NCO Europe KEEP calling!

[publicenemyno1]

Listen, everyone, its Xmas... and y'know, at this time of year,

when we all like to be with our familles and loved ones, its

really important to remember that for some, xmas is not a happy

time.

 

Please, spare a thought for poor Mr Brown. According to his

postcard just recieved, he'll be having to make haste for the

Westcountry this Tuesday, thats Christmas day for gods sake!

(Quite literally if you are a Christian!)

 

Who are these **** employers that take advantage like this?

 

I'll be honest we were going to visit my girlfriends family for a lovely

xmas dinner with all the trimmings, but as Mr Brown could call literally

any time between 9am and 9pm, we'd better stay in with some mince

pies and sherry.

 

So, whilst its easy to mock - spare a thought?

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to you all

 

(p.s No, we dont owe paypal any money, making it doubly hilarious)

[ncf355]

Nice 1 mate!, LOL

 

I once had a postcard telling me they were going to call, and it was addressed to a Mr "Ebay you"

 

They even called and asked for this person by name

 

I tell you, you just could not make this stuff up

[publicenemyno1]

I tell you, you just could not make this stuff up

 

Tell me about it - I thought it was just in the former DDR you could expect several calls a day from shady people who 'cannot tell you' what they are calling about.

 

If you ever put half the stuff that goes on into a work of fiction, you'd probably get bad reviews for poor realism!

[ODC]

Yes spare a thought for the DCA workers and their families. Picture the scene. Mummy gives the DCA employee two slices of turkey and he demands the whole turkey and the vegtables. Mummy says who are you and suddenly discovers that he is not her son and has no legal right to any turkey. He threatens her with sending the baliffis in to seize the whole turkey and the Christmas Pud. On the 12th day of Christmas he has failed to provide proof that he is entitled to any turkey and goes to another house and tries the same nonsense on them. Merry Crimbo DCA folk.

[Raziel]

OK, here's the update -

 

Over Christmas NCO sent me 3 backdated letters in 3 days (first one was that I had ignored them, second that I had ignored their letter and third was that they had passed my account onto a debt collection company with a field force). Each of these letters had been backdated accordingly to make it appear that I had ignored them over the month of December.

 

On the 2nd of January I sent my section 78 request to NCO's address and yesterday (9th Jan) I got a reply from Captial One, not NCO. Below is the wording in the letter I recieved -

 

Dear Raziel

 

Account Number *** *** ***

 

Thank you for your letter requesting copy documents for your account.

 

You requested copies of the executed credit agreement and a statement of your account under section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Please find enclosed a copy of the current terms and conditions of your agreement, in compliance with section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Although it is not required under section 78 of the consumer credit act 1974, I have included a copy of the document signed by yourself and Captial One.

 

Your account is in default and the amount currently due is £****

 

You requested a copy of the default notice we issued on your account. Under section 78 we are not required to to provide a copy of the default notice and a statement of default. However, we can confirm that that a default notice was issued on 16th of May 2007 and a statement of default was issued on 11 June 2007 in the sum of £****

 

For your records I have included templates of the default notice and statement of default. These are identical to the letters that you were sent, without the specific details of your default, which is stated above. I also include a screen print of your account records confirming the dates the default notice and statement of default were issued.

 

I trust this information will help you with your enquiries. If you need any further information, please contact me again.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

(Printed signature)

 

Executive Office Manager

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So, with all that in mind (apologies for the length) can I ask -

 

1) If this came direct from Cap One, why are these pricks at NCO even involved? The account has clearly NOT been sold on, as NCO would have me believe.

 

2) Why Cap One passed this onto NCO in the first place when I was only one month into an 6 month repayment agreement with Cap One?

 

3) As I have stated before, I want to pay off this debt but I'm now completely confused as to who I should be making payments to, plus, NCO refuse to take money off me until I tell them how much I earn per month, which is not going to happen.

 

4) Since the end of December, NCO have been completely silent. Should I be worried?

 

Hope you guys can point me in the right direction, appreciate all the good advice already out there!

 

Raz.

[Movingon]

First of all, NCO Europe have NO RIGHT to your income and expenditure information, and they have NO RIGHT to refuse payments made to the account. A Judge will look very poorly on refusals to accept payments by them for ANY reason. He would probably also look very poorly upon Cap. One for defaulting you when you were following an agreement they made with you.

