allied international

[happy hippy]

Hi, I'm new here today so Hello to everyone. I'm hoping to get some help with dealing with these people.

My problem started at the end of 2008. I received a yellow card from allied telling me to get in touch with them as a debt from Nat West had been passed to them. I did this and the man i spoke to was awful. he was loud and aggressive towards me and eventually bullied me into paying £300 per month , otherwise he said, i would be made bankrupt. there was no reasoning with him and he even told me to borrow the money from someone if i could not pay. i was in a very fragile state at the time, my mother was dying and i just agreed to it. now i'm finding i cannot keep up these payments and have finally started to get angry about letting myself be bullied by this man. can anyone tell me what i should do. this is making me ill, i already have a heart condition, have just been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid which i have been told can be caused by stress and am in the process of finding out about a neurological problem too. needless to say, its been a bad year and am getting to the end of the line. please can someone help before i go completely ga-ga.

[Pinky69]

Yes, we can help - that's why we are here! Firstly, don't speak to AIC on the phone again -ever. As you have discovered they will just be aggressive and bully you into paying money you cannot afford. If they phone, don't answer or hang up. If they keep calling there is a telephine harrassment letter you can send. Next, they have no power over you whatsover - only a court can order you to pay money.

 

To give you specific advice, could you please tell us what is the debt - loan, credit card, store card, etc - and when did you take it out?

[clemma]

Do not speak to these people on the phone - as you may have already realised they bully, intimidate and lie to make you pay!!

 

I would stop making the £300 per month payments asap! What is this for (credit card/loan/overdraft) as you firstly need to find out if they are actually entitled to any money at all!! You can do this by sending a CCA request (if this is for a loan or credit card). With this they MUST provide you with a signed copy of your agreement - nothing else will do. If they fail to send this after 12+2 days then you can put this account into dispute, meaning you can stop paying them!

 

The letter you need is HERE template N. PRINT do not sign your name. Send a postal order, rather than a cheque and send the whole lot off recorded delivery.

 

If this is for an overdraft then it's a different story - you could send a SAR to NATWEST which should show up any unfair charges (which you can claim back). If this is the case, then you can put the account into dispute this way.

 

Whatever though, please stop making the extortionate payments, do not go through security with them when they phone and demand everything in writing. If you still want to make payments, then pay them what YOU can afford, not what they demand! This is NOT a priority bill and they cannot make you bankrupt as easily as they suggest.

[Bazooka Boo]

Hello and welcome to CAG, the fight back starts here:D

 

Firstly is the amount they allege you owe above £750??

I am assuming it is with a £300 a month payment.

 

Have you still got the Yellow card AIC sent you?

 

First and foremost DO NOT, under any circumstances, SPEAK TO THEM OVER THE PHONE.

As you have already found out, they are a very agressive uneducated bunch of bullys, who will say anything to get you to pay.

 

Just seen Pinky has posted the questions I was going to ask, so I will let you answer them before giving further advice.

 

 

Boo;)

[happy hippy]

Thank you for advice so far. will try to make this as clear as i can. what happened was i had a loan from nat west, i beleive it was about 5 years ago. i got into difficulty paying them back and then had an agreement with them to pay back a smaller amount each month. i never missed a payment so was surprised when it was given to allied. when i rang nat west to ask why, i was told that they had sent me a form to review my incomings and outgoings and i had not sent it back. i did not send it back simply because i never received it. otherwise i would have sent it, i know how importantit is to do so. i had enough about me that day then to ask for a complaints form to be sent to me as i thought they had treated me rather shabbily. it never arrived. i did not pursue any of this further at the time because as i said, my mother was dying and i got what i now refer to as my " fuzzy head " and was not functioning very well. i beleive this loan debt was combined with a overdraft debt too and this came to a total of around £8000. this is what allied said anyway but i have since had a statement, the first for months from nat west showing these payments to allied but the amount of debt on their letter is nearer £5000 so i'm not even sure which is right. so far i have paid allied £2,400. and have got behind with my rent and council tax through trying to juggle everything. i think i have finally dropped the juggling balls!!

