Hi, just wondering if anyone would be able to help me out here.
A family member took out a loan with the Credit Union 20+ years ago, they had approx £300 left to pay off on it, were paying off an amount weekly. They also had approx £200 shares saved with the Credit Union.
For various reasons, that debt was somehow overlooked by the family member (moved house, new job, new baby, thought they had paid off more than they had, plus a whole host of other things) and the Credit Union didn't follow it up either (if they had been reminded of it, naturally they would have kept up repayments).
Flash forward to yesterday - a letter in the door, addressed to family member by name but with the wrong address, the letter had been from pillar to post and finally found it's way there - the Credit Union are now looking for the original £300 (now €400 or thereabouts I think) plus interest of approx €800 added. Now this family member is obviously older, they are out of work after 40 years of working fulltime, and on social welfare.
They are very worried as to what will happen if they cannot afford to pay this debt (and to be honest, they can't really afford it).
My questions are - how long can an institute chase someone up for debt? I was under the impression that there was some limit as to time elapsed? Surely by this stage that debt should have been written off as a bad debt?
Also - should the shares of £200 have been used to offset the £300 owed at the time, therefore at least bringing the interest portion of the debt down?
I can't really believe a credit union are chasing down a small debt from over two decades ago, when there's plenty out there defaulting on huge loans.
Any and all help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
A family member took out a loan with the Credit Union 20+ years ago, they had approx £300 left to pay off on it, were paying off an amount weekly. They also had approx £200 shares saved with the Credit Union.
For various reasons, that debt was somehow overlooked by the family member (moved house, new job, new baby, thought they had paid off more than they had, plus a whole host of other things) and the Credit Union didn't follow it up either (if they had been reminded of it, naturally they would have kept up repayments).
Flash forward to yesterday - a letter in the door, addressed to family member by name but with the wrong address, the letter had been from pillar to post and finally found it's way there - the Credit Union are now looking for the original £300 (now €400 or thereabouts I think) plus interest of approx €800 added. Now this family member is obviously older, they are out of work after 40 years of working fulltime, and on social welfare.
They are very worried as to what will happen if they cannot afford to pay this debt (and to be honest, they can't really afford it).
My questions are - how long can an institute chase someone up for debt? I was under the impression that there was some limit as to time elapsed? Surely by this stage that debt should have been written off as a bad debt?
Also - should the shares of £200 have been used to offset the £300 owed at the time, therefore at least bringing the interest portion of the debt down?
I can't really believe a credit union are chasing down a small debt from over two decades ago, when there's plenty out there defaulting on huge loans.
Any and all help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.