 

If you acknowledge the debt, there is no point in a CCA request; it's wasted effort. That is for people who deny that they owe any money. Cap. One are *sort of* right when they say they are not under a legal obligation to supply signed documents; however copies of the terms and conditions are NOT a copy of a Consumer Credit Agreement. They are also not required to supply the copy of a default notice; however they WOULD have to supply this to a Court if the matter ever got there. Especially if they heeded your CPR Pt 18 Request for further information.

 

Was the Default Notice served on you at the correct address? Did you receive it? If not, you can have the default removed as incorrectly served however this may take court action to achieve.

 

Are you in a position to make any payments? If so, send them Special Delivery and log it. However small. If they are returned to you, log it and send it again. IF THEY TAKE YOU TO COURT, show the payment stubs on the cheques or the stubs of the postal orders you send, along with the Special Delivery proof of delivery from the post office website as evidence that you have attempted to pay. The Judge will likely be FURIOUS.

 

What you need to do is meet your obligations, which are to pay as much as you're able as often as you're able. Cap. One have shot themselves in the foot really because now, having Defaulted you, there is no minimum payment...

[Movingon]

p.s. don't EVER confirm your identity to ANYONE calling you over the 'phone... and don't EVER discuss your financial situation with anyone calling you over the 'phone. If NCO Europe call, simply state that Raziel is not available, or that they have the wrong number, or refuse to talk to them at all... but crucially DON'T confirm your identity... they cannot in Law (Data Protection Act 1998 ) discuss your financial affairs with anyone but you - and if they can't confirm that you are Raziel, they can't talk to you.

 

Often, these DCA's will refuse to confirm THEIR identity by hiding behind the Data Protection Act - this is nonsense as the Data Protection Act protects PERSONAL data - NOT that of organisations or their representatives.

 

BTW - if you say "I'm sorry Raz isn't available, can I take a message?" and they start to talk about your financial situation... take a note of the details. Let this happen a few times and bang in a complaint to the ICO... it can't hurt!!

[Raziel]

p.s. don't EVER confirm your identity to ANYONE calling you over the 'phone... and don't EVER discuss your financial situation with anyone calling you over the 'phone. If NCO Europe call, simply state that Raziel is not available, or that they have the wrong number, or refuse to talk to them at all... but crucially DON'T confirm your identity... they cannot in Law (Data Protection Act 1998 ) discuss your financial affairs with anyone but you - and if they can't confirm that you are Raziel, they can't talk to you.

 

Often, these DCA's will refuse to confirm THEIR identity by hiding behind the Data Protection Act - this is nonsense as the Data Protection Act protects PERSONAL data - NOT that of organisations or their representatives.

 

BTW - if you say "I'm sorry Raz isn't available, can I take a message?" and they start to talk about your financial situation... take a note of the details. Let this happen a few times and bang in a complaint to the ICO... it can't hurt!!

Thanks SL, I really appreciate all the advice from everyone on the boards, top stuff! It would be nice to catch these slimy gits out but I haven't heard a peep out of them, or anyone else (besides CAP One sending the documents) since the last letter from NCO at the end of December which said that they had passed my account on to a different DCA which has a field force. Is that just more scare tactics?

 

To answer your previous message -

 

Yes the default was sent to the correct address, I have a copy, but I won't be telling them so!

 

Yes, I am in a position to be paying it back, I was only a month into a 6 month agreement with Cap One when they passed me to NCO (after their in-house DCA, Debitas, mysteriously passed me back to Cap One).

 

This is where the confusion sets in -

 

Who do I send payments to?

 

If I ring Cap One, they give me the number for NCO,

NCO sent a letter stating that my account had been passed to a different DCA "with a field force, who will be in touch".

 

They collectively are making it very difficult for me to address the debt. I am willing to pay, I just have no idea who to send money to, or for that matter, who to make the payments out to.

 

With regards to the payments, can I pay by postal order as I do not own a cheque book?

 

Thanks again for the advice, I would indeed be slightly knackered if I hadn't chanced across this forum!

