MCO Capital loan

Oldbloke_2

Prudence2 wrote: »

When I called that number (believing it initially you be Helploans' number , because that's what it said on the top of the letter) the advisor told me they were not Helploan, they were the debt collection agency (ie Intrum Justicia). I do not think MCO/Helploan and IJ are the same.

Thank you....neither do I.

grahamqat

If there is no connection why do you get IJ when you phone Helploan? I'm confused.com

geomacl

grahamqat wrote: »

If there is no connection why do you get IJ when you phone Helploan? I'm confused.com

Dear confused.com
The reason, to my simple mind (no comments invited!), is that the letters (under Helploan or Balanceloan banners) were most likely sent out by IJ, who are acting as debt collectors, their sole business role - either for themselves, having bought MCO's alleged debts, or on behalf of MCO/Helploan/Balanceloan; I suspect the former!

Prudence2_2

geomacl wrote: »

Dear confused.com
The reason, to my simple mind (no comments invited!), is that the letters (under Helploan or Balanceloan banners) were most likely sent out by IJ, who are acting as debt collectors, their sole business role - either for themselves, having bought MCO's alleged debts, or on behalf of MCO/Helploan/Balanceloan; I suspect the former!

That's the impression I get too, and if so, it is IJ who will be seriously out of pocket. But it's difficult to know exactly who is playing what role in this sorry series of events.

grahamqat

Thanks for that folks. I phoned the Helploan number and talked to a fairly helpful lady from IJ. She said they were the exclusive collection agency for Helploan etc. She said they didn't send the letters out but that Helploan would have simply put their number on as a precursor to handing the debt over.

She asked for my invoice ref and checked it out then said it had been blocked. She also said there was a fraud investigation marker on it. She was well aware of the situation and said they wouldn't be pursuing these loans until the Fraud investigations had sorted it out. She also advised to contact AF (already done that got CRN etc).

So maybe not the same company but obviously work closely with one another sharing same database etc.

geomacl

Has everyone checked their credit reports with all 3 main credit check companies (Experian, Equifax and CallCredit)? I checked with one of them and they seem to have passed on an identity fraud alert to the others. One of the others has just written to me offering a free check :eek:

davidbuk

grahamqat wrote: »

Hi David, IJ, Balanceloan, Helploan, MCO are all the same entity. When you call Helploan on 0844 5765731 you get a recording "Welcome to Intrum Justitia".

IJ and Helploan are definitely not the same thing. IJ send out the letters on Helploans behalf and use their own phone number as they are the ones collecting the payments.

davidbuk

geomacl wrote: »

Has everyone checked their credit reports with all 3 main credit check companies (Experian, Equifax and CallCredit)? I checked with one of them and they seem to have passed on an identity fraud alert to the others. One of the others has just written to me offering a free check :eek:

Yep Callcredit offered me a free check too as Experian had passed the fraud detilis on to them..... kudos to Experian I think.

colinho

Oldbloke wrote: »

Yep...£0.00!

Strange though that the posted £8M sales.

It really depends on phone numbers and bank account details on the letters. If those are the same as I've already posted, then I think they are legitimate letters. geomacl, colinho, what do you think?

It's very, very, weird. IJ (UK) are variously stated to be part of an in-house RBS operation, as well as clearly being part of a very large pan-European operation. Any brief internet search will bring up hundreds of people being harrassed by them, in a distinctly barely-legal way. They buy debt at low rates (10p in the pound is quoted), then chase for the full amount, using tactics which are simply dishonest. Including making "silent" phone calls three or four times a day, or leaving numbers to call back which appear to divert to premium rate numbers. They chase "statute of limitation" debts (i.e. older than 6 years), and according to some posts, they also ignore the law relating to credit card/unsecured debt (amendment to Consumer Credit act in 2007) without the prescribed information, which is now legally written off.
Rather worryingly, you can find a sneaky little government announcement dated 23rd September, stating that "HMRC to employ debt collectors to recover tax". Can you imagine the crowd (Tax Office) that seems to have managed to get virtually everybody's tax liability wrong, instructing a bunch of crooks to harass innocent people for non-existent liability? What chance do you have of persuading the government crooks that you don't actually owe them anything? What's the betting that IJ will figure large in this little scheme?
I for one, have nothing against companies trying to collect money they are legally due, but I do feel that there should be a mechanism in place to allow for incorrect, illegal, or barely-legal, recovery merchants to incur costs and damages, when they are in the wrong.
MCO may well be a scam on IJ - if so, they deserve each other.
The whole of Western "democratic" society stinks. We have rampant corruption from top to bottom, and the people who genuinely work hard all their lives to generate the wealth, are constantly abused by the system. It always comes as a shock to people, the first time they are the victim, how badly the system will fail them, and what sort of "bad guys" are lurking on the periphery, just waiting for an opportunity.
And it isn't going to change.

Oldbloke_2

davidbuk wrote: »

Yep Callcredit offered me a free check too as Experian had passed the fraud detilis on to them..... kudos to Experian I think.

I haven't bothered calling them, I deal with Equifax, and there wasn't an alert on my file about a search from MCO. As I've said before, when this thing ends, there'll be a mass deletion of all MCO searches by Experian.....Aren't Callcredit part of Experian anyway?