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I had a loan in the mid 90's from Paragon personal finance, Unsecured, for £10k. This was paid every month by DD until I lost my job in 2000, I spoke to them at the time and was assured interest would be frozen on the account and a repayment schedule agreed, nothing in writing.
I continued to pay this but never received any statment of account or anything other tha their regular review calls and letters. Eventually in 2004 I decided to ask for a statement of my account to see how it had gone down.... It had gone up from 7500 to 20k, and is still rising, now 28k. I argued the point of their agreement of freezing interest, they of course have no record of this.
3-4 weeks ago yet another call from them, I laid into them a bit when they said would CCJ me, saying Paragon are well known in court as loan sharks etc, the guy eventually agreed would reduce interest to 2% and guarantee to put it in writing. Obviously didn't and next thing was a call from Arrow Global saying they had bought the debt and wanted payment, replied that Paragon's agreement was unenforceable as failed to honour their responsibilities, no annual statement, lied about interest etc, they said would take me to court and obtain CCJ, said any comments should be put in writing. As if they're going to do anything about it!!!...
Received a letter from them saying wanted the 28k by 21/1........ we all have that sort of spare cash lying around don't we?
Anyway as this loan was a joint loan with my ex wife she was also in contact with Paragon, she had an agreement with them and is still paying them, she has had no contact from Arrow Global so don't understand the situation with her, she is paying directly into Paragons bank account so seems very odd that once I questioned them they try to distance themselves from any litigation..
Our jaunt with Paragon is about to start too mate.
Do you or anyone else know if Paragon is a member of the mortgage Lenders Association? I telephoned and enquired, but the response I got was "We do not have to disclose that kind of information"
Reason for asking is we are facing a mortgage shortfall with them. and not a small one either.
I would assume they ae members of MLA, unfortunately Ican't go down that road as my loan was unsecured.
What I am considering is to get sworn affidavits from others who have been lied to and go to court with them.
Good luck Martinhw
Today I have produced the letter below which I am posting later today, any suggestions before I send it?
CBS Transcom
CBS House
Alban Park
Hatfield Road
St Albans
AL4 0LA
REF: ********* / *******
Dear Sirs
Further to my telephone conversations, I together with my wife at the time took out a unsecured loan on **/**/1997 as a top up for a loan currently running (I believe with Paragon). direct debit paid this account every month without fail at £***.** until April 2000 when I lost my job.
I rang and spoke to Paragon at the time; I made arrangements for future payments and Paragon agreed to freeze interest on the understanding that from the sale of our property all surplus cash would be paid direct to Paragon, which was paid November 2001 £****.**.
I continued to pay as per the agreement. Paragon is obligated to supply an annual statement of account, which they failed to do. Eventually I managed to obtain a statement of the account dated _____________ which showed that in fact interest had not been frozen as agreed, I contacted Paragon immediately and all they would say was “we have no record” which is surprising as they had the offer to pay surplus funds and my unemployment on record. Very selective recording of information.
I have continued to argue with Paragon in respect of this and recently contacted The Consumer Action Group where I have found exactly the same selective recording of information had occurred to others, agreements to freeze interest had been agreed and no statements supplied to them also. It may be possible to obtain sworn statements to validate these corroborative actions.
I believe that the true balance should be £****.** less payments since **/**/2006. Approx £*** has been paid since then so balance should be approx £****.**.
stevie1 i am confused now as to where you are with this letter ...you state paragon as the source of the loan then say arrow global bought it and are now writing to cbs transcom where did they come from ...and to be honest i would not send such a letter to some 3rd party DCA telling them any thing about what you think you owe...
my opinion only i would ask for expert advise on this site before such action ..
Took out loan originally with Paragon, I have nothing from them about selling debt but when I rang them they confirmed they had sold debt to Arrow Global (now data controller of personal data) and they have appointed CBS transcom to manage the account. Hope that makes sense.
Have just read your letter to CBS Transcom - I am currently challenging a DCA about passing personal data to other companies e.g. Arrow Global have passed yours CBS T.
Can you tell me if CBS transcom is the full title of that company as I will look it up on companies house and Information Commissioners sites to see how they are registered.
I have revised the content of the letter, removing specific amounts etc.
Dear Sirs
Further to my telephone conversations, I together with my wife at the time took out a unsecured loan on October 1997 as a top up for a loan currently running (I believe with Paragon). direct debit paid this account every month without fail until April 2000 when I lost my job.
I rang and spoke to Paragon at the time; I made arrangements for future payments and Paragon agreed to freeze interest on the understanding that from the sale of our property all surplus cash would be paid direct to Paragon, which was paid November 2001.
I continued to pay as per the agreement. Paragon is obligated to supply an annual statement of account, which they failed to do. Eventually I managed to obtain a statement of the account dated 2004 which showed that in fact interest had not been frozen as agreed, I contacted Paragon immediately and all they would say was “we have no record” which is surprising as they confirmed they had the offer to pay off the debt with the surplus from the property sale, record of my unemployment and the reduced payment agreement. Very selective recording of information.
I have continued to argue with Paragon in respect of this and recently contacted The Consumer Action Group where I have found exactly the same selective recording of information had occurred to others, agreements to freeze interest had been agreed and no statements supplied to them also. It may be possible to obtain sworn statements to validate these corroborative actions.
I believe that the true balance should be the balance as per April 2000 less payments made.
