First step Finance - **BANNED DIRECTORS STOLE +£6M**

[lord_tiger_putin]

We have been with First Crap Finance for 9 months and I am gather all the ammunition I can get to get a full go at them.

 

They are utter rubbish!

 

There are 3 points I want to nail them on:

1. Misselling - They mispresent the situation completely when they "sold" their "solution" to me.

2. Utter incompetence in dealing with my interest.

3. Not presenting me properly - there is much more they can do - which they don't - gave the impression they will do all they can do help me when signing up

 

I did send a recorded letter to them complaining before addressed to the Director of the Company - "case worker" tried for weeks to try and "sort" my queries out before passed to a manager.

 

Their "legal team" - I am convinced there is no lawyers, no one with a legal background whatsoever in the "legal" team - just some people trained in spotting (and missing!) the points that makes the agreement unenforceable - advice to can get from this site

 

The "contract" I signed them - utter rubbish IMO but I will be seeing a solicitor on Tuesday about it

 

It just go on and on ....

the bottom line is that our credit records are tarnished with Defaults (which we now have to get rid off) because they simple do not care...

 

Company History:

Name & Registered Office:

FIRST STEP FINANCE LIMITED

BANK CHAMBERS

3 CHURCHYARDSIDE

NANTWICH

CHESHIRE

CW3 5DE

Company No. 06384834

 

Status: Active

Date of Incorporation: 28/09/2007

 

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Nature of Business (SIC(03)):

6523 - Other financial intermediation

Accounting Reference Date: 30/11

Last Accounts Made Up To: 30/11/2008 (TOTAL EXEMPTION SMALL)

Next Accounts Due: 31/08/2010

Last Return Made Up To: 28/09/2009

Next Return Due: 26/10/2010

Last Members List: 28/09/2009

 

DIRECTOR APPOINTED CHRISTINE WHITEHURST

08/08/2009 APPOINTMENT TERMINATED SECRETARY MARGARET WHITEHURST

08/08/2009 APPOINTMENT TERMINATED DIRECTOR ADRIA WHITEHURST

REGISTERED OFFICE CHANGED ON 03/03/09 FROM:

93 WELLINGTON ROAD NORTH

STOCKPORT

CHESHIRE

SK4 2LR

 

19/10/2007 NEW DIRECTOR APPOINTED

19/10/2007 NEW SECRETARY APPOINTED

02/10/2007 DIRECTOR RESIGNED

02/10/2007 SECRETARY RESIGNED

 

Director is Christine Whitehurst

Home Address:

* *** ROAD

*******

*** ***

Date of Birth: 2*/0*/196**

 

(Not sure whether I can get into trouble if revealing all the detail about the address, will give it if helpful to someone)

 

My strategy will be this:

• I will try to make a phone transcript of their sales talk - will discuss that with the MoJ and see if it falls under their guidelines of being misleading.

• Will ask for compensation for mispresenting - otherwise reports to MoJ and OFT.

• Will question that we were ever bound by the contract.

• Will try to establish whether they have any claim to use to pay the remainder of the "pot" to creditors of whether it should come back to me – after all if I “cancel” with them then they do not present me anymore and I have to say where the money go.

 

 

 

They are arrogant, un-informed and completely useless – when I asked what to do because I want to cancel I suddenly receive phone calls in a desperate attempt to change my mind. Apparently their “complaints” department will phone me the next day to try to sort it out (because they are closed at that time) but later a guy called Jonathan phone me (know him from before) and try to convince me – what a utter twit!! After talking to him I was 300% it is the end of the road for them and I am going to do my best to take them apart.

 

Seeing that I send a letter before to the Company Director recorded and it end up with someone at the bottom of the food chain; my strategy now will be to send my letter recorded addressed to Christine Whitehurst but to prevent the same as before to happen I will also send it recorded to her home address!

Edited July 20, 2010 by supasnooper
Address edited

[lord_tiger_putin]

My contract states that they will take £500.00 for the debt of £27 000.00 for work been done over the life of the agreement - this is CERTAINLY not 8%! (They told me that they will take the 8% and send a spreadsheet showing that.) Further fees is the 15% handling fee for all payments and 25% of a debt should any debt been written off. This is ALL they can claim.

