Seven years ago the National Credit Act was amended to state that no person could sell, collect or reactivate a debt which had been “extinguished” by the Prescription Act or “where the defence of prescription is raised or would have reasonably been raised had the consumer been aware of such a defence”.
Debt collectors who trade these old, prescribed debts are known to make their targets “aware” of their prescription defence by including in their correspondence a link to the Prescription Act or some other vague reference to prescription. I’m not sure that properly ticks the “making the consumer aware” box.
Do not ask for a settlement balance or promise to pay at some later date as both those are considered to be acknowledgments of the debt. “There is a notice advising that the transaction is not protected by the Consumer Protection Act because it’s being sold on auction,” he wrote. “I'm not going to bid because of this, but are you really not protected if the item is bought on auction?”