Debts 'NOT' on credit file ??? Help Required

[AntonyChelt]

Hi there

 

Im new to this forum business but im really hoping someone here could help me with a problem i have.

 

In the past, pre yr2000, i had a few bad debts from my student days totalling a couple of £k.

Ive since moved house many, many times and moved around the country too.

 

Today i got my credit file from Experian using the last 3 address; ive had taking me back 4years. The idea was to find who i owed money to and try and pay it off, as the last time i remember they were all with debt collectors and that was years back.

However, the only things on my credit file are current things like my back account, mobile etc etc and nothing bad at all ??!!

 

What do i do, should i contact experian and try and remember old uni address' where these debts were made against? (which is near impossible,seeing as i lived in about 8 houses over 4 years)

 

Help/Advice would be wonderful

Thaks in advance guys

 

AntonyChelt

[powelll]

Anything before July 2001 will not show on any of your cred ref files as they only go back 6 years - it's rolling record of payment history so any old debt will not show.

 

If there are no CCJs showing and you haven't paid on or acknowledged the debts in writing in the last 6 years then they will statute barred and unenforceable anyway so you could quite legitimately decide to put it down to experience and no pay anything.

 

If you did feel some obligation to pay then to be honest you would need to try to contact the original creditors to trace where the debt has been passed onto ( most creditors will sell old debts to debt collection agencies ).

 

I'm certainly not in the business of telling people to avoid paying stuff they legitimately owe but in your case I would seriously consider letting sleeping dogs lie ( and give some money to charity if you feel really bad! )

 

Hope this helps - some info on statute of limitations on link below:

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 25 Liability For Debts And The Limitation Act

[AntonyChelt]

Thanks for the quick reply 'powell'

One quick other question,

The credit file ive got is from Equifax, im going to get one from Experian aswell but are they likely to be very different?

As in, could the Experian one have all the old debts on it ??

 

Thanks again and i like the idea of donating something to charity to make up for it !!!

 

Cheers

Antony

[powelll]

All your cred ref files will only go back 6 years whichever ones you look at but there may be different info on them as some creditors supply info to all 3 ( there's also CallCredit ) some only to 1 or 2. It's usually good practice to get copies of all 3 just to be sure but if it is all over 6 years then it won't show anyway...

[nishi]

thanx for this thread, answered a few questions for me!! im kind of in the same situation as AntonyChelt, although maybe 2-3 years behind. im being bad and hoping they dont cathc up with me for another 3 years, and i can forget about the debts! does it work with mobile phone contracts too?

[powelll]

thanx for this thread, answered a few questions for me!! im kind of in the same situation as AntonyChelt, although maybe 2-3 years behind. im being bad and hoping they dont cathc up with me for another 3 years, and i can forget about the debts! does it work with mobile phone contracts too?

 

Mobile phone contracts aren't CCA 74 regulated but limitations can still apply. You need to be careful that none of your creditors get CCJs in default though - county court papers are deemed to have been served if they are posted to your last known address. It may be worth checking your cred ref file periodically to see if this has happened as limitations won't apply of there's a CCJ.

 

You do need to be aware that there is something called the GAIN ( Gone Away Information Network ) which creditors can sign up to with cred ref agencies. This means that when you contact a CRF to get a copy of your file 9 and have to supply your current address ) any creditors registered with GAIN will be made aware of the address.

[staz]

I'm currently in the situation where I'm trying to remove a CCJ which was applied against me and some flatmates at an old address while we were not living there. Keeping it short and sweet part of my application to set aside was going to say how we'd not received paperwork or notice of debt or anything relating to this matter and were not given the chance to defend. I hear varying things from various people regarding this, but is that the case? deemed to have been served if they are posted to your last known address? Valid?

[powelll]

deemed to have been served if they are posted to your last known address? Valid?

 

Yes - county court papers are deemed to have been served if posted to your last known address ( don't even have to go recorded or special delivery )

 

If you can show that you were not at that address then yes you have grounds to set aside - this puts the CCJ back to 'claim ' stage giving you the chance to either defend / partly defend the claim or offer a reduced instalment.

 

To be honest if you accept you owe the money you just want time to pay you are better off just applying for a variation on the N245 for £35 and asking for instalments. The application to set aside is £65 and form N244 is used.

[staz]

Oh no! ha. STW and Capquest are chasing me for £450+. STW have offered to settle for around £150 which is made up of the £10.50 I actually owed them (which is due to lost post or an administration error) and their legal and court fees which they are trying to get me to pay.

 

I've taken legal advice and the general thought is I have a strong case to get the judgement set aside and then post STW £10.50. Apparently them offering to settle for legal fees is their way of clawing back as much money as possible.

 

Though I'm worried because my application to set aside counts hinges on the fact that.

 

I was not at this address (I can prove this with a tenancy agreement for my new place though I cannot prove that I supplied this as a forwarding address, it is a case of my word 'I did send you that' and theirs 'we have no record of that')

 

I never received the paperwork or the bills or the summons or had the chance to offer a defence.

 

I dispute practically the whole amount.

 

They had contact numbers for all three people involved. They didn't try to contact us at any point until they'd bumped the amount up to a respectable amount. Then they had no qualms about using the phone.