http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk This is the second part of the first video in a series of five looking at how best to deal with debt collection agencies.
This is some background information on the “industry” as a whole.
Duration : 0:6:7
Debt Collection Agencies - Background 2
July 302009
Debt Collection Agencies - First Contact 2
July 302009
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk This is the second part of the fifth video in a series of five looking at how best to deal with debt collection agencies. This is how to make the initial contact with these “people”.
Duration : 0:8:7
Collction Agency Services - The Toilet Video
July 252009
http://www.collectionagencyservices.net - Collection agencies are helpful if you are owed money for the products or services you have provided. Debt collections and collection agency services ain’t all bad!
Duration : 0:0:27
Debt Collection Agencies - Banking Security 2
July 252009
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk This is the second part of the second video in a series of five looking at how best to deal with debt collection agencies. This is how to secure your banking, and your income.
Duration : 0:4:31
Debt Collection Agencies - Communication Security 2
July 252009
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk This is the second part of the second video in a series of five looking at how best to deal with debt collection agencies. This is how to secure your communications.
Duration : 0:6:52
Rock Star Johnny Spence: On Collection Agencies
July 212009
I actually received a letter from a collections agency today because I hadn’t yet paid my overdue late fees from the library.
Duration : 0:0:20
UK Debt Collection Agencies - getting them off your case - Part 1
July 212009
The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (Section 2083)
The Administration of Justice Act 1970
Consumer Credit Act 1974
Data Protection Act
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
The Solicitors Act 1974
All recommended bedroom reading, for all those boys and girls being pestered and harassed for money by UK-based collection agencies — money that these agencies may well not even have any legal right to. All of the above acts of government legislation centre around the rights of debtors, and all of which DCAs (debt collection agencies) are found to flout on a regular basis.
My next message delves more into Consumer Credit Act 1974, more of the common tricks collection agencies will try to use on you, and how to counter them by costing THEM money and inconvenience. Remember that these companies by and large, are powerless, irrelevant, have no real authority of their own, and can easily be seen off.
Even though some of the content of the recording may seem that I am advocating debt avoidance, this is not quite the case. But I do advocate debt avoidance when companies have been called out to provide proof of debt and fail to do so, and especially so to companies that try to use the law to manipulate people for their own financial gain.
Also, in case the distrustful, deceitful nature of these companies isn’t quite clear enough, then part 2 of this message goes more into the money-men behind the whole scam and why hoping our dear old government will step in just ain’t gonna happen.
What this clip is intended to do is highlight these worthless, impotent con-merchants who are banking on - in more ways than one - people’s ignorance of their rights under law. Remember that these people have as much right to your money as I do to the Crown Jewels. Therefore, they are inconsequential, toothless companies that will a house-brick when you catch them out.
I can’t emphasise enough that if you feel you HAVE to pay the debt - then pay it to the original creditor and nobody else. But join a consumer forum FIRST - www.consumeractiongroup.com and www.moneysavingexpert.com being the two biggest ones - and explore all your options, asking any questions you may have about your debt problem.
Finally, ask yourself this - why should you or anybody else be terrorised into subsiding the CSA’s annual golf tournament, Buchanan Clark and Wells’ holiday home, or one of their weekend -ups?
The UK Collection Industry (spit!) is experiencing a slump due to decreased revenue (aah diddums!), and this is because ‘debtors’ are now becoming more aware of what their rights are and because it’s becoming common knowledge how pointless these companies are, as are the existences of the uni-dimensional call-centre wankers that work for them.
This clip is dedicated to making that slump continue and to put these companies to permanent, long-deserved sleep.
And if you happen to work for one of these companies, then I’m afraid I shall have to pre-empt your replies, and implore you not to waste my time by preaching :-
1. ‘moral duty’
or
2. ‘if you paid your bills…’
If you should mention point 1, it doesn’t suit you. Morals and collection agencies do not belong in the same sentence.
If you mention point 2 and that’s the best you can do, if you want, I’ll go and set a pillow in the middle of the M62 for you.
