Link Financial

[ShaneG2009]

Hi all

 

Just wondering if you can help me out. I have 'Marcus' from Link Financial literally hounding me and my family regarding an old Abbey National Account and i wondering what i should do.

 

The story goes...

 

1) I had an abbey account through my teenage years up until about 2006 where through my own fault i got £500 overdrawn and foolishly i buried my head in the sand and sort of forgot about it

 

2)fast forward to the later months of 2010 i get a letter from Santander which is odd. It is a new card with PIN to follow showing quite clearly that my account is £500 plus in credit. I thought it was incorrect but didnt pursue it - i binned the card.

 

3) very shortly after the letter above i started getting calls from Marcus / Link Financial who as usual were very threatening and upfront. I advised Marcus i wanted to sort this with Santander so i wrote to them via there complaints procedure to ask them to review my account due to the conflicting information i had received from them and now being chased by the DC for immediate payment.

 

4) Santander acknowledged my complaint and advised at the beginning of the year their findings. They basically told me i had received the 'in credit' letter by mistake and i in fact was overdrawn by such an amount.

 

5) over the last 4 or so weeks i have been getting daily calls from Link / marcus on my parents home phone, my mobile and EVEN my work office number (god knows how they got that number!!!). Anyway i wrote to Link asking them to send me details that properly acknowledged their ability to collect the debt on behalf of Santander to which they as usual havent acknowledged or bothered to respond to. They continue despite me saying both over the phone and in written correspondence that they are only to contact me in writing regarding this debt. When ringing my parents they get the same response 'i am at work / who are you' to which Marcus has begun to tell my mum he is a 'friend' from London and to ring him back.

 

Last week this all came to a head in a telephone conversation with Marcus. He again took the line they want the debt sorting now. I said you havent replied to my letters yet. They dont even bother talking about them. I then said i wont discuss resolving this sum until you show me you are legally entitled to collect etc to which they again just shrug off. I then said you are only to contact me in writing to which he simply replied ' we are a telephone business, we wont write to you we will continue to ring you until the problem is solved'

 

I know you guys have probably heard this all before but i would really appreciate your guidance on how to deal with them. Do i report them now only for them to keep harassing me and my parents etc?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Shane

[Sand-Dancer0191]

Try this..

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?493-Harassment-by-telephone-response-letter

[dx100uk]

report the muppet to the information commissioners office

 

calling you at work is unlawful and again the strict guidelines

 

lastly.........

 

 

STOP TALKING TO THE MUPPET ON THE PHONE

 

you are causing yourself trouble by continually doing it.

 

now this debt........all charges or what?

 

dx

[ShaneG2009]

All

 

I'll write to him on the harassment letter and that will do from now.

 

With regards talking to him its hard especially at the home phone (my parents phone). He calls during my normal working hours and my mum is always going to answer the phone so we are stuck in a bit of a rut!

 

Thanks

 

Shane

[blueboy6970]

Write and ask them to remove the numbers from their system as they are not your numbers.

 

They then have a duty to remove your parents number and work number at least from their system.

[ShaneG2009]

Hi

 

Can anybody help me with Link Financial? 5 or so years ago i got into diffculty with an Abbey National overdraft which i didnt pay back. They closed my account and then assigned / sold the debt to Link Financial.

 

I have now paid the disputed amount to Link Financial and have asked them to clear the Default from my credit file for the reason that i dont believe they served the correct notices when they took over the debt. They've told me on the phone today that they can get a copy of the Default apparently served by Abbey National but i am wondering if this is sufficient? Should Link not give me a period of time to repay the debt prior to Defaulting it in their name?

 

If the Default served by Abbey is provided is this sufficient for the relevant legislation? What information do they need to provide in order to properly satisfy their obligations when defaulting an account?

 

I've read several posts on here that intimate LF make widespread mistakes in their service of notices etc. so i am wondering if i can persuade them to remove the default on the basis they didnt serve the notices correctly etc. If that's not possible do you think the cap in hand approach would work?

 

Thanks

 

Shane

[ShaneG2009]

Quick information update

 

Account with Abbey started 13/08/2001

Defaulted on 14/09/2006 (SB'd Sept 2012 i guess - irrelevant now i've settled i know)

 

One thing to note after reading more of the forums is i dont ever remember Abbey putting a default notice on my credit file. Are link entitled to do this when they are sold / assigned the debt?

 

Thanks

 

Shane

[silverfox1961]

Hi, sorry your posts were missed.

 

Link Financial wouldn't have placed the original default, Abbey would have as they were the creditor before the debt was sold. Once LF got the debt, they would have replaced Abbeys name with their own although the date would stay the same.

 

Proving that a default wasn't issued or was faulty won't do a lot. What would have been better was to negotiate the removal as part of the settlement process.

 

As it is, LF should now mark your file as settled (or partially settled if you did an F&F)

 

Your default will disappear from your file in September/October next year anyway