More 'wingeing' in Credit Today

[dadofholly]

No, we don't now have a government on the side of the normal person.

 

Despite their spin it was proven the least able in society will carry the heaviest burden as detailed in the June spending review.

 

Add to that the impending increase of 2.5% to VAT which will also hit the poorest hardest.

 

Same old, nothing changes.

 

The biggest issue here is the Govt Debt - BUT this debt was created out of thin air. AS was all personal debt.

 

To re-iterate that point - no COINS/NOTES changed hands - it was just numbers entered into a computer.

 

Mervyn King at the TUC today said sorry for the "banks increasing their balance sheets" - Huh? aren't businesses supposed to do that? of course - but in the case of banks it means creating money - Out of Thin Air.

 

Only 3% of the money in this country is in the form of "debt free" coins and notes. The other 97% is LOANED into existence by banks and financial institutions

 

And because of this banking con - hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will lose their jobs or have their wages cut and conditions changed.

 

The Private sector will suffer with the overall downturn - people have to work longer and for less.

 

Dont believe me? sounds unreal?

 

Check here There is loads of info - http://prosperityuk.com/how-is-money-created/

 

OR

 

Watch this BBC video news report

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7924506.stm

 

In Parliament today Douglas Carswell MP intorduced a 10 minute rule bill to try and stops banks creating money from nothing.

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2010/09/carswell-on-bank-reform.html

 

As you can gather this makes me a bit miffed - and i think more people should know WHERE THEIR MONEY comes from - bet most will be shocked and angry.

[hillards]

Cattles lines up Zolfo Cooper

 

Sources have confirmed to Credit Today that restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper has been lined up as an administrator to Cattles in the event of the company falling into administration.

 

Sources familiar with the situation have revealed that Zolfo Cooper was appointed as early as the summer of last year when the board had to ensure every possibility was examined.

 

However, the restructuring firm’s role at the firm has not been increased or ramped up recently, in contradiction to some reports.

 

Credit Today understands that while reports in the weekend papers suggest that restructuring talks had been scuppered after a small group of bondholders walked away from the table, negotiations with the banks, creditors and other bondholders are still ongoing.

 

The rebel party of bondholders hold a marginal stake in the company which does not give them the power to ultimately vote the company into administration.

 

Cattles said at the time it believes that it remains in the interests of all parties to reach an agreement. As many as 3,000 jobs will be at risk if the company folds.

 

Cattles proposed a scheme in the summer to sell the entire company to its creditors in a deal that would leave shareholders with just 1p in every pound.

 

Cattles is currently using its debt collection subsidiary The Lewis Group to collect the loan book from its Welcome Finance division. If the company was to file for administration this process could not continue and the would minimise the chances of assets being returned to creditors.

 

The final paragraph says a lot for this story...

[hillards]

Fines for silent calls raised to £2m

 

Companies that make silent calls could be fined up to £2m after the government hiked the maximum penalty for offences.

 

MPs handed telecoms regulator Ofcom renewed firepower after agreeing to raise the current penalty from £50,000. The government was prompted to act after figures highlighted thousands of consumers had been plagued by nuisance calls.

 

The fine can be imposed on a company where more than three per cent of silent calls it makes in a 24-hour period. Such calls are generated when automated calling systems dial more numbers than there are staff available to speak to the person who picks up the phone.

 

In the first half of this year, Ofcom received just fewer than 2,500 complaints about silent calls and about 6,000 last year. Communications minister Ed Vaizey said: "There is a requirement for us to take effective action, to ensure that consumers are adequately protected."

 

Vaizey said that the new higher fine could be imposed for other forms of persistent telephone misuse such as: the misuse of automated calling systems, number scanning, withholding calling line identification facilities, using systems for dishonest gain, misusing allocated telephone numbers.

 

Ofcom last year levied a record £50,000 fine against Barclaycard, which it labelled the most persistent offender that it had uncovered, in 2008 and has charged 22 companies since then.

 

In 2008 the regulator penalised Equidebt and Ultimate Credit Services, but the fine has not been seen as harsh enough to put an end to the activity.

 

A spokesperson for Ofcom told Credit Today the regulator would have fined Barclaycard more if the regulator had the power to.

 

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards in a statement: "The increase reflects the potential seriousness of the harm caused to consumers by the unsolicited and intrusive nature of silent and abandoned calls, and enables Ofcom to effectively regulate these activities."

 

The new maximum penalty will come into force at the end of this month.

 

Log all silent calls, report to Ofcom.

 

I'm currently getting 7-8 nuisance calls a day from a withheld number. If I pick up they put the phone down, therefore a silent call in my book. They want my wife, not me. As a matter of principal, I don't answer them any more, but all are being logged and I know which company it is! Wife is on nights and is sick of being woken up. If she does not answer, the dog howls until she does...

[hillards]

OFT threatens 129 debt firms with licence revoke

 

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will revoke the consumer credit licences of 129 debt management firms if they do not take immediate compliance action.

