Rights of DCA

SuziQ

I have had the dubious pleasure of trying to deal with a guy from Hammonds who nearly took the door of the hinges this morning to get me up. He said he had been sent by Lombards to recover one of my husbands minibuses as a direct debit hadn't been set up after the last time they harrassed him:rolleyes:
When I wouldn't give him his new address he said he was going to get the police on me. The only reason I didnt (no misplaced loyalty here!) is because he lives with his very frail mum who has congestive cardiac failure and my concern is once they have that address,if he fails to cntact them as agreed,they would go round harrassing her and she might have a heart attack.
He went back to his car and I couldn't see if he was on the phone to the police but I managed to get my ex on the phone and because he wouldn't give the address either the bloke said he was going to have him arrested (not qute sure how they were going to find him to do this.) This vehicle is I believe on hire purchse agreement,and as they never changed the names over when my husband bought this company,it's still in the name of the previous owner-who now lives in sheffield. To make matters even more complicated,the vehicle in question is in bits in his old yard following sabotage last august (someone drained the oil put) and the landlord has refused to allow entry as he is in dispute over the yard,as the previous tennants were allowed access to our things when the LL cut the padlock off-many items were stolen and the matter goes to court in a few weeks.

Exactly what powers do DCA have-is there a site I can look at so I at least am forewarned?I belive a hire purchase agreement is a personal debt as opposed to a company one,therefore could they come back and demand entry to the house and ranomly take goods to the value of? My concern is that my sil has lent us the car I currently use,and if they take that she will go mental,even though I know they would have to give it back once ownership is proven.

frosty1970

bit of a read here.....the DCA do sound like they dont know their !!!! from their elbows!

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

and here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=874795

and here

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=7759984

Broken_hearted

PMSL they really are complete !!!!! arn't they.Its nothing to do with you if he owes them money, should have let the Debt collector phone the police then they could explain to the police why nthey are harassing you for someone elses debt.

blind-as-a-bat_2

If the debt is not connected to you they cant do anything, and i would report this guy to the police anyway as threatening behaviour like that is not allowed.

Of course unless you had witness to all this its doubtfull they will act but at least it will be on record for future use;)

SuziQ

The debt isn't connected to me,but unfortunately for me,my husband is still named on the mortgage as although he has agreed the house is mine,I owned it before I ever met him,I can't get his name off until I have suitable employment and can prove to abbey I can afford the mortgage on my own. The house really is his only asset aprt from the minibuses. If they take those he has no job-catch 22 I suppose,the joke is that the last time he spoke to them the same guy whpo turned up here said he had set the direct debit back up again-it wasn't done and my ex is so hopeless he never checked (I have very very good reason to want to be shot of him!)
I got my ex on the phone and the bailiff told him 'I'm going to have you for vehicle theft,the police will arrest you' and his parting shot to me was that if my husband doesn't cooperate and I refuse to give his address then the police will 'force' me to.Luckily he should be moving from his mums soon and I have made it clear I do not want to know his new address-I can then truthfully say I don't know,but I couldn't lie about it.
What a great start to the week! I got all the debts sorted he dumped on me here-he had used my credit cards etc-and am regular in payment with the agreed amounts,it's ironic that I regulalrly get DCA and in the past Inland revenue here for debts that are not mine (he has however got the tax arrears right down as he sensibly treated them as a priority debt.)If the guy comes back I just want to know chapter and verse what he can and can't do-according to the letter he left he has charged £150 for this visit,yet I thought I read on here there is a maximum amount they can charge and it's much less than this?
My 6 year old is Autistic and he was so upset by this (he was just coming down the stairs when the guy was banging on the door and refused to leave my side as he was scared)he's now gone into school and thumped another child-he's now lost 'golden time' ie playtime even though I tried to explain to the teacher he had been very upset by something which happened at home this morning.
I try to maintain a good relationship with my ex but sometimes I could just happily throttle him!

blind-as-a-bat_2

Unless the matter has been to court this guy has no powers apart from intimidateing you as he is doing, which is a breach of code and possibly an offence.

If he calls again dont answer the door, dial 999 and say there is a madman trying to break in, that should get the polices atention:D

He will pobebly get at least cationed, maybe even arrested for a breach of the peace and whatever the term is for threatening behaviour;)

SuziQ

Very interesting. Thanks for all the links.
I have telephone Hammonds without disclosing who I am initially but asked them to verify the status of the man that came here today. I asked her is he a bailiff twice-both times she said yes. When I asked her why he couldn't show me anything to prove he was a bailiff or a warrent from the court she said 'er-hes a debt collection agent',when I asked her again if he was a bailiff she wouldn't answer. I told her he had also called before the best practice time of 8am and threatened me with the police in front of my children,she started stuttering and asking if she could get a manager to speak to me. I said no,I had downloaded the officail complaint form and I would be dealing with it that way she starts shouting 'hold on hold on' I just told her 'tell Mr H**** not to attend my property again or it will be ME calling the police and expect to hear about an official complaint.

Phew-I think I got out of the bed the wrong side this morning.
I also know that my ex offered reaonable installments,he refused to even relay this back to the company who my ex owes to-again that is against guidance.
I feel in fighting mood at the moment,but will still kill my ex if he comes within 2 miles of me today!

blind-as-a-bat_2

He he!!! bet you enjoyed that:D Somehow i think she knew they where in the wrong, dont you:rotfl:

devonsdreamer

Good on you SuzieQ- hope your son feels ok now-

SuziQ

I had the sense the young lady on the phone may have wet her knickers! (she sounded about 12-but then as I near 50 everyone sounds and looks impossible young to me!)

I feel a bit better now I have read all the info you guys pointed me to. At the end of the day,he owes the money and it must be paid-but not by me! He has failed to sort the matter of the landlord out-I have a vehicle in his yard Ihaven't had access to since last Nov and various other belongings including my children's mountain bikes-he has never even bothered to find out whther the LL had the right to refuse access to tis stuff.That debt is owed by the LTD company we had which companies house closed-supposedly according to our accountant that debt died with the company,but the landlord is now trying to force the debt personally on my ex-as his doucmets are all in the caravan e used as an office there he can't even get acess to that. Another major problem he hasn't sorted-I give up!

Merry_Gentry

Go SuzieQ! :beer: