Statute-Barred Debt: When a Debt Is Too Old to Enforce

That distinction matters, because it decides what you should and should not do next. One wrong move, a single small payment, or the wrong wording in a reply, can undo it entirely and hand back six years of enforceability.

Limitation is only one of the reasons a debt can be disputed, and it is the wrong argument for most of them. If the real problem is that the debt belongs to somebody else, that you have already paid it, that you never received the notices, or that a judgment was made without your knowledge, start instead at how to challenge a bailiff debt you do not owe, which sends each of those to the right body.

The six-year rule

Under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, "an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued". In practice that means six years from the later of:

• the last payment you made towards the debt, or

• the last time you acknowledged the debt in writing and signed it.

That second point is stated loosely almost everywhere, and the detail matters. Section 30(1) provides that "to be effective… an acknowledgment must be in writing *and signed* by the person making it". So an unsigned message may not amount to a valid acknowledgement at all, though you should not rely on that as a tactic, because what counts as a signature is broader than a handwritten one and is ultimately for a court to decide.

Three conditions must hold for the whole of that period: no payment, no written acknowledgement, and no court claim issued. If a creditor issued a claim within the six years, limitation stops mattering, the case moves on to judgment instead.

This covers credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts, catalogue and store accounts, mobile and broadband contracts, payday loans, and most utility arrears. Mortgage shortfalls are the notable exception: twelve years for the capital, six for the interest.

The debts that never run out

This is where most guidance is too vague to be useful, and where getting it right can change the outcome.

Council tax

People are often told council tax "can never be statute-barred". That is not quite right, and the correct version is more useful to you.

A time limit does apply, but it applies to the council *applying to the magistrates' court for a liability order*. Regulation 34(3) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 states that "no application may be instituted in respect of a sum after the period of six years beginning with the day on which it became due".

The consequence is the part worth knowing:

• Old council tax arrears with no liability order may well be challengeable on limitation grounds if more than six years have passed since the sum fell due.

• Once a liability order has been granted, that argument is gone. Enforcement under a liability order is not subject to the six-year limit, and it can be acted on years later, which is why bailiffs sometimes appear over very old council tax debts.

So the question to ask is not "how old is this debt" but "was a liability order ever obtained, and when". If enforcement agents are already involved, one almost certainly exists.

County Court judgments

Once a CCJ has been entered, the debt does not become statute-barred. The six-year clock applied to the creditor *bringing* the claim, and they brought it in time.

A separate rule does apply afterwards: if a judgment is more than six years old, the creditor generally needs the court's permission before enforcing it, for example, before a warrant or writ of control can be issued. That is a hurdle for them, not a cancellation, and it is not the same as the debt expiring. If you have discovered an old CCJ you did not know about, the route worth exploring is usually a set-aside application rather than limitation.

Other debts outside the six-year rule

• Magistrates' court fines, including those for TV licence and traffic offences, no limitation period.

• HMRC tax debts, income tax, VAT and National Insurance are not subject to the ordinary six-year limit.

• Some benefit and tax credit overpayments, where recovery is made directly from benefits or wages rather than through the courts.

• Student loans, which follow their own recovery rules.

Why this comes up most with bought debts

Statute-barred arguments arise far more often with debt purchasers, companies like Lowell, Cabot, PRA and Link, than with original lenders, and the reason is structural rather than sinister.

Defaulted accounts are usually sold long after they stopped being paid, often in bulk and at a heavy discount. By the time a purchaser writes to you, the six-year point may be close, or already passed. The letter frequently arrives out of nowhere, about an account you had half-forgotten, at an address you have since moved to.

Selling a debt does not restart the clock. Limitation runs from your last payment or written acknowledgement to whoever owned the debt at the time, not from the date it changed hands, and not from the date the new owner first contacted you. A new company name on the letterhead does not reset anything.

What restarts the clock

This is the part that costs people the most, and it is worth being blunt about.

• Making any payment. Including a small "goodwill" or "token" payment. Including a single pound to stop the letters. Six years restarts from that date.

• Acknowledging the debt in writing. An email, a letter, or a completed income-and-expenditure form that accepts the debt is yours will do it.

• Agreeing a payment plan, even if you never make a payment under it.

What does *not* restart it: receiving letters or calls, ignoring them, or a verbal conversation in which you do not admit liability. Written acknowledgement is the test in England and Wales.

The most expensive mistake on this page

A single payment, even one pound to stop the letters, restarts six years of enforceability on the whole balance. So does admitting the debt in writing. Work out where you stand *before* you reply to anything about an old debt.

How to check whether a debt is statute-barred

You need one date: the last payment or written acknowledgement. Ways to establish it:

• Your statutory credit report. Check all three agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, because they do not hold identical data. The default date is recorded, and the last payment is often shown too.

