Credit Card Debt of 20p generates debtor letter

stclair

amsquared wrote: »

More or just as ridiculous as sending a two page letter regarding a debt of 20p.

While the bank exists to maximise profit for its shareholders - it also has to conform to The FCAs Principles for Businesses - Principle 6 - Customers' interests - A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.

Hounding an elderly person for 20p - I assume you think that is treating them fairly.

They are treating customers fairly by sending the same standard letter to all customers in the same situation in this instance the account being arrears.

amsquared

stclair wrote: »

A vulnerable person is someone in receipt of or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself. If the person falls into this category their is form the lender can send you for the the customers GP to complete and sign cant think of the name of the form off the top of my head.

I assume if somebody has a mental disability and has reduced capacity - the company should not be able to deal directly with that person regarding arrears - and could only deal with that person via an authorised attorney. Power of Attorney is slightly different in Scotland from the rest of the UK.

I hate to think what would happen in a case like that if an arrears letter arrived for a trivial amount if the company was not aware of the mental disability.

amsquared

Thanks for all your comments I await M&S/HSBCs comments from their internal meeting with their compliance teams.

stclair

amsquared wrote: »

I assume if somebody has a mental disability and has reduced capacity - the company should not be able to deal directly with that person regarding arrears - and could only deal with that person via an authorised attorney. Power of Attorney is slightly different in Scotland from the rest of the UK.

I hate to think what would happen in a case like that if an arrears letter arrived for a trivial amount if the company was not aware of the mental disability.

That's the thing as you are possibly aware companies are not physic so it's up to the customer or their representive to alert them so appropriate actions can be taken.

blenz101

amsquared wrote: »

More or just as ridiculous as sending a two page letter regarding a debt of 20p.

Sending out statements, chasing late payments and communicating information which impacts customers is the cost of doing business. As I said in my previous post the content of that letter no matter how many pages it runs into discharges all the banks obligations under the FCA rules and will have been written by people intimately familiar with those regulations. We are a few decades beyond the world where the local lending manager is going to get his typewriter out and fire off a personalised note to his customers judging the tone of his missive based on the character of the individual customer.

amsquared wrote: »

While the bank exists to maximise profit for its shareholders - it also has to conform to The FCAs Principles for Businesses - Principle 6 - Customers' interests - A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.

Letting a customer know they have failed to pay an outstanding debt is hardly unfair practice by any stretch. The point I was making about shareholder profit is that you implied it would be better business practice (i.e. they would retain more customers) if they personally contacted each debtor specifically by telephone when they has been a minor infringement. No director at any level will sign off on the creation of any such function given the large overhead with zero measurable return to the business.

amsquared wrote: »

Hounding an elderly person for 20p - I assume you think that is treating them fairly.

Your hyperbolic language doesn't strengthen your argument. Any customer at any age would have received the same letter for the exact same amount if they were in arrears.

Perhaps it's worth your friend contacting the bank and updating their contact preferences - I'm sure the bank will have measures in place to manage a customer who finds letters distressing. I suspect if this had been in place and some anonymous call centre agent read out broadly the same details contained within the letter over the phone to your friend they would still have contacted you and you would still be equally belligerent in your views towards something you deem trivial.

redux

You keep complaining that it is ridiculous that they spent money on sending a letter for such a trivial amount.

You seem to be rather too willing to waste even more of your own time and money on arguing about it afterwards, and then presumably obliging them to spend even more money responding to you.

A simple and tactful phone call that you say you might prefer in lieu of the letter would be more expensive, due to the labour rate of the person making the call.

amsquared

stclair wrote: »

That's the thing as you are possibly aware companies are not physic so it's up to the customer or their representive to alert them so appropriate actions can be taken.

I agree and don't expect companies to be psychic.

I think there is a specific problem with early onset dementia where there is no POA in place or it has not been enacted because the dementia has not been formally diagnosed.

I have experience of an elderly relative who became increasingly forgetful. She mislaid bills, she was convinced she had paid bills, she sent cheques to the wrong companies, she hid arrears letters etc. She refused to setup a POA. She insisted that she didn't have any memory problems and refused to let any of the financial companies she dealt with know she was having problems. We tried to alert her bank but they couldn't take action because she insisted there was nothing wrong.

She insisted that she could look after her own affairs and missed many payments. Until we got a formal dementia diagnosis it was extremely difficult to help her manage her affairs. Once the diagnosis was confirmed we had to apply to the court for a lawyer to be given temporary POA so that we could sort out the her financial affairs. This took several months to enact. Fortunately a full POA is now in place.

Gaz83

Is there a cut-off age where a customer becomes an elderly customer?

I ask as my mum and dad are 56 now. I'm just wondering at what age it's okay for them to receive a letter saying that they are in arrears about something and what age receiving one letter becomes harassing an elderly customer.

boo_star

I would imagine the difficulty is getting the relative to accept the fact they have dementia.

My grandmother has been diagnosed with it, doesn't remember the days she spent in hospital about six months ago before she got the diagnosis and the signed letter from the hospital that provides said diagnosis is obviously "wrong."

She, of course, won't give POA to any family member because "there's nothing wrong with me."

Edit: The post I actually quoted seems to have been deleted.

skintpaul

I feel a strongly worded letter is harrassment, and poor resource management, considering the firm spent even more to post it!

Any decent firm would let it roll onto next statement, or reverse it as an 'admin adjustment'..

If the bank are that short of cash, I would be very worried!