Help With Debt Collectors

The staff at Help With Debt have been dealing with people and companies in financial trouble for twenty years now. As part of this they have had to deal with a myriad of debt collectors, all of whom seem to use different techniques.

Debt collection is a huge industry now employing many thousands of people, both in call centres and on the door step. If you have defaulted on your debt repayments, it will only be a matter of time before you get a call from an agency engaged by your creditor.

The pressure put on by debt collection agencies to extract a payment from a debtor can get past what would be described as acceptable. If you feel that that is the case with you, then these tips may be able to help you cope and also put the debt collector on the back foot.

Section 40 of the Administration Of Justice Act provides that a person commits an offence if, with the object of coercing another person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt due under contract, he or she:

harasses the other with demands for payment which by their frequency, or the manner or occasion of their making, or any accompanying threat or publicity are calculated to subject him or his family or household to alarm, distress or humiliation;

falsely represents, in relation to the money claimed, that criminal proceedings lie for failure to pay it;

falsely represent themselves to be authorised in some official capacity to claim or enforce payment;

utters a document falsely represented by him to have some official character or purporting to have some official character which he knows it has not.

Paragraph (1) above does not apply to anything done by a person which is reasonable (and otherwise legal) for the purpose of:

of securing the discharge of an obligation due, or believed by him to be due, to himself or to persons for whom he acts, or protecting himself or them from future loss; or

of the enforcement of any liability by legal process.

It is also provided that a person may be guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) above if he concerts with others in the taking of such action as is described in that paragraph, notwithstanding that his own course of conduct does not by itself amount to harassment.

Always make your debt collector aware that you are conversant with the above and that you require them to act in accordance with the Act.

Inform the debt collector how you wish them to deal with you. Put this in writing and get their response in writing also.

If matters persist, make a complaint about the harassment to the local trading standards department at your local council.

If the local trading standards cannot intervene, contact the OFT directly. This information can be used by the OFT to revoke a consumer credit licence and the OFT have fined companies in the past for their collection techniques.

If you need more help than just keeping a collector at bay, we would suggest the following:-

An IVA:- This is a tried and tested method of fixing a long term solution to all your unsecured debt problems. It will involve a five year commitment, but at the end of the term, any debts not paid in full will be written off. It is very good if you can be sure that you can commit to a five year payment plan. About 40,000 such plans will be entered into this year.

Debt Management:- This can be a short or long term option, to pay off debt over a period of time. You pay what you can afford via a debt management company and they pay your creditors. They attempt to stop interest and costs accruing, so it is purely capital that is paid off. It is very good for debt levels up to £15,000.

Contact Steve Thatcher of Help With Debt (UK) Limited a total debt solutions company.
For all further reading see http://www.helpwithdebtuk.com
For personal contact email sthatcher@helpwithdebtuk.com

If you have any debt problem whatsover either personal or corporate make Steve your first call all advice is free. Finally if in the UK and you need a friend to speak to call 01162171406

Visit http://www.helpwithdebtuk.com

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