Egg/DLC Debt Collectors

[rory32]

I would also suggest you start your thread in the Debt Collection subforum or the General Debt subforum.

[Poppet888]

Hi, I've just read through this thread and need some advice.

 

I have a credit card with Egg and agreed limit of £500. Unfortunately, my bank cancelled the direct debit after one of my payments bounced (the payments ranged from £12 to £14 a month, there was never a set amount which was confusing). Egg then upped the limit to £560 without my consent (?)

 

A month later Egg contacted me via the phone stating that my account was £280 over the limit due to charges and demanded I paid the sum immediately to bring the balance into the agreed £560. I explained to them that I was a recently unemployed single mother and had a lengthy conversation about my outgoings. I offered to pay a £50 chunk on the spot and start the repayments immediately. They stated that because my minimum payments were so low and I'd stopped paying it, that there was nothing they could do. I was informed that if I didn't pay the full £280 within 30 days a default notice would be served.

 

As promised, the default came through, and I have received ONE letter from DLC which arrived yesterday but have had several phone calls from them over the past couple of weeks. I have informed them that the number they are calling is that of my 89 year old grandfather (they claim to have obtained his phone number because they couldn't contact me on mine, and we are neighbours - they recognised the surname) but they still continue to attempt contact with me via his home phone. They have my mobile number but never use it.

 

Today, my grandfather received a strange phone call from one of their representatives who informed him that I was expecting their call without leaving any of their details. The representative was overly friendly and assuming it was a friend of mine calling, he gave them my second mobile number in confusion (which is strictly reserved for emergencies involving my child). They haven't called me yet but I really don't want them calling on this number.

 

I'm not sure what to do. The charges on the Egg credit card were outrageous and my account has been passed over to the debt collectors dispite my explanations that the amount they were demanding was more than I live on in a month.

 

Any advice on my next step would be very much appreciated. I haven't arranged any repayments with DLC as yet, but I'm concerned about the situation as they insist on calling my grandads house phone and he is elderly and confused.

[rory32]

Poppet888 I have given you some advice in your own thread.

[Mistermind]

The likes of DLC employ telephone monkeys at £5 an hour, and I believe they are paid commission, the more they can squeeze out of a distressed debtor the more commission they get. Hence many of these monkeys overstep the line, and forgetting their rules and guidelines use their imagination to invent ruses to embarass and frighten the unfortunate, those temporarily down on their readies. In so doing they hurt others not only financially but mentally.

 

DLC are licensed by the OFT to be debt collectors and there are clear rules. I suggest you type an immediate letter to DLC Company Secretary who will have more sense, asking him pointblank for his OFT licence number, and pointing out the outlandish behaviour of his underlings. And to send a copy of said letter to Emma Clayton at Egg so that she with far greater intelligence and grace will read the riot act to DLC. And also send a letter to the OFT -- there IS a separate licensing office in west London, should find their address on the internet. Even if you cannot reach the right office no matter, the point is to show DLC both sides can escalate, and they need to consider the safety of their licence.

 

You obviously do want to pay, and nobody can get blood out of a stone. Best of luck.

[angry cat]

The OFT is curently looking at DLC part of Hillesden Securities, to ascertain as to whether they are treating customers fairly! We all know that they are NOT.

 

Please register your complaints against DLC or Hillesden with Consumer Direct, as the information gets logged and passed on to the OFT and...

write, making a formal complaint to:-

Mr. Bill Johnson

Debt Team

Office of Fair Trading

2 - 6 Salisbury Square

London EC4 8JX.

 

make sure that you provide them with details of your complaint; dates of contacts you have had with DLC/Hillesden and their responses.

 

Love AC

[Rawwr]

..

Edited August 9, 2008 by Rawwr

[Rawwr]

..

Edited August 9, 2008 by Rawwr

[Rawwr]

..

