Who would one report Debt Collectors to for bad conduct?

EdwardB

My partner suffers a lot from mental health issues such as anxiety and depression when debt issues rear their ugly head.

They have been coping for a while, but then they started receiving autoresponder messages, one is from a debt collector for debt that is statute barred.

I had a look and the it seems like a try on to me, however, although this company does issue credit cards I seem to remember they sometimes chase the debts of others.

There is nothing in the email which suggests which debt it is, they used a dedicated email address so we have blocked that email now, any mail sent to it will be bounced before it hits the server.

None of these companies have an unsubscribe link and they both have "no reply" emails, both are from different auto responder companies.

I can report them to the ICO for that, but I am wondering whether there is any regulator for these vultures, when they know a debt is statute barred shouldn't they be barred from harassing people, especially with this cost of living crisis which is affecting everyone?

Who would be the organisations to report this bad conduct and if they need a license for this sort of business who would issue it?

sourcrates

Unless they write to you, just ignore them.

Block there email address, mark as spam etc etc.

No point making a complaint over an automated email.

EdwardB

It is not for an automated email it is for sending out thousands of emails to people, causing mental health issues when they know the debt is statute barred.

sourcrates

EdwardB said:

It is not for an automated email it is for sending out thousands of emails to people, causing mental health issues when they know the debt is statute barred.

Annoying as it is, that`s what you expect from debt collectors, Unfortunatly the debts statute barred status does not automatically stop collection activity, all it does is prevent them from taking legal action to recover the debt, they can still ask you to pay the debt, still report to your credit file, and send emails and letters too.

Which is why I suggested waiting until they write to you, however, if you know their address, you can write to them now, send the statute barred letter to them, usually if they agree, they will then stop collection activity.

The reason I ruled out making a complaint is because of the current time scale involved in the process, once a complaint is submitted, they have 8 weeks in which to provide a final response, due to covid, this can still be up to 12 weeks or longer, and then if you don`t agree with their decision, the ombudsman can take 6 months to a year to deal with complaints, which is why its much easier, and quicker, to be proactive yourself with these things.

fatbelly

In this instance I would follow sourcrates' initial advice and ignore them till they write, then send a prove-it.

However for others who may be drawn in my the title of this thread...

Most Debt Collection Agencies are open about their complaint procedure and you are expected to use this in the first instance.

Most are affiliated to the Credit Services Association. If you feel they have breached the CSA code of practice you can ask them to investigate

https://www.csa-uk.com/page/complaints

DCAs must be registered with the FCA, you can check that registration is current

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/

and discuss their behaviour with the FCA, who do issue notices about behaviour

https://www.fca.org.uk/contact

Also you can ask FOS to investigate a specific complaint once you have had a final response from the DCA or 8 weeks have passed.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/