Contacted by HFO... what next?

[room101]

Hi folks,

There is some excellent advice on these pages and I really appreciate the time and effort people give to helping each other out an otherwise daunting and tricky situation. Indeed, it seems the best way to handle these DCA's is to be aware of the official process that need to be take and not to be tricked into an awkward spot.

That bring s me to my question (which is very similar to burt999's posting but in an earlier stage). I was contacted at work today (don't know how they obtained my number) by a chap called Joshua from HFO services. He informed me that I had defaulted on my Barclaycard credit card back in 2004 and that the current outstanding amount had reach little under £3000. Now, I do remember having a Barclaycard and I do remember I hand an outstanding amount. However, I though the amount outstanding was in the region of around £500. Joshua seemed unable to confirm the original amount that was passed on by Barclaycard to HFO.

He then offered me the following options 1) pay off the full amount now and receive a 13% discount or 2) agree an amount I can pay each month (he suggested 20%) and by agreeing to this he would freeze my interest but I would have to pay off the ful amount i.e. no 13% discount.
I am fully prepared to put right what I have done wrong (and put to bed the nightmares I've been having) but I am reluctant to part with near £3000 without substantial evidence showing the money owed is clearly (and legally) justified.

I informed Joshua that I needed time to contact Barclaycard to follow up the details. He has told me that I need to contact him tomorrow afternoon (Saturday).. is there any coincidence that Barclaycard credit department is closed on the weekends?

Any help any of you might have would be warmly welcomed. I have considered making myself bankrupt as I have no valuable possessions (car, house, etc...). I just want to do whats right and get this debt out of my life!

[diskmandave]

Originally Posted by room101

Hi folks,

There is some excellent advice on these pages and I really appreciate the time and effort people give to helping each other out an otherwise daunting and tricky situation. Indeed, it seems the best way to handle these DCA's is to be aware of the official process that need to be take and not to be tricked into an awkward spot.

That bring s me to my question (which is very similar to burt999's posting but in an earlier stage). I was contacted at work today (don't know how they obtained my number) by a chap called Joshua from HFO services. He informed me that I had defaulted on my Barclaycard credit card back in 2004 and that the current outstanding amount had reach little under £3000. Now, I do remember having a Barclaycard and I do remember I hand an outstanding amount. However, I though the amount outstanding was in the region of around £500. Joshua seemed unable to confirm the original amount that was passed on by Barclaycard to HFO.

He then offered me the following options 1) pay off the full amount now and receive a 13% discount or 2) agree an amount I can pay each month (he suggested 20%) and by agreeing to this he would freeze my interest but I would have to pay off the ful amount i.e. no 13% discount.
I am fully prepared to put right what I have done wrong (and put to bed the nightmares I've been having) but I am reluctant to part with near £3000 without substantial evidence showing the money owed is clearly (and legally) justified.

I informed Joshua that I needed time to contact Barclaycard to follow up the details. He has told me that I need to contact him tomorrow afternoon (Saturday).. is there any coincidence that Barclaycard credit department is closed on the weekends?

Any help any of you might have would be warmly welcomed. I have considered making myself bankrupt as I have no valuable possessions (car, house, etc...). I just want to do whats right and get this debt out of my life!

The next time that Joshua or one of his little friends calls, tell him or her that you're not allowed to play with them any more because you've found friends that don't smell of poo! And that they must only ever write to you from now on...! (Don't call him back)

You also need to send Joshua this letter:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...st-162367.html
Just change to suit your needs.

Look at the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (PDF link below)
Section 78 (1)(a)(b)(c)
To give you a better idea of what you are asking for
& don't worry, it's not at all scary!
http://www.crw.gov.uk/resources/cons...ditact1974.pdf

Good luck & don't let them get you down.

Dave.

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Don't forget to click my scales!
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[tiglet]

Send a letter advising account is in dispute. then send barclaycard a Subject Access Request with £10 payment in it - seems as though this could be made up of a lot of unfair charges - who knows, they may even end up owing you money!

If you get phoned back, advise them you have done this and to remove your telephone numbers from their database and only to contact you at home in writing. if they keep ringing, send them the telephone harrassment letter.

[diskmandave]

Originally Posted by tiglet

If you get phoned back, advise them you have done this and to remove your telephone numbers from their database and only to contact you at home in writing. if they keep ringing, send them the telephone harrassment letter.

Here Here!

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Don't forget to click my scales!
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[room101]

Thanks for all your help. I'll let you know how I get on.

[The Truth]

HFO Services and Turnbull Rotherford are the same company owned by the same person they are actually based in South Wimbledon.

The agents are told not to let the customers know that they are part of the same company, it is a sackable offence.

They are actually based in the same office Turnbull Rotherford is situated on top of HFO services.

The reason that when you get a letter from Turnbull Rotherford the address is different is because they know that what they are doing is illegal it breaks FSA regulations for them to give you advice relating to your finances especially advice that doe not benefit you in any way but only helps them get paid quicker so they will use a different correspondance address when contacting you

Infact it is common practice for the legal team to go downstairs and pass information on to the HFO agents and vice versa which is illegal.

Next time you recieve a phone call from either of them ask them this, and because all calls are recorded they have to tell the truth but some times they will use mobile phones and set them to private if they wish to badger their clients into paying up or if they want to tell lies and not have it recorded.

