Seeking advice from someone knowledgeable

[JASIU2009]

Hi,

I am seeking some advice and will try not to rattle on or confuse.

 

 

My story:

 

Had mortgage with the woolwich, and handed keys back in 1996, they sold house on at a huge loss in 1997.

 

Parents received one letter for me which they 'signed for',then realised it was in my name so sent it back.

 

I had moved away.

 

2002 bought a house.

 

2004 changed mortgage provider.

 

2006 changed mortgage provider.

 

2009 sold up and now back in rented.

 

So for the past 20 years since i defauted on mortgage i've been self-employed,

had 3 mortgages,

a bank account,

mobile phone account,

car insurance,

council tax,

utility bills.

 

I am now for the first time about to go on the electoral register.

 

Twice in the past i have paid £2 for my credit report and never saw a ccj,

so i presume i've never had one.

 

i am wondering if i never received a ccj, if going on the electoral register will change things or, as its been 20 years without any obvious attempts to find me that, there are no dca's seeking me?

 

Thanks in advance.

[citizenB]

You can search Trust online - I think for a fee of £4.00 - to see if a CCJ has been issued in your name. http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself

 

 

It is also my understanding that if the mortgage company or their agents have not been in touch within 12 years, then they are probably unlikely to be able to collect.

 

 

I would wait on others with more knowledge before making any decisions.

 

 

I am a little puzzled however, how you have, in the last 20 years been able to obtain mortgages and bank account, paid council tax and utility bills WITHOUT being on the electoral roll !

[dx100uk]

too old to even worth worrying about

 

I guess you are worried about being chased for the short fall?

bit diff to guess what your issue is?

 

but safe to say

nowt exists nor can now as you say

you've loads of credit

would never had been possible with a CCJ.

 

so IMHO forget all about old debt

enjoy your life.

 

dx

[JASIU2009]

Thanks guys thus far,

 

Citizen,

i simply can't answer your question.

 

 

After handing in the keys to the Woolwich i moved in with my parents for a short while.

 

 

I closed a Barclays bank account and opened a new bank account at my parents,

moved car insurance there, mobile phone, tax details/correspodence and although i soon moved from the area, i kept all correspondence there.

 

 

i was living in another county when i applied for a mortgage using my parents address as a home address (i was living with a friend)........maybe i was on the electoral register at my parents?

 

dx, your confidence is appreciated,

my concern is the electoral register as i have always been led to believe this would be a fast track way for dca's to trace someone?

 

The old can of worms.

[martin2006]

It makes no odds how a dca would trace you, Citizen B is correct that it woukd now be Statute Barred after 12 yrs of no payments or written acknowledgement from yourself.

 

As dx says, stop worrying about it and go enjoy your life, if they were ever foolish enough to issue a claim via the courts, come back and it can kilked stone dead.

[JASIU2009]

Ok thankyou all....

 

Finally excuse my dumbness but,as i say i looked at my credit report a couple of times over the years and had no ccj's, besides i would not have been able to get a mortgage right?....

...so does no ccj mean no debt?

 

Or could it still be the debt could have been sold on to a dca and they're waiting for me to surface.

 

The thing is the shortfall with the Woolwich morthage in 1996/97 was for about 50k,

surely for that sum of money, electoral register or not, they would have tried damn hard to find me?

 

If its relevant.....the Woolwich was taken over by Barckays in 2000

Sorry again and thankyou.

[dx100uk]

no its not irrelevant

doesn't matter if one company took over the other

the debt exists as all rights are sold on to even to a dca

 

the over ridding factor here is the 12yrs.

 

the mortgage lending council clearly state that is the original creditor has 6yrs

they've had 12 forget about it

 

selling it on to a DCA does not extend the SB date.

 

ignore go get on with your life.

 

 

dx

[BenNovice]

Sorry to bump in but,just a thought.....maybe the shortfall was never persued?

I am wondering if some shortfalls perhaps for whatever reason,never actually get persued.

Maybe someone on here will know or have heard of such a case.

