iDem Servicing/lombard loan

[Tingy]

Hi Halibutt,

 

Looks good to me. One tiny detail, and nothing to do with your letter. If you've based this on the thread, "Turning the tables on DCA's" there has been a recent development with the judge advising a slightly different line be taken. Can't remember what it was without looking it up, but it will be there at the end of the thread.

 

I hope they pay up if you send that - they charge us, so why not vice versa!

 

Nice one!

[Halibutt]

Thanks for your input Tingy. I hadn't based it on that, but it was interesting reading. The thread you refer to is this: Turning the tables on DCA's

 

That concerns mainly disputed accounts "owed" and the concensus in those circumstances seems to be to charge £35 per letter as it is "The banking industry standard." Pinky suggested £40 an hour or a part thereof.

 

There are a couple of good templates there. As I'm not a greedy little fish, I think I'll stick with my £25 per letter - it's also easier for me to work out amounts in my head that way

[Tingy]

Link wouldn't work for me:sad: Nevermind - I found the bit I was looking for straight from the mouth of a judge!

 

The judge kindly advised me that in future I would do better to seek not admin fees but ‘compensation’ costing for the sharks intimidating me.

Get the evidence that there is a valid dispute and that the bank/DCA is breaching the CCA/OFT guidelines on collection activity and then bang in a claim for harassment compensation.

 

The judge was all for this so I want to take this exciting issue further soon as possible.

[Halibutt]

Thanks for that. I think I'll amend my letter accordingly...

[Halibutt]

Just to keep people updated, I sent the following letter to Arden:

 

Sarah Powell

Arden Credit Management

PO Box 15276

Solihull

B91 9PN

xx/xx/xx

By Royal Mail Recorded Delivery

 

Dear Ms Powell,

 

Account Ref: 123456789

 

I refer to your letter of xx/xx/xx, the contents of which have been duly noted.

 

I am very concerned at your apparent reluctance to acknowledge any of my correspondence with you, regarding the above account since your written agreement to my repayment plan in your letter of xx/xx/xx.

 

All my letters have been sent via Royal Mail Recorded Delivery at my own expense and subsequently, signed for by your staff as having been received. Please refer to my last letter of xx/xx/xx.

 

To date, I have kept to the repayment plan to which you agreed in writing in your letter of

xx/xx/xx. However, you appear to have overlooked this in your subsequent four letters, which have subsequently caused me personal distress.

 

I hereby give you notice that, should you continue to write, erroneously asserting that no payment plan has been agreed, I will have no alternative but to invoice your company for compensation for undue distress caused due to formulating and sending replies to such letters, plus necessary personal expenses incurred.

 

Please accept this letter as full and adequate advance warning of my intended charges.

 

Future invoices to your company (per letter) will be broken down as follows:

 

Compensation for distress/time taken to formulate response/compose reply –

per hour (min charge 1 hour):

 

£25.00

 

Postage costs per item sent by Royal Mail Recorded Delivery at current rate*:

£01.15

 

Printing costs per A4 sheet*:

£00.15

 

Photocopying costs per A4 sheet*:

£00.10

 

Total minimum charge per response*:

£26.40

 

* Subject to rates of inflation at time of response.

 

I am sure you will agree that the continuation of your current policy of harassment would not be advantageous to either party whilst I am adhering to the current agreed repayment plan.

 

Please note that I have retained copies of all correspondence, both sent and received, including Post Office receipts, proofs of delivery and statements of receipt of amounts by the Original Creditor – xxxxxxxxxxx, which, in their latest statement of account, includes acknowledgement of the first instalment submitted in my repayment plan (xxxxxxxx letter dated xx/xx/xx).

 

I therefore expect no further correspondence from your company, unless it is:

 

• Your written acknowledgement and acceptance of the content of this letter
  

 

• Correspondence regarding information that you are legally obliged to supply whilst dealing with the above account
  

 

 

• Reasonable periodic review of the existing repayment plan
  

 

 

Please treat this letter as urgent.

 

Thank you for your time and immediate attention to this matter.

 

Yours sincerely,

Halibutt

 

Their response was - "Eeeeeek!"

 

and then a very apologetic letter:

 

At least Arden responded appropriately, so good for them (I think!)