 

They told me if I terminate the agreement now they will create an itemised invoice of work done pro rata. The indication on the contract is that they expect 60 months to complete the program, i.e. 8 of 60 months should give a pro rata payment of £67. I will hold them to taking only that.

 

I have an agreement and I will post it as soon as I got it scanned. IMO this "contract" is not worth the toilet-paper it is printed on, but I will seek clarification.

 

The whole argument in their presentation when selling their services is that they will write a substantial amount of debt off and that this is the main source of their income, off course, untrue.

 

They keep getting going on that the remainder of the "pot" will go to the creditors because it is the "Creditors Money", not mine. I do not agree that any money I paid them belong to a company which I dispute that I owe any money. I will fight the fact that the money must come back to me and I WILL decide who gets paid.

[lord_tiger_putin]

Sorry for all these posts but I want to share my experiences. It is a tactic of First Crap Finance to try to scare you, how in "the wilderness and exposed" you will be if they do not "protect" you. I could not pay a month because off a court order taking money out of my salary, account went on hold, therefore they do nothing, had less hassles from DCAs etc. that month! As said it seems to be a tactic of them to use scaremongering to convice you to do what they want.

 

the other issue is that they "lift" signatures, I have an example in my possession. When I assigned some new debts to them they send out some more CCA request with my "signature" on, problem, I didn't sign it. This another canon ball I am going to throw at them, IMO, this fraud>

[diamondgirl]

Sounds like you've had a rough time with them and looks like you've thought long and hard about it.

Have you not had anything written off as they call it.

My friends have done alright so far with them but I don't know them as I've not dealt with myself.

Seems like some peoplee do alright and others like yourself have a bad time of it.

Keep us posted as to what your solicitor says. Remember not too much personal details about yourself.

They may log on to the site as guests.

 

DG

[lord_tiger_putin]

They didn't wrote anything off!! Every agreement they received is apparently enforceable, including one from Welcome Finance. I did read somewhere in these forums that those from Welcome Finance is useless but they say otherwise. The thread is not enough to say they are wrong but I will certainly look into it at another stage. If they missed it - yet another reason to get rid of them!

 

I understand about personal info and will try to ensure I am diligent. My approach will be to start off giving them a bloody nose. After that I will start negotiating compensation, the small amount they can take for their "work" and to ensure the remainder of the money will be returned to me.

 

Smacking them will be based on 3 things and they are apparently regulated by the Ministry of Justice. So, the possibility of an investigation by the MoJ will hang over them for the whole period while I am dealing with them. These 3 things will be very serious, given I am right - something I will establish before jumping in - and it involves extensive criminal issues. I will also deal directly with the MD to ensure it has the maximum effect.

 

I will post anything that can be of use to anybody else here but I am still digesting and developing my strategies and gathering more info for the basis of my approach. If I can be of any assistance to someone here, then I will try to help.

 

About the point that some people seems to be satisfied with their service: I can appreciate it and there were a time when I would have defended them as well. I think if you have a small amount of loans or are with them for a short period of time, then you could easily be satisfied. Other reasons can also be for what you actually expect from them. IMO one should establish exactly what you will be getting from them over the whole period you will be with them, what you will gain and what you will pay them, i.e. get all the facts and then decide whether you should stay or not.

[diamondgirl]

Any update re your visit to the Solicitors

 

DG

[lord_tiger_putin]

I just returned from them, I will be able to scan the contract tomorrow and will post it then.

 

It seems that the contract is fine even if FSF didn't sign it, but that doesn't matter. The point is about the money they can take. They have the "Standard Charge" and the "Contingency Fees".

 

The Contingency Fees is the 25% fee they can take when writing any debt off (in my case that is zero). They also have the 15% handling fee for any payments they make - this will be easy to correlate once you get a statement from them. They do not provide them in general but I am sure you can ask them for one but they will certainly have to produce one once you cancelled.

 

The main thing is this Standard Charge. There are empty spaces in the contract which they fill in, one for the debt amount and one for the fee they ask for the work done over the life of the program. They do state that they aim to clear the debt in 60 months. They told me when I spoke to them last week, and it seems many others who posted here, that this fee is 8%. They filled mine in as a fee of £500.00 for the total debt of £27000.00 on the contract. My calculation makes that 1.8% for the life of the program, the grey area is then should you cancel, I think they should charge pro rata, i.e. 7/60 (only 7 months of the expected 60 months).

