When attempting to retrieve long-term outstanding debts, there are certain procedures that need to be followed and evidenced in order for a successful recovery.
Limitations Act 1980
If you have not made any acknowledgement of the debt for over 6 years nor have a court order, the debtor may be able to act under the Limitations Act 1980. This states that if no contact between the creditor and the debtor regarding the debt has taken place in this amount of time, the debt can be statute barred.
Statute barred debt is debt that is not enforceable to retrieve as the passed time has elapsed to chase the debt via contact or retrieval attempts.
Country Court Judgement
A debt that has a court claim, a County Court Judgement, remains on the Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines for 6 years. This means that if you have applied for a CCJ in the past against a debtor, even if the debt is over 6 years old, the debt is still enforceable by law.
Process to begin recovery
To begin the debt recovery process, you need evidence of contact between you and the debtor to prove that acknowledgement of the debt exists, despite the length of time. This could be emails, letters or phone calls. Collating this information proves that the Limitations Act 1980 can be dismissed.
You next need to establish how much is owed, and dates of when arrears should have been paid and have been missed. CCJ or not, this confirms that the debt should have been paid.
Enlisting the assistance of an enforcement agency will speed up the recovery process. Able Investigations offer a high-quality service so you can recover monies owed, quickly and efficiently. For more information about how we can help, please call our team on 0345 366 0000.
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