I too have received similar, if not identical letters from these rogues!

Thank you titch 1969, I followed your advice and sent your letter; after a week they replied saying that they would not be pursuing the debt and that they had closed their file. Result hey!!

Thank you to everyone else for your sound advice too x

Jalexa & Huckster - The clock being reset can only take place within the first Six years of the debt.

After it has reached the Six year anniversary without being acknowledged or any contribution being made....also providing no CCJ has been issued within this same said time limit, then after Six year period it becomes statute barred.....never to be reinstated.

To the contrary - if say a payment was made, or the debtor foolishly wrote a promisory note to make a payment (acknowledgement) say after Five years for example, then under that condition the debt would never actually reach or acquire statute barred status because it did not reach it's Six year full cycle....hence the full Six year clock cycle would start ticking again right from the very start.

The whole point about declaring to a creditor that you will not be paying because the debt is statute barred serves legal notice on the creditor and affords you the protection of the law, it acts as a datemark should the creditor illegally continue to harass you for further payments, it also shifts the burden of proof over to the creditor to show just cause that you have paid or acknowledged (which would void your statute barred claim) ........ if they could show this just cause it would give them the legal entitlement to continue to pursue the debt, however, if they cannot.... then they have to write off the debt or risk legal action taken against themselves for breaking the law.!

Jalexa

I have come to the same conclusion that perhaps silence may be the best option to start of with.

If you do a google for what constitutes acknowledgement of debt, there is some debate and case law regarding this. If you are not careful apparently with the wording of letters, even if you added 'without prejudice', it is possible for the creditor to argue that you have acknowledged the debt.

Whilst I think that the letter contained in conmankillers post on the first page of the thread could be sent without causing any issue., perhaps the sensible thing is to ignore letters. As Felix mentions, this is just a fishing exercise by Telogram, so why take the bait.

I suppose if Telogram continued to cause harassment, I would then definitely send the statute barred letter.

Huckster

Felix4275:

I rest my case;O)

Nice work, but hopefully one of the forum "legal eagles" can explain something that troubles my non-legal mind. Given the definition of "acknowledged" in the article how is it ever possible for the debtor to state that the debt is statute barred without "acknowledging" the debt and restarting the clock?

Is that what the CSA quote hopes to achieve?

Isn't silence the best strategy?

Hi Folks

I (like many others) have received a letter from Telogram asking me to confirm i lived at an address about 12 years ago, so they can update their records. Initially that's what i was going to do until i hit this forum (and many others) and learnt about Statute Barred.

They have not actaully disclosed what 'debt' this pertains to but i beleive that is their way of 'phishing' for info. So i have i have ignored this letter. Today i received another letter from HL Legal (as expected) which i also intend on ignoring. From my many hours of research on the internet i am appauled at the way this (and probably many others) company operates, they mislead and harrass (some of whom) vulnerable people into paying money they are not legally obliged to pay.

So i think anyone on here who has had similar or is going through a similar experience join together and complain to OFT FOC whoever. If enough people complain it will hit them in their pocket (as each complaint raised to a regulator has a financial implication to the creditor)

I have found this link to an article from the credit services association which says it all Have a read at the full article it says:

'In essence, providing you work within legislation and guidance, collection of statute barred accounts is a legitimate activity. However, if your debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred, these accounts should be closed and your records updated appropriately.

I rest my case;O)

Hi All,

Sent off today by registered post the Statute Barred Letter. Will update any responses I receive

Belgy

Googled (capquest abbey)and the forums are full of people in the same boat.

Found this link about capquest .www.freewebs.com/tangohain/index.html

Sadly there is no easy/affordable way.

I highly doubt anyone here would be able to bankroll a tv programme, or out and about clinics to help with this sort of thing.

Regrettably, you are right.

Sadly, the law is a closed book to many and an official looking piece of paper is all that they need.

Typically debt collection agencies pay circa 5% of the original debt so it could be quite lucrative.

We must try to educate people, these forums are great for that.

Unfortunately, older debts means (usually) older people, who are not internet savvy and miss out. When I was at school, computers were things scientist used to calculate pi to a million decimal placed (which took months!). IT education in schools was 40 years away.

How do you bring these people into the public discussion, they feel isolated and fear the legal profession.

S

Stubie-One:

looking at this thread it sounds like the Abbey have been flushing their toilets and some newbie to the collections game jumped in, and is now sinking in poo.

They will be sadly missed, I'm sure

S

If only, I imagine there'll be enough people caught in this who were spooked sufficiently to pay up. Taking into consideration the debts were more than likely bought on the super-cheap - it'd probably only take a hand-ful of payers to make it quite profitable for them.

looking at this thread it sounds like the Abbey have been flushing their toilets and some newbie to the collections game jumped in, and is now sinking in poo.

They will be sadly missed, I'm sure

S

Belgy - The letter sent by recorded delivery serves a useful purpose; in that it legally benchmarks the reason and the date on which you have claimed statute barred status...hence, exercised your right to the protection of the law. Any further contact or pursual from these companies after they have received this notice from yourself, could and probably would be construed as harassment, if you ever needed to report their failure to comply with the law to the appropriate authorities.

The letter cannot prejudice your legal rights in any other way...if this debt qualifies (which it certainly appears to) then it is now irrecoverable under the limitations act 1980. By law as such, it has to be written off by the creditor, because it qualifies as a statute barred debt and they have been notified of this fact.

Neither could signing this particular notice act against you.....the time when you need to be cautious, is when you sign requesting a copy of CCA's. Some unscrupulous debt agencies have been acccused, or may be tempted to reconstruct your signature onto another credit agreement.

Just looked at Equifax, this company, CapQuest, done a search on me on the 5th October. So I think it is time i sent the letter unless I get advice to the contrary. Other than that there is nothing recorded against me by anyone and I have a good record.

Belgy

Belgy

The experience of friends and relatives is that if you send the statute barred letter you should be left alone. They will either send a letter to you advising that they have closed their file or you will hear no more about it.

In regard to signing the letter, this is just in case someone scans it and uses it on some document. The advice is to add rows of xxx or oooo and sign over the top of these. Then if they try to scan your signature, they will also pick up the x's or o's underneath.

If you do nothing, you may continue to be hassled.

Another thing you may want to do, is check your credit record, just in case any errors are contained. Anthing statute barred should not be on it. Both Experian and Equifax offer free trials for 30 days. You can apply online, just don't forget to cancel, as otherwise you will end up paying a month subscription.

Huckster

I am glad I overslept on Friday and never got to post the letter. From what others are saying I am now very unsure in what to do. The Abbey letter does look very cheap, was actually thinking of going down to Abbey and asking to see a letterhead, just to see how nicely it is done.

Guess I will keep an eye on this thread and let people know whats happening and what I am doing about it, which at the moment is not much.

No doubt another letter will pop through the post, and after reviewing some other websites it seems asking people to phone a premium rate number is also a no no in Debt Collection. 0870 is premium in my view anyways.

Any one go more advice?