Credit Card Collection Dept. Problems.

[oldrope]

I haven't posted on this site for some time and my god how it's grown!!

I too want to reclaim my Bank Charges but I'm biding my time.

My current issue is with the Collections Dept. that deals with repayment

of Credit Card debt. The department based in Bangalore is basically incompetant! I have agreed a repayment plan that has been accepted but

am still waiting for the written confirmation nearly 2 months later!! After a number of phone calls involving the managers and a number of errors

relating to the repayment plan I am left feeling that worse is to come

despite bland assurances to the contrary. Is there someone above the

management in the Collections Dept. I can complain to in order to get the

matter sorted out?At the moment I'm considering writing to the area

manager of the local LLoyds Bank branch but I suspect that may be

ineffective.I do feel that I'm starting to go round in circles! Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Regards

 

Old Rope

[elsinore]

Hi oldrope, welcome back. You have been biding your time, haven’t you?

 

I would suggest that any further contact with LTSB should be in writing. Trying to negotiate by telephone is fraught with difficulties, as I’m sure you’ve discovered. Conversations can be conveniently forgotten, you can never speak to the same person twice and arrangements remain unconfirmed.

 

Theoretically, once an account has been transferred to Collections, all dealings should be with that department. This means that, if you were to write to your area manager, he/she would simply pass the letter to Collections to be dealt with.

 

It sounds like you are quite willing to repay any net debt owed, provided that you can confirm a sensible, affordable monthly sum.

 

Are Collections putting any pressure on you to make payments or clear the debt?

Are you making any payments?

Is the amount you wish to reclaim in unlawful charges smaller or greater then the account balance?

Have you been defaulted?

Have you sent a Subject Access Request or a CCA Request to LTSB?

 

Els:)

[shane5408]

Hi Oldrope,

 

If memory serves correct Lloyds have two principal collections offices, one in brighton and one in birmingham, you may be getting calls from callcentres overseas but the account would be held and managed by one of the two aformentioned i would of thought.

 

I would suggest making one final call to lloyds tsb's general number and clarifying who holds and manages your account, when they tell you which collections office it is I would write to them requesting confirmation of the payment arrangement.

 

kind regards,

shane

 

 

____________________________________________

All advice is offered freely & without prejudice

 

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[oldrope]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in acknowledging replies there are other matters I'm dealing with.Firstly to clarify the situation somewhat, the arrangement I have with LLoyds was to pay a fixed sum to them with no interest(the credit card accounts were both closed) on a monthly basis.I had been doing this for 2 years. I then received a statement asking for an increased

amount(with interest) one one account without any notification.I then

discovered that I had to renew the arrangement and would need to do this every 6 months! I did get advice about this from Citizens Advice

Bureau which confirmed that LLoyds could ask for a renewal every 6 months.Having filled in the relevant form and sent it(certainly not to Bangalore!!) I then waited while it got sorted out.Then the problems started.

I will certainly take shane5408's advice and call LLoyds TSB's general no. and try to find out where my account is held.Problem seems to be that

if I call the brighton no. I get patch straight through to sodding Bangalore.

In reply to you Elsinore, Lloyds Bank haven't as such asked for ALL the

money I owe on these cards although the impression is that the pressure

is more underhand. I'm quite willing to stick to the current/past arrangement and have been maintaining very regular payments.I haven't

attempted to reclaim any unfair charges(they go back 10 years +!) because I'm not sure they would cover the amount I owe LLoyds Tsb.

BTW I'll need you to clarify a CCA, an SAR and the matter of being defaulted. I'm going to look that up on the website.Everything related

to these cards has been quiet for about 2 years now suddenly all this has

happened.It does feel like pressure is being applied but of course it would

be denied.Thankyou for your replies both of you and I do hope what I've

told you clarifies the matter.BTW I'm STILL waitng for the confirmation letter.

 

Respects and Regards

 

Old Rope

[shane5408]

Hiya,

 

It sounds like you're on an informal arrangement with Lloyds which they have a right to review every 6 months, some companies even review every 3 months!

 

With regard to requests, a CCA Request is a legal right that any debtor can express to see a copy of the credit agreement the creditor holds. The Consumer Credit Act is clear that in order for a debt to be enforcable a regulated agreement must be in place which is readily legible, contains all prescribed terms and is signed by the debtor. If there is no agreement the debt is completely unenforcable. Upon receiving a CCA request from a debtor the creditor then has 12 working days to respond, should they fail to do so they enter a default situation and cannot enforce the debt, should a further 1 month pass the creditor then commits a summary criminal offence.

 

A SAR is a legal request for all info/doc's the creditor holds on you and is mostly usued to ascertain the full extent on penalty charges on a debtors account. If you thnk there may be some charges, regardless of whether they outweight the balance or not it is worth sending the request and claiming them back.

 

From what you've said I'm sure your account is held with the Collections Centre in Southend-On-Sea (They were Lloyds Credit cards right?) their address is as follows:

 

Lloyds TSB Card Services

Collections Centre

Essex House

Church Avenue

Southend-On-Sea

Essex

SS1 2LB

 

I would get a letter of to them about your arrangement and seek clarification it is to be extended for a further 6 months, they might also require a copy of an Income/Expenditure form as well.

 

kind regards,

shane

 

 

____________________________________________

All advice is offered freely & without prejudice

 

If my post has been useful to you please click the scales

[oldrope]

Hi Shane,

Thanks for the reply I've already sent in one income/expenditure form and the repayment proposal that I put to them was accepted once they received the

completed form and the covering letter. As I said I haven't received the written confirmation of their acceptance although my repayment plan has been accepted verbally(I log and record as many calls as possible).I'll definitely write to them as you suggested and see if this 6 months is discretionary.Again,thanks

for your help.

 

Respects

 

Old Rope:)