Has anyone actually reported a bank for harrassment?

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

Rachman wrote:

Are you serious - of course they chase you for the money.... of course they put pressure on to get it back - what sort of lending body would they be if they did not ?

I can just see you with someone else - they owe you £10,000 and have noptpaid up in accordance with the terms agreed with you and ask you to communicate in writing only - I can draft your response, " Dear Sirs, Sod off - I will be chasing my money and haranguing/harrassing/chasing you for it every day - you owe it now pay up, yours faithfully...." - you cannot seriously be expecting to owe people money and for them to be after you Claude about it ? Can you ?

This is lending in arrears, not lending that's been kept up to date. the rules are different - you knew that when you took the debt on and then did not meet it - part of the problem is assuming that the system is there to protect you all the time - who from, the banks or ourselves ?

the issue hear is if the person has lost job etc on benefits how do they pay? you are then harrassing as you are aware the person has know means of paying so unless your thick as pig !!!! you are guilty of harrassment not the dca company but the person doing it , im what you would call very solvent now after 4 years of debt caused through unemployment i met some real low lifes and they were not debtors now im what you would call well healed and to be honest a bit of a flash git im just so glad i was not that desperate id have to work for the likes of dca these and people in debt who are skint and being harrassed i pity

ZTD

Rachman wrote:

No, but it might encourage the people who are ignoring them and have some money to actually pay some debt off or get the others to talk to them instead of continuing to behave like an ostrich..... [again, not aimed at anyone here] - what happens when you talk to these people and try to agree payment and settlement - do they still chase as much - I doubt it [cue lots of people telling me they do]

Go and have a read of the Bankruptcy Supporter's thread - as kind of initial "pre-reading". DCA's hassle even after bankruptcy has been declared. Yes - honestly...!

lynzpower

Rachman wrote:

No, but it might encourage the people who are ignoring them and have some money to actually pay some debt off or get the others to talk to them instead of continuing to behave like an ostrich..... [again, not aimed at anyone here] - what happens when you talk to these people and try to agree payment and settlement - do they still chase as much - I doubt it [cue lots of people telling me they do]

How is it behaving like an ostrich say for example a person has sent a token payment, is going into an IVA or bankrupcy? How is that behaving like an ostrich? Its nothing of the kind.

Personally, DCAs have got off my back when Ive paid the balance- and nothing less.

I had someone calling me from a DCA when I owed £6. Shame was I didnt have it to give them and I said can you ring me back on the 20th as this is my payday Ill pay you then.

They rang every sodding day up to the 20th, each time I said call me back on the 20th when Ill pay it. Out of frustration and anger of being spoken to like an idiot, I started crying. The little get on the end of the phone started giving me the "dont turn on the waterworks with me lady" carp.

These organisations are DESIGNED to harrass. When I worked at BT, we as outbound callers were simply not ble to call someone more than once in any promotional period ( unless customer EXPRESSLY requested we call back at another time, when we would be able to reset the call) . DCAS clearly dont have anything like this in place and are designed to hassle, and are unable to respond flexibly ( see my example above)

Its called respect. i might owe you 6 quid or 6 million quid, but you calling me hourly wont make the money fall out of the sky, will it?

OneSpike

Okay everybody, breeeeeeathe... Obviously we owe these people money and they are going to be insistent about arranging its return. Just for the record we are being not only honest but proactive and reasonable about arranging a reduced payment schedule. We prefer to keep communication in writing so that we have a record of everything said and done and so that we aren't receiving endless phone calls. As has been said, constant calling isn't going to create more available income or make us prioritize one lender over another, and on that basis I think it can fairly be called harrassment as it has no point other than to rattle us. We respond to letters, we're making every attempt to communicate and we're doing all we can to improve the financial situation. Maybe that puts us in the minority of lendees, but the bottom line is that there is only so much money available, and no amount of calling is going to change that. I resent anyone lumping us in with people who cheerfully default and don't give a toss about behaving reasonably - I wouldn't be here if that was our case.

Thank you for those who gave advice and support about furthering our complaint. I'm not interested in securing a conviction, but I would like to make quite plain to the creditors that we're serious about keeping communication in writing and not being subject to endless, quite pointless, calls. I take the point about changing our number, but as private tenants I'm not sure that would be possible, and I'm not going to let the banks force us into all the hoo ha that goes with that. Often we don't answer - there's a tell tale delay when the banks call, so the phone simply goes down. We answered, no-one was there, we have better things to do than hang around while someone becomes free in the call centre.

Right now I should be making supper. Thanks again.

rog2

Rachman wrote:

Are you serious - of course they chase you for the money.... of course they put pressure on to get it back - what sort of lending body would they be if they did not ?

I can just see you with someone else - they owe you £10,000 and have noptpaid up in accordance with the terms agreed with you and ask you to communicate in writing only - I can draft your response, " Dear Sirs, Sod off - I will be chasing my money and haranguing/harrassing/chasing you for it every day - you owe it now pay up, yours faithfully...." - you cannot seriously be expecting to owe people money and for them to be after you Claude about it ? Can you ?

