Harrasment from DCA: Alliied International Credit (AIC)

looktothefuture

I owe Natwest approx £4800.00 for a personal loan taken out in 2006. I defaulted on a number of occasions and basically ignored the debt! I contacted Natwest in December (when I had my LBM and had started organising my life) and notified them that I had moved from my previous address and the address they had for me (mothers address), updated my contact details and they informed me that the debt had been passed to AIC. I contacted Allied myself in January, informed them that I was looking into a payment plan with them and they told me to send in an SOA and I also updated my contact details with them. SOA was posted 03 January.

I happened to pop into my mothers house yesterday as she has been in Oz since January and lo and behold... guess what I found. A letter from Allied asking me to ring them - dated January 19!

So today I call them and Mr. Brown informs me that he has had a look at my SOA and unfortunatly they cannot accept my offer of £84.00/month payment as I have defaulted on so many occasions BUT they are offering a 50% reduction (£2145) which expires on 23rd March. This will cancel the default and clear the debt in total.... (!!!!!!!! to ya mate!)... and if it is not paid a doorstep collector will be sent to my new address to "seize" goods to the value of the full debt! I explained to Mr. Brown that I am unable to pay the 50% reduction on that date and would gladly go to court and prove that I am unable to - his words were "fine Ms G...... we'll send you court papers but bere in mind that you defaulted on your load you borrowed from your bank and no bank would take that lightly and you will be having to pay fee's ontop of the bank awarding us full payment!"... another !!!!!!!! to ya mate... I ain't paying!

Now tell me, am I being threatened here? I feel I am! They are basically saying "pay up or else we'll send round the baillif". Now how can I go about the next steps? Wait for the baillif?

Help !

looktothefuture

Anyone had a look even?

natters_2

AIC are the worst DCA I have had the misfortune to deal with - they made every threat under the sun to me, none of it ever materialised - when they realised I wasn't going to be bullied they sold thge debt on.

You should also bear in mind that noone can come and sieze goods unless you have had a county court judgement

looktothefuture

Thanks Natters, the do seem to have a rather bullyish tone to their telephone consultants! Mr. Brown sounded as though he knew his stuff but he doesn't realise that I've been working so hard on my debt that I too know as much as I possibly could about debt collection agencies!

I'm writing a letter to Natwest to let them know that I will not deal with AIC any longer as they obviously use bullying tactics when it comes to collecting debts... If Natwest want the money so badly... perhaps they'll agree to do take the debt back?

RAS

looktothefuture wrote: »

So today I call them and Mr. Brown informs me that he has had a look at my SOA and unfortunately they cannot accept my offer of £84.00/month payment as I have defaulted on so many occasions BUT they are offering a 50% reduction (£2145) which expires on 23rd March. This will cancel the default and clear the debt in total.... (!!!!!!!! to ya mate!)... and if it is not paid a doorstep collector will be sent to my new address to "seize" goods to the value of the full debt! I explained to Mr. Brown that I am unable to pay the 50% reduction on that date and would gladly go to court and prove that I am unable to - his words were "fine Ms G...... we'll send you court papers but bere in mind that you defaulted on your load you borrowed from your bank and no bank would take that lightly and you will be having to pay fee's ontop of the bank awarding us full payment!"... another !!!!!!!! to ya mate... I ain't paying!

Now tell me, am I being threatened here? I feel I am! They are basically saying "pay up or else we'll send round the baillif". Now how can I go about the next steps? Wait for the baillif?

Help !

I would suggest you write to the complaints dept at AIC, repeat what you were told by Mr Brown,

point out
You have attempted to make a payment agreement and demanding unreasonable payments is contrary to OFT guidelines.
if you go to court, then a payment agreement will be set up of a similar value
Add that you know your rights and that as long as you pay the CCJ, they cannot get an order to send in the bailiffs.
further that if bailiffs visit, they are not allowed to enter the house under current legislation unless you choose to let them in and you will not be doing so.
And that you are aware of the action being taken against DCAs by the OFT (for example 1st credit)
And that you will not be speaking to AIC on the phone again
and that they ever make an unsubstantiated threat like that again, you will report them to the OFT.

Cc a copy of the letter to trading standards and the OFT and the complaints department at Natwest.

looktothefuture

RAS... I knew you know your stuff but heck, man, you do!

thanks for the advice!

Merlinexcalibur

To add to that, that is what I do now rather than deal with a DCA head on. Twice now had to report one to FOS. It got results so I am not going to mock it. And, yes, I am familiar with how these people operate. Wish I wasn't but there you go.

natters_2

I doubt Nat west will be interested - the idiot I used to deal with, would start screaming down the phone at me - I would put the phone down, he would ring straight back I would put it down again, if hubby was in he would answer and they guy would start yelling at hubby saying he was covering up for me - the guy was a nutter!

Merlinexcalibur

Oh, yes had plenty of them on the phone at me before now. Until I stopped speaking to them anymore. The thing is they are 'nice as pie' but you don't play ball they turn into Jekyll and Hyde on a dime. And that is where things need tightening up in this country. And why I am glad Watchdog has been doing nearly a weekly feature on this because the more these practices get exposed and so on. People are in debt for many different reasons, but that is no reason to treat them like this either by phone or letter.

The one I had doing what you describe. If only I'd had a tape recorder to hand, cos I am certain the police would have taken an interest in how they behaved that day. I put the phone down on them, they screamed at me down the phone like someone escaped from somewhere and made assorted threats under the sun. That was my first taste of these people. And last.

The other problem being is dealing with the bank staff. You never know what grade they are or what knowledge they possess. I've lost count of the times I have been misinformed by them on the phone, the next person says different.

Never give your enemy more than they need because they will use it against you. Hope that made sense.

looktothefuture

I've just had a call from the AIC manager Mr Watson who informed me that I have just been given a reasonable offer of settlement and would I like to give him my debit card details? I almost spat my coffee out on my colleague!

I let him know that I would be going to OFT as I was trying to arrange a payment agreement which under the circumstances have been refused and was then given a totally unreasonable 50% reduction with a time limit and I wouldn't be paying that! He asked if I was refusing to explore the possibilities of raising the funds and I said "of course I was... hello, I am in debt as it is and you want me to try and take out a loan from a family member or the bank - sorry mate but it ain't happening"! He once again threatened court action and I then put down the phone!

What a load of rubbish!

natters_2

How about requesting the CCA - if they don't produce it on time you would be the one in the driving seat