 

The warning to comply with the regulator’s Debt Management Guidance follows an OFT review of the debt management sector which found an "unacceptable" level of non-compliance issues in the industry.

 

These included misleading advertising, adviser incompetence and poor awareness of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

 

Independently audited evidence will now have to be submitted by the 129 firms within three months, to demonstrate that they have taken action to address the regulator’s concerns. If evidence is not provided, the OFT will instigate licensing action.

 

The OFT said in a statement that it is also looking to the two main industry bodies, the Debt Managers Standards Association (DEMSA) and the Debt Resolution Forum (DRF), to set an example in raising their standards and meeting their commitments in order to "make the industry more professional and responsible."

 

Ray Watson, director of the OFT’s consumer credit group, said: "The level of non-compliance we found across the industry is unacceptable.

 

"Debt management firms must be clear about their charges and the options available to customers. If any of the 129 firms identified do not improve their standards substantially they will be the subject of licensing action by the OFT."

 

Misleading advertising was identified as the most significant area of non-compliance, in particular failing to disclose when a fee is retained by the business and misrepresenting debt management services as being free when they are not.

 

The OFT said it found frontline advisers working for debt management firms to be providing poor advice based on inadequate information. The regulator also plans to update its guidance to take explicit account of new and emerging unfair business practices.

 

Credit Today - 28/09/2010

[postggj]

Have the 129 dca been named and shamed

 

i guess not

[hillards]

Also being discussed on CAG (click) here

[hillards]

Have the 129 dca been named and shamed

 

i guess not

 

They don't really need to, there can only be a handful left after 129 have been warned...

[sillygirl1]

I wonder how many of the DMCs are 'owned, funded, subsidised and managed' by DCAs?

[coledog]

Following a rash of nasty phone calls from a DCA 2 years ago, which I managed to barr, started getting calls from an foreign call centre offering me 'help with my debt problems', often made late in the evening and persistent - as if I would fall for that one!. BT could not trace or block the number. I had a feeling that my number had been passed on.

[Belaflat]

Are these debt management firms DCA's or does this article refer to companies claiming to be able to write off debts etc.

I would like to think DCA's but I fear the latter is actually the case.

[hillards]

Are these debt management firms DCA's or does this article refer to companies claiming to be able to write off debts etc.

I would like to think DCA's but I fear the latter is actually the case.

 

Sadly, your fears are correct - debt management, not DCA's as we may have jumped to the conclusion they were (drat!)

 

Then again, a lot of these debt management lot were set up by the very institutions they claim to be helping you deal with, which is probably why the information they give out is always on the lines of "you've got to pay them" and "it may be over 6 years, but a debt is a debt", then tie you up in a 5 zillion year plan to give over 94.561938% of your earnings to them, and then take 94.561933% of that in commission.

[Guest HeftyHippo]

they have 3 months, in that time they will arrange some staff training, and rewrite a few procedures, and demonstrate the lowest level of compliance and thereby escape sanction

 

simply requiring they improve in 3 months is not enough, the offenders need to be monitored for at least 6 months to make sure that they actually have incorporated change rather than simply put up a facade

crawl over the

[hillards]

Lewis Group unveils cash collections rise

 

The Lewis Group has reported a £5.4m increase in its cash collections for the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period of 2009.

 

According to a results statement, published today by its parent company Cattles, the debt purchaser achieved cash collections of £76.3m between January and September this year, up from £70.9m in 2009.

 

Despite the improved collections performance the firm revealed a drop in its debt purchase activity, with total purchases reaching £13.6m in September this year, down from £41.6m for the same period last year.

 

A statement accompanying the figures said: "In 2010, The Lewis Group has refocused its strategy on contingent debt collection.

 

"During 2009, The Lewis Group ceased acquiring debt portfolios, other than on forward flow contractual arrangements. Its commitment to acquire further debt was completed in August 2010."

 

Meanwhile Cattles also said that its audited results for 2009 would be released in the near future. The firm said that it will be reporting a significant loss for the year ended 31 December 2009 and a negative value for shareholders’ funds, with the aggregate loss to creditors currently estimated at £1bn.

 

Cash loans lender Shopacheck, another Cattles subsidiary, collected £114.5m of its debts between January and September while its new loans during this period totalled £67.3m.

 

The statement added: "Shopacheck continues to lend to both new and existing customers, but in late 2009 it tightened its credit issuance criteria to improve credit quality in anticipation of the deteriorating economic environment.

 

"Despite lower volumes as a result of this decision, Shopacheck has made good progress during 2010 concentrating on growing its agency base and opening a number of new branches to be able to better serve its customers."

[postggj]

negative value for shareholders’ funds, with the aggregate loss to creditors currently estimated at £1bn.

 

SO FROM 750 MILLION TO 1 BILLION

 

TRY 1.5 BILLION THEN I WILL START TO BELIEVE THE GARBAGE COMMING FROM BATLEY

[PGH7447]

there dead and gone they just dont realise it yet, and boy will I be clapping at the graveside of these chancers