They are now clutching at straws in the very slim hope that they may harass or pressure you into making a lower full and final settlement (anything is better than nothing ) on this old statute barred debt. Unless they can furnish the proof that you have invited them to produce that contradicts your claim.... then this debt is and remains legally defunct. Therefore any payment you may LOL : -- ) kindly decide to make would be entirely voluntary and without any legal obligation whatsoever.

Send the letter below by recorded delivery, after that report them to the relevant authorties... as they are in breach of the law unless they could provide proof to the contrary.!

.............................................. ........................................

Your name address & Date

Dear Sirs

Harassment

Account Number: XXXXXXX

I am writing in relation to the response that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing. I have provided you with a letter that states this debt is considered statute barred by law, unless you can provide me with any lawful authority that overides my legal rights under these circumstances, then I consider any further contact from you as unlawful and illegal harassment

I now require no further contact of any form from your company about this matter, unless you can supply the aforementioned legal authority above.

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you continue to harass me with unrequested letters unwarranted contact or telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine and / or have action taken against your credit licence.

Be advised that any further harassing correspondence from your company about this subject which by law is now considered to be legally unenforceable, will be saved and forwarded onto the relevant statutory bodies above as a formal complaint about your unlawful conduct.

Yours faithfully,

[NAME HERE]

................................................. .........................................

REDS - P.S. I have one other debt with 1st Credit that is more recent, I am paying ex amount on a monthly basis by dd. If I wanted to make an offer of settlement for this debt ie: 25% of the outstanding debt can I go ahead as this is a seperate debt?

Yes, the above issue is entirely separate and does not prejudice your rights to make a full and final settlement on that separate, but valid debt. Make sure though that any offer on that enforceable debt is accepted by them in writing as such.... before you make a final payment.

PS - A relevant opening offer would be the same poetic 25% of the valid debt that they have already and kindly offered you on the old statute barred debt, it just goes to show they can accept much lower amounts than the original debt, as already demonstrated.!!!

.

F' ...em.!

Hi,

I received further correspondance from 1st credit in Sept and Oct 09. In Sept I received a letter with a heading of "Pay within the next 7 days to guarantee maximum discount availability". There was a break down of 10 - 30% off if paid in 7 - 60 days, I ignored this letter. In Oct 09 I received another letter with a heading " Important Notice.....Clear The Outstanding Debt for 25%......Don't Miss Out On A Great Offer, again I ignored this letter.

It appears that 1st Credit have ignored the recorded delivery letter that I sent them in Jan 09 explaining about the Limitation Act and that the debt was statute barred.

Please can someone advise?

Many thanks

P.S. I have one other debt with 1st Credit that is more recent, I am paying ex amount on a monthly basis by dd. If I wanted to make an offer of settlement for this debt ie: 25% of the outstanding debt can I go ahead as this is a seperate debt?

Thanks for your help

Hi - Yes they can make enquiries with the initial creditor to find out the facts, they will firstly be checking the records to see if there has been a payment made within Six years to ascertain if your claim is correct or not.

Do not do anything until they contact you as promised, even if they take longer than a month to reply... also never contact them on the phone, they will twist what has been said. !

Hi again, I sent the second letter recorded delivery and have just received a reply today. 1st Credit's reply letter is as follows

YOU HAVE RAISED A DISPUTE/QUERY

I refer to your recent communication advising 1st Credit Ltd that you have a dispute/query in relation to this debt.

We will shortly be contacting our client to advise them of your comments. We will contact you with our client's reply in due course. This process may take at least one month.

Unless you are querying the full balance we must ask you to contact 1st Credit Ltd immediately to discuss payment of the debt amount you accept is due and payable.

Please call this office to provide a suitable contact number.

This will ensure we are able to deal with this matter quickly and efficiently.

When I initially received the first letter from 1st Credit advising of a debt, I contacted them by telephone and spoke to a lady who advised that they had bought the debt from Abbey. Can they now go back to Abbey for more info if they had bought the debt from them?

Thanks

I contacted the National Debtline, they advised to send a letter pointing out the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 and that the debt is now statute barred which I did. I received a reply from 1st Credit this week threatening that they may take legal proceedings against me. I immediately contacted the National Debtline again who advised that I could simply ignore the letter, make a complaint to the OFT and Financial Ombudsman or send the same letter again just adding the following " having written to you previously, if you contact me further then I will have no hesitation to contact the OFT and Financial Ombudsman.

I was about to send the second letter recorded delivery today but I just wanted to check if that is the correct next step?

REDS -- your intended action above is correct, once you have sent the initial notice stating you will not be paying an alleged debt because it has become "statute barred" under the limitations act 1980, the onus of any further proof to the contrary rests with the claimant.

If they are unable to dispute your claim by taking legal action which would be futile, then any further contact regarding this matter is construed as harassment under ... "section 40 of the administration of justices act 1970.....for which the creditor could face substantial fines or penalties including suspension or revokation of their credit licence.

Thanks for your help

Also visit

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/1st-credit-debt-collection-agency-help-29779.aspx

and speak to Tartan Army he should be able to give you some more advice.

First thing is dont admit anything especially dont admit to owing any money.

Simply write back stating "refer to my previous letter and quote Limitations Act 1980.and say further communications can be deemed harrasment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.

If they continue to harass then go to your local Trading Standards or Write to the Office of Fair Trading.

Thanks for your reply. Yes it was an unsecured debt.

1st credit's second letter quoted Legal Proceedings. It went on to say we now may take legal proceedings against you. If successful it may result in

Entry of your name in the County Court Judgment Register, making it very difficult to obtain Credit in the future. Subsequent failure to make payment could result in enforcement action:

- An application to your employer for an attachment of earnings

- Seizure of your assets by a County Court Bailiff

- A charging order against your property, (if owned by you)

They have completely ignored my previous letter so should I send them a second letter? Do you advise that I get in touch with OFT and Financial Ombudsman?

I assume that it is unescured debt. If you had failed to pass on your new address details,if that is the case the debt will still exist and creditors are entitled to chase the debt indefinitely (even after the debt has become Statute Barred), however they can only use the legal system to recover the monies for up to 6 years after the last payment was made to the account.

If the creditor has previously taken you to court and you have received a County Court Judgement, you will be unable to use the Limitations Act 1980 to dispute the debt. If the judgement is over 6 years old the creditor may need the permission of the Court to enforce the debt.

If a creditor continues to contact you after accepting that a debt is Statute Barred and you have stated that you no longer intend to pay the debt, you may be able to claim harassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.

Hi,

I received a letter in early december 08 from 1st Credit saying that Abbey has assigned to them the full outstanding balance due under the agreement which was an old credit card debt I had. This £400 debt is now over 8yrs old and I have not received any correspondence since 2000. I did change address in 2001 but as far as I am aware I do not have any CCJ's against me. I have a recent Experian credit report which does not show this debt.

I contacted the National Debtline, they advised to send a letter pointing out the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 and that the debt is now statute barred which I did. I received a reply from 1st Credit this week threatening that they may take legal proceedings against me. I immediately contacted the National Debtline again who advised that I could simply ignore the letter, make a complaint to the OFT and Financial Ombudsman or send the same letter again just adding the following " having written to you previously, if you contact me further then I will have no hesitation to contact the OFT and Financial Ombudsman.

I was about to send the second letter recorded delivery today but I just wanted to check if that is the correct next step?

Please can someone advise

Many thanks