At the end of the day, everyone needs to pay their debts if they can afford to, and if they feel as though they cannot afford to, there are plenty of options that Business Helpline can assist you with. However, just because you are being contacted for payment by County Court Business Centre doesn’t mean that there aren’t any other options available. Before you pay anything to County Court Business Centre, make sure to get into contact with us for free money advice.

County Court Business Centre is obligated to give you enough time to explore your options. Therefore, it would be wise for you to contact them and let them know that you are looking into the different options available to you. Try not to procrastinate getting help and advice with managing your debts. If you avoid a debt collectors agency for too long, they will not hesitate to take further action against you.

While County Court Business Centre are allowed to chase you for repayment, they are not allowed to harass you or call you at unreasonable times. Harassment includes:

▪️ Calling you at unreasonable times

▪️ Calling you at work without your consent or after you have asked them to stop

▪️ Discuss your debts with any of your family members or with your employer

▪️ Take payments without your permission

▪️ Not allowing you to have time to consider your debt management options

▪️ Insist that you pay off your debts by borrowing more money

▪️ Purposefully use legal and technical language in order to intimidate and confuse you

▪️ Force payment when a debt is statute barred

Before you consider making a payment towards County Court Business Centre, do the following:

1.Do you owe the debt?

Check that the debt that County Court Business Centre is contacting you about, it actually yours. If you are unsure, check with a credit agency to find out the debts you owe.

2.Get them to send you a ‘Prove The Debt’ letter

Every debt collection agency legally needs to be able to prove that the debt they say is yours, is actually yours. If they are unable to prove this, they are forced to mark the debt as settled.

3.Is my debt to County Court Business Centre statute barred?

According to the Limitation Act 1980, some debts have a time limit. In the majority of cases within England, that time limit is six years. If you are in Scotland, the time limit will most likely be five years. The countdown begins from the last time you made a payment towards the debt or acknowledged the debt in writing.

Criteria for a debt to be statute barred:

▪️The creditor has not registered a Country Court judgement (CCJ) against you

▪️You (or if the debt is a joint one, you and the other person) have not made a payment within the last five/six years (or however long the limitation period is in your case)

▪️You have not admitted to having the debt in writing in the last limitation period

4.Is this letter for you?

Sometimes, debt collection letters can be sent to someone’s old address. If this happens, make sure to contact the debt collection company and explain what has happened. The company should then change their details.

Too often, people are pressured into paying back debts that they cannot afford to pay back. If you are in this situation, do not hesitate to reach out to us for free money advice. Our trained financial advisors can help you navigate which debt management plans are available to you and which one would be best for your personal situation. We can help you set up a debt management plan and we can help set it up with your creditors so that you will not longer need to be contacted by them.