Company called Consumer Credit Services?

spaniels_2

I just had a call from a company called CCS Advice. They say that the credit agreement that I signed on a Nat West credit card about 5 years ago will now be out of date and that if they had not sent me a new agreement in 2011 then I could get the balance of the card written off. They want £495 + 10% of card balance + VAT. They say to put this on the credit card and it will be written off with the balance. If they are not successful I get a full refund. Said they are Ministry of Justice approved etc! Can they be trusted? Is what they say about the agreement true? I said I'd ring them back if I wanted their services!

DevCoder

*Yes, of course. You can just write debts off that easily and all it costs is a £495 up front fee.

*NB: This is untrue, you will just lose £495

dunstonh

They say that the credit agreement that I signed on a Nat West credit card about 5 years ago will now be out of date and that if they had not sent me a new agreement in 2011 then I could get the balance of the card written off.

Absolute rubbish.

They want £495 + 10% of card balance + VAT.

And there is the advance fee part of advance fee fraud.

They say to put this on the credit card and it will be written off with the balance

Which, if possible, could be viewed as fraud on your part. However, as the whole thing is a fraud to con you out of £495 then its not worth worrying about.

Said they are Ministry of Justice approved etc!

That is a breach of MoJ rules. Companies are not approved by the MoJ. They are authorised. The MoJ shuts down over 700 a year and many start up again under new names and repeat the process. The biggest example of one the MoJ shut down which also had £495 fee took over £20 million in £495 payments before it went into administration taking all that money with it. You could get authorised by the MoJ in a couple of weeks. It requires no knowledge, experience, qualifications or checking. You just agree to behave a certain way and you get authorised.

Can they be trusted? Is what they say about the agreement true?

It sounds exactly like advance fee fraud. Or an episode of Hustle which used advance free fraud in most episodes. Entice the mark with a big payoff but to get that payoff they have to pay a smaller amount up front.

I suggest you report what you have been told to the ministry of justice or local trading standards as its a con.

spaniels_2

Thanks for confirming my deep suspicions! I shall report them to the MoJ. Cheers

Wywth

Meanwhile, how much outstanding debt is on the card at present?
(and what is the credit limit)

Do you need help with handling this debt? (it's never cheap to borrow on a credit card for so long)

If so, pop over to the Debt Free Wannabe board, post your full SoA over there and I am sure you will get some good help

Douglasfir

Signed up in August 2012 and after reading this information I am realising the mistake I have made.

Researched this subject on the internet this evening and have discovered that this is in fact an offer just too good to be true. The debts are not written off but at best made unenforceable. They still remain attached to your name. The courts do not look favourably on companies such as these and one such company after one court judgement went against them collapsed taking millions of pounds of fees with them. After collapsing some companies reform within months under a new name and simply start again.

The contract with CCS Advice states that you can cancel the agreement at anytime.I have requested a cancellation and a refund to be made to the credit card that the fees were taken from.

I will post how I get on!!!

I would recommend doing your own research into this subject before
signing up if you are still in any doubt about this company.

dunstonh

The debts are not written off but at best made unenforceable.

And only a few percent of cases even get to that stage.

They still remain attached to your name.

yep. It basically wrecks your ability to get credit again for the best part of a decade as well as blacklisting you with that lender in future.

The courts do not look favourably on companies such as these and one such company after one court judgement went against them collapsed taking millions of pounds of fees with them. After collapsing some companies reform within months under a new name and simply start again.

Cartel was the big one. It took around £30 million up front payments off people before going into administration. Kerebo was another but there have been hundreds of companies (the MoJ shut down over 700 in a year alone)

good luck

Douglasfir

Emailed them last night to cancel 4 agreements out of 6 after advice from National Debt helpline and was aware fees would be charged.

Bearing in mind the original fee was £495 + 10% + vat per card. The cancellation fee per card is calculated at £99 per hour. They suggest they have already spent 6 hours on each case after only 8 weeks when some of the agreements where only returned a few days ago. These cases can go on for 6 to 9 months with them making additional charges for referring them to solicitors for court proceedings.

They want to charge me £594.00 to cancel each case per card. A total of nearly £2400.00 for 4 cards on a total debt of £8000.00.

The total fees were charged up front and £5200 is currently sitting
on a credit card accruing £80 of interest per month. They even added 10% to my charges for the £5200 they put on my credit card to cover the fees.

I have told them I will not accept these charges and have asked for more details about what was done over the 6 hours per card to justify their charges. I am awaiting a response.

I hope my reporting on this site of my experience to date is enough to prevent others from making the same mistake as I seem to have done. I have never been so comprehensively duped before, they are very persuasive and plausible. Using references to PPI successes etc.

dunstonh

Bearing in mind the original fee was £495 + 10% + vat per card. The cancellation fee per card is calculated at £99 per hour. They suggest they have already spent 6 hours on each case after only 8 weeks when some of the agreements where only returned a few days ago. These cases can go on for 6 to 9 months with them making additional charges for referring them to solicitors for court proceedings.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/claims-regulation/who-needs-to-be-authorised.pdf

read the bit on fair cancellation fees.

It has been discussed a few time but never tested that using the credit card to pay a fee to get debt wiped could be considered fraud.

You need to complain to the firm and send a copy to the ministry of justice. The MoJ are a weak regulator and act on volume of complaints. I would think this company, given the number of times it has come up on this site, is one the MoJ is aware of.

Douglasfir

I have this evening received a call from the company who have now agreed to refund all the charges for the 4 cards taken out since 2008. This total is £3800.00

The reason for requesting the refund follows a conversation with National Debt Helpline who suggested since 2008 Credit Card Companies have tightened up their procedures and record keeping meaning it is very difficult to clear a debt. Even the company agree the best hope would be for a 50- 80 % reduction in the outstanding balance. In my case it is not worth continuing as the fees may be higher than the best settlement I could hope for. Also this process could go on for months during which time I am accruing interest charges with no guarantee of success.

I have compromised by leaving 2 cards both of which were taken out before 2007. I am still to be convinced, however at least I am not as exposed as I was before.

Douglasfir

I reported the charges to my credit card company but they said these are fees I have agreed to and as they have kept me informed and are working on my behalf at this stage they could not intervene. If they are successful then the charges would be appropriate. However the unreasonable cancellation fees and a dispute could be dealt with on my behalf by them so long as I put my complaint in writing and followed the companies complaints procedure plus I would also have to make the financial ombudsmen aware of my complaint if we did not come to a satisfactory agreement.