How Long Can Creditors Chase Me?

If you’re struggling with debt, you may be wondering how long it’ll take for your debt to expire and creditors to continue to pursue your finances.

This is a very common question that thousands of debtors have in the UK.

In this guide, we will be shedding light on how long creditors can chase you, along with answers to the most common FAQ’s for further clarity.

Having an understanding of debt collection time limits and what is likely to happen if you do not pay can be useful to help you manage your finances.

This can also help better assemble your priorities.

In addition to debt collection time limits, there are other things you should know about.

Examples of this include debt enforcement process and debt relief orders.

There is no straight answer with these topics.

It varies from creditor to creditor how long they will chase for payment once a debt is deemed ‘outstanding’.

Let’s expand things further …

What Are Creditors?

Although the phrases you’ve probably seen in connection to the subject appear simple, understanding the roles of debtors and creditors is critical.

If you’re interested to learn more we’d love to discuss your current position and relationship with debt over the phone. Check out our 60 second quote tool and get started by visiting our website here Consumer Debt Help.

Let’s kick off with our definition of a creditor.

Creditors are people, organisations, or other entities to which that are owed money because they have provided goods or services or supplied funds to another entity.

Traditionally, you can anticipate to deal with two sorts of creditors: loan creditors and trade creditors.

Banks and building societies are among the loan creditors, whereas trade creditors are those that have not yet been paid for the items/services they provided.

What’s The Difference Between Debtors and Creditors?

As we continue to expand our knowledge on all things debt. It’s important to also look deeper into what’s commonly referred to as a debtor.

You can see that the distinctions between these groups are quite significant after looking at our creditor and debtor definitions.

Creditors are individuals or companies who have lent money to others and are therefore owed funds.

In contrast, debtors are people or firms who have borrowed money from a firm and now owe money.

The order in which creditors are paid is governed by a strict hierarchy. Creditors are divided into two categories as part of this.

Secured and unsecured creditors.

The distinctions between the two can be seen below.

What Are Unsecured Creditors?

Unsecured creditors are ranked lower than secured and preferred creditors in the payment hierarchy. They don’t have claims over assets, so they receive considerably smaller sums than preferential and secured creditors do.

Unsecured creditors are:

• Customers
• Suppliers
• Contractors

How can unsecured creditors recover debts?

Unsecured creditors may resort to issuing written reminders and sending letters of demand in order to collect their outstanding debt if their initial actions fail.

If these methods prove ineffective, creditors might escalate to more drastic actions:

• Issue a statutory demand
• Along with the debt’s value, hire bailiffs to retrieve assets
• Issue a County Court Judgement (CCJ)
• Issue a winding-up petition (WUP)

If bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) come to pay you a visit, it’s vital that you know what powers they have legally.

You should also know what your rights are and what they are lawfully permitted to acquire.

What Are Secured Creditors?

Secured creditors can be divided into two categories:

• those with a floating charge
• those with a fixed charge on an asset(s)

Are you reading this article and want more information on how you can get help? Get in touch today and we can help to see if you qualify for government approved debt solutions.

How Long Can Creditors Pursue A Debt In The UK?

Now that we know who it is that might be pursuing us, the next question you might be wanting to ask ourselves is how long can creditors trace my debt?

If a creditor takes too long to act on your debt, it becomes “Statue Barred,”.

Statue Barred means the debt can no longer be recovered through the courts.

Put simply, this implies that the debt is written off, even though it technically persists.

The length of time it takes to pay off a debt is based on the kind of debt you have. The period of limitation for most debts in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is six years.

Most types of debt, such as credit or store cards, personal loans, gas or electric arrears, council tax arrears, benefit overpayments, payday loans, rent arrears, catalogues or overdrafts are all affected.

In Scotland, after a set amount of time the debts are ‘prescribed,’ meaning they do not exists of a set amount of time.

If you have one of these debts, but you have not heard anything about it for some time.

It’s common for those to choose to ignore it.

Don’t let this be you.

Debts can appear again out of the blue, so you need to accept this might happen to you.

When a creditor gives you a lengthy amount of time to pay off your debt, it is not considered fair for them to wait many years before taking action.

Important paperwork might have been lost or an extremely old debt may be forgotten about in such cases.

Do not ignore your debts.

What Should I Do next?

We know that debt can quickly become unmanageable, particularly when your financial situation changes without warning.

When this happens, it may feel impossible to tackle the problem yourself and it is easy to feel tempting to ‘stick your head in the sand’.

Unfortunately though, debts do not just disappear because you ignore them.

Not Sure Where To Start? Wanting Some Guidance?

If you are being contacted about a debt that is a simple contract debt, and you think it may be statute-barred, it’s always best to act fast.

If you do not want debt recovery proceedings to begin, or for debt recovery action to be taken against you, it is important that you handle this debt as soon as possible.

Don’t let debt ruin your life! Get the debt help and support you need today! Get in touch with Consumer Debt Help.

If you have made payments towards a debt where the limitation period of six years has already gone by, and no court action has already been taken, the debt is probably unenforceable.

But it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Contact us for advice, if you think this may apply to you.

Because debt can be a confusing and complicated area of law, it is often the case that debtors believe their debt is statute-barred when in fact it isn’t.

Therefore, any debt claim should always be taken seriously until the creditor has provided proof that the debt is beyond the limitation.