RMA Debt Collection Agency

[davek1]

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Has anyone had dealings with this bunch of morons. I know they have a job to do and i expect them to call mebut the rudeness of this bunch are unbelievable.

First they call me at work yesterday and i return their call speak to some guy who sounded abou 20 ( sorry no offence to youngsters out there) who tells me he has a right to call me at work as i owe them £940. When i queried this he said barclaycard had passed it to them for collection. I asked him to remove my work number from their file and would happily correspond by letter as was my right. He said they would just send someone round to visit me. i said fine but explained they wouldn't get any further and they need to talk to Payplan.

Then i get passed to his manager who goes through the whole saga again i explain that i am more than happy to deal with them but only by letter he says they are a telephone based collection agency i asked how they would deal with someone who didnt have a phone the answer was simple mind your own business and dont question our business methods.

Today i get a call from another of their wonderful staff at home this time. this guy tells me they have purchased the debt from Barclaycard i asked him if he was sure of this as i had no notice of assignment from barclaycard and he said yes they had brought it. i asked him to send me a letter confirming this and he said they dont deal by post only by phone!!! he then tries to sell me a remortgage designed speciffically for people like me to help. Or i could consider consolidation finance that might be of interest, No clearly isnt a word he understood. Some help i cant pay what i owe and he wants to help me out by getting more credit no doubt at a very interesting rate of interest.

I ended up hanging up on him sorry for the rant guys but interested if anyone else has had dealings with this lot. BTW i am writing to them to confirm i will only deal with them by way of letter and that tey dont have an open invitation to enter my premises or grounds. Lets see if they call again.

Thanks for listening

Dave

[Harassed]

he then tries to sell me a remortgage designed speciffically for people like me to help. Or i could consider consolidation finance that might be of interest

They're breaking the OFT guidelines by doing that. Phone or drop a line to your local Trading Standards.

[morveryn]

I've had dealings with RMA over my MBNA card. Bunch of muppets I thought! Didn't listen to anything I told them or take any notice of what was written on my records ( that I am trying to claim on the payment protection insurance). I have made small payments while all this is going through. At one point they were ringing me most days and one caller in particular (a woman) was really nasty and threatening. I have since read on these boards that they are not allowed to harrass you or speak to you like this so I know how to deal with it now.

[AGB863]

Firstly, they have to confirm in writing that they now own the debt, so ask them for the proof in writing and not for verbal information as as far as you are concerned until they do, the debt is with the primary lender, ie MBNA.

As for the guidance from the Office Of Fair Trading mention this:

"Under the OFT's Debt Collection Guidelines -you feel that you are being "harrased" in the way they are dealing with you and the could well be in breach of section 2 of the guidelines in more than one area."

Any debt collecting company, including the main banks, that work in this area has to have a licence to operate which is issued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and there are guidlines that they have to adhere to, otherwise they could have their licence revoked. These guidelines are the OFT's Debt Collection Guidelines and they can be found at the following link

http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5...0/0/oft664.pdf

I have cut out some relevent info from the document, but it is well worth reading.

2 UNFAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES
Communication
2.1 It is unfair to communicate, in whatever form, with consumers in an unclear, inaccurate or misleading manner.
2.2 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
a. use of official looking documents intended or likely to mislead debtors as to their status, e.g. documents made to resemble court claims.
b. leaving out or presenting information in such a way that it creates a false or misleading impression or exploits debtors' lack of knowledge
c. those contacting debtors not making clear who they are, who they work for, what their role is, what the purpose of the contact is
d. unnecessary and unhelpful use of legal and technical language, e.g. use of Latin phrases
e. failing to provide debtors or creditors with information on status of debts, e.g. not providing requested balance statements when reasonably requested
f. contacting debtors at unreasonable times
g. ignoring or disregarding debtors' legitimate wishes in respect of when and where to contact them, e.g. shift workers who ask not to be telephoned during certain times of the day
h. asking or instructing debtors to make contact on premium rate telephone numbers

There is also this section

Physical/psychological harassment
2.5 Putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive.
2.6 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
a. contacting debtors at unreasonable times and at unreasonable intervals
b. pressurising debtors to sell property, to raise funds by further borrowing or to extend their borrowing
c. using more than one debt collection business at the same time resulting in repetitive and/or frequent contact by different parties
d. not ensuring that an adequate history of the debt is passed on as appropriate resulting in repetitive and/or frequent contact by different parties
e. not informing the debtor when their case has been passed on to a different debt collector
f. pressurising debtors to pay in full, in unreasonably large instalments, or to increase payments when they are unable to do so
g. making threatening statements or gestures or taking actions which suggest harm to debtors
h. ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment
i. disclosing or threatening to disclose debt details to third parties unless legally entitled to do so
j. acting in a way likely to be publicly embarrassing to the debtor either deliberately or through lack of care, e.g. by not putting correspondence in a sealed envelope and putting it through a letterbox, thereby running the risk that it could be read by third parties.

