QLD Debt Collectors Threatening Legal Proceedings but is Debt Statute Barred?

[Muzzaj09]

I have debt collectors that bought a unsecured personal loan debt off the CBA (Commonwealth Bank). I last paid a payment / defaulted 9 years ago and I'm sure no legal proceedings have commenced because recently the debt collectors started sending me mail several times saying pay or they will commence legal proceedings within 48 hours. They had been continually looking at my credit rating for a long time and they've got my details through that because I got a car loan recently.

I'm just wondering if being that it's been longer than 6 years and no legal proceedings happened in those 6 years, is the debt statute barred and do they have much of a case, or am I worrying for nothing?

 

[John R]

Hi @Muzzaj09,

1. What was the governing law/jurisdiction of the personal loan agreement/contract?
2. When did you last make a payment towards the debt?
3. When did you last acknowledge the debt to CBA or a debt collector? (This may be as simple as "Yes, I owe this money")
4. If you are confident that the claim would be statute-barred, you may consider ignoring their requests, waiting to be served with court documents and then replying by filing a defence pleading expiration of the limitation period.

Hope this helps. Please keep us updated as to your progress.

Further resources:
http://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resou...ports/rep-55-collecting-statute-barred-debts/
Debt collection guideline: for collectors and creditors - Appendix B: Other statutory and common law obligations and remedies | ACCC

 

[Muzzaj09]

The loan was taken out in qld and I live in qld I took the loan out about 11 years ago and lost my job and hit financial difficulty 2 years into it and payed last payment/ defaulted 9 years ago apart from original bank documents I have never acknowledged the debt in writing since original documents

 

[John R]

Hi @Muzzaj09,

1. The loan agreement would generally have a governing law/jurisdiction that may not be Queensland. It is important to understand which governing law applied.
2. Have the debt collectors commenced legal proceeding/s as yet?