I expect you to deal with this forthwith
Yours sincerely
This is the revision, as you can appreciate, being a bloke, we always put things off to the last minute so speedy replies preferred.
stevie1
will echo that stevie1 ... ie cbs transcom are part of transcom worldwide according to google
arrow global if they were arrow financial took over by sally mae 09.04 are listed on junk debt buyers as one of those such companies
it does seem paragon may be clearing out debts it thinks it may have a problem with
again my opinion only but i am a bit concerned [for you] regards sending any letter at the moment thats why i suggested getting in touch with a mod of other expert on site possiblly a PM TO ONE OF SUCH as to a better course of action ie SAR cca
Have found the following entries at Companies House. You will note that they are 2 entirely separate companies and each have their own Data Controller as per info on Information Commissioners website (DPA).
Name & Registered Office: ARROW GLOBAL RECEIVABLES MANAGEMENT LIMITED
20-22 BEDFORD ROW
LONDON
WC1R 4JS
Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 01/02/1993 Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
7487 - Other business activities
Name & Registered Office: CREDIT & BUSINESS SERVICES LTD
CBS HOUSE
ALBAN PARK
ST ALBANS
HERTFORDSHIRE AL4 0LA Company No. 02785250
Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 01/02/1993 Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
7487 - Other business activities
See my letter below to my DCA to see where I'm going with this, which is also what others have been doing on this site. No conclusive results yet but I think this issue is relevant to whether these companies can continue chasing the debts if they can't process our data.
Regards, Pam
Dear Sir/Madam
Request for information under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 – Sections 77/79
Further to your letter of 15 November 2006 in which you claim to have purchased a debt allegedly formerly owed by me to Barclaycard, I am hereby requesting a true copy of the executed credit agreement that relates to this debt under the provisions of sections 77/79 of the above Act and hereby enclose a payment of £1.00, being the fee payable for this information under the Act.
Please note that I do not acknowledge any debt to your company unless, or until, a true copy of the signed executed agreement is sent to me, together with proof that the alleged debt has been legally assigned to yourselves.
Further, I note that you have passed this debt to another company within the group i.e. Lowell Financial Ltd
for the purposes of collection and have therefore supplied this company with my personal data.
If this alleged debt has been legally assigned to you then the right to process any personal data relevant to the credit agreement allegedly entered into may have possibly passed to you provided that the borrower's authority was obtained in the original agreement. Until I have sight of that document I do not acknowledge any authority from me for Lowell Portfolio I Ltd to process such data. Until such authority is proven to have vested in your company I am requesting that you immediately cease and desist from all processing of my personal data.
Even if such authority is subsequently shown to exist in relation to your company, you have certainly NOT
requested and I have NOT given any permission for my personal data to be passed to or shared with Lowell
Financial Ltd (an entirely separate company). I shall therefore also be writing to Lowell Financial Ltd to request that they cease and desist from processing my data immediately.
Please note that any sharing or processing of data without the authority of the data subject contravenes the Data Protection Act and if this persists I will report both Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd and Lowell Financial Ltd to the relevant authorities, including but not limited to Trading Standards, The Office of Fair Trading and The Information Commissioners Office.
I look forward to receiving the requested document and your response to the Data Protection Act issues at your earliest convenience.
P.S. They were both incorporated on the same date so I wouldn't be surprised if they were part of the same group (as in my case) but they are still SEPARATE Ltd companies!
No I haven't sent the letter to the other company yet, I only typed this one yesterday and will be sending it tomorrow.
You are quite welcome to copy my text and change accordingly if you want and most importantly do not refer to 'my debt' or 'the debt' always the 'alleged debt' if you are not yet acknowledging it. I will do the other letter tomorrow and post up a copy for you. Be warned that the DCAs who have already received similar letters from other members are trying everything to shoot them down so be prepared for it.
Well you've pipped me to the post because I have been away all day today and haven't posted my first letter yet. Must do Letter No.2 tomorrow and will post up copy for you.
thank god for cut & paste, much quicker, thanks again Pam will let you know when get reply, they cost me a whole pound & another pound for recorded delivery.
steve
Here is a copy of the letter I am sending to the second company. Cut and paste at your leisure!!
Lowell Financial Ltd
Enterprise House
1 Apex View
LEEDS
LS11 9BH
Your Reference No. ********
26 January 2007
Dear Sir/Madam
I am in receipt of your letter dated 8 January 2007 and note that you are requesting payment on an alleged debt recently purchased by Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.
Firstly, I would like to point out that I do not acknowledge any debt to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd and have written to them regarding this matter. I enclose a copy for your information.
You will note also that unless and until I receive a copy of the original executed consumer credit agreement from Lowell Portfolio I Ltd, I do not acknowledge having given them any authority to process my personal data.
Lowell Financial Ltd, on the other hand, is an entirely separate limited company that would not have acquired any contractual rights whatsoever under any assignment of this alleged debt to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.
I have certainly NOT given and DO NOT intend to give my consent for your company to process or share my personal data, which includes the sharing of such data with Hamptons Legal (a 'trading style' of Lowell Financial Ltd) from whom I received a threatening letter regarding this alleged debt on 19 January 2007.
Please note that any sharing or processing of data without the authority of the data subject contravenes the Data Protection Act and I hereby request therefore that both you and Hamptons Legal immediately cease and desist from such processing (in any form and for any purpose) of my personal data.
I expect written confirmation that the necessary action has been taken to comply with this request within 7 days of receipt of this letter, failing which I shall report your company to the relevant authorities, including but not limited to Trading Standards, The Office of Fair Trading and The Information Commissioners Office.
Paragon / Arrow Global
would be frozen on the account and a repayment schedule agreed, nothing in writing.
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