HALIFAX Harassment

mikeb222

We are setting up a debt management plan with Payplan.

My wife is putting her two debts with Halifax on it, one loan and other credit card.

Out of all our debtors, Halifax are by far the worst for harrasment.
At least 5 calls a day, even though they know the time she is at home.
An offer of payment wont stop the calls, they only stop if a payment is made!
I mean its ridiculous. If you cant make the payment, why is a phone call going to change anything.

Now they are resorting to sending a "Representative" to visit us.

I call it harrasment.

They know its going to Payplan and that we cant afford what they want.

We have given them all the Payplan details so they know exactly whats going on.

Anyone any ideas how to deal with it all as we are at our wits end with worry?

Rafter

Tell them you only want to correspond in writing and if they call again you will report them to the police for harrassment.

Their computer is obviously telling the agents to call you and must indicate that this approach has worked with you or customers like you in the past.

Alternatively get a phone with number display and don't answer any calls from an unidentified or number withheld.

R.

Astaroth

If someone owed you money and now wasnt paying you back as agreed I am very sure you would be "harassing" them too.

I am amazed by the number of people on other sections of this site who tell people to harass companies about very minor points and then in the very next post complain that a lender is harassing someone over, in many cases, thousands of pounds.

It seems you have worked out how to stop the calls according to your own post, paying them, so seems like you either pay them or accept the calls/ look forward to the home visit/ wait to see them in court

cruella_de_vile

Astaroth wrote:

If someone owed you money and now wasnt paying you back as agreed I am very sure you would be "harassing" them too.

I am amazed by the number of people on other sections of this site who tell people to harass companies about very minor points and then in the very next post complain that a lender is harassing someone over, in many cases, thousands of pounds.

It seems you have worked out how to stop the calls according to your own post, paying them, so seems like you either pay them or accept the calls/ look forward to the home visit/ wait to see them in court

What if you don't have the money to pay them?

I think for you to suggest that the OP accepts the harrassment is wrong, I have personal experience with the Halifax and for a period of about 12 weeks last year I was receiving upto 75 calls PER DAY, it was only following correspondence from my solicitor did they stop the calls.

Just because you owe them money it does NOT give them the right to break the law.

crazyfj

I don't agree, with the above post.

If you have explained to them that you cannot pay and you are in touch with payplan then they should leave you alone.

It must put pressure on people esp when they cannot afford to pay, if they do pay then they are worse off.

you could ask https://www.debtquestions.co.uk they would give you advice in ask an expert section on how to write a letter to them and word it

inmypocketnottheirs

Astaroth wrote:

If someone owed you money and now wasnt paying you back as agreed I am very sure you would be "harassing" them too.

I am amazed by the number of people on other sections of this site who tell people to harass companies about very minor points and then in the very next post complain that a lender is harassing someone over, in many cases, thousands of pounds.

It seems you have worked out how to stop the calls according to your own post, paying them, so seems like you either pay them or accept the calls/ look forward to the home visit/ wait to see them in court

Not a very helpful post, is it?

I know that you work for a bank, and are therefore probably fairly secure in your employment. Unfortunately, not everyone is in this position. It would be interesting to see how you would cope if you suffered loss of employment, bereavement or illness.

There are laws applicable to debt collectors, and if they breach these they can then expect short shrift.

mikeb222

Astaroth wrote:

If someone owed you money and now wasnt paying you back as agreed I am very sure you would be "harassing" them too.

I am amazed by the number of people on other sections of this site who tell people to harass companies about very minor points and then in the very next post complain that a lender is harassing someone over, in many cases, thousands of pounds.

It seems you have worked out how to stop the calls according to your own post, paying them, so seems like you either pay them or accept the calls/ look forward to the home visit/ wait to see them in court

I am amazed someone who has experienced being in debt, such as yourself, would be so unsympathetic.
And you are quite wrong about a couple of points.

1. You say on previous posts I have worked out a way to stop the calls, paying them. Not so, where do I say that paying them stopped the calls?
The calls haven't stopped at all even though they know its going to Payplan.

2. You say, accept whats coming or pay up. Well, thats very nice of you. Can't pay up im afraid so I shall just sit back and take whatevers coming shall I?
Good job your not running a debt management or debt consumer group.
Can you imagine it?
"Ah yes, Mr Jones, afraid theres nothing we can do, just accept all their calls, visits, letters, and dont argue or fight, just pay them what they want when they want it"

Anyway, I came on this site for some proper advise but end up arguing with some unsympathectic debtor hater. Just my luck at the moment, lol.

