Advice on DLC/Hillsden Securities

[BeingHarrassed]

This site looks like it's really informative.....I've had three individual debts from Egg passed to DLC (£10,000 in total).

I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and will be on maternity leave from the middle of May. DLC first contacted me about 2 weeks ago and asked for me to pay the entire balance in full. I said it was not possible as i'm a single mother to be and could not afford it. The woman kept on and on at me - saying they would accept 10% of the full amount - which again I said I could not afford. I kept offering £20 a month (which is a stretch at the moment) but she didn't want to accept that. Over and over again - I said to her "I DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY NOW" but it was almost like I was talking to myself. I said a few times - you will have to take me to court if you can't accept this. But again she kept talking over me saying well how about you pay £500 now!

 

She threatened to write to my employer telling them about my debt and ended up making me cry (pregnancy hormones not good - and thought she would tell my employer and i'd lose my job)

 

Anyway - the upshot is that she eventually bullied me into making a payment of £25 and told me to send a letter with a payslip showing how much I earned. I looked at some advice after this - and so decided not to send a payslip - but I sent a letter saying I didn't want any further correspondence by phone - and that i'm offering a payment of £20 a month AT LEAST until i've had my baby and have returned to full time work after my maternity leave.

 

Last wednesday I was admitted to hospital with pregnancy related problems - and had a call from them on my mobile on Friday - I said I'm in hospital and not willing to speak to them at that time - and put the phone down. I then had TWO further calls and messages left on Friday night and again this morning another two. I made the mistake of answering as i was expecting a call from my mother arranging to pick me up. The woman said she was from DLC and I said you are harrassing me - you've called over 6 times despite that fact i've told you i'm in hospital. She started shouting at me and I just hung the phone up. I mean how inconsiderate can you be??? She didn't even know what i was in hospital for and she was shouting at me!

 

I really want to know where I should go from here? I've not sent a CCA letter - I'm not sure if I should seeing as i sent one letter offering to pay £20 a month? Can anyone advise me! I'm sorry for rambling - but being pregnant has frazzled my brain. I've NEVER been in debt before - and I know I owe this debt - but being pregnant and single has meant money is really tight. Any help would be gratefully received!!!

[TotallyWithoutPrejudice]

Hi, Beingharrassed,

I think a bit more info is called for. What kind of debts, ie credit cards, loans or bank accounts etc ? How long since the last payment on each one( not counting the payment they just pushed you into) ?

Once you get a bit more info on each debt on to here, then folk will be able to help a bit more.

Don't send anything yet, especially a its 3 debts you are dealing with, not just one.

Don't speak to them at all if they call - just hang up.

If they write toyou employer, which is unlikely, sounds like just a threat to me, then they will be breaching OFT guidelines and you will have the proof for a complaint.

Don't panic too much yet about the payment you made, just get a few more details here and the experienced folk will be able to help you out better.

Be calm,

TWP.

[crusty git]

Have you got their address? if so you can write to them snd tell them thst you are not prepared to discuss the matter on the phone, they should only communicate with you in writing. Point out that If they persist in calling you they are in breach of the telecoms act and action will be taken.

I am fairly sure that there is a template letter for this in the library.

This should reducethe pressure and give you some time to get advice from others here who are more qualified to assist you than I am

 

Good luck

J

[PriorityOne]

As these debts were originally with Egg, they should be covered by the Consumer Credit Act, 1974. So, you should send a CCA request to DLC for each account, if there is more than one. It makes no difference that you have already made payments, DLC have a legal obligation to comply with your request.

 

Send each CCA request by rec. delivery and keep the receipts safe as they are your proof that requests were made. DLC have 12 working days from the date of receipt, to comply with your request. If they have not complied within 12 working days, they are in default and unable to enforce the Agreement(s) without going to court.... if they do have an Agreement, that is. This also means that after the 12 working days, you are within your rights to withhold further payments if no CCA is produced.

 

The amount of stress they are piling on you is totally unacceptable, especially with you being pregnant. There is a letter in the Bank templates section - Harrassment by Telephone : response letter.... scroll down and you will find it. Send this by recorded delivery as well and hopefully, the calls will stop. In the meantime, just put the receiver down and leave them to talk to the air... they will soon hang up. Do not discuss anything over the 'phone any more.... from now on, everything must be in writing.

 

If you get any replies at all... to any of the requests or 'phone harassment letter, or continue to get harrassed by them.... please come back for further advice. You are not alone... please remember that. Your own health and the health of your baby are far more important. If you feel yourself becoming intimidated, afraid and/or angry... just come back on here and someone will try and take some of those fears away.

