Fresh Start Financial UK (aka Harrington Brooks) - Thoughts? :(

KerryAnne96

Thank god I found this! As I was going to sign my mother up to them!
Needless to say I won't be now! Thank you.

Could you please post the link again as it has stopped working. Thanks

Time_to_face_the_music

KerryAnne96 wrote: »

Thank god I found this! As I was going to sign my mother up to them!
Needless to say I won't be now! Thank you.

Could you please post the link again as it has stopped working. Thanks

New link

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4228011

Good save KerryAnne :T

KerryAnne96

Thank you.

angelscrubs

Hi

Wish we would of done homework first ...... they duped us, we were paying £150 a month for 6 creditors, we carried on getting emails and calls (probably upto 8 a day) as they had not agreed an amount with them, this was 6 months into the DMP. :mad:

One creditor escalated upto around £2500 because they never contacted them.

In February of this year I cancelled the Direct Debit and took our creditors back and I am now dealing with it ourselves which is worked out better.

My advice would be stay away .... hind sight is a wonderful thing :cool:

MillarE52438

I have currently been with Harrington Brooks for over a year now and I have been looking into exactly how much I have paid them, and where it has gone. I was a student when I first started to talk with them but now I'm in full time employment and paying more but the problem doesn't seem to be getting smaller. The total of my debt is around £1300, I have been paying them £65 for a year. So far I have paid nearly £700 into my account with them, they have paid my creditors £344.15, aside from the £180 sign up fee there is still around £145 that has been unaccounted for. They will not give me an explanation for this. Also I didn't realise this but out of the £65 a month I pay, £26.46 is admin fees and £38.54 is to the 4 creditors I have!! I understand that these companies have to make money, and I'd expect maybe about £10 a month going towards them at the most, but nearly half of what I can afford is atrocious. These people are meant to help you get out of debt not make it harder to pay back.

The total figures that stand for me at the moment are £1391.09 (My total debt) - £2340 (what I will have to pay to clear this off in total) - £952.56 profit they are making off of what I'm scrimping for, and that's after the £180 joining fee I paid. Understandably I am furious and am trying to find a solution to this. Anyone got any ideas?

RAS

How long is the notice period? Apply it.

Fifibutterfly1

Hi can anyone please help!!!! I spoke to one of fresh starts people after my friend said she had signed up with them, it did sound like a good idea bur i declined to agree or sign up to anything until i has received anything on paper to see how it panned, even though they said they'd send me an electronic version to sign on line i never signed anything, on receiving the paper work and seeing they would be taking £80 a month from me but keeping £60 i never went ahead and thought that would be the end of it - however i've just found out they have gone ahead and taken £80 from my bank account without my permission - they cn't do this can they?????

Tixy

Hi Fifi

No they cannot do this. Well obviously they can as in they have, but its not allowed or acceptable.

Write to them and state that your require them to immediately refund the money taken from your account without authorisation. Point out that you never agreed to enter a DMP with them, you merely made enquiries.

At the same time speak to your bank say that this deduction was unauthorised and ask them not to make any further payments to the company, can you see how the money was taken? was it DD? or as a debit card payment?

ICKLE_2

i too have been duped by harrinton brooks i got myself into alot of debt using payday loans........i know iknow my own fualt no one else to blame but myslef ,,but in my own defence i was trying to pay fro my wedding and needed cash on the spot as we were booking and paying for things as a wedding very rarely works out at what you plan on spending . any way i owed 7 companys money from as little as 200 pond up to 1400 pound it all got to much trying to juggle them around and i had to get help, i went online and didnt really look into it properly as i was at breaking point harrington brooks gave me a call back and promised this and that they would freeze all interest charges and my monthly payments would be 225 per month and i would be debt free in less than 24 months ,
i was promised constant account access online with my own password to keep an eye on who was getting paid what and when (this never happend the links they sent me never went to any where) any way i gave up on that and thought nothing more of it untill my first account statement came through ( that by the way was 4 months after i should have got it ) the statement came to no where near what it should have i had paid £200 on the day i signed up and then 2 more monthly payments of £225 went straight to them before any one got any money so making a total of £650 + a £35 per month admin fee i was disgusted to say the least as i was not told that this would happen if i had been told i would never have sighned up with them (apparently it is in the small print and it is very small print) any way i have now cancelled all payments to them and called all the people i owe money too and it turns out harrington brooks had not frozen any interest charges and i now owe exactly the same as i did 18 motnhs ago . they have had a total of £1850 from me for doing nothing.and proberbly more on phonecalls trying to get hold of them all the time
as luck happens i have a very good boss who thinks alot of me and he called all the companys i owe money to and has more or less halved the dept and paid it off for me and i now pay him back from my wages with no interest on top at an affordable amount each month........... i will be debt free in 12 months
so my messege to you all is do not go any where near HARRINGTON BROOKS they are liars and prey on very deppressed weak and vunurable people at a time when you can see no other way out

playtime8978

Hello all, i understand this is an older thread but I was very nearly duped by harrington Brooks on Thursday, Luckily, I said I want to see everything in writing first so I can read it and work out what I think is best for me. I have mental health problems and can do things I am not really aware of the consequences and this was how I got my debts and with my husbands help I have got that I now usually at least think before I agree to anything over the phone.

Long story short - harrington brooks wanted me to pay 45 pound a fortnight and over 7 years and 9 months they were going to get 3350 pound on a 4700 pound consolidated debt.

I knew this was wrong and not a good idea so googled and came up with step change and rang them and I can honestly say the lady I spoke too was the kindest most patient and understanding person I could have wished to talk to, no blame, no off hand attitude, she genuinely seemed to want to help.

I have a telephone appointment with step change on thursday morning to hopefully sort out my pickle I got myself into. I know the debts are my own fault regardless of the situation and I am not looking for empathy or anyone blaming me, I just want to make people aware AGAIN of this company and their tricks, they claimed santander who I owe money too gave them my contact info, whether this is true or not I have no idea.

If you have debt problems and are struggling to pay, I can't recommend stepchange enough from my experiences with them up to now.

Much luck and love

Carrie