Being chased for a debt I got aged 17

[Laura Loo]

I got into a small amount of debt on a high street bank current account aged 17. They let me keep drawing on money that wasn't there. I know it was stupid to keep withdrawing money I didn't have but at the time I was a naive youngster. Now, 5 years on I've received a letter asking for repayment of the money.

My question is is it legal to "lend" money to a 17 year old and is there anywhere I can get advice without going to citizen's advice (I work out of town and are never around when they are open)

Many thanks

[bednobs]

Hi laura, there is another thread that was posted in the last few days about a similar thing - a mobile phone debt accrued when the person was 17 and now 5 years on a debt collection agency was asking for the money. The consensus on that thread was that althought he debt was accrued when she was 17, she is now an adult, and the adult responsible thing to do is to repay, rather than trying to worm out of it. Its not the bank's fault they "let you take the money" it's your fault for taking money that didn't belong to you, so now you have to pay up.
The consequences of not paying up will haunt you throughout your life. At 22 you might not be able to imagine the sorts of things it could affect, so i will tell you my experiences:
mr bednobs got into debt when he was young and stupid, to the tune of around 2000 pounds. He "dropped out" of society, to avoid paying and burried his head in the sand. years later when i met him i knew he had a secret, and it nearly drove us apart. the debt collection agaencies were after him, and he found it difficult to tell me. He went through a period where he couldn't sleep, felt very unel and it was on his mind all the time. Eventually we tackeled it together. Later still, it was hard for us to get a mortgage - so i was being punished too for his past indiscretions.
recently he applied for his dream job which because of the secret nature of where he is working he had to have extensive background checks into his life, my life, his parent, siblings etc (so that he cant be blackmailed into revealing state secrets) These past debts came up in this background checking and there was a period where it was uncertain if it would prevent him getting the job, and this is nearly 20 years later, so it's still having reprecussions now!

[bednobs]

do you fancy having the bailifs round?
do you fancy having a ccj?
do you fancy many sleepless nights?
do you fancy having this debt as a milstone round your neck in 20 years time?
If the answer is no, get in touch with the creditors and arrange to pay. Surely this is important enough for you to make a special effort to get to the CAB? or get in touch with this charity http://www.cccs.co.uk/

[Laura Loo]

Thank you for your replies..I think I will post this question into legal as my my question is about whether or not it is legal to lend to 17 year olds. I fear that young people may be getting themselves in debt before they are even able to obtain credit and it just doesn't seem right.

I'm fully aware of the implications of not paying debt (I sell peoples repossessed houses for a living) I just wonder whether this should ever have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Thanks