Issue with Credit Corp Australia privacy and outstanding debt living in the UK

[Areolunar]

Hi guys,

I have been reading the forums and the amount of helpful information on here is amazing.

I am hoping to get some advice about my situation.

 

I am an Australian Citizen but recent UK resident and I am having some issues with a DCA at the moment called Credit Corp.

 

Essentially they are chasing me for a 10k personal loan, that I wasn't be able to pay.

I haven't made payments in the last 9 months to 1 year so I am assuming the bank very recently sold it on to them.

 

They have called me at my place of work in the UK to identify me.

I did not want them to call me at work again due to the fact that all calls are recorded and listened to by my boss and I work in quite a small company and I have direct contact daily with the CEO and managing director so I dont want this to cause problems.

 

I have a few questions around privacy concerns and also am wanting some advice around what to do.

 

I am not in a financial position to pay the debt at the moment and I am quite sure I will not be returning to Australia within the foreseeable future to live there.

 

 

I don't want to skip out on this debt,

but I am also not in a position to meet their demands or pay much money as most of my salary is eaten up by high living costs here.

 

 

They have told me they expect me to pay £750-£1000 a fortnight,

this is 4x what I was paying on the loan originally,

and to be honest even if I could afford this I am debating if it is worth paying to this company.

 

 

They have made out like the bank is saying that I have to pay this much,

when further research shows that they buy debt for pennies on the dollar,

so they are trying to make money off of it.

 

I have had 2 discussions with the DCA,

one telling me to pay a lump settlement and one about structuring payments.

 

A few concerns I have at this stage around privacy and coercion are as follows :

 

I believe the DCA found my employment details on Facebook as I made this viewable to friends and friends of friends a few days ago,

 

 

however I don't add people I do not know,

so I am concerned about how they have found this information,

and if it is through Facebook if they are making fake profiles etc,

as I know from a limited amount of research this is not ethical and possibly not legal.

Is there a way for me to find out how they got this information?

 

The DCA rep also asked for my address in the UK and I advised I didn't want to give it to them, they advised me this is required by law.

I do not believe this is correct.

 

 

Can someone please verify this? I have given a past address for now,

and if it is required I can tell them I have moved and give them my new address.

 

If this is a lie, then essentially what can I/should I do about this?

Can I complain, or use this to assist me in getting them to stop contacting me?

 

My main concern at this point is legal ramifications,

which from what I have read for the amount of money I owe I should be fairly ok as they probably won't do much apart from make threats.

 

I am only on a short visa,

but I believe the company I work for will be able to assist me in obtaining a work permit and then eventually I will be able to get residency and a UK passport.

 

This is a fairly recent debt,

so they still have a long time to chase it before statute of limitations set in,

do you guys think it may cause me legal issues down the track

or that if they sell it to a UK debt collection agency that this will cause problems with UK credit?

 

 

I don't have any credit at the moment,

but this may be something that I need to look into further on down the track if I settle here.

 

 

I am also worried they won't stop coming for me for the next 5-6 years at least,

which would be frustrating and stressful,

I guess feeling like I'm looking over my shoulder waiting for the harassment.

 

My main concern is that they will keep harassing me and calling me at work,

as letters emails and personal calls are easier to deal with.

 

 

I have read on the ACCC website that if I write to them and ask them to stop all contact that they will only be able to send court orders etc. and only in writing. Is this accurate?

Or will they continue to hound me, as this is the indication I am getting from other people's posts on here.

 

If this is the case would it be better to ask them to contact me by email or post only?

If they don't oblige I am gathering I can complain to the ACCC either way,

which should help stop them for a little while atleast.

 

I am assuming if I do this they will get their UK attorneys to send me threatening letters and start calling me, again from posts of people in similar situations on this forum.

 

Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated.

My main focus at the moment is just getting rid of them for the moment,

and then looking into the legal ramifications and options and making a plan from there rather than being pressured into someone who is trying to meet their KPI target for the month and lying to me to get my money.

 

Thanks to all the people that have posted similar situations,

it's already been a massive help in easing my mind and helping me not stress about this situation so I can get it resolved one way or the other.

[dx100uk]

I will guess they probably did get your info from social media

they use everything and trick they can to spoof people.

 

 

and yes you are quite correct

theres little they can do to you.