[inmypocketnottheirs]

Next time they phone you at work, ask the caller for their name and home number so that you can call them back at a more convenient time.

Worth bearing in mind that these people will have bought the debt of your credit card company for a few pounds and they will keep any proceeds they obtain from you. Barclaycard will more than likely not receive any money at all from this shower, so its a case of winner takes all.

Personally I would not negotiate with them unless they can provide you with a copy of the signed consumer credit agreement and a copy of the notice of assignment transferring the debt to them. If they can not provide either of these, then they will not be able to take you to court.

My advice, don't play ball with them. It is highly unlikely they will instigate court proceedings as they will have to pay legal costs to get you into court. They won't want to stump the money up.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[BobProperty]

Having read through a month or two worth of posts on here, this appears to be a recurrent theme. I lost my cool with one of them a few weeks back (see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=135140) but I have now decided I will let them keep calling me, since:
1. They won't be calling anyone else at that point, so it saves someone else from a few minutes of verbal bullying.
2. If I bother to answer they will get as good as they give - I think I am going to become a helpline for excessive and compulsive onanists
3. Eventually they might notice that I paid the debt they are on about a few days ago.

As has already been said, these people work on the basis of intimidation, bullying and threats to take people to court. I suspect the number of times they actually do take anyone to court is virtually nil.

[Turning_into_scrooge]

Something similar happened to me with Halifax credit card as i was begining to deal with CCCS. They harrassed me almost daily by phone even after i had requested them to deal with my debt by letter only and to delete my telephone no from their files. I sent an email to the OFT giving all information and account number, i never heard from them again not even to accept the DMP, that was send direct to CCCS.

[davek1]

thanks guys nice to know im not alone on this one. i have now found out they HAVE NOT brought the debt they are acting as collecting agents on behalf of barclaycard.

[sallyjo]

Hi Dave,

RMA was sold my £2K debt from AMEX early last year within days of my advising AMEX of my DMP. I got a few phone calls from RMA (I never talked to them) and a letter or two at first, but then from last March I've heard nothing at all.

I NEVER talk to these jokers over the phone. You are not obligated to talk to anybody over the phone. Keep everything in writing. Taking back the power over your debt situation will remove a whole lot of stress.

I am only now harrassed by phone by one of my seven creditors, Halifax, irregardless of my many letters and their acceptance of my DMP! They call sometimes up to 6 times a day - not at work anymore but 2-3 on my mobile which I reject upon seeing 0870 calling-idiots!. The landline ones have a slight delay, so I know who they are, and I just hang up as they connect. Very occasionally because I want to be sure of who it is, I will answer the phone. I am always polite and calmly refuse to 'go through security' and give my date of birth, post code or whatever. I just read my script, "No, I do not discuss my account over the phone, only in writing. The bank has been informed of this many times. Have a nice day". And hang up. Don't even do that much if they call you at work, just hang up the phone on them. I have been harrassed at work a few times, in the beginning, but then I get stroppy and say bluntly "Do you realise this is my work number! I do not accept this type of call at my place of business. Do not! call me here again" and hang up.

In addition to AGBs advice below-thanks that's worth having to hand!, write to Barclaycard and complain to them about RMA, and ask for confirmation as to who is dealing with the debt. I would not deal with a random debt collector before hearing from my original creditor.

Good luck.

[davek1]

Once again thanx for the support guys. Ive banged out a lettr to them today so lets see what happens next. Of course they are only telephone based according to them which why they managed to write to me and to have abusiness address for correspondence. I'm not being bullied anymore by these people as part of new strategy is to have a clear mind when dealing with debt hence using payplan.

[davek1]

Sorry to resurrect this again.

Another call from this bunch of lovely people ( very tongue in cheek) at 8 am this morning. This time i refused to go through the security check with them that really threw them. their rep got very angry and said we will continue to call. I'm sitting here seething and have just typed a letter tot them using the info above about contacting debtors etc and banged it off to them by special delivery of course copying in barclaycard.

Lets see what happens now.

Dave

[Tootsie Roll]

Originally Posted by davek1

Sorry to resurrect this again.

Another call from this bunch of lovely people ( very tongue in cheek) at 8 am this morning. This time i refused to go through the security check with them that really threw them. their rep got very angry and said we will continue to call. I'm sitting here seething and have just typed a letter tot them using the info above about contacting debtors etc and banged it off to them by special delivery of course copying in barclaycard.

Lets see what happens now.

Dave

So as a debt collector the question I have to ask is: Have Payplan contacted them yet with your SOA and offer of payment ?
I am also at a loss to understand why someone clearly as able as you to stand up for themselves will not speak to them on the phone ? Absolutely back everything up in writing but why restrict yourself to that alone ? It seems to me that it's winding you up a lot more than them.