[fletch70]

Hi

 

To add to everyone else, if you haven't heard from anyone for 20 years here is nothing to worry about. If they had been going to chase you for that amount I think it likely that they would have gone for bankruptcy which after all this time would have been over anyway

 

Why some creditors chase some people and not others is one of lifes mysteries but if it looked like there was little to no prospect of receiving anything , it becomes totally uneconomical to chase someone. It is amazing what they can find out about you if they really try

[Laura Thyme]

Indeed it's a mystery why some people get a lot of hassle from creditors while others don't.

 

 

The only thing I would add here is that statute barred is a procedural defence.

 

 

It is a common misconception that a claim cannot be issued for a SBd debt, it can, but SBd is an absolute defence to the claim.

I doubt anyone would bother after 20 years.

[unclebulgaria67]

In the mid to late 1990's, there were thousands of repossessions and i doubt they were all chased with court claims issued. Mortgage companies have contingency insurance and it might have just been included as a write off, with no chance of enforcing the debt. Also the CML in 2000 i think, issued their guidance that if a mortgage shortfall was not chased for 6 years it should be written off.

 

Being that you managed to obtain other mortgages, i doubt that this old 1997 mortgage debt was ever noted on any record that was accessed by your new mortgage companies when checking your applications.

[L1882]

Indeed it's a mystery why some people get a lot of hassle from creditors while others don't. The only thing I would add here is that statute barred is a procedural defence. It is a common misconception that a claim cannot be issued for a SBd debt, it can, but SBd is an absolute defence to the claim. I doubt anyone would bother after 20 years.

Is that statement accurate? According to citizens advice a court cannot be asked to enforce a debt that is statute barred and you cannot issue proceedings: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/how-to-dispute-a-credit-debt/time-limits-for-recovering-debt-in-court/

a firm shouldn’t threaten you with court action if the debt is statute barred, because court action is not actually possible

[Laura Thyme]

Is that statement accurate? According to citizens advice a court cannot be asked to enforce a debt that is statute barred and you cannot issue proceedings: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/how-to-dispute-a-credit-debt/time-limits-for-recovering-debt-in-court/

What they are saying is that, once you inform the creditor that the debt is statute barred and therefore you won't be paying it, they shouldn't keep harassing you over it, otherwise there would be little point in limitation if they can still keep firing threatening letters at you and ringing you.

 

One thing to remember is that there is no record of SBd debts. Neither the creditors nor the courts will know when a debt has become SBd. Most debts get sold on, often to more than one debt purchaser, without all the account history, that's why, when you want to get copies of old statements, you send a SAR to the bank and not to Lowell, Cabot, etc. They wouldn't even know whether the debt is SBd or not.

 

Also bear in mind how the court process works, proceedings are issued electronically and the court doesn't even verify the address of the defendant, let alone the authenticity of the debt, that's why there are so many default judgments against people who never received the court papers. Once the 14 days for acknowledgment of service are up, the claimant can request default judgment and the court only looks at the issue date of the claim, not the merits of the case.

 

It is perfectly possible to get a CCJ for a SBd debt for the reasons above, only if you do, you can also apply for set aside on the grounds that it was SBd at the time the claim was issued. Debt purchasers issue claims for SBd debts every day, it's up to the defendant to submit a SBd defence and the onus then is on the claimant to show it is not. You wouldn't need your statements to show you haven't paid anything in 6 or 12 years, they would need to produce statements showing that you have. Some debt purchasers, notably Lowell, have gone as far as to make up phantom payments, it's also not unusual to credit the £1 CCA request fee to the account and then argue a £1 payment was made.

 

If you had previously sent a SBd letter to the creditor and they still go and issue proceedings without providing any evidence to the contrary (that the debt is not SBd), it would be regarded as an abuse of process, but if there was no communication from the defendant, they couldn't be expected to have known it was SBd.

[BenNovice]

With regards to this thread opened by jasiu2009,it would seem as dx says,there is nothing to worry about.Reading through,i would guess also your case went under the radar anyway.

[Laura Thyme]

With regards to this thread opened by jasiu2009,it would seem as dx says,there is nothing to worry about.Reading through,i would guess also your case went under the radar anyway.

True, not likely to resurrect it after 20 years but the question about SBd and proceedings was asked and had to be answered, for the benefit of all the others reading these boards.

[JASIU2009]

Thankyou to all those who posted advice.

I shall now go agead and register on the electoral roll.

Hopefully nothing will change!

Kind regards.