Letter from ruthbridge\regarding cabot advice please?

[The Prophecy]

Hi all my first post on here,right i will get to the point several months ago had letters from this ruthbridge,with there clients name as cabot financial,basically from what i can gather this is a debt we had approx ten years ago with a bank for approx £700,which was basically built up through ill health and family bereavement.On these letters they are saying that they have phoned and called at our address which is not true nobody has,so we have ignored the least 2-3 letters as after 6 years i thought any debt got wiped.Whether or not this is true im not sure but today we recevied another letter stateing this that if we didnt pay the outstanding amount of £503 as a settlement figure they would instigate bankcruptcy action against us can this be done for that amount??? We do have a mortgage on our house,and my wife works part time but i am as most poeple say it medically retired and have been for the past 6 years.Can someone tell me if this is a scare tactic or what i dont believe personally they can bring a bankruptcy action against us for such an amount,any help/advice would be greatly appreciated,thanks.

[spamheed]

Just to clarify your situation.

 

How long is it since either:

 

The debt was acknowledged by you?

or

Since the last payment was made on the account?

 

You are correct, after six years a debt becomes statute barred, unless enforced by a CCJ 12 years for mortgages.

[Curlyben]

Well firstly they CANNOT make you bankrupt for an amount less that £750.

 

Now you mention 6 years, was this the last time you acknowledged this debt in writing or by payment.

If so it is statute barred and completely unenforceable.

 

Throw this at Ruthless if it is over 6 years ago:

There is a template letter to be found here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

Letter M.

Is it important to start the letter:

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY in Big Bold letters.

[spamheed]

also they wont attempt to bankrupt you because

 

a. it will cost them over £1000 and the debt is significantly less than that

b. the threshold for bankruptcy, is, I believe £750

 

They are trying to scare you into paying them. if the answer to my previous questions is over 6 years, tell them you're not paying and to get stuffed and then report them to Trading Standards for attempting to collect on a statute barred debt

[spamheed]

as always CB gets there first LOL

[The Prophecy]

Thanks for the quick replies i really appreciate it,as far as i can remember if it is the co-operative bank that they have bought the debt off i dont think we paid anything at all on the debt,and also the exact amount on the letter states £774.58p so does this mean they can put court proceedings against us for bankcruptcy??? Thanks once again for the replies.

[spamheed]

again, don't worry too much about the costs and such being added on, it's not going to happen.

 

Just to reiterate, if you haven't paid anything of the debt at all when was the last time you acknowledged the debt?

 

This time period is very important, as If the debt is indeed statute barred, then you can totally disregard any fears of court or otherwise

[The Prophecy]

To be honest i dont think we ever had any sort of correspondence with regards to the debt but then again cant be 100% sure as it was a long time ago,so my best option at the moment is to either ignore it or send a letter back as stated earlier on in the post?

[spamheed]

That's it, get them to prove you owe something

[itsamomentintime]

yes the onus is on them to prove that you owe anything

 

ignore the threats. just hot air

[spamheed]

send CBs Letter and see what turns up, they aren't going to vanish immediately regardless of what you do.

 

They will keep trying it on, but once they know they aren't getting anything, they should calm down quite a lot