Metropolitan Collection Services and First Direct

[sdoc]

I have held an account with my partner for over 6 years with FD. We did have an agreed overdraft of 6500£ just over the last year. Without any warning ,they reduced it to 2500£ when we were fully exposed. We disputed this , and they agreed back to it and again after 2 months without any warning , they closed the account ( our salarys were paid into the account) We only found out when our direct debits started to bounce back. This was less than 2 months ago , and we have been trying to figure out what to do as at the moment we dont have 6000 £ to pay off the balance. But today, again without any warning , we have had a letter from " Metropolitan Collection Services Ltd" saying they have been instructed by FD to collect the debit within 7days or else the result will be our account will be transfered to some DG Solictors to commence legal proceedings !!!!

Without any attempt to see what the situation is and what can we do to repay the money , can they refer us to a Collection agency ? Where do we stand ?

Any advice will be appreciated !

[Viscount Stair]

As far as I know, MCS are the HSBC group's in-house DCA. I suspect that DG solicitors (who are not to be found on the Law Society's website database of firms) are the HSBC group's in-house solicitors.

 

First things first, have you opened a parachute account to get your salary paid in somewhere else? If not, do that asap.

 

Beyond that, the best suggestion I can give is to write to MCS making an offer of payment by instalments that you can afford (or, if need be, a token payment).

[PGH7447]

MCS are HSBC in house DCA.

 

I would personally send a SAR to HSBC and request all statements etc regarding the account

 

Subject Access Request - Consumer Wiki

 

it costs £10 and send it by recorded delivery, they have 40 days to suply all info.

 

work out if any unlawful charges have been applied and start to reclaim them

 

also do as suggested and get another bank account and cut hsbc adrift, once you find out if any charges can be reclaimed start the procedure to reclaim them.

 

MCS letters are designed to frighten and intimidate,

 

do not phone them and if they ring just say in writting an put the phone down.

[EvaluatingIntegrity]

Rather than add a new thread, i thought I'd ask here as it involves HSBC MCS. My wifes overdraft was left dormant (one of 3 HSBC accounts) and subsequently turned over to MCS for repayment, £50 p.m interest free agreement is in place. The default is now showing on both our Experian reports. 1. Despite requesting a settlement figure in writing, confirming that they will update Experian as settled, they have not written, yet did verbally agreee a discounted settlement. 2. This happend in 2005 and we didnt settle earlier because it was interest free. 3. Now we want it off the Experian report, can I dispute the default by referencing the

Consumer credit (Enforcement, default and Termination Notices) regulations 1993 as I do not believe they provide the correct default notices. i.e we had two other active accounts, if they had warned us or phoned us, we could have transferred a small amount to keep the £2500 OD under the limit and active. Any ideas what my best plan of attack should be SAR ?

[sdoc]

MCS are HSBC in house DCA.

 

I would personally send a Subject Access Request to HSBC and request all statements etc regarding the account

 

Subject Access Request - Consumer Wiki

 

it costs £10 and send it by recorded delivery, they have 40 days to suply all info.

 

work out if any unlawful charges have been applied and start to reclaim them

 

also do as suggested and get another bank account and cut hsbc adrift, once you find out if any charges can be reclaimed start the procedure to reclaim them.

 

MCS letters are designed to frighten and intimidate,

 

do not phone them and if they ring just say in writting an put the phone down.

 

I have done that, and in the interim, received a letter from DG Solicitors threatening with taking legal action in the county court and to secure a charging order against our property. It was just sent by normal post. Should i ignore this or write back.? My plan was to write to FD telling them i have SAR and intend to find out why account closed without warning and why first comunication was to theaten me with court rather than to ask how we'd make payment bla, bla...

any thought on what vmy next move should be?

[Viscount Stair]

Do not ignore it but write back to them rather than phoning.

 

Check the dates on the letters - HSBC appear to have some rather wonky calendars in their offices. If the letters have taken most of or more than the 7 days to arrive, say so in your reply.

 

DG Solicitors are simply a practising name for HSBC employees, most of whom will not actually be solicitors but who will merely be supervised (however nominally) by two practising certificate holding in-house lawyers. This is permitted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under the Solicitors' Code of Conduct but (with all due professional courtesy) I have my own doubts as to whether or not it is compatible with CPUTR, being somewhat misleading.

 

A complaint by e-mail to the HSBC Service Quality Team ([email protected]) might be in order too and might (just might) get some results.

[sdoc]

Thanks, who do i write to, FD or DG ? Or both? And re: complain to service quality team... do you mean complain about the threatening letter from DG ? I am not sure if what they say in the letter is/can be true, if it is , then i have nothing to complain about...just deal with it , i guess.

Thanks again.

[sdoc]

Also... si this letter an "statutory demand " ? Sorry about my ignorance, i havent got a clue whta an SD really is ..

[Viscount Stair]

If you are worried about a Stat Demand, try to scan and post the letter (with the personal details removed).

 

However, from what you have said, it is a common or garden Letter Before Action. Not to be ignored or taken lightly but not as serious as a Stat Demand.

 

A Stat Demand is a statutory document that is the first step towards bringing bankruptcy proceedings (or might just be an empty threat but you wouldn't take that particular chance).

 

A Letter Before Action is a letter that is supposed to be sent as a warning before County Court proceedings are brought.

 

As for how you respond, I would write to DG - you might want to copy it to First Direct but the action has moved from Leeds to Birmingham now, so that is purely optional.

 

As for the complaint, the basis for the complaint would be that they are threatening proceedings while the debt is reasonably queried by means of the SAR. You might also want to argue both to DG and to Service Quality that any proceedings would be stayed to the extent that the debt consists of charges that are the subject of the OFT test case.

[sdoc]

Here is the letter, not sure if uploaded correctly

Edited January 11, 2009 by sdoc

[Viscount Stair]

Common or garden LBA.

 

Less trivial than an ordinary threatogram but much less serious than a stat demand.

 

I see you got a notice dated to expire on Christmas Day (enough of the date showed through the covering) that, from what you have said, doesn't seem to have arrived into the New Year.

 

It looks as if DG Solicitors really do need to fix their calendars! Maybe that is why they seem to be chasing so hard for funds at the moment.

[sdoc]

Thanks,

I have now got a letter from FD saying the can not sned me my SAR because they can not confirm my signatura ... I did not sign my letter . Interestingly they refer to my letter "Re: charges refund request"

[Viscount Stair]

The same thing has come up on another thread: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/177415-subject-access-request-first.html

 

Two ways to go: send the bolshie letter or sign in a way that cannot be copied easily.

[sdoc]

my other thread , in case anyone can help....

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/178453-ccj-poc-no-acc.html