Time to stop burying my head in the sand..........!

[dancardiff1927]

I took out a loan back some years ago with Lloyds TSB. I lost my job, and everything started to go wrong (mainly because I naively started ignoring correspondence!!). I made the odd payment here and there to try and keep them happy, but eventually stopped making payments about 5 years ago and it eventually Defaulted. Like an idiot, I ignored all correspondence from numerous companies and DCA's for the past 5 years and on times it would go silent for a good few months (perhaps longer), before being passed onto a new DCA and the process starting over again. I'd read something about no payment being made within 6 years, then they can't reclaim the debt, so without knowing too much details regarding this, recently this is all I've been aiming for!! I've never sent any letters or done any of the other steps banded around, mainly because I didn't understand them and I'm the world worst procrastinist!!

Currently it's been passed on again, from 1 part of a group to another and I've had a letter saying they are in the process of advising our client to take Litigation action against me to recover the debt and that I had 7 days to offer a payment plan. I'm not sure why, but this one has 'shook' me a little bit and I'm a little concerned that my ignore everything for 6 years is flawed!!!

Given that I've not sent any letters to anyone etc at this stage, what's the best way to approach it. The fact that I owe £6k and it's been passed about 5 years, would lead me to believe that if they could take action against me, then they would have already.

I'm concerned that if I send them a letter and ask for this information, they may just proceed on the CCJ basis, as I've not complied with the timescale involved.

I can arrange to make small payments to them, perhaps £10-£20 a month, but aware as soon as I did that, the 6 year 'option' has gone.

Any advice? I've probably missed heaps of details that you need, but let me know if you need anything else?

Thanks,

[PAWS]

Re: Time to stop burying my head in the sand..........!

Hello Dancardiff.:yo:
Do not be too hard on yourself; we all bury our heads in the sand and as you pointed out a lot of the correspondence you receive from these so-and-sos is often heavily worded and leaves you with ‘Hobson’s choice’ i.e. ‘pay up or else’ so if you cannot ‘pay up’ you feel there is no point. Beating yourself up about it at this stage is pointless.
I am not sure what your next move should be but I will give this a bump:bump2: and I am sure one of the clever chaps will be along soon to give you some sound advice. Get as much of the original paperwork together as you can and have it handy.

[Ruby]

Re: Time to stop burying my head in the sand..........!

There seems to be trigger point with DCA's that just before the 6 year statute barred mark they start to get heavy handed.

We had this happen to us with two old credit cards that were coming up to being s/b'd . We were sent court papers pretty much out of the blue. DCA's have been abusing the court system to 'frighten' people to paying up. Unfortunately for this particular DCA we stood up to them and won the case in court. However it has to be said it was stressful as we had never been in a court environment before.

Don't mean to worry you but be prepared :tinysmile_twink_t2:

First course of action would be to do a CCA request.