Nationwide arrears / harassment

se0303

Hello all. I was made redundant, with very little notice, 5 months ago. I now have a solid job offer, to start at the beginning of October. It has been an extremely difficult time, although I'm glad to say there is light at the end of the tunnel. My problems are with Nationwide, whom I made aware of my situation prior to the redundancy and during the months afterwards. I am about two months in arrears - in purely financial, rather than time terms. There were occasions when part-time work I could get meant I could pay the full monthly dues; other months, not. At the moment, until the regular salary starts coming in, I can not make any sort of pledge to pay the arrears. I have had no written communications from Nationwide whatsoever, bar one arrears letter about 3 months ago. Instead, I am at the end of my tether with automated telephone calls, every two hours, starting at 8am every day, landline and mobile. On average, 6-8 a day, Monday-Saturday. About half of them leave voicemails, asking me to "call them urgently". I have repeatedly written to Nationwide, by letter and email, asking them to stop doing this, but have received no replies except one letter stating they had no written confirmation to correspond with me by email (wrong - I have provided them with this, by letter, three times over the last 6-7 years). There has been no response to anything else. I've done the standard letters about the Administration of Justice rules etc., and believe the volume and frequency of these calls does amount to harassment. I have pointed out to them in very recent correspondence that I have a job offer, and will be in a position fairly soon to discuss an arrangement to repay the arrears. They ignored that, and the calls continue. What more can I do? I'm loathe to change phone numbers due to this - something I'd have to pay for, and which would complicate matters further. If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be warmly received.

Mrs_Arcanum

Do send another letter by recorded delivery requesting they remove your telephone number from their database and only communicate with you by letter. CC this to the Financial Ombudsman. Check the National Debtline website or the Consumenractiongroup where you may find a template letter.

Other than this you could change your phone number (a real pain though).

Hanky_Panky

Call them - simple. You think they only need certain information and you provide that in your letters to them however they may need much, much more from you. I think it is a mistake to try and dictate terms to a lender you are asking for help and support from.

bargainbetty

With all due respect to Hanky Panky, you have every right to ask that they communicate their requirements to you in writing. They do not have the right to continually call when there are other methods of communication open to them, and it is becoming harassment for them to continue in this manner.

Print out copies of the correspondence, take them into any branch and request that they be sent via the internal mail system to the relevant department. Include a note stating that further breaches will be reported to the ICO and start keeping a diary of calls. Make the report if needs be.

The whole point of dealing with creditors in writing is to avoid someone claiming something was agreed when it wasn't. Even the reputable ones can be a bit forgetful about requests for payments - they ask for £30, you offer £15, they put a note on your account saying that the £30 figure was discussed.... etc.

Good luck, and I hope the new job works out well.

timbstoke

If the above doesn't work, phone them, tell them you have a new number, and give the number of your local branch (listed on SayNoTo0870) as your 'new' number. Fight fire with fire :rotfl:

Hanky_Panky

bargainbetty wrote: »

With all due respect to Hanky Panky, you have every right to ask that they communicate their requirements to you in writing. They do not have the right to continually call when there are other methods of communication open to them, and it is becoming harassment for them to continue in this manner.

Except they do have every right to continue to chase the debtor by whichever means they deem necessary, the only section of the OFT guidance I can see that relates to this is section 2.2g which states '

ignoring or disregarding debtors' legitimate wishes in respect
of when and where to contact them, for example, shift workers who
ask not to be telephoned during certain times of the day'.

So no mention that they cannot call. As I previously stated I don't think you can arbitrarily decide you do not want to communicate by phone - especially when you want their help. Now that certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't confirm everything in writing, on that point we agree.

timbstoke

You're looking in the wrong place, Hanky. Try this one: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/40/contents

Protection From Harrassment Act 1997
A person must not pursue a course of conduct—
(a)which amounts to harassment of another, and
(b)which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other.

I'd argue that any reasonable person should know that 6-8 phone calls a day amounts to harrassment. Legislation generally trumps OFT guidance.

Hanky_Panky

timbstoke wrote: »

You're looking in the wrong place, Hanky. Try this one: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/40/contents



I'd argue that any reasonable person should know that 6-8 phone calls a day amounts to harrassment. Legislation generally trumps OFT guidance.

As someone who has sucessfully pursued a case of harrassment I can tell you how notoriously difficult it is to prove and placing 8 unanswered calls through to an address each day doesn't come near it.

However if the OP was answering the phone and giving the dca the information required and the dca still continued to call then they may have a case.

timbstoke

I think we'll have to agree to disagree here.

Regardless of the difficulty in proving it, repeatedly calling when they've been asked not to is harassment, and is the kind of behaviour that can cost a company its credit license. Additionally, retaining a telephone number when they have been asked to remove it from their records, and don't require it (they have a postal address and have already been told not to call, so they don't require it) falls foul of the DPA (although admittedly the OP hasn't asked them to remove their number yet). There's a good reason why virtually all companies will obey a reasonable instruction to communicate in writing only - if they don't, they're opening themselves up to a whole world of potential trouble.

se0303

Thanks to all for the advice. I sent off the template letter, by registered post, and the calls have actually stopped (for c.36 hrs at the time of writing - I might be speaking too soon). The calls have not been people responding to my communications, or even people chasing me for the arrears. They appear to be automated - most of them have just been computer-generated voicemails, coming precisely 2 hrs apart. I estimate, conservatively, that I have received at least 600 such calls over the last 8-12 weeks. My mobile bill gives me the exact details of times and frequencies, of course.

As far as communicating with Nationwide goes - I have been totally open and honest with them, right from before I was made redundant, and over the subsequent weeks. I am angry that they don't reply to letters and, when they do decide to reply to emails, they reply with a standard response saying they have no permission from me to reply by email (not true). I've been asking them for FOUR months (no exaggeration) to send me an income & expenditure form. On the times I've called them, the first thing they say is - "What can you pay us today, then?" - not helpful, especially as they've been repeatedly appraised of my position.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But I do dread to think of what they must submit people with months of arrears and/or non-payments to..

pure_dead_dopey

please complain then, if you don't complain they won't stop this ridiculous behavior, address your letter to the Complaints officer, recorded delivery.