Can a DCA ask to see medicial info and proof of benefits - discussion thread

[caledfwlch]

As I say, they cannot demand anything - but I daresay the regulators and courts will take little sympathy when they ask the debtor why they didn't want to provide any proof at all of a medical condition if one existed - and the answer is coz someone on a forum told me I didn't have to.

 

Yes you don't have to - but if you have a medical condition that may get a DCA off your back I don't see why you wouldn't evidence it.

 

I daresay the regulators and courts will have plenty of sympathy.

 

Medical Information is private. Then you have people who's medical problems can involve issues such as paranoia.

 

If you had HIV or chlamydia or Gonorrhea , would you be happy sending that to a DCA?

 

Someone who is ill enough to be on sickness benefits has far more important things preying upon their mind, than a debt collector after a few hundred quid, and I am pretty sure the courts would understand that.

 

Since last year, new legislation, via the Equality Act 2010 has outlawed Employers asking about pre existing & current medical problems, and enquiring about your past sickness record. These are people you will be working for, and who will be entrusting you to perform for them - given that, do you REALLY think a Court will look poorly on someone who did not provide private and confidential information to a random company they did not ask to be involved with, when not even an employer can ask ? Honestly?

 

Like I say, a DCA would look very silly, and be the one being viewed in a poor light by the Judiciary, especially if the victim they have just dragged to court turns out to have serious mental health issues which would have made it impossible for them to provide such info.

[caledfwlch]

Presumably the DCA really cares about whether you have money or not - not whether you are disabled and why you can't work or whatever

 

So I would suggest sending a more detailed financial breakdown showing you can't afford it would probably be more sufficient.

 

Especially in this climate, people on benefits will be on for a long time. If your sick and on ESA, then probably be on them for even longer.

 

To someone like me who has found themselves on ESA due to health (I am 33 and worked from 16 years old till last year, though the year before was bits and blips of temp work due to redundancy and the economy, a DCA is absolutely no threat to me whatsover, they have no power of me, no control, they cannot do anything that could perturb, worry, or inconvenience me.

 

Because, the only avenue they have is to go to court for a CCJ, I would attend, and if any defence, should I have one, fails and they gain a CCJ, then so what?

 

"Your Honour, I am on ESA, and am suffering from XYZ (in my case several conditions) and am on XYZ medication (in my case 10 different tablets and Insulin) I would like to make a varied payment of £1 a month" Job Done.

 

If I was feeling really vindictive and daring I would apologise to the DCA's solicitor, as due to my circumstances, it will take his DCA around 15 years just to recover their legal costs, never mind the actual debt, which would likely start being paid back when I am in my 50's. When better, I certainly won't be chasing them up to tell them I am working again, not afaik under any legal obligation to do so, only to inform the Court, if it asks should the DCA make a demand for an assessment.

 

My Credit File? That is already a mess due to 2 redundancy's and an ex who liked the good life. So no threat there.

 

So why bother sending an I&E? I am not going to do their job for them!

[caledfwlch]

Undoubtedly a RESOUNDING NO!!!

 

Quoted for Truth!

 

Afaik, Debt Collectors, are not trained, licenced or regulated in any way to hold confidential medical information. Nor as you say are they trained, or in any way qualified, licensed or regulated to interpret confidential medical information and to make judgements based on it.

 

A letter from oneself informing them one is sick is plenty of proof. If they think the Debtor is lying, then go to court, and risk not getting the legal fee's alone back for a couple of decades. Put their money where their mouth is as it were.

 

Lying would be pointless, since if it DID go to court, and they had a letter from you informing them your ill, and you clearly are not, and cannot prove it, and they showed it to the Judge, I imagine he would be rather angry with you.

[caledfwlch]

Wont post with a quote but WELL SAID!!!!!

 

Forgot to mention Bailiff's

 

Again, they would hold no power over me - I would be unlikely to get them unless I am the victim of the fraud some DCA's perpetrate ensuring official court paperwork is directed to a different address, as I will be quite happy to go to court to get my £1 special offer benefits deal

 

I live in a block of flats with an electronic lock to the main door, and then to get to my flat's landing, would require entering another door, this one secured and permanently locked via a mechanical numeric code entry device. Then they would have to get through my flat door, which due to the scumbags and smackheads, that are my neighbours, and a healthy border OCD insistence on always ensuring the door is locked, whether I am in or out (I lived in Doncaster for a couple of years, and if that doesnt make you security concious nothing will!) is kept double locked with a Yale lock and a second deadlock.