 

 

they are a DCA and totally powerless

as would any UK DCA be.

 

 

the hold they have over you is your embarrassment at work.

if you tell them to stop then they'll intimidate you even more via that methods

as with the UAE debts etc, that's what they do.

 

 

we've not seen one court case that if defended has been 'won' by them.

 

 

I think you credit file might have played a part in this too.

 

 

if the ACCC website is a route stopping the works contact then use it , I don't know about that route.

 

 

one thing you must do though is stop conversing on the phone

you are under NO legal obligation to converse about your debts that way.

 

 

its all about intimidation that's all a DCA can do.

most certainly don't pay them anything.

 

 

dx

[unclebulgaria67]

Yep a complaint to the ACCC is the way to go. Get Credit Corp to act properly by doing this.

 

You should not be dealing with debt collectors at all, unless they provide legal documentation to show that they are legally entltled to receive payment of the debt. Even then you ask them to provide original copies of any credit arrangement with the Aussie Bank, copies of statements, default notice. Once provided, you negotiate affordable repayments, based on interest being frozen and no additional charges being added.

 

Because an Aussie debt is likely to be enforceable in a UK court, you can't ignore completely forever. At some stage it would be passed to UK Solicitors to take forward. So deal with it head on. Complaint ACCC, then see how it goes. Demand copies of all documents, if the debt is pursued further.

 

You might find that if you don't present yourself an easy target, that they might give up.

[Areolunar]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your quick responses

 

I wish I had found this information before talking to the DCA.

It would have helped a lot.

They have emailed me a notice of assignment.

Is this the legal docs you are referring to?

 

If so what would be my next step from here?

Asking them to provide all of the documents referring to my file and the original debt?

 

I have found the information, and apologies it wasn't on ACCC, the link is below:

 

http://help.consumeraction.org.au/debt-collection-im-being-hassled-by-a-debt-collector-what-should-i-do/

 

It ays that I can ask the DCA to take court action instead of contacting me,

but on reflection I feel like that is a bit of a risky move,

as I can see that previous posters have been gone after for less than I owe,

and I don't want the stress and lost time of having to deal with legal issues if I can avoid them.

 

I think it would be better to advise them to contact me in writing only, for now atleast.

This way according to the website above they cannot contact me by phone unless they cannot contact me by an alternative method.

 

Do you think I should provide my current address?

I am worried if it comes to a point of a uk DCA or the solicitors they usually try and use taking over the debt they may then send people to where I live,

 

 

but at the same time I don't want to miss any important information or find myself in trouble because I didn't get the mail they received if it comes to the point of legal action or atleast the threat of it.

 

What are your thoughts on this?

 

They have essentially advised that they will allow me to pay the whole amount for a reduced fee,

which I cannot do,

or that I can pay a lump sum of around £3000 and they will freeze the interest,

but again,

this is not something within my reach.

 

I only have about another year on my visa,

I am at this stage not particularly tied to the UK,

apart from potential sponsorship from my job,

I don't really have any other ties to the country.

 

 

It sounds terrible, but I am also thinking it I encounter problems then I can always consider forgetting the job, and moving on to somewhere else.

 

 

I have lived and worked internationally before I moved here,

and would not be opposed to doing so again if it is proving difficult to get sponsored.

 

Again any advice you can provide would be much appreciated. X

Thank you!

[dx100uk]

wherever the DCA resides they still ARE NOT BAILIFFS

and have

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS.

 

 

ok they've sent a notice of assignment

which means they now own the debt

but they've bought it for pittance

and offered a discount...

 

 

it will not hurt to give them a UK address.

'cause no uk DCA has any powers anyway.so....

dx

[unclebulgaria67]

Agree.

There is no need for any rash decisions on this.

 

 

The debt is quite small in comparison to others that have never ended up near a court.

I think i have seen debts over near £30,000 not go to court as the UK Solicitors give up when they realise that the debtor can only afford very small regular payments, with no assets such as a house with equity to go after.

 

Make the complaint to ACCC about contact by the DCA.

Give the DCA your UK residential address and insist on written communications only.

You don't want to challenge them to take you to court.

You don't have to say anything about the debt or offer any payment at this stage.

 

This is just a game, to see whether the DCA can make money, without incurring costs.

Any UK Solicitors will give up, unless they can secure a large repayment to take their fees from.