Advice with First step.

[M'n'M]

Hello, My wife and I have just signed up with first step Finance, having realised the reality of our debt and inability to make the planned repayments and the negative impact the interest and fee's are having on the situation we decided to look into a cold call from the above company.

 

A bonded courier came with the paperwork for us to fill in today, after this visit it seemed far to easy, so I have checked the web about this company I obviously now do not wish to proceed with this company.

As we would of needed to open a new bank account, we were not in a position to fill out the dd mandate for payment and the admin fee, just a signed form and that the details would follow when the new account was set up, no debit card details were given.

The copies we were left, stated that they would start acting and contacting creditors until the first payment had been made on the agreed date.

 

What I am trying to find out (nothing in copies that were left with us) is, would anyone know what the cancellation period would be and if there is a standard letter to do so.

First step do have My current bank account number as the overdraft on this account and the bank name was in the list of creditors (they wouldn't, would they?).

 

Having done some serious reading on the net today and personal experience of calls after money from our creditors, I think I now understand what is going on with alot of our debt, although we pay what we can when we can it is not enough we become in arrears because sometimes we cannot pay the minimum, some times we pay late, but we do pay something but inherantly this attracts charges regularly which only make things worse.

An observation I have made recently having put a couple of our creditors on the spot, is they do not want default in the county court as reading between the lines they themsleves are raising the dispute issue, once this has happened, interest and charges would have to stop, which is not in their business interest, it is my understanding (laman) very few courts would instruct payment in full if you could prove finacial hardship (which is why most of us are in the positions we are in), which would result in a court ordered payment plan which they don't want.

 

We are now more confident than ever to sort out our debt ourselves so I have more reading to do.

 

Any information or advice with regard to cancellation with first Step Finance or my opinion, is warmly welcomed.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi again, M'n'M. If you don't mind my saying you are not in as bad a situation as some of us regarding FSF. You have only made the inital £75 payment, plus perhaps the first of your monthly payments, is that right?

 

Some of us have paid 100s, or even over a 1000 pounds, to FSF, little of which has gone to any creditors. They have your bank details, but presumbaly not your debit/credit card number.

 

I think I would just write to them and say you have done research, and have found in your situation it is better to go on to debt management rather than with a debt elimination company, or to even manage the debts yourself with the help of others on this forum. I would write to them (FSF) as if you phone them they will undoubtedly to their best to stop you cancelling.

 

Maybe DD or Sequenci might have some additional suggestions? DD has made some very helpful posts on the other thread, dated the 24th April.

Edited April 26, 2010 by Poor-Credit Borrower
Omission of unnecessary word

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi there,

 

I do think you are being very sensible in not going with FSF. They may have your bank details but if they try to take money from your account without a signed dd mandate that would be fraud and you could report them to the police. Also, if you find that they have taken a direct debit providing you find out on the day you can get it recalled. If you are nervous and have online banking, or a number to call, you can check for a week or two first thing in the morning.

 

A credit agreement should have some cancellation terms on it, but if you just don't pay that could be your cancellation as why would they start work without payment?

 

I think you should write to them stating that you have decided on reflection not to move forward and although it is not stipulated anywhere in the paperwork they have given you you assume there is a cooling off period of a minimum of seven days, so please accept this as your cancellation. Send it by tracked recorded delivery.

 

Next you need to write to all the creditors asking for a copy of the alleged credit agreement and see what they come up with. It's much easier to negotiate if you know what they have got.

 

Then start threads for each of them with the card company/bank name in each thread. 'Help with my debts' won't attract the same response as 'Help with Capital One' for example. You want to attract people with the same issues as you to your thread, so you can compare notes and see what is happening in their cases.

 

Post the links to your threads here.

 

Then do a search on each company and join some other threads. It is a huge learning curve, and I'm learning something new every day.

 

Good luck with it all.

 

DD

[M'n'M]

Thanks PCB and DD, I did manage to track an address and telephone number for FSF, they have a facebook group although the ammount of followers it has suggests its the employees.

I gave them a call and got the girl to go through the security check and confirm the contact name (so right company) then I expalined our wish to cancel, she took the message and said she would pass it on, the guy then gave quite a speedy response and left a confirmation on our voicemail, that he had recieved the message, could i give him a call. I have kept the voicemail as confirmation we have actually cancelled within 7 days, I will now send a letter to support this fact.

We luckily had not paid anything just made an arrangement as we would have had to open another bank account to do it.

 

I must say at this point, I am not saying this company is bad, just that having understood what it is they actually do and how (process wise) they do it, it doesn't actually at this point suit our circumstances.

 

Will will however keep you posted with our progress with our situation as you suggest.

 

Thanks very much for your time and patience thus far

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi M'n'M,

 

Hope you don't mind my posting on your thread again. I have actually posted the information, in the form of an annual statement, that has been sent to me from the company. It is on the parent FSF thread:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/219311-first-step-finance-6.html#post2901292

 

Hope all goes well for you.

Edited April 28, 2010 by Poor-Credit Borrower
slight grammatical change