Edited August 9, 2008 by Rawwr

[babble]

Just a little point to add - 'we have field collectors who do what we do but face to face'

 

Sorry to inform you of this but the OFT guidelines say that you have to make an appointment for a field collector to call. If you do not you're in breach. Also, and more importantly, your field collectors DO NOT have the right to visit someone's property. If they go to someones property they are tresspassing. If they are told to leave they have to leave and can not come back otherwise it is aggravated tresspass - this is a criminal offence.

 

Not even the police have a statutory right to visit your property (true read the law if you don't believe me) without a warrant. Only the postman and the utility companies (to make repairs) can step on your property uninvited.

[lard girl]

Hi Brad

 

 

 

The only way they may be able to 'force' a change of payment is via a court action. If they were to choose this option, it would be for the court to decide what amount you were capable of paying, based on an income/expenditure questionnaire.

 

I have my own 'version' of this if you would like one. It might help you to see how payments to creditors are apportioned. Anyway, I digress....

 

Likewise, full payment would have to be by court order, but as per above, if you haven't got the money, the court can only act with what you have.

 

A fair and reasonable attempt to make payments will always mean that the court would frown on a DCA or creditor that then involved it.

 

 

 

There is no use if this - even if they haven't purchased the debt, they've been instructed to deal with it, so Egg may not even discuss matters with you directly anymore.

 

 

 

You've already told them - in writing - that they should not contact you by phone. This is now harrassment. You should make an official complaint to the OFT.

 

If you receive a telephone call in the mean time, have this with you and quote the following...

 

"I am now taping the rest of this conversation: (Pause for effect) and I am putting you on notice that I intend reporting you to Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, under Section 40 of The Administration of Justice Act 1970, for Harassment. Furthermore, I will from this point on, only communicate with you in writing and if I receive one more telephone call from you or your organisation, I will see that you face criminal proceedings under Section 2 of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 - and before you say anything further, you may be interested to know that your consumer credit license will not protect you from prosecution. Are we now absolutely clear on this matter?"

 

If they don't end the call themselves, simply hang up. If you have any way of recording calls, do so.

 

Also, taken from the CCCS website......

 

 

It feels like my creditors are harassing me, what are my rights?

 

It is often difficult to know what to do when you feel a creditor is not dealing with your account fairly. If you do not pay, your creditors are allowed to keep reminding you from time to time but they must not act illegally. Many activities could be classed as harassment but this is often difficult to prove. It is important to note that 'anything done by a person which is reasonable' when trying to recover a debt, is not considered to be harassment.

Guidelines have been put together by The Office Of Fair Trading giving guidance on what activities may be considered as harassment and should therefore be avoided by creditors.

Creditors are warned by the Office Of Fair Trading that they should not: -

• Bring unreasonable pressure to bear on you in default of payment

• Falsely claim that criminal proceedings can be brought for non-payment

• Falsely imply that they may legally seize property or take other action without going to Court

• Impersonate a Court or any other official person, by letter or by telephone

• Make nuisance visits and phone calls, or use abusive or threatening language in person, by letter or by telephone

• Leave messages for you to contact someone urgently with no explanation

• Contact you at work, or the customer's employer with intent to create embarrassment and create fear of dismissal

• Wait outside work on payday

• Park outside your door in a vehicle marked 'debt collectors'

• Call on the neighbours, pretending to believe the neighbour is you

• Send insufficiently addressed postcards

You cannot be prosecuted in the Criminal Court because you have not paid a consumer debt, but some creditors may try to make you think you can, this is also illegal.

If you feel you are being harassed, you may take the following action:

 

The first step is to write to the creditor and outline your concerns regarding the company's behaviour. Inform them that you are familiar with the terms of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act and ask that the creditor take steps to avoid similar occurrences in the future. Make suggestions as to how you would prefer to be contacted by the creditor and ask that they confirm their agreement to this in writing.

 

However if you do feel the need to make an official complaint regarding a creditor, this should firstly be made to your local Trading Standards Officer. If Trading Standards will not act it may be worth contacting the Office of Fair Trading.

 

I hope this is of help to you Brad, please don't hesitate to ask further questions. Other members of the site are trained debt counsellors and I'm sure will pick up on this thread soon.