[Movingon]

Yes absolutely you can pay by postal order. If NCO reckon they don't have your account any more, I wonder who does? You may just have to wait until you're contacted and then (ignoring the letter, or the phone call or whatever) send postal orders whenever you can to them. Don't enter into correspondence or talk to them about the account on the 'phone, just send them money. They can't refuse it.

[ODC]

Raziel

 

I would be inclined to send the money directly to Capone along with a covering letter giving your account number. I cannot see them refusing this payment and think of the satisfaction of cuttin NCO out of the loop not to mention their commission

[Raziel]

ODC,

 

I would be much happier if I could send payments direct to Cap One, would you suggest that I should first send a letter informing Cap One of my intentions to send them postal orders, and await a reply, or shall I just start bunging postal orders in the (recorded) mail to them, with the advised cover letter?

 

To rub that in NCO's face would make my day!

[bed32]

In my view the companies who employ the DCAs are every bit as guilty for the harassment as NCO are themselves (if not more so). If we want to put these sharks out of business then we need to stop the Creditors dealing with them. Sending money direct to Cap One once NCO have contacted them will encourage them to think that the harassment works

[ODC]

ODC,

 

I would be much happier if I could send payments direct to Cap One, would you suggest that I should first send a letter informing Cap One of my intentions to send them postal orders, and await a reply, or shall I just start bunging postal orders in the (recorded) mail to them, with the advised cover letter?

 

To rub that in NCO's face would make my day!

Send the money direct to Capone along with a covering letter giving your account number and your details. Make the PO crossed and payable to CAPone

[ODC]

In my view the companies who employ the DCAs are every bit as guilty for the harassment as NCO are themselves (if not more so).

Yes and ultimately they are responsible for the activities of these bullies so a complaint should be made to the original creditor. This way the company will get feedback on the activities of the DCAs. Most large companies would not want to be assoiciated with the advers publicity generated by the dubious activities of some DCAs they employ.

 

 

If we want to put these sharks out of business then we need to stop the Creditors dealing with them.

The only way to do this is to makes the relationship untenable. The Banks and Credit card companies are responsible to shareholders and cannot do with the adverse publicity generated by the activities of the DCAs

 

Sending money direct to Cap One once NCO have contacted them will encourage them to think that the harassment works

I disagree. NCO will be none to pleased that the OC is prepared to take the money direct from the debtor especially as NCO probably paid buttons for the debt in the hope of turning a huge profit. It also leaves Capone having to explain to NCO why they are now collecting money on an account they sold to them

[bed32]

The only way to do this is to makes the relationship untenable. The Banks and Credit card companies are responsible to shareholders and cannot do with the adverse publicity generated by the activities of the DCAs

I would say there is not much better way of making the relationship untenable than for the OC to be faced with a string of court cases resulting from the behaviour of the DCAs.

 

Faced with issues with NCO I took action against the OC (Orange) which they agreed to settle. If a few more people did the same then the OCs would think twice about using the less reputable DCAs

[MajorMajor]

New poster, so first off hello and thank you in advance.

 

Slightly diifferent problem from me as it's not me getting the calls, nor do I owe the money. My parents have recently emmigrated to Spain, and let their house in this country which is providing their income to rent and live in spain. NCO are harassing the tennant in the house (partly because the bloody phone company gave the same number to the new tennant as the one my parents had disconnected . Now the problem here is that the tennant is getting stressed and is excellent and one we'd like to keep (I say 'we' as I'm sorting out all the house whilst they are away. I think in fairness to NCO then there is likely to be a debt that my fathers left, but that's his issue. Any advice?

[ODC]

The tenant should inform NCO in writing that the person they are looking for no longer resides at the address and that they should stop tepelphoning him.

 

He or you could always send the telephone harrasment letter amended to suit

 

Your Street

Town

City

Postcode

DATE HERE

Company Name

Road

Town

City / County

Postcode

 

Re: Harassment by telephone

 

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

Dear Sirs

Telephone number 123456789

 

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

 

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. I am not the person you are looking for and indeed have no knowedge of their present address.

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

 

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

[MajorMajor]

Thanks. I saw that (or a simmilar version) in an earlier post, but this needs me to ask the tenant to send this, and that's far from ideal. I know if any of my old landlords had asked me to send a letter to debt collectors saying they didn't know where the landlord lived then I'd have been packing before the ink was dry. Is there anything I can do, or at worst anything that my father can do? (oh, and I suppose 'pay the debt' is an obvuis answer, but he refuses to tell me how much he owes, and he is retired with only state pension and no assets).