 

[rightfullymine]

hi there, i have some agencies calling me, i keep saying to myself that i will write to them but i havnt yet, im a bit uneasy bout it and dont know where to start with my finances.. still enough!! wot i have done is save the numbers to a group on my mobile along with a ringtone i hate named the group oh no!! and when i hear them ring i know not to answer!! alternativly you could do the same thing but add a mp3 as your ringtone so when they ring you get to listen to a tune you realy like,

but dont worry, look after you and baby, the guys on here will get you through this.

[Guest louis wu]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/37006-harassment-telephone-response-letter.html

 

send them a copy of this as Priority one suggested in post #4

 

Louis

[BeingHarrassed]

Thanks for the info guys! I'll send both the CCA's (do I need to do one for each loan?) and the harrassment letter as well. The debts are a £2000 credit card and £7000 loan from Egg. Taken out when I was in a much better job to clear student debts - I was paying them every month fine - but having been found pregnant and alone with a lesser paid job then I got myself into difficulty!

Can I just ask if what they are doing is illegal? I know that I owe the money - and I will pay as much as I can until I get myself back on my feet after my maternity leave - but can they force me to pay the same as Egg were charging me? And can they take me to court even though I've offered to pay them back at least something every month?

 

Thanks for the time and advice!

[PriorityOne]

Thanks for the info guys! I'll send both the CCA's (do I need to do one for each loan?) and the harrassment letter as well. The debts are a £2000 credit card and £7000 loan from Egg. Taken out when I was in a much better job to clear student debts - I was paying them every month fine - but having been found pregnant and alone with a lesser paid job then I got myself into difficulty!

Can I just ask if what they are doing is illegal? I know that I owe the money - and I will pay as much as I can until I get myself back on my feet after my maternity leave - but can they force me to pay the same as Egg were charging me? And can they take me to court even though I've offered to pay them back at least something every month?

 

Thanks for the time and advice!

 

Send a CCA request for each account.... by rec. delivery and keep the receipt.

 

Their activities are unlawful and go against the OFT guidelines for debt collection, but do not think about this too much at the moment. Concentrate on getting the CCA requests off... and see if they can produce anything within the legal timeframe.

 

As for court, they would be very stupid to take you to court without a CCA because that would be the whole point of taking you to court.... to enforce it. If they can't produce one for you, then they are unlikely to produce one in court and until they can produce one for you, the account remains in dispute.... so try not to worry. Even if it did go to court, all a judge does is re-enforce payments based upon your ability to pay.

 

[BeingHarrassed]

Sorry another question - does anyone know the address in Northampton for DLC? I had it written down from where I wrote to them before - but I think I've thrown it away! A Pregnancy habit!

[PriorityOne]

Direct Legal & Collections

Buckingham Road

Brackley

Northamptonshire, NN13 7DN.

 

[Guest The Terminator]

Sorry another question - does anyone know the address in Northampton for DLC? I had it written down from where I wrote to them before - but I think I've thrown it away! A Pregnancy habit!

 

If it's any help I CCA'd this bunch of muppets on the 8th of January 2007 and have not heard a thing.

[BeingHarrassed]

Hi,

 

I posted last month re: a debt which was passed from Egg to DLC. Having been harrassed continually by telelphone by DLC I wrote them a letter stating the law on harrassment and also a CCA request letter for the debts.

They have since switched tact and are bombarding me with letters. The first two letters were from Alpins Solicitors stating they were acting on behalf of DLC who are acting on behalf of Egg and I need to make payment in full to DLC within 7 days from the date of the letter or legal proceedings will start.

The next letter is from DLC on the same date saying that they are now instructed to take whatever steps necc to recover payment - including the issue of a county court claim, a collector calling at my address or registration of the debt with an investigation agency.

The next letter was sent the following day and was in response to my harrassing by telephone allegation. In this they state that I made a verbal agreement to pay £25 a month (which I didn't - I only agreed to a one off payment) and to the fact they haven't received it - which they have as it's on my bank statement. They also state that a 2nd debt from Egg has been passed to them and they need me to agree to a monthly payment on that. They then contradict the earlier amount stated saying I am allowed to pay £20 a month for the previous debt. All very confusing.

 

I then received a letter from DLC the next day stating that they are writing to confirm the arrangement agreed for payment of £20 a month starting on the 10/04/07.

 

On the same day I received TWO letters from Hillesden Securities acknowledging receipt of receipt of my £1 payment for my CCA - and stating that the account is legally owned by EGG but they will try and request the documentation on my behalf. If they are unable to forward a copy they will supply a true copy of the document which complies with section 78 of the act. They also state that they will update me in 21 days of the date of the letter.