 

The guy said he will consult with his colleagues and come back to me on Friday what they think how much FSF can take, I will post an update then.

 

If any of the readers want to know how much FSF can take, then they will have to look at these amounts on their contract. If you do not have it, then ask FSF for it (the one you signed). If you have difficulties obtaining that then you can make a SAR, but I believe they must provide you with it when requested.

 

The other point is their statement that the remainder of the money must go to your creditors. I had a discussion with the Ministry of Justice (who regulates them) this morning and it is untrue, the remainder of the money must come back to you.

 

The MoJ also told me that they will investigate them for mis-selling and non compliance to their obligations should enough people complain. Please, if you feel similar to me, call the compliance team of the MoJ on 0845 450 6858. They are pretty busy and will probable not put you through but give you the change to leave a message. They did phone me back in a day. They also provide me with other information which I will follow up.

[lord_tiger_putin]

Here is the promised agreement and a "Payment Calculator" showing how much better off you will be with First Crap Finance.

PaymentCalculator.pdf

[sequenci]

Here is the promised agreement and a "Payment Calculator" showing how much better off you will be with First Crap Finance.

 

That's pretty wild, how can they guarantee any debt write-offs under full & final settlments. Oh yeah, I forgot, THEY CAN'T.

[diamondgirl]

Exactly the same agreement as my friends. They told me the reference at the top is your reference with them so I would suggest your remove it quick otherwise they will be prepared for you.

 

DG

[lord_tiger_putin]

DG

 

It is my ref nr, I missed it! Thanks for the warning.

[Inmydebtheaven]

Hi Lord Putin I can't access the agreement that Diamondgirl has seen. I 'm with First Step and wont to know if mine is the same. Cheers

[Inmydebtheaven]

By the way, i perhaps should say i called them last week when isaw your first post cos i was a bit worried but i've had what they call maintenance calls and I got a personal quote sort of document. They have got my Littlewoods debt written off which was about £700 so perhaps I'm a lucky one??? So what's wrong with the agreement then? What did your solicitor firend say?

[lord_tiger_putin]

IMDH

I removed the agreement because I left some personal info on it, I removed that and here it is again. It is an agreement between two parties and they didn’t sign it, so only one party signed it (me), but he seems to think that it should not be too big an issue. If it did concerned you do not worry, for me it is the commitments they made and they didn’t sign it, so, how can I hold them to it?

 

I want to get rid of them ASAP but my main approach will be the mis-selling, the rubbish service they provided (signed for urgent letter laying unopened in my file for 3 months, the list is endless, they did receive a complaint letter from me awhile ago, sent recorded to the MD, and the case worker fiddling around with it for a month!) and there is one other thing I want to use (mentioned it earlier) and the fact that their service is rather limited (even if it was of good quality).

 

If you are reasonable happy with them, please do not let me influence you to leave them, but if you feel the same as me, have a hard long look at them.

 

Getting the £700.00 loan written off is useful. One can argue that you can do it yourself but it is easier said than done and not everyone wants to go through this themselves and will be happy to pay someone else to do it. Off course, you will not be £700.00 better off. They take 25% of that and will want to take an additional 8%.

 

This 8% is the big issue, it is nowhere in the contract. On the second page of the contract is their standard charge, the amount they will take for their work done over the lifetime of the contract. It doesn’t states there that they will take 8% of the total debt schedule amount, they give you 2 figures, one is the amount they will take and one is the debt schedule amount (mine is 500 and 27000, giving 1.8%). These amounts must be filled in for each individual agreement.

 

The bottom line is the total amount they will take and the amount you will “save”. They do take a lot of money! My problem is that it seems that there are many “savings” they missed, no real “savings” at all, they created a big mess of my affairs, etc, etc.!

FSF Agreement.pdf

[lord_tiger_putin]

Anyone has the phone number they use when making their "sales" calls?

[lord_tiger_putin]

Just some infoe I found on whocallsme:

 

This company now has a new telephone number 0161 443 0290. They can claim they can write off debts. I understand a complaint has already been issued against this company to Trading Standards. They used to be called Licit Legal - now trading as First Step Legal. I can only suggest you stay well clear of this company!

