Hi there,

I received a few letters from BCW this year but now Thames Credit have taken up the case. This is a dinosaur debt from the early 1990's. It was a small credit card debt but the amount has massively increased. This makes the matter seem very unreasonable and even usurious to me.

The letters have upset my elderly relatives and Thames Credit have now said they will send out a representative to my old address or start County Court action against me. There are no current CCJs against me.

So, enough is enough.

This debt has got to be noncollectable! It must be a "statute barred" matter by now. They must have lost the legal right to collect the money because I haven't acknowledged it for 14-15 years or so.

I am going to put a stop to them charging interest in a bogus way and harassing my folks by sending Letter M (Limitation Act 1980 Section 5).

I know what to expect but I have one question:

If I send the letter they will know of my address here in Russia. I have a sensitive job here and it would be trouble for me if they could contact me face to face.

On one hand it would be really funny to see a debt collector turning up here but what repercussions can you see might happen if I sent Letter M? Do they have overseas representatives? What might go wrong?

Thank you.

InfoMan.

PS If Thames are reading this and thinking about coming, please wrap up warm because it is below zero already.

Ha, Thames have absolutely zero chance of contacting you and enforcing anything in Russia. At a recent court case here in my home town, the UK customs were trying to get some simple information from Russia for over 2 years.

To say there is a spirit of non co-operation would be an understatement.

If it as you say, send a stat barred letter and if you wish to communicate, you can do so via a web based e-mail address such as Hotmail or alternatively, have your relatives forward all communications on to you via a "Care Of" address.

Thanks for the reply. A language barrier can be big time frustration but this is one of the few times it can be a big plus! And I didn't realize I can send Letter M by email. That would be great. I thought it had to be by recorded post.

Cheers.

hi Infoman,

I was in a similar situation to you see my thread here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/131026-dca-sending-letters-me.html#post1380365

please feel free to use my letters i sent to a couple of other DCA's that stopped them sending letters to my sisters house.

hope this helps

Recorded post is the best option and you could always get someone back home to send it but you can also send E-mails and get it flagged up when they read it.

I would imagine if you are in Russia now that sending it recorded post without giving the game away would be difficult although by giving them an address it might avoid them trying the sneaky trick os sending Court Papers to a Last Known Address in an attempt to get a judgement by default.

Would your employers know what was going on if you used your Russian residential address...I don't see how they could find out unless you gave Thames details of who you were working for.

The OFT Guidance is explicit on this one.

2.14 (b) continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they

will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to

harassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of

Justice Act 1970.

As the alleged debt is statute barred twice over at least, you have nothing to lose here.

Contact Thames and demand a copy of their complaints procedure which they are obliged to send. Make a formal complaint demanding that your data be removed from their system, and a full apology made for the harassment you have been subjected to. If they do not satisfy this, you may be able to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Report this to the OFT, and also the Trading Standards local to Thames.

Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's office about them processing your data.

The only thing that is not clear from your initial post is whether these letters have been sent to Russia or to your relatives. If the address they have been sending the letters to is in England, then just use that as the address as they have it already. If they do try to get a judgment by default, your relatives will receive the court papers and a defence can be submitted.

SH