It seems to be common advice amongst the more militant that talking to lenders/dca's over the phone is just playing into their hands. You can get a lot more resolved in a 5 minute call than you can in weeks of snail mail and if you end up speaking to some numpty then insist you go higher until you speak to someone with a brain. The quicker you get it sorted to your satisfaction the quicker you can get on with your arrangement and the rest of your life.

Best of luck.

[fairylights]

We've had a few phonecalls from the bank in the last six months or so which start off with "hello mrs ***, this is so and so from Lloyds about your joint account. Could you just confirm your date of birth/postcode/account number?" In days of yore I would have just answered their questions, now I refuse. Not because I'm trying to hide from them, you just don't know who it is at the other end of the phone - it could be Joe "Identity Fraud" Bloggs making sure he gets everything he wants from you. I'd suggest you tell them you don't deal over the phone because you aren't certain of their authenticity. They surely couldn't argue with that, could they? (unless authenticity is too long a word for infernal debt collectors )

[Harassed]

You can get a lot more resolved in a 5 minute call

.. and of course you have absolutely NO record of what was said or agreed. Keep it all in writing, especially with dubious companies like RMA.

Sorry, T_roll. Dc's will just have to hire more people that can actually read and write.

[davek1]

i'm not talking to them anymore. I take on board what tootsie says and if they had a different approach as i have to say other collection agencies have. then i would happily deal with them on the phone. Just spoke to interim justicia who couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. I gave them the details they asked for in respect to payplan and they said they will wait for contact from them. I have repeatedly tried to explain this to RMA but i think they either dont or wont understand i suspect the latter.

Apparantly they only deal with people over the phone well guess what? not this time they can write to me and i'm sending copies of everything to barclaycard as well.

Dave

[smcaul]

Originally Posted by Tootsie Roll

So as a debt collector the question I have to ask is: Have Payplan contacted them yet with your SOA and offer of payment ?
I am also at a loss to understand why someone clearly as able as you to stand up for themselves will not speak to them on the phone ? Absolutely back everything up in writing but why restrict yourself to that alone ? It seems to me that it's winding you up a lot more than them.

It seems to be common advice amongst the more militant that talking to lenders/dca's over the phone is just playing into their hands. You can get a lot more resolved in a 5 minute call than you can in weeks of snail mail and if you end up speaking to some numpty then insist you go higher until you speak to someone with a brain. The quicker you get it sorted to your satisfaction the quicker you can get on with your arrangement and the rest of your life.

Best of luck.

You are making the very poor assumption that all debt collectors are like yourself. I have dealt with quite a few in my time and all of them have twisted things that have been said on the phone - then call records/notes get lost and they deny all knowledge of things. Only way to deal with these parasites is by letter, at least there is a paper trail then and they can't deny agreements.

[Harassed]

Only way to deal with these parasites is by letter, at least there is a paper trail then and they can't deny agreements.

Exactly, always in writing and writing only.

[Turning_into_scrooge]

Originally Posted by Harassed

.. and of course you have absolutely NO record of what was said or agreed. Keep it all in writing, especially with dubious companies like RMA.

Sorry, T_roll. Dc's will just have to hire more people that can actually read and write.

Absolutely agree. If anything ever ends up in court you have proof that you tried to negotiate with them, they cannot say you ignored them when you have the proof you didn't

Love the post Harrassed

[Turning_into_scrooge]

Originally Posted by Tootsie Roll

So as a debt collector the question I have to ask is: Have Payplan contacted them yet with your SOA and offer of payment ?
I am also at a loss to understand why someone clearly as able as you to stand up for themselves will not speak to them on the phone ? Absolutely back everything up in writing but why restrict yourself to that alone ? It seems to me that it's winding you up a lot more than them.

It seems to be common advice amongst the more militant that talking to lenders/dca's over the phone is just playing into their hands. You can get a lot more resolved in a 5 minute call than you can in weeks of snail mail and if you end up speaking to some numpty then insist you go higher until you speak to someone with a brain. The quicker you get it sorted to your satisfaction the quicker you can get on with your arrangement and the rest of your life.
Best of luck.

Depends on the company...........

[suffolkb]

I have been having similar problems with Linkfinancial.First they told me that they don`t do anything in writing.When i asked for proof of an alleged debt,i was told that they do not need to prove anything.I have asked them to put THAT in writing,but now they deny saying it(of course).
At no time have i ever denied a debt - i just want proof.In view of other threads,i have asked for a complete breakdown,clearly showing all charges etc that i will be challenging as they are illegal.Yesterday,i got another letter still not doing this.I have now suggested that they carry out their threat of court action,so that i can produce my 33 e-mails and get this finally resolved.