Egg and Collect Direct (UK)

[lulan7]

Can anyone offer any advice?

After sending a budget sheet and a letter to egg I had a response from them agreeing a payment plan of a set amount per month on my account on condition that the first payment was received by 28th February.

On 21st February I started receiving texts and letters from a company called Collect Direct insisting on payment of the whole oustanding balance. They say that egg have passed my debt onto them.

I have kept to my side of the agreement by paying the agreed amount before the 28th so I don't understand how egg can do this.

Help!

[Mistermind]

This is more likely due to Egg muddle than conspiracy, the left hand not knowing what the right hand did. Suggest you write addressing the Eggployee who made you the written offer, enclosing the contradictory Collect Direct letter.

Egg cannot go back on their written offer (and I suspect is unlikely to) so long as you have kept to your side of the bargain. Did you write responding to Egg's written offer, so that the person who made it was aware you have accepted their payment amount and deadline conditions? Have you checked Egg online whether your February payment made it onto the account on time?

[lulan7]

Thanks for your advice. Yes, we did pay on time, it was after we received the first letter from Collect Direct but before the payment date on our confirmation letter from egg.

I am compiling a letter to them now.

Thanks again

[Worzel5-1]

Be very very wary of collect direct uk or Cd UK as they call themselves-The right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing-and I am talking from experience.

I lost my job through ill health and they took on three accounts -they are threatening with invasive phone calls and threats initially-they refused to send me out new paying in books,set my phone on auto redial every half hour or so initially even though the agreements to pay had been set up-the woman on the phone initially once we were doing business accepted the offers sent out by cab sent me paying in books,then I phoned them asking for new paying in books upping my offer volunatarily once the books were used-then someone else phoned asked why i hadnt made a payment I said I cant because you have refused to send me a paying in book where as the lady on the phone last time agreed the payments and sent me one.--They even quoted wrong account numbers so that in the biggest debt I was paying £1 and the smallest £10--I said but when you combined the books you gave me theaccount numbers and what to pay to each one-but no she called me a liar-christ I have the account numbers written here on the books!!

The lady on the phone then said well you are not dealing with her any more you are dealing with me and she probably doesnt work for the company anymore as we will only refuse to sendout payment books if you havent paid--I said I have Paid everything up to date-then got a threatenin solicitors letter etc from them -phoned their legal dept and they said oh you have three accounts-but all being dealt with seperately by seperate people so we will combine them all.

I have upped money each month I cant afford and still they arent happy-they arean absolute nightmare-no record of phone calls etc allegedly-all my other other creditors have been most helpful since I lost my job three years ago-and now working again full time on half the salary I was-but will CD UK take that into account on the phone?? not at all--they are bullying and threatening scare you with this or that--Copy any communication you have with them.

Cab are supposed to be dealing with them with their threats and last time they phoned me I said I cannot talk to you anymore on the phone-cab are supposed to be talking with you and you have forms signed-she said well you arent dealing with them so I am not going to. I no longer answer the phone to them-they are complete bullies. Im paying what is agreed-you cant get blood from a stone no matter how hard they try to.

Dont be afraid of them they love that-as long as you pay what is agreed keep everything else they try and send you.

rant over-and to think Im paying what has always been agreed and much more than cab say I can afford-best of luck

CD UK-terrible firm-everyone else for the past three years has been most helpful-Got to the stage now as threatened last month that if they wanna take me to court then fine-go ahead-funilly enough they havent phoned me since-dont be bullied by them-and if they do then fine as the judge will see i have made evry payment apart from when the woman wouldnt send me a paying in book and more than likely he will say this guy has been paying you every month-the lady at Cab said it was harassment but after being ill I cant be bothered to go pursue that.Just make me payments and what will be will be-just nice to be healthy again and working again and they are not going to grind me down no way-health is far more important.

Get a name and time of phonecall everytime if they ring-wish i had--they even just give titles and sir names!! Im Mrs xx and last time you spoke to Mr z!!!--Crazy

Make sure you get any dealings with them written down copied and phone calls made logged and who exatly you are speaking to-and hey- dont be bullied honestly.Will let you know how I get on with my next dealings with them.

They tried to scare the hell out of me when I was ill but not any more.

Best of luck.

They are texting you as well?? at least I dint have that worry-first time they contacted me on landline they asked my mobile number and said I dont have one I cant afford it now just the landline and no email address either-so that rules out two ways of bullying

[Mistermind]

Some, not all, of the persons who work at debt collectors appear to behave like dregs of the earth. Part of their strategy lies in gaining the psychological high ground by rubbishing the debtor, putting the boot on the throat of a person already depressed and going through a bad time. However -

Last week the Treasury offered £15 billion in their loans auction to financial institutions., but banks wanted to borrow £70 billion (please sir, or else we sink). It is the Treasury with its coffers filled by UK tax payers, who are rescuing the banks, who are harassing the tax payers, who are filling the Treasury coffers, who are rescuing the harassers......

To cite but one example, Citigroup who own Egg Card have lost £12 billion in their US subprime mortgage gambles, and are now cutting 9,000 jobs worldwide even as they go around cap in hand trying to borrow money if they can, wherever they can. Who is feckless?