[Halibutt]

Anyone with an old Lombard Direct loan may have, or may be getting a letter from idem Servicing.

 

They haven't been mentioned much in this section of CAG, but they have bulk-purchased most of the old Lombard loans, along with some other debt portfolios.

 

There has previously been some discussion about them in the Mortgage/secured loan section threads.

 

They would appear (to me anyway) to have some connection with "Arden Credit Management".

 

Details as follows:

 

Arden Credit Management:

 

Arden Credit Management

PO Box 15276

Solihull

B91 9PN

 

A trading style of: Moorgate Loan Servicing Ltd

Reg: 3303780

 

Office:

 

St. Catherine's Court,

Herbert Road

Solihull

West Midlands

B91 3QE

 

idem Servicing:

 

St Catherine's Court

Herbert Road

Solihull

West Midlands

B91 3QE

 

A trading style of Idem Capital Securities Limited

Reg: 7350538

 

Maybe they just rent the same office space

 

Anyway, this is the standard letter they're sending out:

 

I've got a feeling that current arrangements won't stay in place for long and the requests for higher repayments, threats of possible litigation will start up again in the New Year.

 

Does anyone know much about them in relation to unsecured debt?

 

Their letter is polite and friendly enough and seems to cover everything they're legally obliged to say/send.

 

Any thoughts welcome.

[twoman]

part of the paragon group

[twoman]

Herbert Road,Solihull is head office and they have offices in Highlands Road,Shirley.

[Halibutt]

Thanks Twoman.

[merlin100]

Just to let anyone know - Lombard have a very large office block in the Moorgate area of Rotherham.

 

Its been there for many years.

I mention this because of the "Moorgate Loan Servicing LTD" reference above.

[PGH7447]

part of the paragon group

 

Watch out for extra charges to be applied then

[Halibutt]

Watch out for extra charges to be applied then

 

That was what I was thinking. Hopefully, fore-warned is fore-armed. I have a feeling we'll be hearing alot more come the New Year

[Iamharrassed]

I have just received the same letter - been pursued by Lombard and then Arden - now Idem - I will wait for the next chapter to begin.

[Halibutt]

I have just received the same letter - been pursued by Lombard and then Arden - now Idem - I will wait for the next chapter to begin.

 

Arden are easily put in their place with a well-worded and researched letter. I have a feeling that idem may be more argumentative.

[mariadavid]

Hi

 

I received a letter from Lombard Direct telling me not to pay Anderson Strathern but Arden Credit Management, this resulted in Anderson Strathern sending sheriff officers to my door and Lombard Direct advising on the phone they were not discussing my account with me. I now seem to have accrued 2.5k in legal charges but the initial court charges awarded were £376!!! I keepo asking for a breakdown of these to no avail.

[Halibutt]

Hi All,

 

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but it's always good to have a second or third opinion from my friends here.

 

As some of you know, after sorting out my own finances, I've been helping a friend to do the same with hers.

 

We sent a CCA request to Idem (who are the parent company of Arden Credit Management) at the beginning of last week. This morning, she received a letter stating that the amount owing on her alleged account is £5,980 but they are willing to accept a full and final settlement of £585 and upon receipt of payment, consider the account closed and mark her credit file as "partially settled."

 

As far as I can determine, this account must have been started before the year 2000 . NOTHING appears on her credit reference file at all. She hasn't kept many letters and can't tell me who the original loan was with, though I suspect from some of the reference numbers on the letters it may be an old Lombard Direct loan.

 

I'm presuming that much of the amount they're claiming she owes is made up of PPI, charges, added interest, etc. and also that they are well aware that they can't provide an enforceable agreement.

 

At the moment, my friend is quite vulnerable (health problems) and is unemloyed, so she obviously can't afford even the £585 for a settlement - she's currently paying Arden at a rate of £1 a month by standing order.

 

Now, advice please...

 

Should she simply ignore the letter and wait for the CCA request response?

Should she reply saying she can't afford a F&F settlement amount?

 

At some point she'll need to send a SAR, but I would have thought that even if charges and interest were knocked off the total, any PPI repayment would be used to reduce the remaining balance.

 

Any advice on the way forward would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks guys.

 

H. x

[dx100uk]

urm..

if its not on her cra file

prob dropped off 6yrs from default

 

is the debt not already sb'd too?

