Debt Managers Limited/Data Protection Act ...

melvis

Hi May I apologise in advance for the length of this post ...

I took a loan out with Cahoot several years ago. I moved in with my partner little over a year ago and at the time he wasn't working and his job seekers allowance was stopped as he was living with me so we therefore only had my wage to live on (approx £900 per month after tax). As I had previously been making payments of £300+ to my debts, I obviously couldn't afford it anymore and went to the CAB.

I arranged £1 token payments to all mine and my partners creditors (about 12 creditors in total I believe) and everything was fine. We moved house in August and I accidentally forgot to pay Cahoot the £1 for that month. I heard nothing from them and as soon as I realised my mistake I immediately paid £2 to the account. I was still paying them monthly, unaware that my debt had been sold to another company .. the lovely Debt Managers Limited!

This happened around September/October time. I received the usual letters asking for payment etc and I replied saying I had a payment arrangement for £1 per month that I was paying to Cahoot via internet banking. I assumed Cahoot were still applying my payments to the account as they were accepting them.

Anyway Debt Managers Limited somehow got my mother's home phone number ( I have not lived with her and her partner since 2002) and bombarded her answerphone with messages for me to call them. She told me about the messages, I told her I'd written to Cahoot/DML and was awaiting a reply. My mother is a great worrier and knows little of my debt problems, which saves both me and her grief!

One evening DML phoned her and she answered and gave them my mobile number so they called me. I advised them I no longer live with my mother so please not to call her anymore and to reach me on my mobile should they need to speak to me. They asked for full settlement of the account (just over £7000), I advised I do not have that kind of money, hence my £1 a month payment arrangement.

They continued phoning my mother and continued harrassing me for full payment. By this point I was sending my payments by cheque to themselves and these were being cashed so they were defintely receiving them but obviously my mother was getting more worried and harrassing me also in her own loving manner!

I finally wrote them a complaint letter on 17 November 2007 following a particular phone call:

Dear Sirs

I am writing to complain about the absolutely disgusting attitude of a member of your team, who I believe was called Jenny, who called me at 7.45pm on Tuesday 12 November 2007.

Jenny called to advise me that I have an outstanding balance £7198.54 and requested payment by credit or debit card. I advised Jenny that I was unable to make a payment of £7198.54, she asked why to which I replied, “Because I don’t have £7000.00”. My partner, who was in the room with me at the time, laughed and Jenny obviously assumed it was me laughing and snapped “Do you think this is funny Miss Clarke?”. I assured Jenny that I did not find this funny, indeed someone calling you on an evening demanding seven thousand pounds is not a laughing matter. I once again advised Jenny that I did not have £7000.00 available to pay her, and she asked me “Why is that Miss Clarke?” several times.

I obviously failed to come up with a reasonable answer to Jenny’s question as she next asked me to pay in 2 monthly instalments of approximately £3500.00 each. I advised Jenny that this was not possible, after all I don’t even earn anywhere near £3500.00 per month. Jenny then decided that I did not have £7198.54 to pay but could make a one off payment of approximately £5500.00. I advised Jenny that I did not have £5500.00 to which she asked if there wasn’t someone who could pay the debt for me. Had there ever been someone who could pay my debts for me, I would not have found myself in the difficult situation I am in now.

This goes against the Office of Fair Trading’s Debt Collection Guidance, which states that you should not put pressure on debtors “to pay in full or in large instalments [they] cannot afford”.

I find it hard to believe that someone who works for a Company such as yourselves is allowed to talk to a client in the manner in which I was spoken to.

Jenny kindly took a financial statement from me and advised me that I could afford to pay £550.00 a month. I was surprised by this as my partner and I are constantly struggling to find enough money to pay our priority debts. I therefore advised that I did not have an extra £550.00 available each month. If I did have an extra £550.00 available each month, I would not be struggling as I am now and I would not have had to approach Citizens Advice for assistance as I did earlier in the year.

Further, I wish to complain about the fact that your Company has been calling my Mother and leaving messages for me. After the first instance, my Mother gave your Company my mobile number and advised them I do not live with her. You then called me and I too advised you that I no longer live with my Mother, indeed I have not lived with her for many years now. Despite us both telling you, you have continued to call her and leave messages with her and my Stepdad for me.

This has caused my mother to worry about my financial situation, which is the last thing she needs given as her own Mother has recently passed away. This has also led my embarrassment when my Mother has questioned your reasons for calling. I believe your Company has therefore breached Section 40 of the Administation of Justice Act, which states:

"A person commits an offence if, with the object of coercing another person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt under a contract, he:
harasses the other with demands for payment which, in respect of their frequency, or the manner or occasion of making any such demand, or of any threat or publicity by which any demand is accompanied, are calculated to subject him or members of his family or household to alarm, distress or humiliation;…”
Further, you are in breach of the Data Protection Act of 1984 under which it is stated that my personal data within your Company must be accurate. Upon both my mother and myself advising you that I do not live with her, her telephone number should have been removed from your records. Instead, you made several further telephone calls to her household.
Please find enclosed a cheque for £10.00 as a token payment to my above account. I regret that I am unable to afford a higher sum at the moment. I get paid on the 18th of each month and will therefore forward a further payment to you in approximately one months time.
I look forward to receiving a reply to my above complaints within the next 7 days.
Please note that following the low standard of Customer Service received in previous calls from your Company, I no longer wish for communication to be made by telephone and I would appreciate written communication from now on.
If I do not receive a satisfactory response to my complaints or receive any further harassing phone calls from your Company, or indeed if you contact my Mother again, I will not hesitate to lodge complaints with both the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Ombudsman.

I received a reply shortly afterwards from one of DML's compliance officers, advising that they were investigating the telephone call in question and the matter will be dealt with internally and feedback passed on etc, that all their staff are trained to be professional and that they follow debt collection guidelines stringently. They put a payment arrangement in place for £10.00 a month, which I can afford as my partner now has a job, minimum wage but it's better that nothing! They finished by advising all future contact would be by mail

On 30th January I recieved another voice message on my mobile. I have sent them a mandate to collect £10 per month so I do not have to contact them further.

Anyhoo, after all my rambling! Would it be worth taking this matter further and contacting the OFT etc? Who should I complain too and what kind of outcome should I expect?

Sorry for the length of the post!! :beer:

tifnstav

i would contact them - after three months they are still calling you, contrary to your instructions.

did you ever get a more specific reply to your letter other than they were looking into it?

give them a taste of their own medicine and take them to the OFT. Good letter by the way!

locutus2003

:T :T Good letter :T :T

I do know a little about the Data Protection Act. If you want to complain under that legislation you need to complain to the Office of the Information Commissioner (although that title might have changed since my day). While your in a complaining mood (and I can't blame you at all after this) then you might wish to mention to DML that you're reporting them to the OIC too.

Of course the other one, if you really want to throw the book at them, is the Human Rights Act ... article (8 I think but I could be wrong) entitles you to the right of privacy ... clearly that has been breached by them ringing your Mother to tell her about your debt. Totally, totally out of order.

Might make you feel better - and I believe your privacy has been breached (Catherine Zeta Jones used the same clause when taking Hello/OK to court over her wedding photos. Nothing LIKE the privacy breach I think you've suffered).

Hope this helps

melvis

Cheers guys .. I feel more letter writing coming on!

And no, I didn't receive anything from them but the initial letter saying they were looking into it etc.

melvis

I have been advised that it is against OFT guidelines that they asked me to borrow the money required to pay them.