Impact Collections (Vanquis Card)

Bosie

Hi, not been on MSE for a while, this enquiry is for a friend!

He has fell behind with his payments with Vanquis, due to a circumstance change. The interest charges have been approx £53 a month an an odd £12 late charge.
Now it has gone to Impact Collections which I'm sure is a part of Vanquis, will they stop the charges?

They have agreed to a reduced payment of £31.75 a month, but on the letter no mention if the interest have been dropped.

This company have phoned my friend relentlessly and he isn't too well mentally.

Anyone dealt with them?
Thanks

Bosie

So no-one with experience with this company:j Have done searches but hardly anything helpful.

fermi

Sounds like a typical in house debt collection outfit.

They may stop charges/interest, but I would say it's more likely they will continue for now. Whacking on charges/interest is too much a part of their business model to make profits. Would be nice to be proved wrong though...

Is any of the info in the Mental Health & Debt Guide relevant to your friend?

chuckley

vanquis do indeed hound with phonecalls, and i hear they hound ppls work places too.
ive found on the whole vanquis are veeeeeeery lax about proceeding with DCA's. 'Impact collections' is just their in house dept for defaulted accounts. they claim their minimum repayment plan is £20 a month and that they'l reject anything less. of course they dont. and they go away once u start repaying, regardless of the amount. if u want the interest to stop though, they'll basically 'shut down' the account until the full amount is repayed.

id say ignore the phone calls.

Bosie

fermi wrote: »

Sounds like a typical in house debt collection outfit.

They may stop charges/interest, but I would say it's more likely they will continue for now. Whacking on charges/interest is too much a part of their business model to make profits. Would be nice to be proved wrong though...

Is any of the info in the Mental Health & Debt Guide relevant to
your friend?

Thanks Fermi, he has got a CPN and she was supposed to send a letter to Vanquis, confirming he's not well and not to persecute.
He has had a letter from them (Impact) but it doesn't say if interest and charges have been stopped. Seems daft if he is paying £31.75 a month, but they continue to charge interest of around £51-53 a month and a £12 default charge?

I think if that was to happen, if he stopped paying let it go to an outside collection agency?

Bosie

chuckley wrote: »

vanquis do indeed hound with phonecalls, and i hear they hound ppls work places too.
ive found on the whole vanquis are veeeeeeery lax about proceeding with DCA's. 'Impact collections' is just their in house dept for defaulted accounts. they claim their minimum repayment plan is £20 a month and that they'l reject anything less. of course they dont. and they go away once u start repaying, regardless of the amount. if u want the interest to stop though, they'll basically 'shut down' the account until the full amount is repayed.

id say ignore the phone calls.

I was with him one day and in the space of just one hour 3 calls:o

It's worse because he's in a relapse and can't cope with even simple things. Getting hounded with calls can be quite menacing.

Thanks for your input

Culex

Bosie wrote: »

I was with him one day and in the space of just one hour 3 calls:o

It's worse because he's in a relapse and can't cope with even simple things. Getting hounded with calls can be quite menacing.

It can be rather unpleasant for anyone but, for someone with his problems, it would be like torture.

Can you get the scoundrels prosecuted for harassment, contrary to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997?

Bosie

Culex wrote: »

It can be rather unpleasant for anyone but, for someone with his problems, it would be like torture.

Can you get the scoundrels prosecuted for harassment, contrary to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997?

I know, some companies are better than others.I contacted Aqua Card and they assigned him a specialist worker. I sent off proof from the hospital outpatients and they stopped interest immediately.
I got him a new sim for his mobile, as their ringing was bonkers and frightening to him!