• Old bank statements. Your bank must provide six years of records on request.

• A section 77, 79 request to the creditor, for a regulated credit agreement. This asks for a copy of the executed agreement and a statement of account. It costs £1 and they have twelve working days to respond.

• Ask them directly for the date of last payment and last acknowledgement, without admitting the debt is yours while you do.

If the account has dropped off your credit file entirely, that is a useful indicator but not proof, because the two clocks are different, see below.

What to say, and the words to avoid

If you believe a debt is statute-barred, write to the collector rather than phoning, and keep a copy.

The wording matters. You want to raise limitation without acknowledging the debt, because acknowledging it is precisely what would restart the clock. In practice that means:

• Say you believe the debt is statute-barred under the Limitation Act 1980 and that you do not acknowledge any liability for it.

• Ask them to confirm the date of last payment and last written acknowledgement.

• Ask them not to contact you further about it unless they can show it is enforceable.

• Do not write "my debt", "I owe", "I can't afford to pay this", or offer any amount, each is an acknowledgement.

• Send it by post and keep proof of posting, or by email and keep the sent copy.

National Debtline publishes a free template letter for this, and it is worth using rather than drafting your own, precisely because the wording is the risky part.

Does it disappear from my credit file?

These are two separate clocks, and confusing them is common.

A defaulted account drops off your credit file six years after the default date, regardless of whether the debt is statute-barred, and regardless of anything that happens afterwards. Payments made after a default do not extend the credit-file entry.

So the two often expire at around the same time, but not always, and importantly, a debt vanishing from your credit report does not by itself prove it is statute-barred, because a payment made after the default would have restarted limitation without extending the credit-file record.

The "11-word phrase", what it actually is

A phrase circulates online, usually given as something close to "please cease and desist all calls and contact me immediately", promoted as a form of words that legally stops debt collectors.

It comes from United States law and has no direct equivalent here. It refers to the US Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, under which a written cease-communication request has specific statutory effect. The UK has no such provision.

That does not leave you without rights, they simply work differently:

• You can ask a collector to communicate in writing only, or to stop telephoning you at work. FCA conduct rules require firms to treat customers fairly and not to contact them at unreasonable times or with unreasonable frequency.

• You can state that the debt is disputed, which should pause collection activity until it is substantiated.

• You can raise limitation, as set out above.

• You can have a debt adviser deal with them on your behalf, and they must not refuse to engage with one.

Repeating an American phrase achieves nothing on its own. Raising the correct UK point in writing does.

Should you pay a statute-barred debt?

That is genuinely your decision, and there are honest arguments on both sides.

Against paying: it cannot be enforced through the courts, and a payment restarts six years of enforceability on the whole balance, so paying part of it is usually the worst of both worlds.

For paying: the debt remains real, and some people prefer to settle it. If that is your position, the safe route is to agree a full-and-final settlement in writing first, with explicit confirmation that the balance will be treated as satisfied and that no further recovery will follow. Do not make a first payment and negotiate afterwards.

What we would not advise is paying because of pressure or implied consequences that cannot actually follow.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland works differently, and more favourably. Under section 6 of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 most debts prescribe after five years, and the effect is stronger. The Act says that once the period expires "the obligation shall be *extinguished*", it ceases to exist in law, rather than merely becoming unenforceable as in England and Wales. A collector chasing a prescribed Scottish debt is pursuing something that is legally gone, not merely something they cannot sue on. If the debt has not prescribed, how it is actually enforced in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a separate question from limitation, and our guide to debt enforcement in Scotland and Northern Ireland covers that.

England and Wales Six years. The debt still exists but cannot be enforced through the courts. Scotland Five years, and stronger: the obligation is extinguished, so the debt ceases to exist in law. Northern Ireland Six years, under its own limitation legislation rather than the Limitation Act 1980. Mortgage shortfalls Twelve years for the capital, six for the interest, across all three.

If they keep chasing it

Continuing to pursue a debt after you have said in writing that it is statute-barred, without producing evidence that it is enforceable, is a legitimate complaint. So is threatening or implying court action on a debt the firm knows cannot be enforced.

Complain to the firm first and allow eight weeks. If it is unresolved, the Financial Ombudsman Service will review it free of charge, the route for FCA-regulated collectors, and a different one from the Enforcement Conduct Board, which covers bailiffs.

Free advice is available from Citizens Advice, StepChange and National Debtline. If you have had a letter about an old debt and are not sure whether it is still enforceable, or whether a liability order or judgment already exists that changes the position, we can help you work out where you stand before you reply to anything.

Related guides

If a collection agency is pursuing an old debt, see what debt collectors can do and bailiffs and debt collectors. If a court claim has been issued, the limitation point is raised as a defence, and our guide to the letter before claim and responding to a court claim explains the deadlines. Where a judgment already exists, see CCJs and bailiffs.