hi all, this is my first thread because i was looking for help online and seemed to naturally be directed to this forum.

In about 2006 i took out finance on a car for approx £8000. After about 7 months i had the car company come and take the car back as i could not afford the repayments! Shortly after that i had a letter saying i still owed them about £5800!!!

I have ignored this debt and the occasional letters ever since because i simply think it is absurd!

Over the past few years this debt has been passed to 2 or 3 different debt recoveries and 'solicitors' etc but i have never responded to a single letter in about 6 years.

In the last 3 - 4 weeks i have had about 5 or 6 letters from MMF. The last letter threatening door step visit if i do not respond to the letter in 7 days!

I have no permanent job, i live with my parents, i certainly have no possessions of any value except for my clothes and car worth about £500. I have no savings and can not afford to go bankrupt even if i wanted to because i can not afford the fees.

i think this debt is absolutely ridiculous but i am not sure wot to do or how to handle it! I really dont want them turning up at my parents house.

Any advice on what i should do? Is there any way of getting this to go away?

Thanks in advance

hi all, this is my first thread because i was looking for help online and seemed to naturally be directed to this forum.

 

In about 2006 i took out finance on a car for approx £8000. After about 7 months i had the car company come and take the car back as i could not afford the repayments! Shortly after that i had a letter saying i still owed them about £5800!!!

 

I have ignored this debt and the occasional letters ever since because i simply think it is absurd!

 

Over the past few years this debt has been passed to 2 or 3 different debt recoveries and 'solicitors' etc but i have never responded to a single letter in about 6 years.

 

In the last 3 - 4 weeks i have had about 5 or 6 letters from MMF. The last letter threatening door step visit if i do not respond to the letter in 7 days!

 

I have no permanent job, i live with my parents, i certainly have no possessions of any value except for my clothes and car worth about £500. I have no savings and can not afford to go bankrupt even if i wanted to because i can not afford the fees.

 

i think this debt is absolutely ridiculous but i am not sure wot to do or how to handle it! I really dont want them turning up at my parents house.

 

Any advice on what i should do? Is there any way of getting this to go away?

 

Thanks in advance

Why do u think it is absurd..

the finance agreement for the car was for approx £8000 total including interest over the next 4 years! i didnt pay a deposit and in the 6 months i owned the car, i paid approx £1800. then i asked them to take the car back because i couldnt afford the repayments expecting that to be the end of it (i was young and naiive). now they expect me to pay another £5600 on top of the £1800 i had already paid, for a car i only had for 6 months that they sold to me for approx £6500 + interest! i asked them to take the car back because i could not afford it! it was not repossessed! how can they ask me to pay over £7000 for a car i had from them for 6 months!! it doesnt seem fair!

Ok. FInd the absolute last day that you made payment to the account. That is the most important thing you can do right now. MMF are well known for barraging debtors just as the debt is about to be SB'd.

Do NOT reply to them in any way. Find out the last date you made payment on the account.

sorry for being a little ignorant but what does that mean (sb'd) ?

Statute barred. It's a UK law, where if you havent acknowledged the debt or paid any money towards it in the last 6 years, then it becomes unenforceable and the creditor cannot take any enforcement action against you. They can send letters demanding payment, but you wont have to pay. Most creditors just send a reply back when you say it is statute barred sayign they will wipe your information from their systems.

Others however, try fraudulent methods to get you to pay, by inventing fictitious charges on the debt on random dates.

FInd out the last date you made payment, and 6 years from that date means the debt goes "bye bye" and you can send the creditor a nice statute barred message and wave them away.

just trawled through my bank statements and it looks as though my last payment was july 2007! Any ideas what to do next?

Which do you live? North or south of the border?

england im afraid!

its such a long time ago that i have no records of the agreement or anyfin! should i ask them for any proof that i owe the debt or anything? i have no means of being able to pay the debt. i currently have work that ends next month so i can not really set up any long term payment plan! should i contact them and explain my current circumstances? i really do not want them turning up at my parents house!

Could always send a SAR to them. It costs £10 and they have 40 days to respond. Plus it doesnt acknowledge any debt.

thank you, that looks like a good course of action. or a first step at least. what happens if they do not respond in the 40 days?

Just a bit of advise, when contacting anybody Re: the above. Ensure you include the line 'I do NOT acknowledge any debt with your ccompany' and if you are sending them a tenner, ensure you remind them that this payment is for a SAR and should NOT be used for anything else (for example a payment towards the alleged debt that you do NOT acknowledge)

Apologies if this sounds like encouragement for debt avoidance, i don't condone that and I know it's the general opinion of CAG NOT to encourage debt avoidance, just think it's best as the debt could be close to be SB.

Also OP, does this show at all on your credit files?

i certainly do not avoid my debts! its just i believe this one to b unfair even to the point of unjust! to want me to pay over £7000 for a car that was sold to me for £6500 that i willingly returned to them in the same condition just 6 months later seems very unfair! last time i checked my credit report was approx 2 years ago and this debt was NOT LISTED

You could always try and drag it out as long as possible. Since its kinda close to SB anyway. Use 2nd class stamps on each letter and extend the letters a bit. Take a week or two after receipt to read and reply, that kinda stuff. It sounds liek debt avoidance tactics, but in reality what the creditor is doing to you is a last ditch attempt at getting money as they know its coming up on SB. A LOT of DCA's do this as they think they can trick you into acknowledging it.

You could always send them the Prove it letter from the CAG library. See exactly what evidence they have. Remember, they will try and just outline it on a bit of paper in the letter. What you are after with your request is FULL proof, including agreements, terms and conditions etc. Not just them making something up like " you bought a car and didnt pay the full amount owed etc etc.

Sjpiper, I didn't insinuate that you DID avoid debts, I just like to add that little disclaimer in case anybody accuses me of encouraging debt avoidance. Apologies if it caused offence, I certainly didn't mean to

My brother, very similar situation with Yes car credit! Think they took the car back and the last time he checked his CRA file he owed almost double and without a car. So, I'm 100% behind you that this seems unfair and unjust.

Just include those 2 lines I quoted in all correspondence. Would hate for them to drag an acknowledgment out of you and restart the 6 year clock!

Regards

Sorry, just a little bit further advise. I'd personally get a copy of each of your CRA reports (experian, equifax and call credit) just to see if this is listed on any of them.