Thanks. I am awaiting a call from their complaints team to discuss it further so I'll report back when hear more, however I will make sure they only communicate with me in writing from that point onwards and provide a full breakdown of what happened and their case for the debt being owed.

[nemesis45]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

The Mortgage is totally irrelevant to this, it is purely a simple that the One Bill System paid a mortgage instalment and failed to pass on the charge to Roakes I think if they have not taken any recovery action in 6 clear years the alleged debt is statute barred.
UNLESS, there is any clause within the bill paying agreement regarding such a scenario.

nem.

[roakes]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

I will see if I can dig out any of the original paperwork but I doubt I have it.

If they do argue the case that the money is still owed, what would my next step be? Can I refer this to the financial ombudsman?

I certainly don't want to get into any kind of CCJ situation and jeopardise my credit score.

[nemesis45]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

I take that my assessment is correct?
Personally I would state that you consider that as more than 6 years has elapsed since the " error " occurred the Alleged debt is statute barred also no previous claim of request for payment has been made.

Head the letter " FORMAL COMPLAINT " then the complaint must be investigated and responded to within 56 days.

If the response is inadequate/negative then you can refer it to FOS.

nem

[roakes]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

Sorry yes your assessment is correct and thanks for the advice, I'll see what their response is when they call back then take it further if necessary.

[Nibbler]

Re: Unknown 12yr old debt now being claimed

I would also note that a CCJ would only impact your credit file if granted by the court and you then fail to pay it within one calendar month. Not that one is likely to happen, but even if for some mad reason it did you can get it sorted without permanent harm to your credit file.