Creditor Calls are driving me insane!

greentrader

I have felt a lot better since I took advice from CCCS and the wonderful people on here. I am making token payments to my creditors as advised and most of the creditors have actually been quite understanding and helpful. Nat West and RBS (same company almost)in particular have always been polite on the telephone and actually accepted my request to stop phone calls and perform all correspondence in writing. They wrote and asked for a list of creditors and amounts and I duly provided that information.

Now the bad companies. I have written to Capital One and Barclaycard TWICE (used letter template from here) asking them to cease phone calls and perform all correspondence in writing. Despite this I get non-stop calls from both companies. Yesterday Saturday 8th January I had 14 calls from Barclaycard and 5 from Capital One. This morning Sunday 9th January I have already had 5 calls from Capital One.

I have not answered the calls, I have setup a custom ringtone on my house phone and mobile - basically it is a blank audio track! I then check the log to see how many times they call.

Surely they are not allowed to constantly call me like this, it is verging on harassment. I did speak to them at an early stage and ask them to stop the calls but then read on here that I needed to put the request in writing. Having done this I am surprised that these two companies keep calling. I spoke to one nasty lady at Capital One and she said "Well we will keep calling and texting you until you clear the amount overdue so if you want the calls to stop then make the payment now by Debit Card!" It was these people who harassed me into making a payment that left me £5!

How do I stop this?

sandraroffey

no, they cant do this as i am sure folk on here who know a lot than me, will tell you.

i think you can write to them and tell them that you want to be contacted by post only and that you dont want them to call you any more, and i believe they have to do just that.

i had an answer service that i could put onto instant call pick up. didnt ring at all. failing that?? change your number??? i did.

they arent allowed to harrass you and you can do something about it if they continue to do so.

i have to say that capital one are the worse offenders i found. 5 calls in one morning??? if that isnt harrassment i dont know what is.

good luck. people will come on here and tell you how to tell them to go away. in the nicest possible way of course.

greentrader

The record number of calls I had was 17 in one day!

danothy

greentrader wrote: »

Surely they are not allowed to constantly call me like this, it is verging on harassment.

I don't think this is verging on harassment, I would say it is harassment. If someone has reason to believe that their actions are unwanted by another (and if you have written to these people informing them that you don't want them to call you then they do) then as I understand it continuing those actions is harassment.

I think the criteria are to be persistent and unwanted, and the threshold is that any continuation after they've been informed it's unwanted counts as persistent.

dancingfairy

I believe you can now report them as having written 2 letters already they clearly aren't listening. I think it's the OFT you report them to. Hopefully someone clever will know for sure.
df

dancingfairy

I have found this another poster wrote in respect to harrassment calls and what to put in the letter:
If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine. Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company may be recorded and used in evidence and I expect this harassment to cease immediately.

Therefore I would suggest reporting all offending companies to OFCOM, Trading standard and the OFT.
Good luck
df

Jinx

Id change my number - say you are being harassed and some will do it for free.... It gives you the breathing space which we all need to deal with our debts. (I did it as soon as I stopped making the min payments - 6 years on never had a phone call re debt)

bottleofred

Hi Greentrader,

Send the letter to them, although some will still call. However, when they do call, don't go through the security check, tell them you wish to be contacted only in writing and hang up.