Klarna selling a debt that was never a bad debt and was closed months previously.

WorriedFromBristol

Hi,

I'm glad I've found this thread as I've been sweating for the last couple of days.
I took a credit agreement with Klarna out three years ago for financing a garden building.  My last contact about this from Klarna was at the end of February which showed that there was still around a year left on the agreement, payments had been made and the account was not in arrears/default.

Yesterday I received a text to say I needed to contact a firm called BPO Collections urgently about a debt. 
After a bit of back and forth with the agent I was informed that I was around £250 in debt which was due for collection for JCIA.  I said I had no idea who that was and he replied it was due to "Klarna Credit Services" or something to that effect.  I've had no correspondence at all to say this loan had been transferred (I'm sure there is a legal obligation of some kind here) and I'm just as in the dark as everyone else is about this.
I said I needed some time to look into this - to be fair to the chap he was helpful and put a hold on the account for a week.  This is before I learned more about the situation.

Digging through my Spam emails I found an email from BPO collections sent at the same time as when I received the text.  This had the loan account number (the Klarna account) and so I was able to cross-reference it against the last statement I received from Klarna.

This email also stated something shocking -  essentially, pay 50% of the outstanding balance now, and we'll essentially write off the other 50% - but they'll mark the account as "partially settled" which of course I don't want on my credit file!
 
It very much seems, as the above posts indicate, that Klarna have just sold on a load of credit accounts, whether open or closed, as bad debt to JCIA, who are now using collection agencies to recover the debt.  If so, surely this amounts to fraudulent activity on Klarna's part. 
From a regulatory point of view surely Klarna were supposed to inform customers that the credit provider was changing to JCIA.  Furthermore, as this is a signed credit agreement between Klarna and myself, that they must honour the terms of the agreement until settlement?

ancientferguson

WorriedFromBristol said:

Hi,

I'm glad I've found this thread as I've been sweating for the last couple of days.
I took a credit agreement with Klarna out three years ago for financing a garden building.  My last contact about this from Klarna was at the end of February which showed that there was still around a year left on the agreement, payments had been made and the account was not in arrears/default.

Yesterday I received a text to say I needed to contact a firm called BPO Collections urgently about a debt. 
After a bit of back and forth with the agent I was informed that I was around £250 in debt which was due for collection for JCIA.  I said I had no idea who that was and he replied it was due to "Klarna Credit Services" or something to that effect.  I've had no correspondence at all to say this loan had been transferred (I'm sure there is a legal obligation of some kind here) and I'm just as in the dark as everyone else is about this.
I said I needed some time to look into this - to be fair to the chap he was helpful and put a hold on the account for a week.  This is before I learned more about the situation.

Digging through my Spam emails I found an email from BPO collections sent at the same time as when I received the text.  This had the loan account number (the Klarna account) and so I was able to cross-reference it against the last statement I received from Klarna.

This email also stated something shocking -  essentially, pay 50% of the outstanding balance now, and we'll essentially write off the other 50% - but they'll mark the account as "partially settled" which of course I don't want on my credit file!
 
It very much seems, as the above posts indicate, that Klarna have just sold on a load of credit accounts, whether open or closed, as bad debt to JCIA, who are now using collection agencies to recover the debt.  If so, surely this amounts to fraudulent activity on Klarna's part. 
From a regulatory point of view surely Klarna were supposed to inform customers that the credit provider was changing to JCIA.  Furthermore, as this is a signed credit agreement between Klarna and myself, that they must honour the terms of the agreement until settlement?

Hi there,

Are you saying you have continued to make payments to Klarna up until now or did Klarna stop collecting after selling the debt?

sourcrates

@ancientferguson

Hello, I wholeheartedly agree this company has a lot to answer for, and it would be interesting to find out how widespread this practice has been.

I hope you don`t mind, I have passed this thread to the forum team to take a look at, in the hope it may be deemed newsworthy.

regards Sourcrates

T3dd5worth

WorriedFromBristol said:

Hi,

I'm glad I've found this thread as I've been sweating for the last couple of days.
I took a credit agreement with Klarna out three years ago for financing a garden building.  My last contact about this from Klarna was at the end of February which showed that there was still around a year left on the agreement, payments had been made and the account was not in arrears/default.