 

as for the ppi

 

it should go to her end of!

 

dx

[Halibutt]

Thanks DX.

 

I'm sure it won't be SB'd as when she was in work, she was paying around £200 a month (she says) in repayments, then £40 a month when she became ill and unemployed, then £1 a month after I became involved, so no clear 6 year period of non payment/acknowledgement.

 

So... If we write to IDEM saying that they've defaulted on the CCA request and she will no longer be paying, I presume we can send a SAR, I can read through all the details with her and then set about reclaiming PPI.

 

Something else I was wondering - surely it's in her interest if the debt is unenforceable and not showing on her CRA file, then having Arden update it with "Partially Satisfied" would be detrimental?

She'd be better off stopping payment on an unenforceable account and after 6 years, it's SB...

 

Your help and advice is always appreciated mate

[dx100uk]

yea sure

 

but is its not on her cra file

so it cant comeback

so why bother f&f?

 

theres no cca so tough luck them

 

dx

[Halibutt]

Thanks. That'll really put her mind at rest

[Halibutt]

Hello all, hope everyone is well!

 

I've been helping a friend with her concerns over an unsecured Lombard Direct loan taken out well before April 2007.

She thinks it was 1999.

 

 

She's been paying token amounts for quite a while now after the debt was passed on to Arden Credit Management

- she's the sort that would like to pay but can't (pride, honesty, etc).

 

Arden offered her a settlement (F&F) for exactly 10% of the amount owing, which, being unemployed, she still couldn't afford.

 

The debt has now been returned to Idem who have instructed "Fidelite" to act on their behalf.

 

Now, as the F&F offer from Arden was so comparatively low,

I thought that there may well be something wrong with the original agreement.

Instead of just a CCA, I paid for the £10 postal order for her to send a SAR,

which has now been acknowledged (receipt) but she only sent it last week.

 

Obviously, Idem have the statutory 40 days to adequately and satisfactorily respond.

 

We've sent the standard no phone calls and no doorstep visits letters as well,

but she received a letter from Fidelite this morning, threatening doorstepping.

 

Not a problem, I'll make sure she sends a copy of the letter to them as well.

 

The bottom line is that my friend is now disabled and has no real prospect of repaying the loan.

I fear for her health if she is hounded by Idem or any DCA they may nominate to "handle" the debt.

 

My main worry for her is that she'll get asked to make repayments that she can't afford (she now works part-time)

and I'd say that her ever being able to pay the full amount is a non-starter.

 

So... any advice on her best way to offer a F&F offer to Idem please?

 

 

Obviously, she'll have to wait until the SAR response is received,

 

 

but I'd like to be able to reassure her with some kind of plan of action.

 

Many thanks.

 

H. x

[Sidewinder]

In most cases where a debt ends up with Scotcall there is a fundamental problem with enforceability - and especially so in this case due to the age and the low F&F that was offered. Snotters probably know that it is a matter of time before the game is up.

 

Chances are that your friend has been fleeced unnecessarily for years. Personally I wouldn't be paying them anything without a CCA, but if she wants to do the 'honourable' thing (although I would never apply any such term to any DCA) then I would wait to see if there is a CCA and if not, decide on an acceptable sum and TELL them that this is all they are going to get.

 

She may need a thick skin for a bit, but at least she will then be free of these parasites.

[dx100uk]

100% fleeced blind and cash cowed badly

 

you need to pop the SAR off to RBS if anyone.

 

I bet idem will simply post a single page statement.

 

CCA request ASAP

 

blank £1PO don't sign anything.

 

dx

[Halibutt]

Thanks guys. SAR already sent and she received an acknowledgement.

 

My thought was that we should wait and see what comes back on the SAR

- if they can't or won't confirm that they hold the original (not a copy or reconstruction) of the agreement, then that's it, Idem can do one.

 

However, so that my friend can rest easier,

 

 

I'm looking at offering maybe 5% of the whole debt as F&F with a guarantee that there will be no onward sale to any other company.

We'll see.

Your thoughts so far are very much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

H. x

[dx100uk]

F&f won't stop them

 

CCA is the way to go

Kills em dead

Sar will not get a CCA

 

 

Dx