 

SO - my question is what do I do now. The payment they "think" i've agreed to covers one of my debts and not the other - so i'm assuming that I need to make an offer for the other debt too. And also even if they want £20 i'd need this to cover both debts and not just one because i'm about to go on to maternity alllowance and money will be tight. Should I not pay or do anything until they've sent me the documentation they are supposed to? Or do I start paying? As you can see i'm VERY confused by the whole thing - especially the fact they use three different names when they write, DLC, Hilleseden, Aplins Solicitors. Are they deliberately trying to muddle me????

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[kennyparkroad]

what to do is photocopy the letters that say they dont have the documents, and send them off to everyone else saying "i trust this will halt further action until such a time as my legal request is satisfied"

 

so youve CCA'd all the ones hounding you?

[gizmo111]

Threads merged please stick to one for each debt

[PriorityOne]

Hi,

 

I posted last month re: a debt which was passed from Egg to DLC. Having been harrassed continually by telelphone by DLC I wrote them a letter stating the law on harrassment and also a CCA request letter for the debts.

 

They have since switched tact and are bombarding me with letters. The first two letters were from Alpins Solicitors stating they were acting on behalf of DLC who are acting on behalf of Egg and I need to make payment in full to DLC within 7 days from the date of the letter or legal proceedings will start.

The next letter is from DLC on the same date saying that they are now instructed to take whatever steps necc to recover payment - including the issue of a county court claim, a collector calling at my address or registration of the debt with an investigation agency.

The next letter was sent the following day and was in response to my harrassing by telephone allegation. In this they state that I made a verbal agreement to pay £25 a month (which I didn't - I only agreed to a one off payment) and to the fact they haven't received it - which they have as it's on my bank statement. They also state that a 2nd debt from Egg has been passed to them and they need me to agree to a monthly payment on that. They then contradict the earlier amount stated saying I am allowed to pay £20 a month for the previous debt. All very confusing.

 

I then received a letter from DLC the next day stating that they are writing to confirm the arrangement agreed for payment of £20 a month starting on the 10/04/07.

 

On the same day I received TWO letters from Hillesden Securities acknowledging receipt of receipt of my £1 payment for my CCA - and stating that the account is legally owned by EGG but they will try and request the documentation on my behalf. If they are unable to forward a copy they will supply a true copy of the document which complies with section 78 of the act. They also state that they will update me in 21 days of the date of the letter.

 

SO - my question is what do I do now. The payment they "think" i've agreed to covers one of my debts and not the other - so i'm assuming that I need to make an offer for the other debt too. And also even if they want £20 i'd need this to cover both debts and not just one because i'm about to go on to maternity alllowance and money will be tight. Should I not pay or do anything until they've sent me the documentation they are supposed to? Or do I start paying? As you can see i'm VERY confused by the whole thing - especially the fact they use three different names when they write, DLC, Hilleseden, Aplins Solicitors. Are they deliberately trying to muddle me????

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Send the following letter to Alpins and copy it (cc) to DLC...

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Your Ref :

I refer to your letters of (list the dates of all correspondence from Alpins) and several letters from DLC.

 

Frankly, I am surprised of the need to remind a firm of solicitors about the terms and conditions surrounding my Consumer Credit Agreement request (Consumer Credit Act, 1974); received by DLC on xx/xx/2007, followed by a letter dated xx/xx regarding harrassment. I can only assume therefore that DLC failed to inform you.

 

Should you and/or your client now persist with threats of legal action while the above account remains in dispute, I will welcome the opportunity for a judge to look at several offences committed by yourselves and DLC under The Consumer Credit Act 1974, including non-compliance with and a total disregard for the law on each occasion that I have been harrassed for payment and/or threatened with legal action regarding a disputed debt.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

If Hillesden have not complied with a CCA request... (are they chasing the same account... or is this another one ?), then do not pay them anything. The clock is still ticking for them to comply. No need to write back... just file all correspondence away safely.

[jimfishybob]

BeingHarrassed,

Take a look at my thread here:-

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/36186-ongoing-saga.html#post300790

 

It ends rather suddenly but that's because the data had been removed from my credit file and I haven't heard a peep from them since November last year.

 

They try to be clever and end up tying themselves up in knots.

 

Franky, as a company trading under the name, 'Direct Legal & Collections' they are a bunch of numpties.