 

John

You cannot be prosecuted in the Criminal Court because you have not paid a consumer debt, but some creditors may try to make you think you can, this is also illegal.

 

I am being chased at the moment by DLC for an egg loan default, only one month down. HOwever, they are threatening legal action, what does this mean?

 

I have told them that I am talking to EGG about this, who are actually still sending me letters, the last one which said "It's not too late"!!!!!!!

 

I am in a position to make a payment to them at the moment, but i don't want to pay dlc.

 

Any advice?

[Mistermind]

Egg are still talking to you. There is no need to talk to the telephone monkeys when the monkeys' keeper is talking to you.

 

Getting shirty after just one month payment behind is extraordinary, but we live in extraordinary times. Egg's owners Citigroup lost 50 billion dollars in one year from the Subprime disaster, with 15,000 job cuts worldwide and no end in sight. Egg's anxiety could be due to their good selves being short of the readies, unable to borrow on the interbank market except at extortionate rates of interest.

 

I should pay Egg direct and tell the monkeys that the keeper said hello.

[student414]

Whilst at uni i was studying a degree which meant i was supposed to go abroad for a year and receive a grant from the university whilst i was away. I decided to leave my course before i was meant to go abroad and informed the uni that i was leaving. i completed all the necessary forms required for the university to take me off the course and thought nothing of it.

 

I then had £963.70 deposited into my account in the following january with no reference to where it had come from. I believed it to have been bank charges which i had been persuing and though nothing of it.

 

Last september the university contacted me to tell me that they had sent me the money by mistake and i must pay it back. i did not pay it back as i am still a student and although setting up a repayment scheme i could not keep to it.

 

They passed on the debt to TNC based in scotland. This company did not contact me but rang my mother and were extremely rude to her. They rang me today after i gave them my number and also rang my mother and told me that i had 3 months to repay or they would take me to court and i would have a ccj against me.

 

Any advice would be very grateful.

[Mistermind]

Egg forum is a quiet backwater, and you are unlikely to get sufficiently wide readership. Your problem originated from the other party's mistake, and you are seeking to establish the legal position and best available option in the real world.

 

Suggest you click on the blue bar near the top

 

Search --> Advanced Search --> set keyword to "Mistake" --> set search from thread title only --> start search.

 

You will find many threads returned from many forums, some quite similar to your own situation. You will get a plethora of views and the experience from others who went before you. After you have had a read, suggest you choose the most helpful forum as judged from the above, then re-post your own thread therein telling your own story.

 

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[student414]

Thanks very much

[mina2974]

dlc does not have many debts with egg that are brought, the main brought debts would be mbna and barclay card, the offices are set in divisions, brought debt, orange, mortgages etc, the staff are not on commission but do have team targets that can win them bonus for example the person with the highest number of payments made by debit or credit card would win the monthly prize, new starter's get one week of training, 3 days of learning computer system, letter codes and general admin, one day of telephone skills ( good morning this is sam calling for mrxx please could you contact dlc on 88888888) and finaly a day on not breaching the dpa (the fear of god is put into all new starters about this, you are taught to try and get information out of clients children, parents and to catch as many phone numbers as possible, alot of staff have never been shown where cca's are kept, land registery and financial information are taken from credit reports (cais), when debts are passed on they used to go to scotcall, this is done by the call centre staff via i computer code

hope this helps someone

Sam

[chilli_bird]

Juat a Q

If you have a mortgage can they turn around and say they will want equity in your home?? Can they do that?? really

[Redcat09]

