how long is a debt held for before it is written off if they cant locate you?

Question

I recently received a letter stating that i owe £29k after 18 yrs on a property that a previous x let go into repossession. what can i do

Answer 1

If she received the house as part of a settlement (through the courts) when the relationship ended then you do not owe anything.

If it was an iformal agreement - get some legal advice quick as now that you've been tracked down the financiers will try and screw up for every penny, plus interest and collection charges. They can charge something like £600 just for tracking you down.

Answer 2

There is a law, commonly known as limitations, where a cause of action becomes time barred and cannot be pursued after a certain length of time. In the UK the principal Act governing this is the Limitation Act 1980. The earlier Acts being the 1975 and 1963 Acts. The most important factor in dealing with time bar is to determine when the cause of action arose and whether the said time has been running continously as there are exceptions in the Acts that allows postponement of when the time starts to run. It is best that you seek proper legal advice on this disclosing all the circumstances in this matter including whether you have signed any acknowledgement of the debt recently or whether there has been any part payments or whether you are a guarantor of any sort. It would appear from your question that you are not the principal debtor as you say it was the previous x (whatever 'x' means) who seemed to have incurred the same. If that is the case you may not even be liable in any way at all as you were not privy to the debt. But if, you have for any reason signed any documents that may now cause you to incur the liability, it would appear that that liability was incurred 18 years ago and barring any postponement of the cause of action that the claimant may be entitled to raise against you, you will probably be entitled to raise limitation as a defence. However as limitation is a technical defence it has to be specifically pleaded and I would strongly suggest that you do not enter into any correspondence with the claimant or sign any document until you get proper legal advice. Good Luck

Answer 3

It depends on the debt and the terms prevalent at the time.

If you do owe after this time then make them an offer they would probably accept something like £2000 on the basis that they have waited 18years and if they have to wait another 18 years they would be losing £1450 per year in interest so anyything they get back would be better than nothing.

If however the debt is the type where you are now excluded from liability then relax.

In any event get a qualified person to look at the detail properly.

Answer 4

unfortunatly, if your name was on the morgage for that property there is absolutly nothing you can do, they can chase you untill time stops if they wish, the best thing you can do is contact them , and see if they will offer you an 'early settlement', YOU are responsible for any debt outstanding, unless a court stated otherswise and tuned over the house and any futher debt in conection with the house in any divorce settlement. BUT the morgage holder can still seek payment from you,

It sounds like the house was sold at auction (which is what they normally do), and they are seeking the diferential in the outstanding morgage balance.

Not wishing to worry you even futher, Do not put off contacting them or you might find out that they are adding interest on top of the £29K at a daily rate, i know this is what happens for a FACT as it happened to me, when my ex took over 'our' house, the morgage was in MY name!! and he did the same thing..

YES, they will track you down for payment even if it takes 30 years, they almost never write of the debt, it just keeps incuring interest. and it will affect any future credit or morgage you apply for. you need professional advice ASAP, good luck,,

Answer 5

There are a couple of things you can do. If you acknowledge the debt, you can wait for 7 years and it will automatically be removed from your credit history - although of course this would mean that you will end up in credit hell for the next 7 years...but at the end you would be entirely clear of it.

Due to the age of the debt you could contact Experian:

http://www.experian.co.uk/

and either:

a) ask for the debt to be removed from your credit record due to its age; or

b) dispute the debt and add a note next to it on your credit report. effectively you can write as much as you want to "explain the debt" which will be added next to the debt on record. This will not help with "credit scoring" but when applying for loans etc with your bank they will obtain a full credit report for you at which point they will be able to see a full explanation for the debt by yourself; or

c) in some cases they may transfer the debt from your record to your ex's if they feel that there is sufficient evidence to do so.

I would say though that with the debt being 18 years old, you could have a strong case for removing it. Contact experian via the phone and ask them what your options are (I've found them to be very helpful).

Good luck!

Answer 6

In the US debit laws are changing, Currently you can't file bankruptcy against your debits to eliminate them and as a rule generally debits are held for 7 years but the length of time is up to the lender so 13 or 18 years is not impossible if the debit is size able enough. I am unfamiliar with the debit laws in the UK but you could contact the credit reporting agency to find out further details about this debit.

Answer 7

U must go to a lawyer and inform all details. He will help U legally. Remember a written off debt can also resurface and give u legal problems that is the reason u should visit a lawyer and arm ur self adequetley.

Answer 8

They always catch in the end!!!! If you can't get your x to cough up then I'm afraid your stuffed...unless you keep moving around...The debt will stay with you as long as your alive!!!! I know cos the same happened to me..You can really annoy the company by offering them 20 quid a month..they'll accept it but you'll be paying it for the rest of your days...but they'll be off your back and will you really notice 20 quid a month out of you account??

Answer 9

Get solicitor advice, a charging order could be placed on property you owe now, and you will be left with no choice but to pay back one way or another

GOOD LUCK you will need it

Answer 10

You only get debts written off if you're a third-world country. People who have to WORK for a living don't get away with it that easily unfortunately! As you've found out, debts don't die, and even if YOU do, they still go after your estate to get it paid !!!
It's only tax bills that get lost after six years.