Unsecured Loan. Sallie Mae UK

[mikey445]

Hi,

 

Just want to say I am new to this forum and thanks in advance for any advice that can be provided. I feel a bit lost...

 

Basically in August 2007 I took out an unsecured loan for my MSc degree with a company called Sallie Mae UK which was for my studies, It was for £11,000. I had a repayment holiday for the duration of my studies (around 17 months) - where interest was accumulating, the rate of interest was around 12%. Ridiculous I know (I was young and didnt understand the implications).

 

Anyway Sallie Mae stopped this unsecured loan scheme in April 2008 as I think it didnt work out/credit crunch reasons? I have been informed that Sallie Mae UK are not dealing with this anymore even though they are the creditor. I have received several letters to let me know that they have passed this debt on to a company called Total Credit Financial Services UK/Eagle Consulting (which i have found out is a company that deal with outsourced debts). They are located in Canada and they are chasing the debt from there. Is this legal? Can they chase the debt from Canada?

 

I am unable to locate my agreement with them so I have used letter N provided on this site to request a copy of my credit agreement. They do hold this credit agreement which is signed, the original agreement being with Sallie Mae, they have not provided any notice of assignment to this new Total Credit Company.

 

My first question is that when I look on experian It appears that Sallie Mae have not searched my credit report before providing me with this loan? Is there a reason for this, or is this information I cannot see? Can companies give loans without doing searches?

 

My second question - is there any case for this debt being unenforcable? It was taken out after April 2007, they have provided me with the original agreement but not an assignment for this new company to deal with. As the company chasing are from canada and the orginal creditor Sallie Mae UK do not exist and not offering this scheme anymore. Is this original agreement enough to be enforcable? What else do I need to do now?

 

Third question - If i start making repayments how will this affect my credit rating? I genrally have never missed a payment on any credit card or loan but I am looking to buy a house soon, will this loan affect my ability to get a mortgage?

 

I would appreciate any help in relation to the above 3 questions, the second one being most impotant to me. If you have any questions feel free to message and I can provide more details.

 

 

Mike

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

My reply is to bump (which moves it back to the top of list) thread

[lorz84]

Hi Mikey445,

 

I am also in the same position with Sallie Mae UK. I took a loan out in 2007, hadn't heard anything from then until I tried to contact them and got referred to the credit agency who are now dealing with the loans. They have recently contacted me about starting the repayments and I am unsure where I stand. So if you have had any advise as to what to do I would really appreciate it if you could let me know too

[42man]

You need to SAR the original creditor if at all....in order to terminate they need to supply a default notice in the prescribed format and a termination notice too, as well as notices of assignment....however the fact that it is being chased from Canada is staggering as I can't see how they will attempt to enforce a debt from there.....CCA request is also a good start....

[woolcer]

Hello,

Yes I am in the same boat, after trying to contact the Sallie Mae UK people all last year and this year, with calls to Canada and mails etc, I have finally been contacted by the Total Credit Financial Services UK Ltd. I have a further complication in that I no longer live in the UK but in Belgium. My question is what are the legal implications of having a UK debt, owned by a Canadian company based in London for a Belgian resident?! is there anything different I would have to do to those living in the UK?

 

Also it would be interesting to hear from others on the thread who have asked for a CCA request or a Subject Access Request

 

Thanks

[42man]

Licence Number:0597834

Licence Status:Current

 

Current Applicant / Licensee:

 

Business NameCompany Registration NumberTotal Credit Financial Services (UK) Limited5958346

 

Categories:

 

Debt administration Debt collecting

 

Right To Canvass Off Trade Premises:No

 

 

Issued Date: 10-Apr-2007

Expiry Date: 10-Apr-2012

 

 

Legal Formation:

 

Body Corporate (incorporated outside UK)

 

Authorised To Receive Documents:

 

NameGitta Altmann

 

Current Individuals that run the organisation:

 

NamePositionGeorge KrieserOFFICERSteve FerriesOFFICER

 

Nature of Business:

 

Debt Collection

 

Current Address(es):

 

Address TypeAddressAccept Notices/Documents14, New Street, LONDON, EC2M 4HEPrincipal Place Of Business225, Yorkland Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, M2J 4Y7Registered Office14, New Street, LONDON, EC2M 4HE, United Kingdom

 

Historic Address(es):

 

Address TypeAddressRegistered Office14, Newstreet, London, N3 1BJ7

 

TOTAL CREDIT FINANCIAL SERVICES (UK) LIMITED

14 NEW STREET

LONDON

EC2M 4HE

Company No. 05958346

 

 

 

Status: Active

Date of Incorporation: 06/10/2006

 

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Nature of Business (SIC(03)):

6523 - Other financial intermediation

Accounting Reference Date: 31/12

Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/12/2008 (DORMANT)

Next Accounts Due: 30/09/2010

Last Return Made Up To: 06/10/2009

Next Return Due: 03/11/2010

[42man]

I think it would be difficult (but not impossible for them to enforce) Have a read here - PART 78 - EUROPEAN ORDER FOR PAYMENT AND EUROPEAN SMALL CLAIMS PROCEDURES - Ministry of Justice

 

I think getting the SAR would be a good idea....and possibly if they are pressing legal action a request for the agreement...

[caz76]

Hi there - I know the last post on this thread was 2009, but I'm just wondering what posters and readers did about their Sallie Mae UK loans. Are you paying? If not, has a CCJ been issued against you?

 

Mine is now due, and I actually rang Sallie Mae in the US and both people I spoke to had to look up Sallie Mae UK on the internet – they had never heard of it! I probably need to speak to people at a higher level, rather than US account managers. But still, it doesn't inspire confidence.