Duration : 0:9:13
Debt Collection Agencies - Telephone Harassment 1
July 212009
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk This is the first part of the fourth video in a series of five looking at how best to deal with debt collection agencies. This is how to protect yourself from telephone harassment.
Duration : 0:6:16
UK debt collection agencies and how to handle them
July 182009
***UPDATE!
Sorry if I confused anybody, but the order I would generally go in is to issue the Credit agreement request FIRST, then go down the formal complaint route. Some may prefer to enclose the agreement and complaints-procedure requests in the same letter - everybody’s different.
I should have made this a lot clearer than I did, and apologise for not spotting it sooner.
However, I need to re-embellish the point of making NO admission of debt at ANY point to these people - it may come back to haunt you, and you don’t have to answer anything to them anyway.
***
In my previous messages, I have highlighted the dishonest and sometimes even illegal actions of private collection agencies. Apart from the corrupt UK government’s active sponsorship of the industry in general — and their forthcoming proposal to allocate state debts to Intrum Justitia (a company that shouldn’t be trusted to mop toilet floors!) - I am attempting to highlight how uncontrolled, poorly-monitored an industry it really is. Many such companies don’t hold a credit licence, and many are not registered with Companies House.
More to the point, this industry is directly responsible for aggravating stress, depression, desperation, family break-ups, and even suicide in some cases. And why should you or me actually subsidise all this?
But - don’t be frightened — they have no real powers of their own, are totally irrelevant, and can easily be subdued, and here’s how. Not only that, but you can very easily turn the situation around on its head and actually cost THEM money without cost to you, apart from a few minutes of your time. If you’ve ever been a victim of identity fraud, unwarranted harassment, or just plain old mistaken identity, what follows is what you should do to counter it.
The companies concerned won’t like it, but who cares what they think? What matters is you, not some company that tries to rob your hard-earned with threats and bullshit.
There are more important points that I did not have time to highlight in the speech.
1) You should always start your initial letter with ‘I do not acknowledge any debt to your company’. Even if you do owe a debt, remember again that it’s the original creditor that needs paying, not them. They cannot prevent you from doing so, and if you do choose this alternative, you don’t have to explain yourself to them! Remember also that a collection agency may be quoting an amount surpassing that of what the original creditor have already told you previously. One more reason NOT to deal with an agency.
2) If you do make/receive a phone call from an agency, get the name of the person working for the company. But bear in mind that some of the less reputable collection agencies, such as McKenzie Hall, do use fake names.
3) More often than not, as the 40th day draws near, you will receive a letter from them stating ‘we are no longer handling this account and are returning it to our client’. Translated, this means that the agency cannot obtain the information you’ve asked them for and are running scared in case you make a formal complaint. If this happens, make a formal complaint anyway — they have after all, shook you up with their letter, and that warrants a complaint in itself. If nothing else, this is further urance that you won’t hear from that agency again.
4) You may receive two letters from two different agencies at or around the same time in pursuit of the same debt. It is unlawful for two agencies to be simultaneously persuing the same debt.
5) A debt you may be paying already may end up being passed to another agency, who will then send a letter threatening further action for non-payment. Remember that even if you do pay an agency as regular as clockwork, it in no way means the threat letters will stop. This usually happens when debt portfolios are sold on other agencies by the original creditor. This segues off neatly into the scenario highlighted in point 4.
6) Have draft letters already prepared for any scenario I have highlighted.
7) There are cases where people make an arrangement with a collection agency whereupon they ‘negotiate’ a percentage lump sum to ‘get rid of’ the debt. Many do this in order to remove defaults from their credit reports. Remember that once the default is there, it will stay there and even if the defaulted debt has since been paid, the report will still have the default listed (the status being changed to ‘Settled’). If the debt is disputed, then a Notice of Correction needs to be forwarded to the relevant credit report body, whether it be Experian, Equifax or Callcredit.
I hope you feel my advice has helped you.
Finally, if you’re stuck on how to draft a written reply to a letter that such an agency writes to you, then sign up on www.consumeractiongroup.com - they have an excellent template letters section, which you can then tailor to suit your individual case.
Duration : 0:9:0