Link Financial

deltatwo

Hi,

New to this site, but wondered if anyone has had any experiences with Link Financial?

Have had a MBNA Credit Card debt sold to them, and have contacted them to try and set-up payment plan but they say I am not on system yet and to wait to hear from them.

Debt is for 8K and can either offer £100 per month or potentially a F & F payment (from family) of around 2.5K.

Any suggestions or experiences on best way to approach this?

Thanks

Merry Christmas:beer:

skylight

We have found them to be reasonable. They happily accepted the £1 a month token payment immediately, whereas others didn't. And unlike MBNA (who also passed on OH debt) they didn't call lots and lots.

Can't help with a F&F though as we haven't/can't make one!

sgx.saint

Hey.

Yes, Link Financial are actually quite easy to deal with. Although I deal with all my creditors by formal written contact only.

I don't see you having any problems with them.

Although I would stake my girlfriend that you wont get a F&F for £2.5K on a £8K debt.

Although, with it being christmas you never know!

deltatwo

Thank you for your replies, just had heard some horror stories with them, and when I asked on the phone if they would look at a payment plan they said would have to have my details first.

Some people have said they do not look at payment plans and immediately go to Court!

Thanks
X

sgx.saint

Some people have said they do not look at payment plans and immediately go to Court!

Not from my experience anyway. I wouldn't worry, 99% of the time this is a scare tactic and if you are making repayments then you have nothing to worry about.

deltatwo

Hi,

Have just spoken with Link Financial, and although they were very nice, they did say that since I own my own house, they will not accept monthly payments and want me to pay total sum or they will go for Charging Order or Forced Charged Order on house. They say they only do payment plans for people on benefits, when I said this was not what was on their site, they said legally they have to put that! He has asked me to go away and think about how I could raise the money by perhaps remortgaging (said no!) or borrow money from family. I did say that they should not be advising me to take preferential treatment over creditors and he said that they could drop to 70% of debt owed but no more than that, if I do not do this they will go to court for order. Have to send them full I & E details and contact them on Wednesday. Any ideas on best way to progress with this, since don't think I want a Charging Order against house, and by the way I live in Scotland. Thanks

AGB863

Just a bit of info - Under the Debt Collection Guidance as set down by the Office of Fair Trading - creditors are not allowed to suggest that your obtain more credit (ie remortgage) to pay off a debt.

Tootsie_Roll

AGB863 wrote:

Just a bit of info - Under the Debt Collection Guidance as set down by the Office of Fair Trading - creditors are not allowed to suggest that your obtain more credit (ie remortgage) to pay off a debt.

A bit of a mis quote - actually they are not allowed to 'pressure' you into taking on additional credit -suggesting is ok and may even be the best solution !

deltatwo

Not really going to comment on what Link have said regarding the arrangement however it is not unusual for a dca to want to place a charging order on a property these days. You will probably hear all sorts of guff about how they 'have' to accept your arrangement and that if it went to court they would be forced to accept it anyway by the judge. This is incorrect if you are a homeowner, they can go for a 'forthwith' judgement requiring the full balance immediately and then obtain the charging order (unless you pay it). There is nothing the judge can do about this unless there are problems with their documentation as he is obliged to look at the total financial situation including any equity you have in the house. The problem with the reduced offer in your case is you probably have sufficient equity in your home for them to recover the full balance albeit at some future date. I would still persist down the F&F route though as they may make a commercial decision and decide to take the money quickly rather than a protracted route through the courts. Is it possible you can up your offer to them ?

p.s. I can't remember the correct term but in Scotland it is not called a charging order - works the same though.

AGB863

The actual text from the guidance is this - as I would not like to be misquoting information as said by T_Roll

Physical/psychological harassment

2.5 Putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive.

2.6 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
a. contacting debtors at unreasonable times and at unreasonable intervals
b. pressurising debtors to sell property, to raise funds by further
borrowing or to extend their borrowing

So if they make the "suggestion" again - advise them that it is harrassment to pressurise you into getting further credit and against the OFT guidelines

AGB863

Tootsie_Roll wrote:

A bit of a mis quote - actually they are not allowed to 'pressure' you into taking on additional credit -suggesting is ok and may even be the best solution !QUOTE]

Just re-read this post and the reason why T_Roll would say it "may be the best solution to your problem" is because this person works for a debt collection company!!!!

peter_trent

WARNING do not listen to to TOOTSIE ROLL he is a debt collector! his lies and false information are legendary on this forum...if you read through his posts you will find he is on the side of the all the big boys the banks,debt collectors and any other organisation that loves to bully and cause heartache and grief.He has been busy over christmas in panto playing scrooge however he was sacked because he did not realise he was only supposed to act and went demanding to the Audience they repay back the reclaimed bank charges they had got