Allied International Credit- Help! Help! Help!

MichelleM

Please can someone help me! My partner has run up a credit debt with NatWest Credit Card services, after making several £70 payments to Newman & Co. (who the debt was referred to) and sending several letters to inform them of his circumstances, the debt was passed onto Allied International Credit.

This is where we are at now...

1 First of all, AIC sent letter threatening court actions, on contacting AIC they informed us that he must pay the whole amount. I then asked if I could speak on behalf of my partner (with his permission and him there) as he is not as confident on the phone, they said no. I was unable to speak on his behalf. The man we spoke to said they could not accept ANY monthly payments and would ONLY accept the full amount at this stage. We told him that we are not in a position to do this.

2 They sent a card through the door threatening a "visit", despite the fact that my partner lives with his mum and the property is not his.

3 We contacted them again regarding making payments, but still wouldnt accept, he asked if my partner could get money from friends/family.

4 My partner contacted them again (several days later) to inform then he couldn't get the whole amount. We asked who, in the company, was giving authorisation for paying the whole amount back and he said NatWest. So we asked him for the number (insolvency dept. at NatWest).

5 I contacted them and it had also appeared that Newman hadn't passed on any information regarding us making payments, except for one cheque last year, also, they had no letters passed on that we had sent regarding setting up an account etc. Newman, at that time, had also failed to reply to the letters that we sent. (BUT THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER ISSUE!) The woman said she would put the account with AIC on hold and will inform them of this, we also told AIC ourselves about contacting Natwest and what she said. So, I explained to her that we WANTED to make monthly payments and that they said Natwest would only accept full amounts. She said Natwest do not give any instructions regarding HOW the money is collected. She asked for all the letters/evidence that we had sent to Newman for her to sort our complaint- I sent them but when my I have tried to contact them on several occasions they keep saying the woman we need to speak to is not in the office- when my partner rang they said they cant discuss anything further as the case is with AIC- they wouldnt even tell him if they had recieved our letters.

6 AIC sent another letter saying "we are surprised you have failed to contact us.." despite us informing them that the account should have been on hold until they had sorted out the Newman and Co issue. We had also sent them a copy of our incomings and outgoings and offered to make monthly payments of £85 (they have yet to reply to this).

7 We contacted AIC again, any my partner spoke to another person in the office. We told them that NatWest told us that they do not instruct collectors about how to collect their money. The man denied this and said "I beg to differ" and that they "are right". :mad: Stupidly, my partner told the man he was talking to at AIC that he was recording the phone call, at which point he said "have you asked my permission?" and terminated the call. :mad: (My partner is not very good on the phone!) My partner rang back again and told him that he WASNT recording the conversation now and tried to discuss his account with him again. The man he was talking to was fine for a minute or so, until I reminded my other half to ask for his name (we have been making notes on EVERYTHING), then the man said no and put us throught to the voicemail of the original person we contacted at the company.


I know this is very long, etc. but we are at breaking point now and just need ANYONE with any legal advice to help us! It is tearing us apart! We have made it clear that we want to pay the debt but they wont let us pay in monthly instalments despite them and Natwest having different ideas. They keep asking for the whole amount. What should we do????? Are they trying to take us to court and do you think they will probably say "they haven't attempted to make payments"?


Thanks for reading all this... swift replies are needed as court is on the cards!

Michelle

stapeley

hi , and welcome . First thing stop trying to talk to them on the phone , it does no good . They may frighten allsorts of things but with out a court order they can do nothing so do not be taken in by scare tactics . Only communicate by letter no not sign letters . You have to make sure this company has the right to collect on this account . Request a notice of assignment from the OC .

MichelleM

Ok, but what letters should I send them in the meantime? I have absolutely no idea about the legal matters, but surely, if they are lying or making threats that arent true, then there must be someone I can report them to??

stapeley

It is unfair that they are demanding the whole amount . I would put in a CCA REQUEST . Without this the account is unenforceable . Have a look at a thread covering this .

MichelleM

I have found this document:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

It is clear that they are not following the rules for asking friends to borrow money as well as asking for the whole amount. Can anyone help me put this into a letter or suggest how I can use this information?

I have done some research about CCA, I have contacted NatWest regarding the account with AIC before and they have confirmed the debt is with them, so would a CCA really be useful??

MichelleM

Again, Im guessing more people wil now be available to help me! I am desparate!

GeorgeUK

Right, as stapeley says, you should request a copy of the CCA. They need to prove the debt is his before he pays it. Send the letter to the DCA with payment. If nothing else, this will show them that you know your rights instead of arguing with them on the phone. All communication should be done in writing.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11636295&postcount=9

There is not alot you can do to stop them refusing to agree payment and threatening court action. There is a template letter available if you want them to stop phoning you but that's about it.

After they send the CCA then you should write to arrange repayment details. The nationaldebtline have some templates - this is the losest that could be modified. http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/temp/6170_91671.pdf

If you make an offer of payment which is not unreasonable given your current finances, that's all you can really do. If they take you to court and it is shown that you tried to arrange a fair repayment based on your finances, the court will probably be annoyed at them for wasting court time. The court would make a judgement that you pay a certain amount based on your circumstances that you can afford. The DCA couldn't care less if you get into more debt to clear this one. They are just wanting the money and don't care how you get it.

Don't let them get you down. Bullying is their job. Hit back by showing you know their rights and make sure that you hold them to the timetable dictated by law. You want to pay the debt which is great, but until they agree to a repayment plan they'll just keep pushing you. Time to push back.

MichelleM

Thank you so much George! Have been looking up this company and I don't understand why they are getting away with being like this! This made me want to be sick too... knowing what type of people work there:

http://www.credittodayawards.co.uk/winners/winnerdetails.php?id=30

Thanks for your help though! One more thing... what do I do if they dont produce the credit agreement??

GeorgeUK

If they don't produce the credit agreement then the debt is unenforcable. This is because they can't prove that the debt is yours. They could go to court, but then there they would need to prove the debt was yours - usually by producing a copy of the CCA. Right now you are just excercising your legal right by requesting a copy of the credit agreement. If they can't provide the CCA within 12 working days, then the debt is unenforcable outside of court.

There are some posts on this thread that explain it alot better.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486

It may be that they pass the debt on to another DCA and the process starts all over again, but if you make no payments towards the debt for 6 years and do not acknowledge the debt in writing (which is why the letter states "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company"), the debt will become statute barred. (Alos covered in that thread)

Just make sure you NEVER send anything with your signature on it to a DCA.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=951191

MichelleM

Again, thank you so much for that. I just need to check if my other half hasnt signed any of the letters now!