Debt collector turned up while I'm in hospital, need advice

Lum

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

How did they find out which hospital and ward you were in? Have they been discussing things with someone else without your consent?

Well I told their lawyer that I was in hospital, so they either rung up and asked, claiming to be a relative (it's all centralised around here so really not hard to do), or they followed my partner there when she was visiting.

The former being the most likely, obviously.

handyman123_2

Hi, this info is probrably somewhere on this site allready. I foundit when researching the dirty tricks used by DCA,s

There are rules and procedures a DCA must adhere to when sending a debt collector, which are summarised in the The OFT Guidelines on Debt Collection, The parts of interest are:
2.4 Examples of unfair practices are as follows: a. falsely implying or claiming authority, for example, claiming to work on instructions from the courts, claiming to be bailiffs or, in Scotland, sheriff officers or messenger-at-arms
2.11 Those visiting debtors must not act in an unclear or threatening manner.
　
2.12 Examples of unfair practices are:
a. not making the purpose of any proposed visit clear, for example, merely stating that collectors or field agents will call is not sufficient
b. visiting a debtor when it is known they are vulnerable, for example, when a doctor’s certificate has been provided stating that the debtor is ill
c. continuing with a visit when it becomes apparent that the debtor is distressed or otherwise vulnerable, for example, it becomes apparent that the debtor has mental health problems
d. entering a property uninvited
e. not leaving a property when asked to
f. visiting or threatening to visit debtors without prior agreement when the debt is deadlocked or disputed1
g. not giving adequate notice of the time and date of a visit
h. visiting debtors, unless requested, at inappropriate locations such as work or hospital.

When I read your post my responce was unreapeatable.*********
Get a complaint of to the OFT and anyone else you can think of, If it wouldnt cause you embarrasment tell the newspapers.

Give these B******'s a right royal reaming.

P.S. Get Well Soon.

Best wishes, Handyman123.

stebiz

I felt so angry reading this. In fact I'm going to stop now before I say something I'll regret.

Get well soon.
Stebiz

DVardysShadow

handyman123 wrote: »

Hi, this info is probrably somewhere on this site allready. I foundit when researching the dirty tricks used by DCA,s

There are rules and procedures a DCA must adhere to when sending a debt collector, which are summarised in the The OFT Guidelines on Debt Collection, The parts of interest are:
...
　
2.12 Examples of unfair practices are:

h. visiting debtors, unless requested, at inappropriate locations such as work or hospital.

Good find, handyman. The link is http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf and it is on page 8.

RAS

Lum wrote: »

RAS, can I PM you as niccatw suggested?

Yes. Had to go last night.

magpiecottage

Handyman is right about the OFT butDVardyShadow's link points to the thread with the letter most likely to work because the OFT will not deal with individual cases whereas the Financial Ombudsman Service will.

RobertoMoir

niccatw wrote: »

RAS - is it possible to give an idea of the types of debts that would be dealt with with by one rather than the other? Am I right in thinking council tax debt could have a bailiff attached rather than a collection agency? Is it possible to give other broad "groupings" of debt, if there's such a thing?

I'm no RAS but I can help with this bit - I used to be a bailiff and a taxman. I have the best jobs.

Bailiffs, with one exception I'll cover in a moment, are instructed by a variety of court orders or warrants, the powers being conferred on the bailiff at any particular time are dependant on the warrant being served. This is important to remember when someone turns up who does both bailiff and debt collection work, they have no powers over and above any other debt collector when doing debt collection work.

So non payment of taxes or fines are obviously dealt with by bailiffs, which covers fines, council tax (including national non-domestic rates for business), stuff like that. That bit is easy. Collection of unpaid income tax or VAT by a collector of taxes is also a specialised subset of the above.

Bailiffs can also be instructed to recover debts once a County Court Judgement (CCJ) has been awarded against someone. With a CCJ granted, the person wishing to collect on the judgement has a variety of options to help enforce the debt including applying to the court for the court's bailiffs to act.

I did mention an exception for bailiffs didn't I? This is probably not going to apply to most people here and is a specialist area in its own right, but distress and collection of rent arrears via bailiffs without a court order is possible in theory but in practice I've only ever really seen this done for commercial property / business rent.

Other debts that don't meet the conditions mentioned above would be handled by debt collectors.

handyman123_2

Lum I posted this earlyer this evening, Hope it will cheer you up if you havent allready seen it Best wishes Handyman123.
A rich old industrialist calls his Priest, Doctor and Bank Manager to his bedside,
I’m dieing he says. They say you cant take it with you, but I’m going to prove them wrong.
Father, you have tended to my spiritual needs and gave me absolution when my conscience bothered me.
Doctor, you have tended to my physical needs and kept me going through all my excess.
Bank Manager, you have advised me how to make even more money, and even helped keep me out of jail when the tax man was after me.
I am going to request one last thing from each of you, here is an envelope each containing £100,000 when I die, I want you each to throw your envelope into the grave as they bury me, that way I get to take some of my money with me.
A few day later the Industrialist died. At the funeral the Priest, Doctor and Bank Manager dutifully threw their envelopes into the grave as it was being filled in.
As they were walking through the church yard the Priest turned to the other two and said, Gentlemen I have something weighing on my conscience that I must tell you.
You know I run a shelter for the Homeless and needy. I could not in all conscience waste all that money, so there was only 50K in the envelope I threw into the grave.
The Doctor then spoke, Father he said I’m so pleased you told us this. You know that I help run a clinic for down and outs, Alcoholics and Addicts that cant get help anywhere else. I couldn’t see all that money go to waste when it could help so many, so there was only 25K in my envelope.
The Bank Manager looked in horror at the Priest and Doctor, You are the two most dishonest Individuals I have ever met, he said.
The Least you could have done is what I did and put a cheque into the envelope for the Full Amount.
　
　
P.S. The old Industrialist forgot an outstanding loan for 20p, A DCA is digging him up again next week.

Get well soon.

Lum

Just to update this. It turned out it was a bailiff. Quite why a bailiff is allowed to harass me without a court order and in a dispute with a private company I have no idea but according to the police they acted perfectly legally.

20 minutes after I got home from hospital he was there, he was as abusive and intimidating as you would expect, lied about several points of law, claimed I would be charged fees if I took more than 5 minutes to find what he wanted. He was particularly abusive to my partner who was unwell and was just trying to stick up for me and make sure I was ok since I was still having trouble using my hand due to still having a tap installed there for IV antibiotics. I'm sure most of this crap will be familiar to many people reading this forum.

Like I said I have never disputed the debt and would have happily paid it as soon as I was out of hospital anyway so ultimately all that's happened is it's cost the creditor money and they haven't gotten what they wanted any quicker.

I then went immedietly to the police to complain under S5 of the Harassment Act, this is when it transpired that it was a bailiff and he was allowed to do that, however they have also confirmed that any further contact would be considered harassment.

It's over. Thanks to everyone here for their support and help, particularly RAS.

jadex

Sorry, but I do not think it is up to any policeman to decide whether the person who harrased you acted legally or not.