DCA contacting employer

BP1987

Hi,

I have a friend who is being hounded by CapQuest. They continue to contact him at work they have contacted his neighbours, i myself have been contacted with regard to his whereabouts. He recently changed address and the only person who he has changed his address with at this point is his employer. Is it legal for his employer to give out his new address to a debt collection agency? He received a letter to his new address yesterday. I'm helping him gather his evidence as he is making a complaint to the OFT. If it isn't legal who is at fault? is it his employer for giving the information out or have CapQuest gained this information through deception?

Thanks

Tixy

Does he new address appear on his credit file?
(i.e if he has changed his bank account/mobile account or similar to the new address then that is how capquest will likely have picked it up).

Is he actually dealing with the debt/alleged debt at all?

is it his employer for giving the information out or have CapQuest gained this information through deception?

Has his employer confirmed they did give out his address? If they have confirmed it then he would need to ask them what capquest said to them to know whether they have broken the OFT debt collection guidance

BP1987

As far as i am aware he has only notified his employer about his change of address he moved around a month ago.

I think he was hoping that the move would buy him a little time i don't think he's in a financial position to pay anything at the moment due to the cost of the move.

He states he has repeatedly asked them to contact him on his mobile after his work hours and he will discuss it with them then however they haven't they still bombard him with calls during work hours on his work phone.

I'm not sure if he has even asked if his employer has given out his address from what he has told me it is only his employer that has his new address.

I thinks he's more annoyed about the way they have pursued the debt and ignored his requests to not contact him at work.

I know it's not right to ignore debts but i can see how frustrating it might be if you are being harassed at work by these people why would you ever want to sort anything out with them.

Tixy

A debtor is allowed to specifiy the manner in which a creditor contacts them. And they can ask the creditor to remove certain telephone numbers from their database.

To do that he would need to write to them. There are some templates here that he could use some wording from https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4713757 -

However obviously that would involve him providing them with an address where he can be contacted.

That said if he agrees the debt is owed he doesn't need to agree to pay it all at once. There are a couple of better way to buy time. The first is to send a copy of the prove it letter asking for proof that he owes the money and proof they have a right to collect the debt - Letter when you know nothing about about the debt - AKA "Prove it" letter

If it is a debt that falls under the consumer credit act then he could write to ask for a copy of the consumer credit agreement (it often takes them somewhile to produce this) - this is a template for that https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/39%20EW%20Credit%20agreements%20-%20getting%20information/Page-04.aspx

BP1987

Thanks Tixy, i'll show him the thread, i'm going to get him to sign up on here himself so if he has any questions or queries he can provide every detail.

Thanks again

Tixy

You mentioned he is planning to complain to the OFT.

As from 1 April debt collection is now regulated by the FCA. So any complaint he makes would need to be made to the FCA.

The have brought out rules relating to debt collection guidance, these appear similar, although not identical to the previous guidance from the OFT.
This area now appears to be covered by the FCAs new Consumer Credit Sourcebook CONC, however as this change is very new I don't know if anyone on MSE or the forum have yet had chance to look through this in detail. This link may be useful http://fshandbook.info/FS/html/FCA/CONC/7/9 as a starting point.

EDIT - actually the prove it letter needs updating to reflect the new changes which are not yet in the link I gave above.

FireWyrm

Tixy wrote: »

As from 1 April debt collection is now regulated by the FCA. So any complaint he makes would need to be made to the FCA.
.

About blinking time too. DCAs have been allowed to ride rough shod over people and make up rules as they go along for quite long enough.

fermi

Tixy wrote: »

EDIT - actually the prove it letter needs updating to reflect the new changes which are not yet in the link I gave above.

Just waiting to see how NDL etc amend their versions. May as well have them match if they are good enough.

BP1987

Just an update

My friend called CapQuest last night and stated he didn't recognise the debt and requested that they sent him proof that he owned the debt.

The person the phone stated that he had to prove that he didn't own the debt, is this right??

From what i have read on the forum it is CapQuest who have to prove that he owes the money and that they have the right to collect it.

fermi

BP1987 wrote: »

The person the phone stated that he had to prove that he didn't own the debt, is this right??

From what i have read on the forum it is CapQuest who have to prove that he owes the money and that they have the right to collect it.

Correct. That person from CrapQuest is telling your friend blatant lies.

BP1987

How are they allowed to spout a load of [EMAIL="b@*l"]b@*l[/EMAIL] s*^t to people when they are trying to sort something out?

If my friend rings back today and records the telephone call getting the name of the employee and they again palm him of with this rubbish, would it be worth his while taking this evidence to an official body? would anything come of it?

i imagine this goes on at the majority of DCA's and is not just limited to CapQuest.