 

I only have windows on on side, and the only way a Bailiff is getting to them, is via breaking and entering through private homes or businesses, climbing walls, tresspassing on the roof of another business and all this with a ladder long enough to reach up 2 floors.

 

If out persevering chap manages to get in, he will find statutory declarations showing I own nothing. If you get them done, even if not expecting Bailiff's they will last you a long time

 

Oh, and it would be pointed out that I am on ESA, and thus classified as vulnerable by the National Enforcement Guidelines, and must withdraw and return the debt to the Court.

[caledfwlch]

Well when we say 'medical evidence' I don't think we are talking about raw data - as you say what good would an MRI scan be for a DCA. We are talking about a summaried letter from the GP or Hospital to say Mr Smith cannot work at the moment - and maybe go into details or not depending on the circumstances.

 

Proving copies on income and incapacity benfit is probably worth more to a DCA anyway because it may give a better indication of whether you can afford to pay.

 

As to whether people on the sick have more important things to do than deal with DCAs - I think it realy depends on each situation. I know people on disability benefits that sit at home all day and have a more relaxed life than I do.

 

Err, generally speaking, apart from any medical treatment, "relaxing" is what someone sick should be doing, that helps you get better, as opposed to the stress and hassle of dealing with a DCA who probably won't believe it even a letter from your GP, or rather they will ignore it, and continue to push, to them, someone sick is a weak target, and has good potential for pushing hard and threatening.

 

These people who sit at home all day, what is wrong with them? What's their ailment that requires them to be on ESA?

[caledfwlch]

The individual is in control of their fianaces

and can state what they can afford to pay,

I recommend often that the individual should

complete an I&E to see what they can reasonably

afford to pay, especially when a stoppy clerk at

a DCA is demanding a minimum payment level and

an I & E then I like to qoute Bazook BOO any tell them

''Thank you for reminding me I need to complete an I&E

statement, I have now done so and I know find I must

reduce my payment to £1 per month, thank you for your

kind reminder''

 

To my knowledge, or my potentially mistaken belief, as sending a DCA an I&E is not a legal or lawful requirement, and its accuracy or lack of is not something a DCA could pursue, legally speaking.

 

Only mentioning it because its dreadfully easy to forget that your dog or cat with its special dietary requirements and those nasty vet fee's and pet insurance fees's actually passed away. well passed away a couple of months or even more before the CCJ hearing, but you were so upset, and so naive at how these things work, you didnt think to contact the DCA with a new I&E

[caledfwlch]

If possible you have to try and turn the situation on its head. If you can get from the point where you are terrified of answering the 'phone in case it's one of these scumbags on the other end, to the other end of the spectrum whereby you look forward to their calls so that you can wind them up and leave THEM stressed, that really could be quite therapeutic. A few weeks off to annoy some DCAs ought to be just the ticket.

 

oh yes, thats a good one!

 

In 2009 a DCA managed to get my phone number, regarding a disputed debt. I had apparantly entered a "Contract" with a company by not contacting them, I don't recall seeing that beauty when I signed up with BT, apparantly they sent me a letter, which mysteriously did not arrive, and thus by not contacting them at the end of a contract, I somehow signed up to a new one, neither verbally or in writing.

 

I used to enjoy speaking Welsh to the bemused Scot's on the other end. And the time I spoke in Elvish from Lord of the Rings was awesome! Then there was the pretending to be completely mental one, followed by pretending to be an answering machine, at the end of the message they believed they were leaving, I would wish them a goodbye and hang up

 

Then theres the fun of simply asking who are you repeatedly, in answer to whatever they say, and attempting to get them to admit to be a debt collector, and breach the guidelines in all sorts of ways (built in call recorders on mobile phones are great)

[caledfwlch]

As I say, it depends on the situation and I, you and DCAs should not treat every situation as though its the same.

 

I don't know what the Ops situation is, they might be smeone sitting at home all day watching TV because they have had a knee replacement and are taking a year off due to dodgy knees. Likewise they could be suffering from depression and suicidal.

 

There are thousands of people out there claiming benefits when they probably don't deserve it and even if they do doesn't mean they are all on the edge of a mental breakdown ro something. Some of you lot seem to be making the assumption that everyone who deals with a DCA is on the edge of cracking or something. Providing a medial letter to get a DCA off your back or to take lower payments isn't actually that much of a hassle for the average person.

 

My overriding point it, in response to the Ops questiion - you do not have to provide the DCA will proof of medical issues but at the same time don't be surprised if they don't believe you.