 

I reckon I initially dealt with the same woman who's been bothering you, are her initials AS by any chance. The only reason I initially set out to pursue them was because they refused to honour a payment agreement I had set up with the original creditor because I couldn't produce the letter where they agreed to it. She started getting all high and mighty and talking to me like a child. She actually said to me....

 

...you'll like this.....

 

"Don't you think you should have kept that letter, it's an important legal document"

 

Ah....sweet irony.

[Varangian3]

As you can see i'm VERY confused by the whole thing - especially the fact they use three different names when they write, DLC, Hilleseden, Aplins Solicitors.

 

 

being

 

Just to clarify this point.

• Hillesden are the finance company who hold the account.
  
• DL&C are the lowlife collection agency arm of the company.
  
• Aplins are a separate solicitors in Banbury, who send threatening letters on their behalf and do the paperwork if they take you to court.

In practice, you only deal with DL&C.

 

Good luck with this and keep us posted!

 

Varangian Guard

take no prisoners

[dannygr27]

Hi

 

Dont know if this helps but i used to work for Dlc, most employees recive one weeks training on how to use telephone system and very little legal training at all,, average employees are either teenagers doing their first jobs or part time working mums if you dont pay they chuck you back into computer system and put you on the dialer to be called back by someone else, all of their telephone calls are recorded and if you are harrassed call back and complain, the call will be listened to!

 

Definatly ask for a cca as their filing system in rubbish and in the six unfortunate months i worked their i never once was shown how to use it, use cca request to intimidate staff as most would not have a clue.

 

This company has had huge problems with dpa breaches in the past and when they are trained are regulary warned not to breach the dpa, good to know as you can use this to intimidate them, they cant apply futher charges and would have great difficulty in getting charging orders etc as they buy in debts and normally have very little paperwork to back them up

 

Yes i am embarrased that i did this job but i was desperate for work and promise you all that i did some serious good deeds during my last week with them

[dannygr27]

ps forgot to say Aplins solicitors letter , they have a system of letter codes they use and the aplins one is on there, its outsorced to be printed and sent to, very doubtful that a solicitor ever so much as heard your name

 

thought i would add this on as it could be useful to someone, if you do call dlc to arrange a payment or to try and settle an account try to do it after 24th and before the 28th, monthly bonus targets are tallied on the 29th and staff who have not reached targets are a little more willing to accept arrangements to pay or offer settlements, also bonus are only calculated on debit/credit card transactions, if you tell them you will only pay via these methods they may well listen. Pls feel free to change your mind and send in a cheque as its the least prefered method of payment (costs them) .

Refuse to leave your credit/debit card details, These are written down on form and left in folders where anyone can access them and are often lost. I worked at Dlc for six months, in 2 months of reading on this site i have learnt more than i ever learnt working there, the majority of staff are intimidated by anyone who quotes laws on them as they do not understand them. Also most staff will be alot more intimidated if you inform them that you are recording the conversation

 

Anyone feeling intimidated by these people please remember that the parent company owns the chicken factory next door and all thru the summer these lovely people breath in the stench of dead chickens lmao

[steptoe]

I too am being harrased by DL&C, if their filing system is really as bad as it is suggested here then should I just hold back and let them do the things they claim they can do?

 

I've posted my situation with DL&C elsewhere on this site, the link is below. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/68114-ruthbridge-ltd-hillesden-securities-2.html

[gypsumsif]

just subscribing to your thread beingharrassed. me and my OH are also dealing with these people. Egg credit card, passed to DL&C. sent them a CCA, and got a standard fob off reply from Hillesden.

 

good luck. we are all with you.

 

dannygr27. nice post, makes me wish i hadnt sent the CCA off now, i could'a had some fun on phone. here chucky chucky. im off to read all your other posts now.

 

[KARKS]

i'm having the same problem, i recently received a letter saying that dlc had bought a debt which is 8 years old. however i know for a fact that dlc bought this debt in 2002. Why are they making out that they have just bought the debt? Anyway, they said that they are going to start reporting against my credit file within 31 days. Can they do this if the debt is 8 years old and has been removed from my file for over 2 years? Also does the limitation act apply in northern ireland? Any advice would be helpful as my credit file is currently clean and i want to keep it that way!! thanks.

[chilli_bird]

Hi

OK can you heli answe a question.

DLC are the collctors and Hilsden are the account holders.Right?

Then if you have not made any arrangements or even heard of hilisden then how can they provide a CCA?

Can they get this from HSBC (in my case) or from the company i use to pay (MCS)? shouldnt the CCA be with the newer company or does it not make a difference?

[Dotty50]

Just been directed to this thread.

 

Although it's old, it's still good to read and very informative