[Bazooka Boo]

OK Firstly, this IS NOT A PRIORITY DEBT, so please make sure you pay your rent, council tax, and utility bills FIRST!!

 

So you had a loan and an overdraft with Natwest??

 

And now AIC have combined them both???

If they have this is not allowed as they are two completely seperate debts, and come under different laws..

 

If you can't afford to pay them £300 a month then IMHO you must stop paying them, and bring it down to an amount you can comfortably afford, even if that is just £1 a month, it is still something and still shows willing in a court of law.

 

If you continue not to pay your rent, you will be homeless, and if you do not pay your council tax you will end up in jail. These jokers are not a priority by any stretch of the imagination, stop paying them £300 a month or you will lose the roof over your head and end up in jail.

 

Have a read:Which debts to pay off first : Directgov - Money, tax and benefits

Edited August 31, 2009 by Bazooka Boo

[F_DCAs]

Agreed. AIC are chancers. Cancel any 'arrangement' with them forthwith. Demanding money under duress is their method, and they have no hold or sway over you whatsoever - doesn't matter what they claim. What's important is you keeping your head above water. AIC are of no importance to anyone and their legal powers are nil. There have been threads before about unauthorised combinations of accounts before and I strongly suggest you have a read through some of them. Some very interesting reading there.

[Pinky69]

You need to find out exactly how much you owe Natwest and whether or not there is a legitimate credit agreement for the loan before you go any further. Since a loan and overdraft are involved you can do this by sending Natwest - not AIC - a SAR.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ction-act.html

 

It's letter No 2 here.

 

In the meantime if AIC write you can tell them you have requested a SAR from Natwest and will have no further contact with them unless and until you have had a reply from Natwest.

 

Enclose a £10 postal order with your SAR and Natwest have 40 days to reply. Once they do reply you can give us more details and post the loan agreement on here to find out if it is legally enforceable. In the meantime don't bother about AIC. You are in charge here, not them - they are all gob and not much else.

[GhostDebt]

I agree with Pinky,

Send Natwest the SAR.

Also,

Send AIC the telephone harassment letter and request all correspondence to be in writing only.

 

AIC called me everyday until I sent them the harassment letter. Not heard anything since.

 

Best wishes

[happy hippy]

Thank you all for your help. I do feel a bit better about all this now i know other people have had the same experience. i am due to make a payment so i know that i will get a call from allied soon. If i make a lower offer of payment, he will refuse so would that be the time to say that i will only be in touch by letter from now on? The other things i will get onto tommorrow when everything is working again. Do you think there is any chance allied could make me bankcrupt? i own nothing to speak of, house is rented, don't have a car. to be honest i think it would cost more for them to go down that route than they would get from me if they sold everything i own!!

[Pinky69]

Don't speak to them on the phone at all. Write and tell them that you have sent an SAR to Natwest and won't be having any further contact with them until Natwest replies.

[babybear39]

AIC are deliberately using BR as a scare tactic and are in danger of abusing the insolvency service. Report them to TS and the OFT for breaches of OFT guidlines and the CPUTR 2008.

 

LTSB did a similar thing with me BEFORE they sold on accounts to 1st credit in that they combined the two, loan account and OD.

 

You've been given the correct advice to obtain your SAR from LTSB. If they don't comply fully, and they are dragging their feet on them at the moment, report them to the ICO.

[Bazooka Boo]

i am due to make a payment so i know that i will get a call from allied soon. If i make a lower offer of payment, he will refuse so

If they ring, just tell them 'everything in writing' then put the phone down, do'nt entertain them on the phone, they simply tell you a pack of lies.

 

Please make sure you pay your rent and council tax first, and if need be catch up on any missed rent/council tax payments.

 

As you can see AIC do not have your interest at heart, they couldn't care lees if you lost the roof over your head, or were put in jail for none payment of council tax.

