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Response to how long have they got?

from (bluemoon_andy@hotmail.com)
Its a moot point, arrears, and one that hasn't been completely tested by the courts.

The main variables are as follows:

6 years if a debt can be designated as contractual, 12 is specialty. Where specialty applies to property and contractual applies to a cash debt. One argument is that once a property is sold it becomes a normal debt therefore 6 years. Natch, the Building Societies and their solicitors are resistant to this. At the very worst my view is that a debt becomes contractual after the MIG has been paid out, and that as a portion of the debt anyway is mig related (a percentage of your shortfall is being pursued on behalf of your insurers) this portion is definitively contractual debt as no property is involved in the liability/contract between you and the insurer.

Next: The CML 'voluntary' code of not pursuing people after 6 years. In fact the CML appear to have created a new definition of voluntary especially for this PR-friendly code. In this instance the word 'voluntary', in the experience on Q&A here certainly, appears to mean 'if you are dead, otherwise we will continue to hound you'. Again it comes back to what is considered six years. They say six years 'from contacting you'. So by their theory they could wait 11yrs 11months, then write to you and hey presto they've got six years to screw you. One counter argument is that if they new where you were all this time, they should have got in touch earlier as you might have made different financial decisions had you known this was hanging over you (ie. not spent your money on beer and fags and wasted the rest).

Whilst this bearly skims the surface you can see it is complex and arguable from both sides.

(posted 8220 days ago)

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