Warning over ads that promise debt clearance

petermb_2

cyril82 wrote: »

Personally i think we will see the "assessment" fee being dropped soon by the better operators in an effort to distance themselves from the low life that have swarmed on the industry.

however the rest of the fee would likely still be required to be paid before completion as the solicitors will not shoulder the risk.

Personal injury solicitors may offer no upfront fees but then they make the client sign an agreement that means any compensation is paid to them, where they will first deduct their fees before forwarding the remainder of the compensation. With the exception of those who now don't charge fees and settle for the costs they recover from the other side as payment enough. But as i understand it, in these financial claims cases fees can not be recovered from the lender in the same way as with personal injury claims.

Actually a totally free service can be offered to the borrower. When I say free I mean no upfront fees and no deduction from the compensation amount. The fees are levied to the lender in addition to the claim amount.

cyril82

petermb wrote: »

Actually a totally free service can be offered to the borrower. When I say free I mean no upfront fees and no deduction from the compensation amount. The fees are levied to the lender in addition to the claim amount.

often no claim for repayment or compensation is made in these cases though as the aim is to make the agreement unenforceable, compensation will only be claimed in the event of mis-sold ppi or other serious mis-selling cases where it is deemed that the borrower paid too much or paid money they should not have had to pay.

petermb_2

cyril82 wrote: »

often no claim for repayment or compensation is made in these cases though as the aim is to make the agreement unenforceable, compensation will only be claimed in the event of mis-sold ppi or other serious mis-selling cases where it is deemed that the borrower paid too much or paid money they should not have had to pay.

There is at least one company that will offer a fee free service for all issues, from PPI through to unenforceable agreements.

The key to such a scheme is having sufficient funding to cover all the costs incurred .

Former_MSE_Wendy

~Brock~ wrote: »

Wendy, are you on the look out for just adverts, or whole websites? If so are you happy for details of them to be posted here and potentially ripped to shreds (as many deserve) by posters? Would that not risk a similar reaction to the one at the end of last year by the firm we cannot name?

I can come up with a whole list of firms whose websites fall foul of the warnings recently issued and/or are breaching regulations in some way, but to be honest it would just fall into another pointless slagging match as these threads always do.

I'm all for raising awareness in the eyes of vunerable customers however.

Anything that is misleading really, including adverts in papers (harder to monitor than websites i think).

If you think linking in this thread might cause legal issues - feel free to send me a PM with any dubious info you've spotted.

Ta. Wendy.

soontobesensible

Hi there,
HAS ANYONE HEARD OF A COMPANY CALLED VANTRESS?????????


THIS IS THEIR DEAL:

• The fee is £50.00 per secured loan assessed and if you have a claim a further £150.00 to progress the case.
• There are NO other costs and a 100% money back guarantee if we're not successful.

Rallydriver

The trouble with this type of claim is that there aren't any cases that have gone to court yet.
When they do and alot of these claims get refuted and it turns out that alot of the claims people have paid out huge upfront fees for aren't going anywhere, do people really think that the companies who promised to refund are going to be refunding?

Assume the companies are being honest. They've taken the upfront fees and it turns out most claims are going nowhere, well they've already had to cover their overheads and employment costs out of this. So there's not enough money in the pot to refund and the company goes belly up, the valid claimants then suffer because the company has gone and everybody ends up in even more debt than they were to begin with.

Thats if the companies intentions are honourable. If they aren't, well the company directors will be off sunning themselves on the Costa del crime or similar, having moved all the upfront fees out of the country before things even get to that stage.

annoyed_and_confused

2 years ago I have to admit I was sad enough to be sucked in by one of these companies... the one who charges £500 up front and promises the earth and certainly doesn't provide!!

I was told initially that it would take 6 to 9 months for them to investigate 2 claims on my behalf (Oh yes £1000!!!) and if they were no go they would automatically refund my money.

2 years on 1 claim has been moving along or at least was until for some unknown reason they changed the solicitor dealing with the matter... that was 2 months ago and I have heard nothing since.

The 2nd claim was deemed nor worth pursuing so all I had to do was sign a form and they would refund my money in full within 30 working days by cheque... 30 days has now passed, they have been evasive, refused to take calls, failed numerous times to return calls and so now I am looking at employing a solicitor to recover my own money!!!

Apart from battering myself around the head for being so stupidly sucked in ... any suggestions as to how I get my money back without spending more?

daithestag

evening folks- had a guy come round the house last week to discuss about me wiping out the balance on my 3 cards - he also said his company would look at some car loans and mortgages i had. in all he took the details of 14 different lenders,loans and cards, he phoned me a couple of days ago and said - "good news" they can claim back and wipe off 10 out of 14 he also said i am looking at a min of 5k repaid on my car loans and 2 mortgages - ????? he wants 495 for the mortgages and loans and 175 for the credit cards what do you folks think, he said it will take 12 months but could go on for longer, he wants the money now but i have told him that i was going to put things on hold untill after xmas, has any one out there actually had a result, he said he had been with the firm over 9 months and had not had a claim sorted in that time - any info would be much appreciated.