 

Hi all. I am a Director of debt management company. I have come accross the above number when a few clients have been distraught and switched to us. There are no words to describe the behaviour of this so called legal company. I am currently in the proccess of compiling a file of complaint which will be sent to Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading. Please, if you have been victim of licit legal or first step legal then please email me with your complaints so that I can add them to the already weighty file.

I cannot supply my email address on here but you can obtain it from ** commerical link removed ** I look forward to hearing from you and if you require any further advice please do not hesitate to call me personally. Number is on site.

[Inmydebtheaven]

Hi

 

I'm a bit concerned about how genuine you are. :???:If you are a director of another debt company then why didn't you use your own company and not go to First Step? Also I think you are really out of order putting someone's name and address on the site when you are staying anonymous, a bit of double standards.

 

I think you need to calm down a bit what if some nutter goes to this woman's house, I think you should take the information off. I have looked at debtfish and the sites rubbish you haven't even got your company details on it and using Consumer Action to get clients while slagging off another company is really bad. I'm staying with First Step cos they have done a good job so far and I don't think you are really a client of theirs.

[lord_tiger_putin]

Please read the posting again, it is just a posting on whocallsme.com, a site where people find out who calls them. It is just an illustration that other people are also complaining on other sites.

 

Both these quotes are from whocallsme.com

[lord_tiger_putin]

There are a truck load of people complaining on whocallsme.com:

 

One person:

"This company now has a new telephone number 0161 443 0290. They can claim they can write off debts. I understand a complaint has already been issued against this company to Trading Standards. They used to be called Licit Legal - now trading as First Step Legal. I can only suggest you stay well clear of this company!"

 

Person two:

"Hi all. I am a Director of debt management company. I have come accross the above number when a few clients have been distraught and switched to us. There are no words to describe the behaviour of this so called legal company. I am currently in the proccess of compiling a file of complaint which will be sent to Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading. Please, if you have been victim of licit legal or first step legal then please email me with your complaints so that I can add them to the already weighty file.

I cannot supply my email address on here but you can obtain it from ** commerical link removed ** I look forward to hearing from you and if you require any further advice please do not hesitate to call me personally. Number is on site."

 

These are not my words, they are quotes. if you want to stay with FSF, it is your right, I will not because they are utter rubbish.

[lord_tiger_putin]

Also I think you are really out of order putting someone's name and address on the site

Seems that you do not realise but moderators do read these posts, if they think it is out of order, then they will edit or remove it.

It is not for you to decide.

Anyway I removed the crucial details and this information is in the public domain as well.

 

when you are staying anonymous, a bit of double standards.

I put this here for the benefit of other people who want to leave them. They want to take more money they are obliged to and they also do not want to return my money they are holding, therefore you have to hit them as hard as possible to ensure you get all the money back that you should. Many people read these threads without posting and will also read them in the future. FCF will pretty much know who I am when they receive my letters.

 

I think you need to calm down a bit what if some nutter goes to this woman's house, I think you should take the information off.

It is not for you to make the rules, I think you should leave it to the moderators.

 

I have looked at debtfish and the sites rubbish you haven't even got your company details on it and using Consumer Action to get clients while slagging off another company is really bad.

Please read the posting again, it is not my words. I admit I could have post it a bit clearer. Unfortunately a link I put up to another site also got lost in the process, showing many more disgruntle people.

 

I'm staying with First Step cos they have done a good job so far and I don't think you are really a client of theirs.

Please if you cannot substantiate such accusations, do not make them

[lord_tiger_putin]

Continuing on from my last post i mentioned that i had cancelled my debt plan with First Step Finance.

I have now recieved a costing- WAIT FOR IT

I paid into the plan over 6 months £975. 00

Their total running costs equal £916.00 . As such the balance in my account is £49.00 .Which they have sent me ( a cheque) which i wont cash !

The break down briefly is -

Admin- @ £50.00 per hour

Legal @ £75.00 per hour

Phone calls inbound and outbound @ £15.00 each

Maintenance calls @ £50.00 each

File check @ £25.00 each

Letters @ £6.00 each

Bespoke letter @ £12.00 each

Courier fee@ £75.00

Payment to creditors £10.00

None of this was in the contract i signed.

