friends paying a DCA on a 118118 PDL loan subject to ID theft - Help!

[Margot the Snail]

Hello, I'm hoping some kind soul might advise?

A young relative has recently revealed to me that approx 2 years ago a loan was taken out in their name, they only learning of this when default was actioned.

It seems she has been in telephone contact with the loan company who have told her that there is insufficient evidence of it not being her and that she is liable.

They have sold the debt, and the debt management company have written off a large amount of the interest and she is paying about £4K back from her minimum wage monthly, which is clearly problematic and unjust.

My question is

- where can I go/where do I start to try to help her?

 I'd like to try to unpick things - she seems to have reported to the police at the time, and got a crime reference number, but been told they don't deal with these matters and it's between her and the loan company, and feeling helpless when they've rejected her report she's agreed a monthly plan with the debt management company.

She tells me she contacted Step Change for advice but they could only advise on accepted debts/IVA etc....

Any guidance would be much appreciated - thank you

Margot the Escargot

[dx100uk]

stop paying NOW.

i will guess this is ACI/Perch Capital? DCA? or is it lowells?

and an old per loan (who was the original creditor please? Amigo loan?) someone used her name on?

a DCa is NOT A BAILIFF

and have 

ZERO legal powers on ANY debt

no matter WHAT it's type.

good she has a crime ref number too!

dx

 

[BankFodder]

They should also send the loan company a subject access request immediately to find out as much as possible about the circumstances of the loan loan.

When they received the statutory disclosure they should keep the originals for themselves and supply copies to the police to help them in their investigation assuming there is any .

When they received the disclosure then come back here

 

[London1971]

Yup, for goodness sake she needs to stop paying right now, DCA's are powerless, as . 

Is it showing on their credit file?

Best to use Check my file.

All of the above advice is excellent, definitely SAR the loan company as soon as possible.

[dx100uk]

would be nice if the OP responded to this thread after asking for urgent advice.....

[Margot the Snail]

Thank you for your pointers - much appreciated.

dx100uk - Apologies, my request wasn't for super urgent advice and I have limited online access due to my long working hours and caring obligations - the delay in my response doesn't arise in any way from disrespect or ingratitude.

I will speak to her at the weekend and see if she will open up a bit more about this, and allow me to submit the subject access request you advise - the original creditor is 118 118 loans and from the letter I saw (which prompted the conversation and the information) the debt collection agency had bought the debt from 118 and were threatening enforcement which is when she has made a payment arrangement with them for an amount of £180 per month.

It looks as if she queried matters at the time (so I wonder if I might with the FIO request get access to their investigation file?) - the letter they wrote said

"The information that you provided has been carefully considered and reviewed. After all relevant enquiries were made it has been confirmed that there is not enough evidence present to conclusively prove that this application was fraudulent. 

However, we have removed the interest as a gesture of goodwill. As a result of the findings, you will be held liable for the capital amount on the loan on the basis of the information found during the investigation and you will be pursued for repayment of the loan agreement executed on 2.11.2022 in accordance with Consumer Credit Act 1974" 

The amount at that time was over £3600 in arrears, as no payments had been made on it since inception and I think she only found out about it when a default notice came in paper form.

I'm a little reluctant to advise her to just stop paying, and would like to be able to form a view in relation to her position and options before unsetting the applecart - do you think this is reasonable?

She is young and inexperienced with these things and getting into this situation has brought about a lot of shame regarding inability to sort things out/stand up for herself, which is one of the reasons I have only found out about this considerably later

Thank you once again for your advice - it is very much appreciated.

 

 

[London1971]

Unsettling the applecart?,  I'm going to be direct here, I know how this works , I've been in far worse situation than your relative, and I can assure you , now that there i likely a default in her name, it makes absolutely ZERO difference if she pays or not.

Denzel Washington in the Equalizer , 'My only regret is that I can't kill you twice'... It's the same with a default, they can only do it once and it stays on your credit file for 6 years if she pays or not, and as it stands right now she's flushing £180 of her hard earned money down the toilet  so that the chaps at Lowell can afford a Christmas party.

As for the SAR this is everybody's legal right, originally under the Data Protection act 1998 and now under GDPR, it's her right to find out everything that the original Creditor has on her file, and by not doing it the only person she is doing a massive disservice to is her self. As the father of 2 young adults myself, they need to learn at some point.. right?

[dx100uk]

11 minutes ago, Margot the Snail said:

the debt collection agency had bought the debt from 118 and were threatening enforcement

a DCA is not a bailiff and cant enforce anything, even if they've been to court

who are they please?

14 minutes ago, Margot the Snail said:

It looks as if she queried matters at the time (so I wonder if I might with the FIO request get access to their investigation file?)

sar to the original creditor FIO isnt applicable they are not a public body. who was this query sent too

16 minutes ago, Margot the Snail said:

She is young and inexperienced with these things

all the more reason to teach her young upon how these powerless DCA's monsters  work... she must stop payments now

 

[dx100uk]

22 hours ago, dx100uk said:

i will guess this is ACI/Perch Capital?

1000% perch capital..

they are the only ones that regularly appear here that they buy up non defaulted/active PDL loans subject to existing disputes or defunked original creditors the FCA closed down through mass consumer complaints. 

then operate under the irresponsible lending guidelines by removing interest/charges when mugs complaint - its not mine/ID theft/it was given to me when i already had a bucket load of defaults , unpaid lending etc etc and reduce it to just the principle sum loaned to spoof their prey into paying ,

[Margot the Snail]

Thank you.

I will get on to the SAR request.

I am not sure now who the DCA are - I have a feeling it might be the ACI group but will try to pull back the letter they wrote from her to see and update with that once I have it.

She queried it initially with 118 118 when she received the default notice I think.

Thanks again - your help and support is much appreciated and I will talk to her about stopping her payments at the weekend.

[dx100uk]

ACI are part of the Perch Capital group along with TM legal.