[ODC]

Major Major I suggest you start your own thread about this as there is lots of advice to be given on how to deal with NCO and the like.

[noomill060]

Spoke to solicitors (Cobbets!) about using Protection from Harassment Act against NCO- damages are likely to be less than £5000, so just use the Small Claims track to make a claim for damages caused by their harassment.

 

You need to show at least two instances of harassment.

 

SAR them to get their call log showing the dozens of times they've been in touch.

 

Then LBA

 

Then Small Claim with Particulars of Claim.

 

 

Useful if the "debt" they are chasing contains unlawful charges.

[theomen78]

I've just got another letter from NCO this morning.

 

Its comlaining that I've "failed to remit my monthly payment in accordance with our agreement".

 

It goes on to say "You are therefore advised that payment must be made within forty-eighty hours from the date of this notice for continuation of this agreement" (the letter is dated 22 January, I got it on 26 January, so thats it, I'll have to go and pay the £2338.39 i owe now ).

 

The letter finishes "Should you fail to maintain the above agreement of £0.00, alternative methods may be used to recover the remaining balance".

 

It also demanded that I contact them immediately to discuss.

 

So I did, I phoned them up, and explained that I was a bit confused as its telling me I'm not keeping up with the agreed payment of £0.00, when as far as I am concerned I am maintaining a payment of £0.00. In response, he hung up.

 

So I called back and told them that its totally unacceptable for them to hang up on me, and isn't really a good way of getting me to pay my debts. I explained to another person what was in the letter, and he didn't really give any response to that and told me he'd be sending the account back to the Student Loans to decide what they want to do as they want £140 per month (but the letter clearly states £0.00 )

 

I'm willing to pay more, and my debt management company have been negotiating with them, but they are the only company that are rejecting all offers of repayment (as far as I know they are actually receiving payments while negotiations are going on, so maybe thats their problem, I'm overpaying them).

 

I'm just wondering now whether I can hold them to the £0.00 per month agreement as this is clearly stated in the letter. Maybe I'll send them a letter, with a photocopy of this one and a cheque for £0.00, stating that "I enclose a cheque for the agreed repayment of 0 pounds and 0 pence" and see what they say. Maybe they are stupid enough to accept it.

 

Do you think I could hold them to this, as it is clearly stated in writing? I can't see how they can take me to court for not maintaining the agreed payment of £0.00.

 

Oh well, that provided a bit of amusement for the morning

[Conniff]

..

[Raziel]

They are utter morons!

 

I received a letter on the 18th of January stating that they had passed my account onto a different company, who have a field force. Curiously, this new company has exactly the same address as NCO....

 

On further inspection of this letter I noticed that they had demanded full payment within 48 hours to avoid further action. Imagine my confusion when I spotted the date of the letter - 3rd of January.

 

So, they send me a letter 15 days late and expect me to go back in time to respond within their timescales??

 

Idiots.

 

They did the same kind of thing in December. I received 3 letters in as many days, all of which were back dated to the start of December, I assumed this was to make it appear that I had been ignoring their letters.

 

I sent a payment last week via post and stated that I would make the same payment each month. The day after it was sent they attempted their little ring-back trick when the phone goes dead after you answer it, in the vain hope that you're daft enough to ring them back. Not heard anything since...

 

The other company is "S C Leetham-Locke" and they send out pretty red letters, hopelessly late, just incase you were wondering.

 

[ChrisD36]

They are utter morons!

 

The other company is "S C Leetham-Locke" and they send out pretty red letters, hopelessly late, just incase you were wondering.

 

 

I have received a letter today from NCO saying the same thing.

 

I quote : "As you have failed to fully resolve this account we are left with no alternative but to pass your file and the full account history to the office of S.C. LEATHAM-LOCKE LLB.

 

"They will be instructed to `either` prepare the necessary papers for the commencement of legal action, or to employ the assistance of their FIELD FORCE"

 

I like the `field force` bit. Makes it sound so `tough`!! 8-)

[ODC]

FIELD FARCE more likely.

 

DCAs must have some clown employed devising these grandiose titles.

 

Licensed Field Agent

 

Debt Enquiry Officer