Debt from over 7 years ago coming back to haunt me

[rickydavy]

Hi guys I am new here so please be gentle,

Back in 2001 my partner and I had a fiat bravo on finance though a nissan dealer, the total amount payable would have been £5,000 and we had no problem in paying for it (Fiat Bravo? Wish we knew better!). The problem we had was that after a week of having the car it broke down due to the head gasket, we took it back and had it fixed under warranty and all was well again.....a day later the electrics went whilst driving on the motor way and luckily we manage to pull over safely. Well we took it back again and again they fixed it but after 1 week the engine blew!

We were not happy and demanded a different car but they would not give us one and said they will continue to fix the one we had until the 3 month warranty ran out? Nope! I gave them the keys and told them to stuff it and would not be paying them any more money and left it at that.

I get a debt company call me this week asking me to pay the full balance
after all these years, I thought it was sorted but it's not!

Basically do they have any rights to get that money back from me, my mum said something about all debts are written off after 5 years or so?

Please advise I am getting worried about paying £5,000 for a car I had for less than a month.

[sillygirl1]

Debts are not exactly written off after 6 years in England and Wales and 5 years in Scotland. If there has been no payment or communication for the last 6 years then the debt is STATUTE BARRED which means it is unenforcable via the courts system. There is a letter in the templates you can send to the company chasing you.

[Michael Browne]

B

asically do they have any rights to get that money back from me, my mum said something about all debts are written off after 5 years or so?

It's 6 years from the last date that you either acknowledged the debt in writing or made a payment See letter M here:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.c o....templates.html

[rickydavy]

if it is unenforcable via the courts system then am I legally obliged to pay this? My wife just said about something meaning it will be on our credit file!

We are looking for a house, how can we sort this out?

[saintly_1]

Creditors and DCAs - Letter Templates & Budget Planner Letter M here

[rickydavy]

Thanks for the advice, I will look at the templates.