HFO will send letters out to addresses that they suspect people who owe money may be living at, in the letter they will claim there is a package the client needs to pick up but they have to ring a number to confirm this, when the person rings the number they will be asked to give all their details and contact numbers, the client will not hear from them for a few days, then hey presto all of a sudden the client will start recieving calls from HFO on whatever numbers that they have provided and they will start recieving letters.

The agents will claim that they only accept direct debits or credit card payments, that is a lie the reason they ask for these payments is because they recieve commision for card payments.

There has been times when agents have been told it is illegal for them to ring the clients more than 3 times a day so are advised to use mobiles to harrass the clients as mobile calls are not logged on the database.

[gem88]

hi, we are too being harrasssed by hfo, by phone, we have never had any correspondance of them to say that have legally bought the account from morgan stanley...however we are currently in the stage of sending them the Subject Access Request request letter and the harrssment of calls letter to them. They have said also that there have been nearly £2000 of charges added to the account since them buying it in september of this year appartently...i cant see that this is true!!

A debt company called moorcroft was dealing with it before and they were accpeting our lowered monthly payments from our debt management company and interes was frozen and any late charges. Is it legal= for hfo to say that are now adding interes daily to it and late charges??..i thought that once you have defaulted with the credit company they cant add interest and charges on it again??? help!!

[Rosie_123]

Originally Posted by gem88

hi, we are too being harrasssed by hfo, by phone, we have never had any correspondance of them to say that have legally bought the account from morgan stanley...however we are currently in the stage of sending them the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request letter and the harrssment of calls letter to them. They have said also that there have been nearly £2000 of charges added to the account since them buying it in september of this year appartently...i cant see that this is true!!

A debt company called moorcroft was dealing with it before and they were accpeting our lowered monthly payments from our debt management company and interes was frozen and any late charges. Is it legal= for hfo to say that are now adding interes daily to it and late charges??..i thought that once you have defaulted with the credit company they cant add interest and charges on it again??? help!!

Hi gem88. I am nowhere near as qualified as a lot of the people here, as I have only come across this site recently after my own hassles with HFO. I think your best bet would be to start a new thread to ask this question though, as new threads are more easily seen than when something is tucked at the bottom of an old one, like this. Good luck with everything anyway. From my experience, HFO are the biggest load of ******** out there.

[gem88]

thankyou rosie, yes i agree we you, i cant believe hat they are still trading!! something needs to be done..the more people complain and hopefully there will be seen unfit to hold a credit licence.
we are due to get a call from them today..now we no are legal rights we feel much more confident and wont let them get us down as what they have been saying to us isnt legal!!

[sillygirl1]

Here's HFO's website

http://www.hfoservices.com/home.html

and this is their job ad...

Call Centre Sales Agent Wimbledon Call centre telesales jobs London

Shall I try for a job with them as they are localish to me and I can be a mole...

[tiglet]

£18K basic! Excellent, I'm getting my two kids to apply, although they may be over qualified ...

[sillygirl1]

I'm wondering if they employ the American method that if you hit your target you get a round of applause and a certificate above your desk... and a little bird told me that they do sometimes play live messages to staff in training to show how 'they' can win an arguement.

[Rosie_123]

Originally Posted by sillygirl1

Here's HFO's website

http://www.hfoservices.com/home.html

and this is their job ad...

Call Centre Sales Agent Wimbledon Call centre telesales jobs London

Shall I try for a job with them as they are localish to me and I can be a mole...

Not wishing to generalise - I'm sure there are some genuine adverts on Gumtree - but the very fact they advertise their jobs on there tells me an awful lot about them When I was recently job hunting, the only jobs that ever seemed to appear on my local Gumtree were Internet scams, fake "data entry" jobs, "escort agency" work, and masseurs All the genuine companies placed their ads in the local newspapers, Employment Agencies, or The Job Centre. Makes me even more sure that these HFO chaps are fly-by-night scammers!

Besides - since when has a DCA job been about telesales, hard selling, and a Call Centre environment? Should the staff not have at least a modicum of knowledge about financial matters and/or the law? Not to mention some understandng of people beyiod seeing their misery as a way to get rich quick?

[sillygirl1]

Maybe you can click my scales for showing you the mentality of the people you are dealing with. I only came across this by chance when looking for more local jobs and it seemed to fit in with a couple of the threads on this website.

Building a portfolio of clients and then continually asking them to increase payments on a debt isn't really going to help people in genuine hardship, all it will do is add to their distress.

[Rosie_123]

Originally Posted by sillygirl1

Maybe you can click my scales for showing you the mentality of the people you are dealing with. I only came across this by chance when looking for more local jobs and it seemed to fit in with a couple of the threads on this website.

Building a portfolio of clients and then continually asking them to increase payments on a debt isn't really going to help people in genuine hardship, all it will do is add to their distress.

Consider yourself clicked Point is they don't care about people in distress, nor about driving them to nervous breakdowns or even suicides. In a former job, I was actually trained in counselling and talking to people in distress, so I know how you're supposed to deal with people in that situation. I have also had a breakdown mysef so know both sides of the coin. And I know that when the HFO idiots used to ring me, they tried every trick in the book to make me more distressed and force me into a position where I promised something I could not deliver just to get them off my back. They terrified me, but now - please excuse my language - but my attitude t