I am seeking legal advice plus my husband wants to contact one of the major newspapers to warn others over this rip off !

I'm now deeper in debt and dont know who to turn to.

 

Nice huh!

 

Well, it ain't in the contract, they can't take it. Imagine what they would want to take after 5 years!

[lord_tiger_putin]

A follow-up saga in the sorry tale called First Crap Finance:

 

In Dec 2009 I added some more accounts to my “Debt Schedule” by writing to them. After the need for a number of phone calls they informed me that they need an additional £75.00 admin fee. I could not pay it immediately and done that 2-3 weeks later. This payment was made 6 weeks after my request. It took another 6 weeks of shouting, screaming, threatening, sulking, writing, faxing, etc. before they actually added it. Therefore 3 months after I first send it in (admittedly 2-3 weeks are due to me for not having the money at that stage).

 

This was the time I send my complaint and when a manager eventually phoned me she also gave me an “update”. Part of the update was that one of debt that has been added (to a communications company) has been set to be paid and that a payment has been made. The next months “update” confirmed that payments are been made to this company. In July’s “update” I was informed that no payments has been made to them as yet! Could not grasp the silly excuse! Huh?!?

 

I have now received court papers for this account. Nice Huh? This is a classic illustration of their utter incompetence! :sad::sad::sad::sad:

 

This made me think when the guy came to our house when we signed up. I remember his vivid illustration showing we (me and my wife) are here (show of hands) and our creditors are here (again show of hands) and how FSF comes in between us and the creditors (very nice show of hands) so that we can have peace of mind and that I will be able to concentrate on other things, like have quality tome with my little daughter.

 

wonder what he meant ………………………………………. ? :-o:-o:-o:-o:-o:-o

[diamondgirl]

Did you miss any payments to FSF the way I understand it is if you don't pay them or you don't pay them on time they will not make any payment to any creditor.

 

My friends had to wait a while with a utility company till they sent the invoice that FSF had requested as they needed the proof that they actually owed it to the utility company so I suppose a few weeks could pass in that respect before the payment started to be made.

 

Suprised by the charges, don't you get any information as to how many call and to who. How many update calls did you get. What was the courier charge for?

 

As I said before I don't have first hand knowledge of FSF but my friends seem to be happy with them.

 

DG

[lord_tiger_putin]

The charges have been posted previously in this thread by international54. They are not mine, I am still gathering my information before I am going to cancel.

 

I did not miss any payments towards them during that period. Anyway, they have a lot of your money, why should they stop making payments to creditors?

 

The sorry fact to me is that they twice informed me that they are making payments just to tell me the 3rd month that no payments had been made at all!!

 

Back to the charges: I think it will be hard for them to justify it when pressured. They stated when I signed up that they will ask £500 for work done over the life of the account for the amount at that stage on my debt schedule and similar charges when I add additional debts. They will probably argue that by me cancelling before the end of the agreement, (all debts paid off) they lost the opportunity to get the 25% for any amounts they would have been able to write off and that they have done a lot of legwork for that already with no clear benefit. This is where I am using the advice from the MoJ to make it very clear that the main reason for me cancelling is the extremely poor service I received from them, therefore there will be no clear benefit for their “work” as a result of their extremely poor service, the above mentioned post is just another example.

[lord_tiger_putin]

 

As I said before I don't have first hand knowledge of FSF but my friends seem to be happy with them.

 

DG

 

How many debts does your friend has and how long ago did your friend signed up? As I said before, with a small amount of debts or a small period of time, one can easily be satisfied. I was also happy the first few months until it became clear to me that their service are that poor. When I started to look into it, I started to really understand how damaging they were to my affairs. The other point which also angered me was their extreme mis-selling.

 

I do appreciate the fact that peoples situations and experiences are different and that not everyone feels the same as me or experienced the same things. When I looked again at this thread I realise there are a number of people feeling similar. I do post my experiences and things I have learned here for the benefit of people looking for information and those who want to know whether others feel similar. Most people ending up on this thread will probably be because they do not have a pleasant experience with FSF.

 

I do hope your friend have a good outcome at the end.