SLC Keep Chasing Statute Barred Debt - Please Help!

[karamanda]

Hi, please can you help? I took out 2 loans total £1,000, and graduated in 1994, did not defer and I had no communication with SLC, until I received a letter from a DCA in 2004, demanding full payment of balance £2,300. I then a received a solicitors letter, then a deferment form from SLC, which I completed and returned to them. I then spoke to Money Advice Trust who said the debt is statute barred and they gave me a template letter to send to SLC (saying it’s statute barred and that the OFT say it is unfair/an offence to mislead the debtor that they should have to pay, if they have heard nothing during the relevant limitation period). The SLC completely ignored this and my request for deferment, other than to say that as I had completed the deferment form, I acknowledge the debt and that's when the course of action begins. I think they sent me the deferment form as a trick to get me to acknowledge the debt, but I've been told that what matters is that I did not acknowledge the debt during the relevant limitation period, several years ago.

 

Over the last five years I have had 40 letters, sent by 3 DCA's, a solicitor, Smith Lawson and SLC, who continue to threaten the possibility of legal action, possible bailiffs and a possible CCJ, if I don't pay the balance (which now stands at £2,500 - although the balance requested goes up and down from £1,900 to £4,000 - inc interest and admin charges)! They sent me a copy of my original credit agreement and the signature page is readable, but the second page with further terms and conditions is black, fuzzy and illegible! The Money Advice Trust just told me to keep replying with versions of their template letter, which I have done, but the SLC ignore them and continue to badger me for full payment.

 

I recently discovered that from 2008 the Financial Ombudsmen is now responsible for these old style loans provided there was some course of action being undertaken by SLC in 2008. I contacted the FO's office who said to get a final letter from SLC and if it's unsatisfactory to send in a complaint form to them. The SLC sent back a demand for payment, saying that it is not statute barred, because the cause of action began in 2004 when I contacted them to defer payments. I received another one this week saying that my account is pending issue of a Court Order and I have 7 days to reply!

 

I phoned the Money Advice Trust and they said it might be best to do nothing and wait for it to go to court and then put in a statute barred defence, to force an end to it! They said that if I choose to complain to the Financial Ombudsman, then I first need to make every effort to give the SLC the chance to sort it out first, so I now need to give the SLC much more detail about the dates of the relevant limitation period, etc. I have never earned enough in any one tax year to be eligible to may repayments. I am not working, (my partner works) and I am disabled (but not in receipt of any benefits) and I was under 40 when I took out the loans and I am now 50+. The worry of this is making me ill (I am on pain killers for my disability and on anti-depressants). Please can someone help with what I need to do/say next? Thanks a lot.

[karamanda]

Please can anyone help me on this one?

[Sol]

Hi Karamanda,

 

Do you have proof of postage for your Statute Barred letter?