 

I also did a CCA as advised by these threads and it would appear that Total Crediting have my agreement – they did post it to me – but what I'm trying to figure out is if the debt is being serviced (what Total Crediting claim) or if it has been re-sold. If it's been re-sold, do we have the right to a new credit agreement? Because what Total Crediting want me to pay, and what my original contract with SMUK varies by about £2,500. The whole thing makes me angry. I took a loan out with one company – and yet it folds and the debt is passed to another that isn't based here (it's run out of Canada though it has registered with the OFT in the UK as well). I can't believe we have to honour our agreements, but yet these lenders can just pass our debt around to any old bank or collection agency. Do we as consumers have any rights in regard to this?

 

Any and all advice, or your own personal experiences would be very welcome indeed.

 

C

[42man]

Caz....have you ever considered sending a SAR ? Did you ever get any notice of any assignment of the loan/mortgage ?

[42man]

Total Crediting ? I can't find any company by that name ? Do you have any UK addresses for them ?

[caz76]

Hi 42man - thanks for your reply. I'm unclear what is to be gained with an SAR. Could I use that to find out what personal information Total Crediting hold about me? The CCA I understand and did, but what can a SAR do?

 

And no, no notice of assignment – just a letter explaining that the debt was no longer being serviced by Sallie Mae UK. But certainly nothing couched in terms of ‘notice of assignment’. In fact, the letter only has my name, but no signature of anyone, no account number and no date!

 

Thanks!

[42man]

If it was a loan and it had been sold or passed over to another company then I believe that there should be some sort of legal assignment, a SAR may reveal this (especially so if you request it)...lol just read my post #6 above.....

 

I noticed that they are still a 'DORMANT' company too

 

TOTAL CREDIT FINANCIAL SERVICES (UK) LIMITED

14 NEW STREET

LONDON

EC2M 4HE

Company No. 05958346

 

 

Status: Active

Date of Incorporation: 06/10/2006

 

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Nature of Business (SIC):

64999 - Financial intermediation not elsewhere classified

Accounting Reference Date: 31/12

Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/12/2010 (DORMANT)

Next Accounts Due: 30/09/2012

Last Return Made Up To: 06/10/2011

Next Return Due: 03/11/2012

Last Members List: 06/10/2011

[caz76]

Hi 42man – the mystery deepens.

 

The company as it seems to call itself is Total Credit Financial Services UK Limited, which you previously posted details of on this thread.

 

But its email address is salliemaeUK [at] totalcrediting.com.

And on the web, its website is called Total Credit Recovery Limited (the same logo is on its correspondence),

which is based in Canada.

 

Hilariously, its correspondence has the return address of TCFS (UK) Limited, PO Box 5738 Inverness IV1 1SY,

yet all the envelopes have Canadian postmarks on them.

 

And the paper is American-sized, not A4.

 

I looked up the UK address and it is the home of Eagle Consulting “your outsourced accounts department”, as its website says.

 

TCFS also as a registered office in London because it received a copy of my CCA there,

but the reply and copy of credit agreement came via Canada.

 

Thanks!

[cerberusalert]

Did you get a copy of the Terms & Conditions & if so what does it say about the legal jurisdiction of the agreement? I suspect it will either be Canada or the US in which case they would have no claim in a UK court.

[caz76]

Hi cerberusalert - thanks for your reply. Nothing in the T&C about legal jurisdiction, just that it is compliant with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (but this was when Sallie Mae was still operating in the UK). But why would any bank/collection agency buy debt that they could not collect? I'm wondering if that is why the collection agency now has offices registered in the UK – so that it can collect legally because otherwise it would not be enforceable? Such a tangled web!

 

Thanks!

[cerberusalert]

But why would any bank/collection agency buy debt that they could not collect?

 

Because these debts are bought in bulk, usually in the thousands for between 7 & 15% of the face value, so even if they only manage to get one or two people to pay in every 10 they are still in profit.

 

Once they have cherry-picked the a/cs they then sell the debts on to other DCAs further down the food-chain & so it goes on.

[caz76]

really? that's just crazy! especially when you think about how much stress it causes individuals in their daily life, but it's just numbers on a spreadsheet for these lenders and collection agencies. In my case, what would you recommend? Asking for the T&Cs? Or an SAR?

[cerberusalert]

The problem you will have is that you would need to send a SAR to everyone involved to get the full history of this a/c + given its age there will probably be gaps as under the Data Protection & the Money Laundering Acts they only need to keep the information for six years. Of course this can be advantageous to the debtor because it can also mean they may not be able to prove the debt.

 

How old is this a/c?

[caz76]

I took the loan out in 2006, but it's a student loan, so I didn't have to pay anything until now according to the terms of the agreement.

 

I was notified in 2008 that Sallie Mae was closing up in the UK and this new company would be handling the debt.

 

I emailed them and they told me they were only servicing the debt, and they hadn't bought it.

 

I did a CCA and they did provide me with a copy of my credit report.

[cerberusalert]

I did a CCA and they did provide me with a copy of my credit report.

credit report? Do you mean credit agreement?

[caz76]

oops! sorry, yes agreement!!

[cerberusalert]

Can you scan it, remove any identifiers and then post it up as a pdf or in a zip file?

[caz76]

I can try! but not til this evening, so check back later tonight. thanks for your help!!

[caz76]

I can't get my scanner to work! Sorry! What sort of thing should I be looking for in the fine print?

[cerberusalert]

Have a read through this http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?162851-Consumer-Credit-Agreements-a-guide-to-enforceability(3-Viewing)-nbsp