When my husband was made redundant we notifed everyone of his creditors, it was only Egg and DCL which were so aggressive in their tactics. My husband has to work abroad in a post which is not very well paid, he has also been ill and he required an operation which meant he had to recuppertate for some 12 weeks but due to Egg/DCL's harrassment he had to return to work much sooner than the consultant advised. They also caused me to have a nervous breakdown due to their telephone calls morning, mid morning and afternoon and evenings. This had a serious effect on my mental and physical health, my home phone has now been disconnected. I wrote to advise them I was being put on short time at work (as I am assisting my husband to clear this debt to Egg, they then demanded I make higher payments and that they would obtain a court order. They know that any court order or CJJ would mean dismissal from my job and it is this that they threaten me with. But not so openly. I have tried to get them to deal with this situation in writing but they will not, they now constantly call my mobile phone leaving messages to call them. Before a payment is due they will also call me approximately 3 times a day. I have had to take on a second job, against medical advice, to make ends meet I am not in good health but the harrassment is too much and I want to get rid of Egg and DCL. The last note in this thread I notice is May 2006. Egg/DCL have been extremely busy since then harrassing their debtors , we used to be called their customers, I think I will have to change my mobile number next.

[Mistermind]

Hi Redcat,

 

Suggest you click SEARCH in the top blue bar, then click ADVANCED SEARCH, then input keyword HARASSMENT - in thread title only. That will return many threads which will offer good info, not least the sticky thread below started by the boss man.

 

Telephone harassment - an action plan

 

Egg voluntarily offered to lend during the good times, so as to make a profit. You are already trying your best to honour your debt. They knew what the risks of lending were, now in bad times they cannot expect blood from a stone.

 

Best wishes to yourself and family. Cheers!

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi All!

 

Redcat09,in reply your post:

 

1.NEVER allow the DCAs/creditors to hassle you.

 

2.Personally,I opted to completely change my mobile number and refuse to totally speak to them on the phone.

 

3.However,I have worked out what I can afford and send those payments to the creditors.

 

4.If you read through my previous posts,I have had several bad experiences like many other CAGgers and driven almost to the brink of madness with harassment calls namely from MBNA and Humpty Dumpty.The harassment stopped when I threatened legal action plus changing the number of course.The main thing is to take control and if I did it plus many other CAGgers - so can you and your husband.By doing this you get into much better control over your lives and feel much better.

 

5.Also,I would like to mention that if any of the balance owed consists of PPI(Payment Protection Insurance) you may be able to get a refund as the misseling of this utterly useless product was rife as most of the time this type of insurance policy is not worth the paper it is printed on.

 

6.Also you could sue for harassment - follow the links on this site as Mistermind has suggested.

 

Anyway,I hope this helps.

 

If you have any questions,just ask.

 

Keep us posted.

 

All the best!

Edited March 8, 2009 by Nightmare4banks

[DebtConcerned]

Hi Guys,

 

Interesting forum and I've enjoyed and taken in all your advice, so thank you thusfar guys.

 

I was reading back a few pages that DLC are actually pretty powerless. Is this true? I had a contract with a phojne company and then couldn't fulfill the payment of my bill after losing my job at the time due to our wonderful recession.

 

After a while of struggling, sure enough DLC were employed to chase the debt and the usual barrage of texts, phonecalls and so forth have been sent.

 

I nervously and very cautiously played their game for a bit. Firstly they demanded the lot over the phone there and then, which I challenged and then was further told it would be going to Court immediatly if I didn't offer to settle there and then. Then when I asked for a repayment plan, I was then told - that the outstanding Debt was £315, if I wanted to pay in instalments it would be a total £715 as I would have to pay a charge to get out of my existing contract.

 

I informed them I actually wanted to stay with the contract when things were better as I enjoyed the service, but that's probably no longer an option. Then they tell me yes it is an option for reconnection so long as I pay a balance of £315 now.

 

I of course couldn't do this, they said the only way to avoid Court Action would be to give them my Card Details which they would hold on record until the end of the month, then I would have to call back and pay at least half the £315, the other being settled at the end of the following month.

 

I agreed in a panic and I heard no more from them. I started to get on my feet with Self Employment and started to get some headway, but still not enough to survive AND settle the amounts they were asking for at once. I called them immediatly and reported this for which they informed me that re-negotiation of payment terms is not possible; unless I paid a £10 holding charge (which I paid) and then told to send details of my Self Employed earnings and living expenses, which I sent, after calling me numerous times to chase the total balance again.

