Payment made to original company, not debt agency

greensalad

I had a debt with the SLC which was passed to Akinika debt collection.

I've now paid them in full and sent a list of all payments and their dates to Akinika and asked for confirmation of the debt being cleared.

I received a letter back stating they had received 3 payments, not 5. Even though the 2 missing payments I specified had been sent straight to the SLC. This is because I wrote two cheques, which were sent to the SLC, which they then didn't cash before they sent the debt over. Therefore I've sent £242 of my repayments direct to the SLC and the remaining payments to Akinika.

I've tried writing to the SLC to request some form of proof that these were received but they said they will get back to me within 5 WEEKS.

I've got copies of the cheques from the bank and have sent them to Akinika, explaining they have been stamped on the back showing the date the payment is going out, and that Akinika should contact their client to confirm these payments.

But Akinika say they won't and say they are going to add admin charges for every letter they send. And they've already sent me two since I provided the cheque proof. And they won't stop, even though I've told them the SLC said a letter would be 5 weeks.

What can I do? Who's responsibility is it to liase with the SLC?

sourcrates

Hi,
First off, who is SLC please ?

You should make an official written complaint to the DCA as they have obviously made some kind of clerical error.

Just because someone adds default charges, does not mean you have to pay them, again, you need to complain in writing, stay off the phone, as you only get the monkey, when you need to speak to the organ grinder.

Just follow the correct and relevant complaints procedure for each company, and if not satisfied, escalate both complaints to the financial ombudsman.

skintpaul

DCA's would normally act on behalf of the original creditor, unless they bought the debt..


If you have proof of payment, stand fast. If it ever goes to court, DCA will be laughed out.

greensalad

Sorry, SLC is student loans company. They gave me a grant in my final year of university and then 3 months after I'd received the last payment they decided they had made a mistake and wanted it back.

Also I don't do anything by phone. Everything is by letter. I refuse to talk to them on the phone and I specify this on every letter I write.

bargainbetty

If you sent cheques, it should be easy enough to check your own account to see if they were presented for payment. If not, then you can put 'stops' on those cheques and make the payments directly.

If the cheques weren't cashed, then you haven't made the payments.

greensalad

They were issued and the money has been sent out of my account, I know this for a fact.

Unfortunately my bank statement didn't show where the cheque was going, officially enough for me to inform Akinika so I had to go to the bank who kindly provided me copies of the cheques. These copies show a timestamp on the bank when they were paid out. I wrote a letter to Akinika with these copies and highlighted the cheque where it shows the have been processed to prove the payments were made.

But my issues is not that the payments weren't made, it's that Akinika refuses to accept they were made because they weren't made to them. They don't seem to understand that they were paid to the original company (SLC). The issue is that I issued the cheques before the SLC passed the debt on, but they didn't cash them until two months after. So the full amount of debt passed to Akinika was £1402, even though there were two cheques ready and waiting with the SLC to cover £242 of that amount. I can't seem to make them understand that they need to contact the SLC and ask them for an updated value on this debt. Because the SLC won't talk to me for another 5 weeks.

fermi

You've given them proof it was paid.

If it's all paid up then any charges they add are invalid.

Tell them that unless they recognise this and stop adding invalid and unjustified charges, and cancel any false ones already applied, that you will be reporting them to the authorities. Make it a formal complaint and demand that they send you a copy of their complaints procedure as you wish to take the matter further against them.