 

It's a double edged sword, the DCA becomes in danger of harassment and quite possibly the DDA sometimes, if it hounds someone who has told them they are ill, but rightly, will not disclose private and confidential medical data. Anything that is not a legal requirement puts a DCA, or I suppose any type of company at risk, if they choose to ignore being informed of something, but not provided with proof they have no legal basis to require or aquire.

 

DCA's are not understanding, and do not generally take the health and well being of a Debtor into consideration - the entire training and job role of the Staff makes it very unlikely, they are trained from day 1 to be extremely aggressive, threatening and intimidating, or as their management doublespeak calls it "being assertive and controlling the conversation"

 

The people calling are under incredible pressure from their supervisors and management, the amount of wage they will be paid every month can be dependent on what commission they can earn, they have extremely tight and massive targets forced on them, nor only do they need to hit those targets for their own sake, and even if they are on a fixed wage, their supervisors and managers WILL be on a hefty commission, and they like their nice things, so will be putting even more pressure on the phone drones to ensure their own cash is a nice wedge, and their managers, the top dogs of the chain, the Managing Directors, the Venture Capitalists will be putting pressure on them.

 

Basically, you have an environment, training system and atmosphere that is absolutely poisonous, people with a strong sense of ethics, or morality usually quit or are sacked within a week or two, unable to treat debtors as they are required to, so you are left with cold people, trained to be professionally nasty, in a poisonous atmosphere.

 

Some DCA's (if not all) are notorious for breaking the Data Protection Act, and will not verify the identity of the person who answers, or will confirm to family members that they are a debt collector chasing you. If you have a medical problem you have not told a family member for whatever reason (STD maybe? or something very life threatening, such as advanced cancer, and are waiting for the right time to tell your family just how bad it is) its entirely conceivable that a DCA will let stuff like that slip.

[caledfwlch]

DWP award letters have the amount of money awarded.

 

I would blank your awards out too, and whatever you do, do not sign ANYTHING you send to the DCA by hand, always do it by Computer, or get a friend or family member with completely different writing to you to sign them, pretending to be you. Always Stop and Think with all your dealings with a DCA, the signature thing, which you will see in a lot of threads is because nameless DCA's have, do and will continue to forge signatures on reconstructed paperwork if the original has been destroyed/lost - no original signed in pen by you contract = unable to take you to court, unless that has changed too. There is also the possibility, that where a debt has become statute barred, so again, they cannot take you to court, a letter might suddenly appear, from you, dated before the debt reached the 6 year limit admitting you owe the debt

 

Give them as little information as possible, I for example wont even confirm my date of birth. Let them see copies of your award letters, if you must, but blank out any financial information AND even if you are not going to blank out the financial stuff, make damned sure you blank out your National Insurance Number, which will be on every page iirc - these scumbags use the details they have on you, combined with a National Insurance Number, to blag their way through security ringing jobcentre call centres to try and gain more information, or your new address if the one they have is outdated.

 

Keep Calm, you are now in the Consumer Action Group and there is a veritable army here ready to help you! I would also not listen to a word TheGhost types, if you think you are going to be on sick for a long time, then CCJ's from courts etc are not even a threat, nevermind whatever they put on your credit file.

 

Remember what I think is the most important Mantra for a member of this Forum - well most important mantra since I thought of it 2 mins ago lol

 

We have Rights. They have Legally bound Responsibilities and duties.

 

In this little part of the internet, the Consumer and Debtor is King. Knowing our Rights helps us to defeat them and their letter and phone call based reign of terror against us. Knowing their Responsibilties = knowing our Enemy and their lawful, unlawful and sometimes illegal tricks and tactics, and helps our defence from them, and also helps us defeat them, and to bring them ever slowly towards one day, the OFT taking proper action and finishing them.

 

 

At the moment theghost I am treating your

post with some suspicion!!

 

I smell Troll.

 

And I said that in my first post.

 

However the OP has indicated they want to send stuff in so I have informed him not to be surprised if the DCA don't just accept any old crap that he sends in.

 

Yes you don't have to send stuff in and likewise they don't have to accept any old rubbish as proof.

 

You might as well just totally ignore them if you don't want to make a reasoable effort to satisfy their information requirements. The only things to be aware of by following that course of action is that a) they may keep contacing you or b) they take proceed to legal action.

 

The OP can deal with this without having to provide financial or medical information, a DCA has no lawful right to demand to claim. Lots of others here are doing so. Once the OP gets comfortable with the knowledge that they have no power over him, his life will become less stressful, and his dealings with these Vermin much better (for him, not for them)