bullying from first stop dfinance

2011Fairy

I have been left in tears by a guyy at first stop financial, he called me monday and said he would be writing to my work (he called on my work phone) to obtan funds from salary. I am pregnant and got scared of losing my job in the last few months of me working.
he then told me he would send a bailiff round as well.
he was really aggressive and told me he would not accept my offer of £10 a month - (i have -£20 left after everything is paid each month) I also have a council tax bill payment.
i sent him an i&e
he called back and said only £20 a month, i agreed saying the only way i could afford this is if i skip the train a few times a week to make p the extra money, i advised this is a crime and then as i was uypset i put ' i hope this allows you to meet all your targets etc'

In response he put
Commit a crime? What? You owe money and I am a debt collector, if I did not ask you to pay then I would not be doing my job.

Its not my fault you took out a loan and decided never to pay a penny, you have had this loan for 18 months.

We are within our rights to load a CIFAS fraud warning against you for obtaining funds with no intent.

You should be thankful that we are allowing you to only pay £20 per month and not demanding the full outstanding balance.

I will be checking our account at 3pm on the last working day of the month, if there is no payment made by yourself at this time I WILL be commencing legal proceedings.

can he put this? or am i wrong for expressing my feelings,
its true i did not know i had the loan as i was shortly made homeless afterwards

dancingfairy

Firstly you need to stop dealing with nasty threatening bottom feeders on the phone. He sounds absolutely horrific.
You need to prioritise things - council tax debt is important that you try and get back on top of things. Paying first stop financial is not a priority unless it is a secured loan?
Do not pay them what they want - they are likely to phone back next week and say they want 30, etc if they think you are soft touch and likely to give it to their bullying. You should pay them what you can afford - and if that's 10 pound per month then that's 10 pounds per month.
Do they have your current bank details? if so, given the type of people you appear to be dealing with from your comments I would get a new bank account set-up asap and get any benefit/salry transferred to it - you do not need any hassle from first stop financial.
All that stuff about bailiffs and writing to your work is nasty. As far as I know they can't send bailiffs unless they have a court order (which they don't yet) and I can't believe that your employer would just pay out your salary based on a letter - if they were stupid enough to write to your work place as I believe that is against Office of fair Trade Guidelines.
Have you a) done a statement of affairs yet to see how much you have 'spare' to repay your debts?
and b) have you checked to see if you are getting all the benefits you are entitledto? I think the website to check is called entitled to or something like that.
Above all - don't panic and don't listen to their threats.
df

dancingfairy

How much was the loan for?
df

2011Fairy

thanks. i feel really relieved i was thinking maybe i deserved it then. No he tried to bully my details from me however I refused and said i would pay in.
Iv now got their details and will be paying money into that.
I wrote a letter back just saying no court in the land would think i was guilty of fraud as i have actually made payments. i also advised if he thought it professinal to make my payments terms even harder on me? im so unsure how to go about all this debt, i have been to payplan but they just sent me letter top send as i have no spare income

2011Fairy

loan was for 200 now have to pay 374.

dancingfairy

Have you got bank statements showing proof of payments etc? I would write a letter of complaint to them and explain that you are well aware of your rights and what companies can can not do and that their phone call breached OFT debt collection guidelines several times - I'm almost certain it did - hassling you to pay more, threatening bailiffs when they don't have a court order, ditto writing to your employers etc - have a look at OFT debt collection guidelines - hopefully someone will provide a link for you.
I also would be demanding to see a statement of your account from them to see how much you have paid and how much interest and charges they are adding.
I would also consider reporting them to the authorities as well.
I still would look at a new bank account as presumably they put the original loan in there so have the bank details for you? if not then don't panic.
Don't let bullies win. You obviously have far more important things to concentrate on right now.
df

12bdebt3

He's a little bit aggressive but he's doing his job, I'm a debt collecter and I don't act in the way he does.

If he doesn't meet targets then he might lose his job or pay. His job and his money are more important to him than your emotions and circumstances because he doesn't know you. It's all about the monkeysphere: http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html. You're not in his monkeysphere so he can easily detach you from his mind.

The letter is unprofessional but he hasn't said anything incorrect, he's just trying to make you panic and ensuring you make a payment by letting you know of the consequences if you don't, albeit in a terrible manner. Fear factor.

Hope it all goes well for you. Sorry to say and I'm not being harsh, if you can't pay the money back then don't borrow it in the first place.

dancingfairy

The amount is ever better - it's not like is thousands or tens of thousands or something - it's hardly worth them going to court for that amount I wouldn't have thought and frankly if they did it sounds like they would be wasting their time as if you haven't got the money to pay them then you haven't got the money to pay them, and it sounds like you don't exactly have any assets they could take even if they wanted to.
df

12bdebt3

2011Fairy wrote: »

loan was for 200 now have to pay 374.

Could you not borrow that money off a family member or very close friend to save you hassle?

fantasia322

arrontdep wrote: »

He's a little bit aggressive but he's doing his job, I'm a debt collecter and I don't act in the way he does.

If he doesn't meet targets then he might lose his job or pay. His job and his money are more important to him than your emotions and circumstances because he doesn't know you. It's all about the monkeysphere: http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html. You're not in his monkeysphere so he can easily detach you from his mind.

The letter is unprofessional but he hasn't said anything incorrect, he's just trying to make you panic and ensuring you make a payment by letting you know of the consequences if you don't, albeit in a terrible manner. Fear factor.

Hope it all goes well for you. Sorry to say and I'm not being harsh, if you can't pay the money back then don't borrow it in the first place.

There are ways and ways of doing a job, like completely within the guidelines that are set out.
Intimidation is a criminal offence, have been on the receiving end of these bullies, and it is not nice.

hope you get this sorted hon x

dancingfairy

arrontdep wrote: »

He's a little bit aggressive but he's doing his job, I'm a debt collecter and I don't act in the way he does.

If he doesn't meet targets then he might lose his job or pay. His job and his money are more important to him than your emotions and circumstances because he doesn't know you. It's all about the monkeysphere: http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html. You're not in his monkeysphere so he can easily detach you from his mind.

The letter is unprofessional but he hasn't said anything incorrect, he's just trying to make you panic and ensuring you make a payment by letting you know of the consequences if you don't, albeit in a terrible manner. Fear factor.

Hope it all goes well for you. Sorry to say and I'm not being harsh, if you can't pay the money back then don't borrow it in the first place.

I believe from what the OP is saying that debt collector has stepped over the line and it was said in an overly agressive manner - the only problem is it is highly doubtful that it can be proved and first stop finance may have recorded the call but they aren't exactly going to be shouting about it unless it proves that they are squeakly clean are they?
I also agree that people shouldn't borrow money if they can't afford to pay it back but we all know it doesn't always work like that, desperate people will do desperate things and circumstances change. The OP can't do anything about having taken the loan right now but they can get themselves back on track and try and pay what they can - which is what they appear to be doing.
df