Provident Financial

WELSHSTUD10

Hi guys,

Looking for advice on where to go with these loan sharks, not sure if i posted in correct forum but hope admin will move my thread if not correct forum.

Right in jan 2010 me and my partner became Customers of these sharks, we got rather friendly with the agent (big mistake)

In march 2010 we were issued a further loan and our payment books were retained by agent so she could update with new loans.

In October these books had still not been returned after asking several times so i conatcted the regional office and requested they were brought to me as a matter of urgency and told them i would retain payment until i had received the books. They were posted discreetly through my door at 9.30pm on a monday night.

Upon investigation i found that the books had serious discrepences. We paid £60 a week every week without fail. yet there were several missing payments on both accounts. (we also had greenwood and they were paid weekly on time and the greenwood book reflected this)

So I contacted the area manager the next morning and explained my concers she came to my house that afternoon and admitted she was not happy with the books and statements and the reflection of my provient account on greenwood. The area manager retained my books as part of her investigation and issued a receipt for them which i still have.

She reffered the matter to field security who visited me in my propety the following friday, we had a long discussion for 2 hours and he went on hi way to interview the agent.

When we were issued with new loans we were told that we had to pay off other loans first somethng called early ressetlment.

Over the course of jan 2010- oct 2010, me and my partner must have done about 7 of these forms with amounts ranging from £46 - £167.

None of these early payments had been credited to my accounts so she had also pocketed that money.

My let down is i did not ask for recipets to prove these transactions. providents defence is its not up to us to issue receipts its up to you to request them.

So i had several payments of £60 a week missing and several Early Settlements missing, Cash my provident agent had taken from me but not received by provident.

Provident dug very deep into my personal info and discovered the name i had used to obtain the loans was infact my middlename and not my surname. This is perfectally legal as i am known by my middle name by all my creditors and utility suppliers and also i dont use my surname for personal reasons.

Anyways provident though they had me for fraud as they found or so they thought that i had given a false name.

The name i gave them is my middle name and is on my birth certificate. anyways provident decided that due to me not having receipts to prove payments being made that no theft had occured and in fact i had commited fraud and they involved the police.

Upon disussion with the police i was told no criminal offence had been commited on my side and that this was the company trying to defend themselves and that i should pursue a civil case as the circumstancial evidence is in my favour e.g
1) no payment books from march till october
2) books beig posted discreetly at 9.30pm
3) payments made to other creditors on time and in full
4) neither me or my partner have a criminal record.
5) the fact that the agent in fact has previous convictions for theft. (provident do not crb there staff as there self emplyed agents.

I have complained to the CCA who regulates provident and there responce was we are happy with the way provident have dealt with your case and we are aware there is a police investigation for fraud. Provident managed to twist there arm with the fraud thing which has since proven untrue. Like i told police if this was fraud i would not have gave my correct date of birth or my national insurance number or would i have paid in full for 9 months.

Provident have now told me that as a result of police investigation being completed i have 7 days to pay the full outstanding balance.

My biggest issue is it my partner and my word against theres and there a huge company, I am adamant that until they produce me with a statement reflecting my true balance i will not make paymets.

From what info i have the agent has stolen anything between £700 and £1000 from us and the balance is £1456.

When they consulted with police they stopped the greenwood agent coming to my house and she has not been here since november so i also need to know where i stand with that, i signed a home collected loan aggrement and they withdrew there home collected service as they thought i was fraudulant.

Provident have issued me with a final responce which is

4 February 2011

Dear Mr *******

Further to your recent telephone conversation with S***** S****, regarding your account with us.

I understand you remain unhappy and are still of the opinion that your agent has stolen money from you. You have indicated that until this matter is resolved you will cease making payments to your account.

As Sharon explained to you, this matter has been referred to our field security department who have looked into the allegations once again. I must advise you that the outcome of their investigations have remained the same, they have reiterated that they have found no evidence to suggest that the agent has misappropriated any monies from your accounts.

I appreciate that you will remain unhappy with this outcome and would suggest that you take any evidence you may have to the Police for them to investigate. Should they wish to contact us as part of any investigation that they undertake, we will of course be happy to correspond with them.

In order to make payments as the full balance needs to be paid within 7 days to avoid further action, please contact our solicitors CK Edrupt & Co on 0800 9166442. Due to the breakdown in the relationship between yourself and the local office, your accounts with Provident and our sister company Greenwood have been transferred to them to help facilitate the repayment of the accounts.

I must advise that this is our final response to this matter, and If you remain unhappy you have the right to refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This must be done within six months from the date of this letter.

Please find enclosed an explanatory leaflet for your information.

Yours sincerely

So guys what i need to know is

1) What can i do as far as providnet concered and the theft
2) Where do i stand with greenwood withdrawing there agent
3) Any advice on a letter to send the solicitors ck edrupt

BugsyBrowne

Sorry mate post to long to get my little brain through all that lot.

paddyrg

I think you've been stitched up royally. But there are two separate things going on here...

1) Payments stolen and
2) You're witholding money from Provident

1) is a criminal case between you and the thief
2) is a civil case between you and Provident.

Provident need to be paid no matter what - don't withhold their cash, apologise and get on with servicing the debt, there's no way around that. You need to recover the money stolen by the collector, pretty clear case of theft, police matter. Get Provident to back you up on this, not make them your enemy.

That's my take, anyway, for what it is worth.

WELSHSTUD10

They wont let me make payments as they wont send an agent here as i offered to pay £1 a week until dispute was resolved. Provident are already the enemy.
As For the police i didnt have enough evidence to support my claims (there was no evidence to suggest they wernt true either).
So i point blank refuse to pay the money twice i have already paid the agent that represents provident. Not my Fault they didnt receive it.

WELSHSTUD10

I think its relevant to add that proviDents customer service has been appauling. They have tried every avenue to avoid facing up to the fact that one of there agents is a THEIF

PNPSUKNET

why have your posts got external links in them.....

[Deleted User]

OP this is far to involved to be sorted by people on a forum,you need legal advice,if you cant afford a solicitor try the CAB

and if i were you i`d be careful about decribing provident as loan sharks in public

Apples2

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

why have your posts got external links in them.....

The OP has either:
1. posted this question first over on CAG, then copied & Pasted here
2. Stolen someone else's post from CAG for some reason.

WELSHSTUD10

THE EXTERNAL links are because i put this on another site first then cut and paste it to here

Gothicfairy

OP

I am sure I have read something the same before. Have you done a search here ?

I will try and remember what and where I read it as it might help you

gilligansyle

Ok 2 things going on, agent kept hold of your books. It is normal practise for books to go to the office for verification when a new loan is taken out, they are normally returned the following week. I know that occasionally there are delays; the agent should have given you a receipt anyway and if after a few weeks, no book arrived, it is your responsibility to check the amount paid and remaining balance, the agent should have this in their book. You should have raised this earlier and not carried on getting loans. They can't give you a true balance if the agent hasn't recorded it in the book and pocketed the money. They have no way of knowing what you've paid.

The second matter; you need to pay Provident, even if they don't send an agent. You can send cheques to head office, put your customer number and address on the back, or you can ring Head Office and make a payment on debit card.

I understand that you feel aggrieved, the agent is probably no longer with them, will just have been sacked. There is insufficient proof that the agent took the money, but you may not be the only customer affected. I once had my Provi book taken off me by security because of suspicions against an agent.