Had a DRO now an old debt has resurfaced

A question about : Had a DRO now an old debt has resurfaced

Hi there.

I am writing in relation to an old debt that I did not have a clue I had and now received a letter from the debt owner (an old mobile phone provider.) threatening to send my unpaid debt to a collection agency, Lovell??) I completely forgot about this debt, but the details are below:

The beginning of 2012 I was diagnosed with depression bipolar 2 and as such I was placed in the support group of the esa. I have suffered from this illness for several years before being correctly diagnosed and had always had a problem managing money due to my episodes. At times I could do everything and didn't think of the consequences then boom I would go crashing down to an anxious depressed state for months. Due to being incapacitated badly during my episodes, I realised that I had been in denial for several years and was probably going to suffer from this for the rest of my life (a sobering thought, but nethertheless, a reality check.) I live with my parents due to my disability as, right now, I am not able to fend for myself (heart breaking as I am a 36 year old female who was bright and independent woman in her younger years now facing the fact i will never have children and i wouldn't want to put them through this as its hell on earth). I had to deal with my debt problems because there was no way I would be able to ever pay these people back on the monies I was receiving and giving my parents to keep me (they expect me on my low benefits to pay for my keep without any housing benefit or indeed get my parents to keep me.) So, I went to seek advice from step change and it was advised that i should take a DRO out, which I did. This ended in 2013 and I was debt free, or so I thought. Out of the blue three years later, I receive a letter from 3G stating that I have an outstanding amount for a phone contract I had but did not pay the rest of the contracted amount and stopped using my phone.) I could not afford to pay the phone bill each month and as such asked them to cancel the contract and then switched the phone off and left it at that.) I still have the phone! They are asking for 300.00 odd and there is no way I can afford to pay this on the little I get each month. I have not responded as wanted to seek advice and it will take me an age to pay this back as I don't have anything spare to give them. What can I do? I suffer from a long term illness and I am unable to pay this back. I do hope that you don't judge me on here for having bipolar. I was a 'top class' citizen with a budding career before this incideous illness grabbed me and it has effectively led to untold stress, strife and misery for some large chunks of my adult hood. I don't need this worry of a relatively small debt to hinder my recovery which is ongoing and I also don't need them to be pestering the lives out of my elderly parents.

Thank you for taking the time to read this extremely long email (a bit cathartic!)

Any advice is much appreciated.

Best answers:

• Sorry but no one has replied to me. I am not sure how to take this? I thought this was an advice forum or am I being ignored because I am bipolar. I can assure you, in case anyone is completely unaware of what bipolar 2 is, its depression with times when I am over productive and a little bit fast and then crippling lows. I feel a bit upset I have not had one reply?! I do need help on this please?
• Sorry but you need to format your essay into readable chunks
• Edit: double thread, the other thread has the responses.
• Hi Panicbubble,
  Unfortunately, only the debts that are listed within a Debt Relief Order will be taken into consideration, so if this debt was not on your creditor list, it will still be an outstanding debt. It is a good idea to go back to Step Change (as they processed your DRO), and let them know what has happened. If this debt meant you owed over Ј15,000 at the time of the DRO it is something you need to discuss with you Intermediary. It might affect your DRO status. This is quite rare and hopefully this won't be a problem and you should be able to deal with this outstanding debt on its own.
  Assuming that is the case, you could, firstly, consider the age of this debt. There is a piece of legislation called the Limitations Act 1980 that does state, if there has been more than a 6 year block of time since the debt fell due, with no written acknowledgement or payment to the debt and no County Court Judgement has been obtained, the debt may no longer be enforceable through the County Court and becomes known as Statute Barred. You mentioned that this debt is quite old and I wonder if this may apply. If this does apply you may not need to repay the debt as they cannot enforce it. We have a factsheet about this that you may find interesting - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/25%20EW%20Time%20li...
  Alternatively, if it is not 6 years old, you could write to the company concerned and ask them to write the debt off based on your circumstances. They may consider factors such as lack of ability to pay the debt (demonstrated by a SOA and the fact that you had a DRO), you can also highlight your ill health and the fact that your circumstances are unlikely to improve (perhaps demonstrated by a letter from a medical professional). It is at the creditors' discretion whether or not to do this, but we do have a sample letter that you may find helpful - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/sole-letters/Pages/Wri...(sole-name).aspx
  I hope that helps you to move forward,
  Laura
  @natdebtline