Do I have to pay a debt that is over six years old?

Question

As i say I have a debt that is over 6 years old. It was with a mobile phone company, there was a dispute between myself and them about a particular bill, I wrote to them explaining my dispute but got no reply so I cancelled my direct debit until I managed to contact them. My line was cut off and they were sending me reminder letters, I sent them back together with copies of the origanal complaint. I have heard nothing from them for over 6 years, then yesterday I get a letter from a recovery company saying that they have bought the debt and want me to pay bla bla bla. O I should mention that I live in the U.K.

Do I have to pay this debt? I'm sure that if a company thinks you owe them money they only have 6 years to get it back...... Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

As far as I know, if 6 years has passed since their last correspondence then the debt no longer exists.  Not sure where I read this though so it may not be wholly true.

Answer 2

you will always owe money, but it may not show on a credit report after 6 years.  

Answer 3

they will keep on until they take u to court and cause you big trouble with your credit rating. if its been so long try going to the CAB and ask them what you should do? they may suggest conctacting them and working out a payment plan to pay it back.  

Answer 4

If you want it removed from your credit report you will pay it.  Now that you have been tracked down, the new owner of the bill will update it.  What you need to do is pull your credit report and dispute the entry for the cell phone company.  If the cell company can't prove it, the credit company will remove it.  You need to contact each one and pull a report from each of them.  They don't talk to each other, esp when it comes to clean someones report.

Answer 5

yep

Answer 6

If you have had no contact with the company, acknowledged the debt in writing (or over the phone) and more importantly have not paid anything towards the debt in 6 years, then you can write to the creditor and tell them that the debt is Statute Barred (providing that you don't have a CCJ against your name for the debt - if so, get further advice - contacts below).

Statute Barred means that the debt is no longer enforceable in court, so, although you technically still owe the debt, the creditor can't ask a court to enforce its collection through the legal system - in reality, this means that they will struggle to get the money from you and may well give up at this stage - although not necessarily.

As soon as you acknowledge the debt, either by contact or by making some form of payment to the debt - the clock starts again - and the debt will not be Statute Barred for a further 6 years.

For further information try:

http://www.payplan.com/debt-library/join...

or for a template letter to send to your creditor:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/englan...

Hope this helps

Peter

Answer 7

The company you originally owed the money to has sold the debt to a debt collector.  They will hound you forever, or until you pay them something.

Make them an offer. If it is more than they paid for the debt (so they are making a profit), they might go for it and discharge your obligation...

(For all those who seem to believe that if you can avoid recovery attempts for six years that then you no longer owe the money, LOL, really? Could you lend me some money? Do you really think that if I can avoid you for six years, I don't owe it to you any more?)

Answer 8

It depends whether they got a judgment against you 6 years ago.... if they didn't, I'm pretty sure you won't have to pay anything as they are statute-barred. You could try writing to them saying that they are statute-barred and see what they say.  Otherwise, make an appointment with your CAB as they will be aware of the up-to-date law.

Answer 9

If you have received no demands for this debt whatsoever for over six years, then it is dead, not recoverable