How long before a bad debt is written off?

[schmallfella]

Hi all,
This is my first time here. I have a question on behalf of my other half, he had a credit card when he was younger which went out of control and he couldn't make the payments after a while. He then lost his job and was out of work for nearly a year so couldn't afford to pay it back. He had a debt collection agency after him for a 6 month period in 2004 but seeing as he wasn't earning he couldn't sort it out and ended up breaking contact with them. He recently started getting letters and phone calls again from the same crowd about the same debt. I would have thought after all this time it would have been written off as a bad debt? Is this the case, or if not when does that happen. I used to work for one of the main banks when I started working and the period was 5 years. I'm not defending him in any way and he should pay it all back. I'm not asking a moral question here about what he should do etc... I'm merely interested in the period of time that a bad debt gets written off in. Does anyone know?

 

[c00lcarl]

5 years sounds about right but I dont think there is any specified time limit, it will depend on the type of loan you are trying to get - secured or unsecured, there are a few different credit rating agencies, the rules would be different for each lending organisation hence the sub prime fiasco we have seen recently where banks were lending to people with poor credit histories. I think the best way for your friend to build up his credit rating again is to take out some small short term loans and make sure he pays them back on time

To find out your credit rating and to see if the records held are correct you can apply to the credit agency under section 4 of the data protection act

 

[schmallfella]

We were talking about getting a mortgage which is how this came up but going on the current climate that in itself seems like it's out of the question. Thanks for the reply, I'll go on to that web site and see what the story is.

 

[mvron]

Is it not the case that if the credit card company secured a judgment against him the debt would have to be paid in full before mortgage providers would agree to provide the loan?

 

[demoivre]

Hi, yes usually bad debt stays on your ICB credit rating for between 3-7 years depending on the seriousness of the breach of contract. However, not all financial institutions in the country are listed on the ICB. For example, alot of credit unions (i have a list) are not listed so if you had bad debt or ICB check. in the case of student credit cards its usually 5 years.

[broken link removed] or is there another one that's not available for all to see?