Thanks to you other guys though

Astaroth

1) you say it here:

An offer of payment wont stop the calls, they only stop if a payment is made!

I know that you work for a bank, and are therefore probably fairly secure in your employment. Unfortunately, not everyone is in this position. It would be interesting to see how you would cope if you suffered loss of employment, bereavement or illness.

Is this not what PPI is for? to cover loss of employement, illness (inc depression from bereavement) or death (your own bereavement sort of)

There is certainly no such thing as a secure job... banks (and insurers owned by a bank as is my case) like any other companies restructure to increase operational efficiencies and so make people redundant

What if you don't have the money to pay them?

I guess this is really the question you should be asking yourself before taking out a loan and when deciding if you should take PPI or not.



Whilst I appreciate being in debt can be distressing having been there myself at the same time I think people should accept the consequences of their actions. They entered into a contract to pay a certain amount each month, they declined to pay extra to cover the risk of circumstances changing such that you cant afford to pay the bills (as I have also always done as I dont like PPI even though I can see its benefits) and then expect companies/ banks to just roll over and take it when they cannot afford (or in some cases simply claim they cannot afford) the commitments they got themselves into.

Anything short of an IVA, CCJ or Bankruptcy is purely based on goodwill and some companies are less willing to give goodwill than others as I am sure some customers are less deserving of goodwill than others.

defender_of_the_weak

Mikeb

You need to refer everything to payplan, I personally know nothing of them professionally but assume they are a debt management agency, if so, get them to deal with this for you. Refuse to discuss the matter with Halifax and request all communication in writing.

Astaroth, I can only assume you do not come from this planet and have no real experience of financial hardship. Not everyone can afford the 'extra' to cover all contingencies such as illness or redundancy and for those that do buy it far too many of them find out it was no use in the first place.

I don't know the stats for PPI off the top of my head but I do know that a recent report highlighted that 20% of all critical illness claims are refused due to 'undisclosed conditions' by the claimant. These include, not knowing your tremor in your hand would led to MS ten years later or even was remotely connected.

Ref Halifax specifically they drove a client of mine to a nervous breakdown some years ago, now that is definitely giving you somethin eXtra. It still took nearly 2 years to get his claim paid as it should have been in the first place. He couldn't pay because they refused to pay out more than 12 months on his PPI. I trust the irony is not lost on fellow posters

Report Halifax to the FSA for harrasment and tell Halifax you are going to do it if the calls do not stop.

Refuse the interview with the representative and put them on formal notice that any attempt to enter your premises for whatever reason without a duly appointed court official will be deemed as trespass.

Astaroth

The last claims stats I saw showed in the region of 90% of PPI claims being accepted.

Given the amount of insurance fraud there is and the fact the volume of claims received along the lines of the person is diagnosed with terminal cancer on day 1, takes out a loan on day 2 and puts in a claim for sickness on day 3 it is a tiny proportion of claims that arent accepted. From an insurers point of view it is a worrying low volume that arent accepted and if it wasnt for the low claims frequency I am sure that both terms and conditions and their application would be reviewed.

Some people cant afford the PPI on top of the loan repayments? again I think this is therefore a question of if a loan is the right move in the first place then.

I find it very insulting that you think you can judge if I have ever had financial hardship or not. I guess you think the fact I had to live on less than £1 a month for food for over 6 months was living the high life? All I can say is that split packets of tesco value pasta were literally a life saver and losing over half my body weight was probably a good thing in the long run.

Thankfully I wont lower myself to your level of name calling or spurious assumptions

crazyfj

off sick today and done some searching for you, some advice:-

1
"The first step is to write to a creditor and outline your concerns about the company’s behaviour. Inform them that you are familiar with the terms of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act and ask that the creditor takes steps to avoid similar occurrences in the future. Tell your creditors how you would prefer to be contacted and ask that they confirm their agreement to this. A letter at this stage may avoid the need to take further action against the company"

2.
"Tell them you are aware of the OFT Debt Collection Guidance and that you will consider making a complaint about their behaviour under the guidance."

This was taken from the national debtline the full fact sheet is on this link

http://www.bdl.org.uk/images/03_ew_harassment.pdf