 

The matter would have to go to their Solicitors (probably some outfit in the next room) and sure enough a letter arrived asking for the full amount form a Solicitor that was conviniently at the same address as DLC, I called them and asked why this had happened since I followed their instruction to supply my new financial details and income information. They replied with "make us an offer" so I did £40 a month, which I stuck to for the first two months and I received no hassle from them.

 

This month I called to inform them my payment would be late, but I'd afford to pay a little more off my balance so not to worry. They informed that if the balance and agreement weren't met on the date agreed IT WOULD go to Court, that date was last Wednesday.

 

I've only just found myself in a position to sort them out this weekend, which I will call obviously and offer, but I can't help wondering in the meanwhile a) do they even have the power to take it to Court and b) if so how long does it take, do I now have Bailiffs headed my way, it just seems like when I last spoke that any offer of payment at this late stage was still a breach of agreement and they seem hell bent on getting the full amount again (which I can't afford) or taking me to Court.

 

Surely if I've offered SOMETHING this weekend, despite it being a week or so late, it's still an offer to pay and they have to accept it right?

 

 

[Littlemissaimee]

Hi, can someone help me...well my boyfriend

 

In 2004 (before we met) he was silly and took out a store card for Burton with a limit of £250...and spent the limit

 

 

In 2007 after we met he had afew financial problems...burton store card, contract phone bills (orange and t-mobile), provident etc, well i manage to sort out the contract phones and the provident and they we're soon cleared.

However the Burton was passed onto GE MONEY in 2005 to make payments to pay off the store card. However payments were missed and in 2006 it was again passed on to another company called Lewis Debit Recovery...and the bill was just over £350

 

He was contacted by a guy from the company (cannot remember his name) and he said that if my boyfriend paid £287 in full then they would wipe the debit due to the lenght of time its taken to get it sorted. So i wrote a cheque, added my boyfriends name and referance number to the back of the cheque. And a week later he phoned this guy up to ask if he recieved the cheque and if it was all sorted now and cleared...to which he reply was YES and the debit was now cleared...

 

But now over 2years later DLC have phoned my boyfriend saying they have taken over the debit and that its at £462...he tried to explain to them that we sent a cheque but they guy said they had brought the debit and wanted payments for it...so i spoke to the guy and said that i had paid the debit off by sending a cheque...but they want evidence of a letter etc to say its been sorted, which we dont have...because it was all done over the phone

 

 

Can someone help...i dont know what to do, i paid the debit for my boyfriend and now hes getting phone calls every week asking if we've found the letter.

 

Aimee

[Mistermind]

Without paper evidence it would be hard to back up your version of events. If you can obtain your bank statement from 2007 to pinpoint the date your £287 cheque reached your bank account. Armed with the exact date write to the head honcho at Lewis Debit Recovery to point out you paid them as full and final satisfaction. The fact that for 2 years Lewis made no more contact with you affirms that they were satisfied. Unless Lewis specifically want to eat their cake and have it, they will confirm your story, if not to confirm F & F satisfaction, then that your debt was £300+ and you did pay £287 in 2007.

 

If you can obtain a photocopy or original of your cleared £287 cheque naming Lewis as payee that would strengthen your demand for confirmation from Lewis. 2 years on it is not certain whether your bank has shredded your cheque, but they might be able to retrieve it from microfiche archives, but it could cost you £20(?) and 4 weeks wait?

 

If you do all these positive things and demonstrate thoroughness, the party harassing you on spec will think twice, whether you will fight them or bring in the regulator with the same thoroughness and persistence. It would not be worth their while to press for blood from the stone when they can squeeze blood from some other passive weakling elsewhere.

 

But do get every confirmation on paper. If they say good morning, say please can I have it on paper?

 

Good luck! I am sure you would not have to pay twice, not when you can reproduce evidence of your payment by cheque.

[bradkb]

This topic was closed on 11 March 2019.

If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there.

If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened.

- Consumer Action Group