 

I would strongly advise you to only pay them what you can aford, which is why you must not talk to them over the phone they are already in breach of the OFT debt collection guidelines and CPUTR 2008 by making you get into further debt to pay them.

 

Have a read of all the other links people have posted, and the OFT debt collection Guidlines

 

Here is the address you need to make a formal complaint about themThe Office of Fair Trading: Contact us

 

The Office of Fair Trading: Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008

 

Consumer Direct

 

Complaints - Privacy & electronic communication - ICO

[F_DCAs]

Report them also to your local and their local TS. However, being that their local TS is Glasgow, Glasgow will no doubt try to fob you off with 'you're not local, so we can't look into your complaint'.

 

Can't hurt to complain, just so's it's logged - but be prepared for Glasgow to just brush it off. They are without doubt the most apathetical, thoroughly useless TS I've encountered yet and I've had dealings with a fair few now.

 

I'm hoping to shame them into actually doing whatever it is they're paid to do. I'm b*gg*r*d if I can work out what that is or why they even exist.

Edited August 31, 2009 by F_DCAs
add on

[Bazooka Boo]

**F DCA's makes BB look up 'apathetical' in the dictionary:D**(every day is a school day;))

 

If you make a complaint to Consumer direct they will automatically pass the complaint onto TS, and they also work along side the OFT, so you pretty much get three for one!

[F_DCAs]

I'm trying to say that the OC will need to take action of their own as far as the lazy pr*cks at Glasgow goes, and will need to liaise with them directly.

 

Answers on a (yellow) postcard please to whoever can provide a single feasible reason why Glasgow TS should continue to exist. I think their total lack of action re. Complaints about AIC will come to haunt them in the very near future.

[babybear39]

I had to look it up too

 

Apathy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[babybear39]

I'm trying to say that the OC will need to take action of their own as far as the lazy pr*cks at Glasgow goes, and will need to liaise with them directly.

 

Answers on a (yellow) postcard please to whoever can provide a single feasible reason why Glasgow TS should continue to exist. I think their total lack of action re. Complaints about AIC will come to haunt them in the very near future.

 

Make a complaint to their Local Authority Ombudsman

[Bazooka Boo]

I had to look it up too

Apathy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

**BB Laughs at BB**

[F_DCAs]

Take out the letters 'a', 'a', and 'l' and you are left with another apt description of Glasgow TS. I like the word 'Apathetical' - I intend to use it more in everyday conservation.

[happy hippy]

Update. Hi everyone and again, thank you for your help. As i thought they would, allied have just phoned me. I took the advice not to go through the security check and just said that i could not meet the payments anymore and had written to nat west for the subject access request and would not make any more payments till that was answered. I was very surprised at how quickly he ended the call, he just said that if that was the case i now become liable for the full amount and the case would be "taken upstairs" (his exact words) which through me a bit as i have no idea what that means. Am i now liable for the full amount? i cannot pay it so am wondering what happens next? also, what exactly is a subject access request, i have looked at it but don't understand it. am getting a bit scared again now.

Edited September 1, 2009 by happy hippy

[happy hippy]

[phil_nottingham]

Ignore his stupid threats about it going "upstairs", its just meant to worry.

 

They DO enjoy employing bully boys

Edited September 1, 2009 by phil_nottingham

[Pinky69]

They don't "seem to" employ bully boys - they DO employ bully boys and girls - and one of them has tried to scare you, which is why you were advised never talk to them on the phone, and you did. Upstairs is probably where the communal cess pit is where they all come from. A SAR gives you all the information about your account.

[Bazooka Boo]

Yes, at the point he tried to intimidate you and make him sound big, you should have just laughed at him,"ooohh! Upstairs hey, mind you don't trip over the ones sat on the naughty step"

 

What a clown...if they ring again, every answer you give them should be "Everything in writing"

Keep repeating it to any of their ridiculous questions, failing that just put the phone down on them!