Yesterday I received a text to say I needed to contact a firm called BPO Collections urgently about a debt. 
After a bit of back and forth with the agent I was informed that I was around £250 in debt which was due for collection for JCIA.  I said I had no idea who that was and he replied it was due to "Klarna Credit Services" or something to that effect.  I've had no correspondence at all to say this loan had been transferred (I'm sure there is a legal obligation of some kind here) and I'm just as in the dark as everyone else is about this.
I said I needed some time to look into this - to be fair to the chap he was helpful and put a hold on the account for a week.  This is before I learned more about the situation.

Digging through my Spam emails I found an email from BPO collections sent at the same time as when I received the text.  This had the loan account number (the Klarna account) and so I was able to cross-reference it against the last statement I received from Klarna.

This email also stated something shocking -  essentially, pay 50% of the outstanding balance now, and we'll essentially write off the other 50% - but they'll mark the account as "partially settled" which of course I don't want on my credit file!
 
It very much seems, as the above posts indicate, that Klarna have just sold on a load of credit accounts, whether open or closed, as bad debt to JCIA, who are now using collection agencies to recover the debt.  If so, surely this amounts to fraudulent activity on Klarna's part. 
From a regulatory point of view surely Klarna were supposed to inform customers that the credit provider was changing to JCIA.  Furthermore, as this is a signed credit agreement between Klarna and myself, that they must honour the terms of the agreement until settlement?

It sounds like we're in exactly the same situation. I spoke with BPO who was able to see that I was making monthly payments to Klarna so requested that I do not attempt to pay anything until they have under gone an "investigation". The man I spoke to on the phone, sounded rather confused on why, they have been asked to recover the money and why they would simply stop a direct debit. 

Much like yourself, I found the email in my spam folder and the only communication I had from Klarna Bank was in Feb with an annual statement.

Everything is currently on hold until they reach back out to me, which will most likely be next week. I am more than happy to pay what is owed in line with my credit agreement but I am rather concerned and find it extremely disgraceful with the lack of communication from Klarna and JCIA.

ancientferguson

sourcrates said:

@ancientferguson

Hello, I wholeheartedly agree this company has a lot to answer for, and it would be interesting to find out how widespread this practice has been.

I hope you don`t mind, I have passed this thread to the forum team to take a look at, in the hope it may be deemed newsworthy.

regards Sourcrates

Hi there,

Many thanks. I have had contact from Emily today. There is no question about it being newsworthy. Communication with all three of these companies has been full of untruths, lip service and damage limitation.

I personally would love to investigate the three of them. Ultimately, this is Klarna's mess and it has revealed some awful practice that Klarna indulges in, made proper in their eyes because of text buried in the small print of the agreement.

On this occasion, they caused money to be collected from my account, three months or more after my account was closed with a perfect payment record, by selling my "debt" aka my personal information. No amount of small print can cover this kind of behaviour. Klarna collected my last payments to close the account and still sold my balance from January, as a debt. It is absolutely mind boggling. What followed is everything that is wrong with the murky world of finance. Taking it even further, the figure they sold to JCIA would not even have been the correct money owed at the January sweep date. They had already collected all but my last payment, yet sold JCIA  a two payment balance. They of course then collected the last payment and closed the account. 


Talk of Ombudsman does not fill me with faith, so I am waiting for the General Election to find out who my local MP will be. Right now, he is the Home Secretary, but somehow I don't think things are going to go the way of his party, for him to retain his position.

I certainly could do with a hand, as I fully intend to take on these companies. I know a thing or two about investigating. ;-) 

This has got to be about the customer that is perhaps less resourceful than I am or indeed for those that have lost money and not even realised it. There are no checks and balances with CARS, they just remove cash when they have your account details and its up to you to reclaim it through your bank, even when they know they have made a mistake. 

The definition of theft..... "A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it"

CARS continued to setup their Direct Debit claim from my account, even though they acknowledged having the evidence that the debt was not owed. In fact, JCIA instructed them to close the account. The following day they started the process to remove money from me. A few days later it was sent by my bank.

They have no system to inform the "victim" of their mistake or to return your cash.... this system in my opinion was designed to accumulate funds, nothing more.

Klarna, JCIA and CARS  are most welcome to challenge me, I have recorded all my calls.

I will stop my rant.


Many thanks!

