Credit union loan & statute of limitations

simber

In 2001 I had about €2500 shares in a credit union. I took out a loan for €2500 and ran into trouble with the final repayments of €940. I was engaged in discussions about repayments for some time and was led to believe that my shares could be used as a means to settle the loan. I since realised that this was not possible. Being young and stupid at the time I ignored it and moved around a lot and any paperwork did not follow me.
Fast forward to 2017 where I phoned the credit union in question re the shares. I was informed that as I owed them money there was no way was I having anything from them etc. I let this go at the time. Nothing was arranged and nothing was done on paper, just a phone call. I then started receiving calls\letters from debt collectors which stated a different credit union than the one I had borrowed from so I denied everything. Eventually they stopped.
I recently received my credit Central Credit Register report which shows the credit union loan as active and is dated back to 2017 to the present.
What constitutes an acknowledgement of debt? Was the statute of limitations affected by my phone call in 2017? I've been advised by the CCR to contact the lender in order to amend the report. I am prepared to be flamed in comments re the bad debt and acknowledge how stupid it was.

Jim2007

simber wrote: »

What constitutes an acknowledgement of debt? Was the statute of limitations affected by my phone call in 2017? I've been advised by the CCR to contact the lender in order to amend the report. I am prepared to be flamed in comments re the bad debt and acknowledge how stupid it was.

Read the FAQ on the CCR website and you will note that regardless of the statute of limitations, lending institutions are required to continue to report such unsettled debts until such time as a settlement of some kind is reached. That is why the CCR advised you to contact the lender.


The statute of limitations prevents the lender from chancing the debt, but has no impact on the requirement to report it under the CCR legislation. So basically if you don't need a clean CCR you can just leave it and avoid payment. If not, then you are going to have to settle the matter somehow.

There are few similar threads already on the boards about this issue.

cruizer101

simber wrote: »

led to believe that my shares could be used as a means to settle the loan.

Funny that is what I thought as well, I had thought the shares were used as security against the load so if loan wasn't paid they would take the money from the shares.

So am I right in saying you still have 2500 in shares and owe 940.
Seems crazy that they wouldn't just let you settle the loan form shares.
The fact that they won't give you access to your shares implies they are held as security agaisnt the loan, really doesn't make sense.
I think be worth trying to call in for a meeting to try and settle it all.

Corca Baiscinn

cruizer101 wrote: »

Funny that is what I thought as well, I had thought the shares were used as security against the load so if loan wasn't paid they would take the money from the shares.

Me too! I even thought when what you owed was equivalent to what you had in shares you could say "Right lads! I want you to take my shares in lieu of remaining payments" If it was a bank loan instead there would likely be no security.

It was a bit much though imo to ring them up knowing there was an unpaid debt and ask for the full €2500 back!

simber

Thanks for your replies.
Jim I haven't been able to find a post specifically relating to Credit union debt.
Apparently credit unions operate differently that other financial lending companies as I was told that "everybody owned the shares".
If I were to contact them would that be seen as an acknowledgement of the debt and that it would kick start the statute of limitations again?
Yes it was very cheeky (or dumb) to contact them re my shares...

L1011

The "different credit union" is almost certainly a merger / rename of the actual credit union; there are very few standalone credit unions left except some employment sectoral ones.

You aren't going to wipe this off the CCR under statute of limitations for enforceability; but if there is actually 2500 in shares there (well - it'll be off as a dormant account at this stage but this is recoverable) its very likely you can arrange settlement with them.

Jim2007

cruizer101 wrote: »

So am I right in saying you still have 2500 in shares and owe 940.
Seems crazy that they wouldn't just let you settle the loan form shares.

After 19 years of ignoring the amount outstanding it’s doubtful that there would be sufficient shares to cover the interest, penalties and charges.

Jim2007

simber wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.
Jim I haven't been able to find a post specifically relating to Credit union debt.
Apparently credit unions operate differently that other financial lending companies as I was told that "everybody owned the shares".
If I were to contact them would that be seen as an acknowledgement of the debt and that it would kick start the statute of limitations again?
Yes it was very cheeky (or dumb) to contact them re my shares...

What are you trying to achieve?

You have an unsettled debt with a CU and in accordance with the law they are obliged to continue reporting it to the CCR until such time as you reach an agreement with them - there is nothing special about this requirement in respect of CUs. And once the debt is settled the payment history will remain for a further two years.

If you don’t want to pay and you don’t need a clean CCR report, then do nothing and rely on the statute of limitations. If you need a clean CCR report, you are going to have to sit down with the CU and sort it, that is the only way this will go away and in that case the statute of limitations is not relevant because to come to a settlement you are obviously going to have to acknowledge the loan.

It’s up to you to decide which way to go.