This is lending in arrears, not lending that's been kept up to date. the rules are different - you knew that when you took the debt on and then did not meet it - part of the problem is assuming that the system is there to protect you all the time - who from, the banks or ourselves ?

I fail to see the point, if any, that you are trying to make. There are ways of chasing debt reasonably, without questioning the integrity of the 'debtor' and ther is harrassment.
I know which approach is most likely to get a positive answer from me.
I have, by the way, had many people, both personally and in business, who have owed me money and I am pleased to say that I have NEVER had reason to resort to either the use of the type of letter that you have suggested, or the need to resort to the 'shady' methods of Debt Colleting Agencies.
If you treat someone like a dog please don't be surprised if they bark.

climbgirl

lynzpower wrote:

I had someone calling me from a DCA when I owed £6. Shame was I didnt have it to give them and I said can you ring me back on the 20th as this is my payday Ill pay you then.

They rang every sodding day up to the 20th, each time I said call me back on the 20th when Ill pay it. Out of frustration and anger of being spoken to like an idiot, I started crying. The little get on the end of the phone started giving me the "dont turn on the waterworks with me lady" carp.

This is the perfect example of completely unreasonable behaviour. Lynz offered a payment date, they should have waited until then to ring. Fair enough if it's not paid on the 20th, call all you want to chase it down. But calling every day until then serves no purpose at all - it isn't going to make them get their money any faster and is a total waste of their resources.

I don't doubt that there are people who lie about this, but they shouldn't automatically assume you are and start the bullying tactics immediately.

As Lynz said, the system is set up to harrass and bully from the outset, there's no flexibility for anything else. God help you if you have to try and deal with a DCA for a debt that isn't yours, and yes it happens.

rog2

OneSpike wrote:

Okay everybody, breeeeeeathe... Obviously we owe these people money and they are going to be insistent about arranging its return. Just for the record we are being not only honest but proactive and reasonable about arranging a reduced payment schedule. We prefer to keep communication in writing so that we have a record of everything said and done and so that we aren't receiving endless phone calls.

As it happens, Spike, in my case the Banks, and their DCA's began their harrassment AFTER I wrote to them to inform them that I was experiencing financial problems and ASKING them for help and advice.
It was suggested, on another thread, that the Banks often refer accounts to their collections department/DCA's when they receive these types of letter as they realise that they are unlikely to get their money back.
In my case, phone calls and threatening letters were still arriving almost two months after my Bankruptcy - and after informing ALL creditors of my bankruptcy.
In answer to your original question I have reported the Bank (HSBC) and three DCA's to the relevant organisations.

Eager_Elephant

Hi

The best post I ever read about harrasment is on my other favourite board:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=9708407

I think the issue here is that harrassment is any action which causes distress to a person so if some people are distressed by a DCA action then that is harassment but if someone else is not then that is fine.

In the post above is a link to the OFT form for reporting DCA's who do not conform to guidelines set up to protect people.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/nr/rdonlyres/b3999175-a9bc-469d-ad5b-ba284de36e01/0/complaint.doc

Page 4 of the above document actually outlines the bare minimum they are conforming to.

HTH

EE

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

rog2 wrote:

As it happens, Spike, in my case the Banks, and their DCA's began their harrassment AFTER I wrote to them to inform them that I was experiencing financial problems and ASKING them for help and advice.
It was suggested, on another thread, that the Banks often refer accounts to their collections department/DCA's when they receive these types of letter as they realise that they are unlikely to get their money back.
In my case, phone calls and threatening letters were still arriving almost two months after my Bankruptcy - and after informing ALL creditors of my bankruptcy.
In answer to your original question I have reported the Bank (HSBC) and three DCA's to the relevant organisations.

hit the nail right on the head dca and the creditor dont want to hear problems they just want the money nothing wrong with that , there aim is to put so much preasure on you you will go to any one to get the money friends relatives perhaps they want you to steal it anything so long as you pay them then the harrassment will stop the only thing a debtor can do is change there number if you are working tell your employer lenders know all sorts can happen when they lend money anything can go wrong its the risk they take but the golden rule they stick to is as long as they pay me first so all the debtor can say is my circumtances come first end of argument realy

OneSpike

Thanks everyone. I was under no illusions that these people would be nice to us or that our impeccable payment record for the last 5 years would count for anything. Yes, we owe them money but that doesn't make it reasonable or intelligent to hound us - as pp said, harassment is in the eye of the beholder.

We got in touch before missing payments so feel we're doing all we can, but our sticking to our guns that no more money is available no matter how often they call. They're all talking about 'collection[' so I guess that means DCA. We aren't home owners and have one very old car so we're not going to be much use to them. Having said all that I'm worried DH is underestimating how !!!!!! they're going to be to us, but at least we both work from home so he's around most of the time if we do get visitors Thank good our youngest is now at school, although I know evening visits aren't unknown. hey ho.

Just out of interest, how far can they force you to go - sell every tiny last thing you possess, or force you into IVA/bankrupcy? DH is a director of his own company so bankrupcy not an attractive option