T3dd5worth

WorriedFromBristol said:

Hi,

I'm glad I've found this thread as I've been sweating for the last couple of days.
I took a credit agreement with Klarna out three years ago for financing a garden building.  My last contact about this from Klarna was at the end of February which showed that there was still around a year left on the agreement, payments had been made and the account was not in arrears/default.

Yesterday I received a text to say I needed to contact a firm called BPO Collections urgently about a debt. 
After a bit of back and forth with the agent I was informed that I was around £250 in debt which was due for collection for JCIA.  I said I had no idea who that was and he replied it was due to "Klarna Credit Services" or something to that effect.  I've had no correspondence at all to say this loan had been transferred (I'm sure there is a legal obligation of some kind here) and I'm just as in the dark as everyone else is about this.
I said I needed some time to look into this - to be fair to the chap he was helpful and put a hold on the account for a week.  This is before I learned more about the situation.

Digging through my Spam emails I found an email from BPO collections sent at the same time as when I received the text.  This had the loan account number (the Klarna account) and so I was able to cross-reference it against the last statement I received from Klarna.

This email also stated something shocking -  essentially, pay 50% of the outstanding balance now, and we'll essentially write off the other 50% - but they'll mark the account as "partially settled" which of course I don't want on my credit file!
 
It very much seems, as the above posts indicate, that Klarna have just sold on a load of credit accounts, whether open or closed, as bad debt to JCIA, who are now using collection agencies to recover the debt.  If so, surely this amounts to fraudulent activity on Klarna's part. 
From a regulatory point of view surely Klarna were supposed to inform customers that the credit provider was changing to JCIA.  Furthermore, as this is a signed credit agreement between Klarna and myself, that they must honour the terms of the agreement until settlement?

I also did some digging into the discontinuation of the Klarna Bank AB. After searching around the Klarna website, I found a statement suggesting that any pre-existing loan agreements were to be taken over by Klarna Financial Services UK and there will be no effect to the end user / payments. 

I spoke to the customer services at Klarna and they were unable find the loan agreement at all. However, they also stated that if a loan agreement was still active and all payments are up-to-date, there is no reason why they would stop a direct debit or sell it to a collections agency.

WorriedFromBristol

ancientferguson said:

WorriedFromBristol said:

Hi,

I'm glad I've found this thread as I've been sweating for the last couple of days.
I took a credit agreement with Klarna out three years ago for financing a garden building.  My last contact about this from Klarna was at the end of February which showed that there was still around a year left on the agreement, payments had been made and the account was not in arrears/default.

Yesterday I received a text to say I needed to contact a firm called BPO Collections urgently about a debt. 
After a bit of back and forth with the agent I was informed that I was around £250 in debt which was due for collection for JCIA.  I said I had no idea who that was and he replied it was due to "Klarna Credit Services" or something to that effect.  I've had no correspondence at all to say this loan had been transferred (I'm sure there is a legal obligation of some kind here) and I'm just as in the dark as everyone else is about this.
I said I needed some time to look into this - to be fair to the chap he was helpful and put a hold on the account for a week.  This is before I learned more about the situation.

Digging through my Spam emails I found an email from BPO collections sent at the same time as when I received the text.  This had the loan account number (the Klarna account) and so I was able to cross-reference it against the last statement I received from Klarna.

This email also stated something shocking -  essentially, pay 50% of the outstanding balance now, and we'll essentially write off the other 50% - but they'll mark the account as "partially settled" which of course I don't want on my credit file!
 
It very much seems, as the above posts indicate, that Klarna have just sold on a load of credit accounts, whether open or closed, as bad debt to JCIA, who are now using collection agencies to recover the debt.  If so, surely this amounts to fraudulent activity on Klarna's part. 
From a regulatory point of view surely Klarna were supposed to inform customers that the credit provider was changing to JCIA.  Furthermore, as this is a signed credit agreement between Klarna and myself, that they must honour the terms of the agreement until settlement?

Hi there,

Are you saying you have continued to make payments to Klarna up until now or did Klarna stop collecting after selling the debt?

Hi,

It looks like Klarna have just stopped collecting after selling the debt, looking at my bank statements. I'd obviously overlooked this.

Thanks
(Removed by Forum Team)

ancientferguson

A little update for those following this comedy act.

