Allied International Credit

[owen moor]

I have been dealing with AIC for 2 months, I have now sent them a cca request (recorded delivery) and a stern warning about continuing phone calls or attempting personal visits, and so far received none, however they have completely disregarded my cca request and sent another collection letter threatening some sort of 'action' if I did not call their 0141 number immmediately.. So I have sent them a follow up letter detailing the phone calls (to make a record of it.. for them to at least have to contest) I do not believe that the call was recorded as the caller would surely not have mentioned certain things in complete disregard for the codes of conduct that they are required in law to abide by.

 

After studying at length the number of grievances on this forum alone to do with this company, I suggest that a collective action be instigated against them, if we get enough petitioners we can carry enough weight for the Financial Ombudsman to effectively shut them down.. but more importantly, the fact that the high street banks like RBS who have defaulted to the tune of 10's of billions ( and bailed out by us) can carry on to receive and give credit as well as self service huge company bonuses, highlights a huge moral issue here - they sign up for a banking code of conduct and then employ the likes of AIC or Capquest to effectively do their dirty work for them and contravene almost every rule in the book.. this is simply obscene and must be highlighted in the media, I can think of lots of ways of doing this but people must combine to become a more collective voice to simply put a stop to this practice which is being instigated as a back door collection method by the banks and credit card companies.

 

We also need to research the company AIC and find who its company directors are and their credentials.

 

Here is a copy of my second reply letter FYI.

 

I would like to make a complaint against your company. The details are set out below.

 

You have not acknowledged my letter sent to you via recorded delivery on October 16th 2009, in which I made it clear that I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY.

In that letter I requested an original copy of my credit agreement, which I understand should have been supplied within 12 working days from that letter.

 

This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request. Your obligation also extends to providing me with a statement of account. In my recorded letter I enclosed a £1 postal order for each account, which represented payment of the statutory fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I also requested by the same recorded delivery letter a signed true copy of the executed deed of assignment for the above referenced agreement, and a fair processing notice.

 

I was informed in the telephone conversations with your company representative, Mr Green, that the calls were being recorded, and as is my right I also included in my requests in the recorded letter of the 16th October 2009, that I wished to be provided with the audio recordings in full.

 

During those telephone conversations Mr Green directly stated and gave me ill founded financial advice, to the extent that he suggested that I take out a loan from elsewhere to service this debt, I been the victim of a business insolvency, and when I mentioned that I was trying to continue in my business, he further stated, or rather threatened, that unless I paid one of the three ‘solutions’ (which I stated I could not afford) that AIC could make it difficult or prevent me from running a business!

 

Furthermore, I was offered a ‘settlement’ figure of £3000 on the phone, which I asked for in writing to then be told I could receive it in writing but then it would be more!

 

I also stated that I had paid the minimum balance off the card for a 7 year period without ever missing a payment and yet owed more on the card having never used it than 7 years ago - as I had found the card in question to have been ‘rate-jacked’ up to an astronomical 34.9%

 

I have now researched your company and have made contact with numerous people who have very similar issues with your working practices and ethics and I believe the statutory authorities need to be made aware of all of these instances and should take away your license to practice in debt collection as you clearly pay no heed to their rules and guidelines and act in a totally irresponsible manner.

 

Furthermore I clearly referenced in my recorded letter that non-compliance with my requests and continued collection activity including telephone calls and or personal visits would be viewed as harassment and would result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, as is my right under the Administration of Justice Act.

 

I hereby note for the record that you have sent a further letter to me dated 20th November 2009 in which you make no reference whatsoever to my recorded letter dated 16th October 2009 and the rightful requests I made and detailed above, rather, it is another letter detailing in actual fact, further collection activity and an implied threat of action towards me if I did not call you on the telephone number 0141 228 3052 immediately, disregarding again the fact that I had clearly stated that you are required by law to substantiate the claim before I correspond further on the matter and that I viewed telephone calls and personal visits as harassment.

 

In summary, there are clear responsibilities that have to be adhered to in consumer law and upheld by the Office of Fair Trading, who will be given a full report on the nature of this dispute. The same can be said for the credit services and the regulatory body the CSA, and the Financial Ombudsman.

 

I understand that you must send a written acknowledgement of my complaint within 5 business days of its receipt.

 

If you fail to resolve my complaint, or if matters are not settled to my satisfaction, I will have no alternative but to escalate my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This could result in you being ordered to pay compensation if my complaint is upheld.

 

I look forward to your reply.

[BiGaD09]

Very interseting!!

As it happens I sent a CCA request to Sechairi Clarke & Mitchell back in September, nothing back except a letter asking for payment. I sent them a letter back saying they've commited an offence by not responding to a CCA request and now I get a demand for payment this morning from Allied International? So they've passed it on. Any advice, templated letters to send them?:-?

 

I've had exactly the same with D&G solicitors (a part of HSBC) passing on an account that has been in dispute for a year. It seems AIC are a bottom of the barrel DCA and a last resort when the bank doesn't have a case. With regards to legality, the debt cannot be passed on or sold whilst the account is in dispute. As you have sent a CCA request and they have not complied I think it's safe to say you dispute the debt. Write to AIC and inform them of this and make sure to tell them they are breaking the law by trying to enforce payment on a previously disputed account and that they should return ot to the previous creditor. The template letter I used was given to me by another cagger. i can't find the copy at the moment but it's on a thread I started "one DCA to another". Hope this helps.

[owen moor]

Hi BiGaD,

 

Thanks for posting a reply to help.

 

That is much appreciated.

 

I am actually quite concerned at the moment of the whole situation regarding an apparent free-for-all for these cowboy agencies who clearly need to be put out of business, I certainly intend to do this, though the far bigger picture is the banks and card companies themselves who portray a 'helpful bank' high street image on one side, while in practice actually employing back street operators such as the likes of AIC to do their dirty work to get around banking code practices they have signed up to.

 

For the greater good we all need to collectively find what weight in numbers we can attract to create a petition to the Financial Ombudsman and OFT, I will do my utmost to hi-light this in the public eye in the media.

 

Kind regards

 

Owen.

[scared001]

ive also got these idiots writing and calling me, i never pick up and throw their letters away, i think they are acting on halifaxs behalf. ive just emailed halifax a very angry letter and am going to report them to TS, OFT, FSA.....re AIC, is there a letter i can send that basically tells them to get lost politely.....

[palomino]

employing back street operators such as the likes of AIC to do their dirty work to get around banking code practices they have signed up to.

 

The banking code has been drawn up by the Bankers Association http://www.bba.org.uk. Conformance with the code is entirely voluntary and there is no sanction at all if you don't comply. It has no legal force whatsoever.

[palomino]

Actually I found this on the BBA site - BBA – British Bankers' Association - Debt and Enforceability Seminar

 

I wonder if I can sign up for the seminar?

[griffin036]

Has anybody got an email address for AIC?

 

They are in the habit of sending texts messages to a mobile, and yet the number is unable to accept return texts. I rather just email them and tell them to check their mail when they say they havent heard from me, than waste money on a phone call.