Harassing telephone monkeys are paid bonuses for whatever they can squeeze out of their victims. The lowest level casual foot soldiers evidently believe they can say what they like and escape all consequences, while stubbornly refusing to give their full names when asked. Such persons, however, need to be licenced by the OFT on condition they abide by OFT rules, and this licence can be revoked if they do not. Whereas harassment monkeys methodically hide behind anonymity, their boss the legally responsible Company Secretary cannot hide. Company brief details can be found free from

WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information

Company Secretary's full name and home address will be available for £5 monthly subscription (only need to sub for one month). The company secretary can be hauled before the OFT, so he will be concerned to moderate his monkeys.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Name & Registered Office:
COLLECT DIRECT (UK) LIMITED
4 WINDSOR COURT
GREENHILL STREET
STRATFORD UPON AVON
WARWICKSHIRE
CV37 6GG
Company No. 04831735
Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 14/07/2003

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
7499 - Non-trading company
Accounting Reference Date: 31/07
Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/07/2007 (DORMANT)
Next Accounts Due: 31/05/2009
Last Return Made Up To: 14/07/2007
Next Return Due: 11/08/2008
Last Members List: 14/07/2007
Previous Names: Date of change Previous Name
19/07/2003 EFFICIENT COLLECTIONS LIMITED

[wayoutneeded]

Originally Posted by lulan7

Can anyone offer any advice?

After sending a budget sheet and a letter to egg I had a response from them agreeing a payment plan of a set amount per month on my account on condition that the first payment was received by 28th February.

On 21st February I started receiving texts and letters from a company called Collect Direct insisting on payment of the whole oustanding balance. They say that egg have passed my debt onto them.

I have kept to my side of the agreement by paying the agreed amount before the 28th so I don't understand how egg can do this.

Help!

Hi

I was sent a letter by Egg in December 2008 agreeing a reduced payment plan to begin 20 January 2009 and I to have received a letter and 4 text message from Collect Direct (all today) demading payment in full within 3 days. I have emailed them and advised them of the letter sent by Egg.

Did you have any joy sorting yours?

[niknak17]

Hi, I am also having major probs with Egg, St Andrews and CDUK. I was made unemployed Feb 2008 but used my redundy to pay off my egg card however did use it again throughout the year and since Jan 09 have been unable to pay it because the minumum payment more than doubled over a month because of the interest rate. I contacted Egg who suggested I contact St Andrews because I had paymemnt protection. I was told by the person there that it would back dated to when i became unemployed but have since been told it wont. I am now receiving letters and texts from CDUK. I have emailed them twice in the past week explaining the situation and that because i only earn 120 job seeker allowance every fortnight i would only be able to offer them 50 per month, i was even prepared to give them a payment throught thier online payment facilty. But hey still aint rec'd a reply to my emails and I aint confident on the phone.

[SRJ999]

Hello people. This is all disturbingly familiar and depressing reading. I too have outstanding debt with Egg. A couple of years ago, Egg terminated my account, which I had not used for some time. They told me to just continue making payments until it was cleared. Because I was financially inept, I continued to make mostly minimum payments.

I was also made redundant from my engineering job in Feb '09. I was out of work for 3 months but found employment as a night shift shelf stacker. Accordingly, the minimum wage didn't cover my living expenses and the debts mounted, as I was unable to pay any of my creditors.

I registered with the Consumer Credit Counselling Service who provided a financial statement and letter template which I sent to all the creditors, offering token payments until I got back on my feet. Four out of five agreed. Egg, however, passed the debt to CD (UK) who refused to accept the financial statement. However, on CCCS's advice, I ci=ontinued to make the token payments anyway.

Having endured daily harrassment from CD (UK) via phone and post since October, I took legal advice at Christmas. I wrote to CD (UK) saying they must stop phoning but may write. I received one more letter from them acknowledging my request, followed by a letter from their solicitor demanding payment of the debt (£5300) within seven days.

I have just written to Egg, copying CD (UK), their solicitor and mine, to say that I still cannot pay more than the token amounts and, if they persist, they will force me into bankruptcy, which would mean they get nothing.

I am back to a time of stress, sleepless nights and weight loss, thanks entirely to CD (UK)'s aggressive methods. I only hope that Egg will agree to the offer I have made to them. I am just about to start in a better paid job, so have every intention of finally paying Egg off and getting my life back. I hope I get that chance.

[Mistermind]

Originally Posted by SRJ999

I am back to a time of stress, sleepless nights and weight loss, thanks entirely to CD (UK)'s aggressive methods. I only hope that Egg will agree to the offer I have made to them. I am just about to start in a better paid job, so have every intention of finally paying Egg off and getting my life back. I hope I get that chance.

Egg are evidently hard-up big time, and resorting to desperate measures to collect as much as they can. It is an approach similar to mailshots. If they play hardball to the nth degree and manage through harassment day and night to secure a lump sum repayment from one debtor, that will be sufficient to offset the nine debtors who despite harassment cannot increase their monthly repayments agreed at a time before Egg became desperate.

Debt Collection Industry - The Consumer Forums

would be a better forum for info specific to DCAs not necessarily specific to Egg.

Best of luck! You are not alone.

When the bankers were sinking they trooped together to the Treasury cap in hand, for bailouts using taxpayers' money. Debtors being chased separately can take encouragement from others in the same boat.

[fluffy cat]

Collect Direct, it’s the trading name of Improved Financial Services.

Denise Crossely is the managing director and Caroline Burston the Collections Manager.

The companies real phone number is 0113 259 6900. If you get hassle from them report them to the Office of Fair Trading, their Consumer Credit License is 559133.

Their address is Jason House, Kerry Hill, Horsworth, Leeds LS18

THEY ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION FROM THE OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING FOR HARASSMENT AND FOR USING UNLAWFUL PRACTICES.

You can also report them to the Credit Services Association Limited, Wingrove House, Ponteland Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE5 3AJ Tel: 0191 2865656 Fax: 0191 2860900 Email: compliance@csa-uk.com

The more of us who complain the sooner they will be struck off.

[fluffy cat]

Collect Direct, it’s the trading name of Improved Financial Services

Improved Financial Services web address is

IMFS - Passionate about debt recovery...

and sorry for the typo but it's Denise Crossley.