Two readers have reported getting letters from Intrum/Resolvecall about an old Lloyds debt.
They are asking if they have to pay these old debts:
I had a credit card debt with Lloyds about 10 years ago. I was struggling to pay it at the time… NowI have had a letter from a company called Intrum saying my account will now be managed by a company called Resolvecall who are asking for over £5,000. Do I have to pay this back to these people after all this time? Who I haven’t even corresponded with in over 10 years?
I had a debt with Lloyds bank for an unsecured loan back in 2005 which defaulted until coming off my credit report in 2013 with no CCJ’s ever reported.
Today I have received a letter from Resolvecall acting on behalf of Intrum UK stating they have taken over the debt… with no communication since the 11 years in which this was removed from my report, am I still liable to be taken to court for this debt?
So it sounds as though Intrum has bought a bunch of very old debts from Lloyds.
When is a debt statute barred?
National Debtline says in its factsheet on Statute barred debts
If a debt is barred under statute, it means that by law (the Limitation Act), the lender has run out of time to use certain types of action to try and make you pay the debt.
For debts such as credit cards and a loan from Lloyds, the time that matters is 6 years.
During those 6 years, you can’t have made any payment to the debt or acknowledged it in writing. Making a claim for PPI would often have acknowledged a debt in writing.
Other complicating factors can stop a debt becoming statute barred – see the National Debtline factsheet for details.
So is one of these old Lloyds debts statute barred?
This matters because if a debt is statute barred, a debt collector such as Intrum cannot take you to court for a CCJ.
And if you tell Intrum you will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred, then Intrum should not continue to ask you to pay. So letters should stop and no visit from ResolveCall!
It is likely it is if:
- you haven’t made any payment to it for more than 6 years; and
- you haven’t written to Lloyds about it for more than 6 years; and
- the debt no longer appears on your credit record.
If you are confident that it is well over 6 years, then you can send Intrum an email to compliance.uk@intrum.com, (also copy this email to arc@resolvecall.co.uk) saying the debt is statute barred. Here is the National Debtline template to use. Add the account reference number from the Intrum letter.
If you don’t feel confident, phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000. Don’t send the letter unless you are sure.
Other questions
Do you have to talk to ResolveCall?
No. And if someone does come to your house, you don’t have to let them in. They have no right of entry.
But copying them on the email you are sending Intrum is sensible.
Will the debt reappear on your credit record?
No. A debt drops off 6 years after a default date. And it should not reappear.