CARS called me this afternoon to discuss my "overdue account". They wanted to know if I had any success with Klarna because I had money overdue to be paid to JCIA. The nonplussed young lady made reference to my clawback of my Direct Debit money, that they had taken without any lawful authority to do so.

So, two things that are clear and obvious, CARS and JCIA both lied about my account now being closed, which explains why they took money from my account, even after they had the evidence that it wasn't owed. 

These guys are like a very bad dream and it seems the only way to stop them is legally. 

KLARNA, I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED FOR COMMENT ON THIS DISGRACE.....  THANKS A LOT FOR NOTHING. YOU CAUSED THIS!

JCIA YOU TOLD ME THIS NONSENSE WAS STOPPED AND THE NONSENSE ACCOUNT WAS CLOSED.....YOU LIED! 

CARS.....YOU NEED TO BE SUED.

Oh an JCIA went to answerphone again. I have tried about 50-60 times now and left messages.

beanielou

ancientferguson said:

A little update for those following this comedy act.

CARS called me this afternoon to discuss my "overdue account". They wanted to know if I had any success with Klarna because I had money overdue to be paid to JCIA. The nonplussed young lady made reference to my clawback of my Direct Debit money, that they had taken without any lawful authority to do so.

So, two things that are clear and obvious, CARS and JCIA both lied about my account now being closed, which explains why they took money from my account, even after they had the evidence that it wasn't owed. 

These guys are like a very bad dream and it seems the only way to stop them is legally. 

KLARNA, I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED FOR COMMENT ON THIS DISGRACE.....  THANKS A LOT FOR NOTHING. YOU CAUSED THIS!

JCIA YOU TOLD ME THIS NONSENSE WAS STOPPED AND THE NONSENSE ACCOUNT WAS CLOSED.....YOU LIED! 

CARS.....YOU NEED TO BE SUED.

Oh an JCIA went to answerphone again. I have tried about 50-60 times now and left messages.

It just beggars belief.

ancientferguson

beanielou said:

ancientferguson said:

A little update for those following this comedy act.

CARS called me this afternoon to discuss my "overdue account". They wanted to know if I had any success with Klarna because I had money overdue to be paid to JCIA. The nonplussed young lady made reference to my clawback of my Direct Debit money, that they had taken without any lawful authority to do so.

So, two things that are clear and obvious, CARS and JCIA both lied about my account now being closed, which explains why they took money from my account, even after they had the evidence that it wasn't owed. 

These guys are like a very bad dream and it seems the only way to stop them is legally. 

KLARNA, I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED FOR COMMENT ON THIS DISGRACE.....  THANKS A LOT FOR NOTHING. YOU CAUSED THIS!

JCIA YOU TOLD ME THIS NONSENSE WAS STOPPED AND THE NONSENSE ACCOUNT WAS CLOSED.....YOU LIED! 

CARS.....YOU NEED TO BE SUED.

Oh an JCIA went to answerphone again. I have tried about 50-60 times now and left messages.

It just beggars belief.

Indeed.

I have forwarded the link to this thread to their complaints department, but that is administered by total incompetence. The individual concerned was described to me by his/her colleague as "just an administrator that doesn't talk to people" and he/she has proved to be quite incompetent. 

I will eventually get to somebody at CARS that cares about the way they do business and I will send them my tape recordings and emails, managers included.

I have been reading about the Ombudsman and they appear to be shockingly incompetent. I will have to look at legal avenues to stop this harassment and if I do, then it will start to cost them legal fees and more.

Klarna are cooked as far as I am concerned, they have broke so many rules, JCIA too.  

If anybody fancies trying to call JCIA and see if they answer, give 0203 437 0310 a call. :-) 

These guys admitted their mistake and claimed to have closed the account. CARS just keep on going at it.

CARS needs to have the facility to create Direct Debits removed. I would suggest that a Police investigation into their actions is warranted, bear in mind they keep on trying to remove money from accounts that is not owed. They know they have had a bad batch of data originating from Klarna and instead of checking with Klarna, they process Direct Debit payments without reason or permission. I provided clear and concise evidence of their error about a week before they took money from my account.

Quite simply, if they have your details, they won't stop. I am considering paying them the money to stop the extortion, then suing all three companies involved for this huge lump of stress resident in my chest. 

They need investigating.