Creditors code of conduct
Creditors generally have signed up to a Creditor Code of Conduct which covers matters such as contact with clients.
Similarly the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has produced Debt Collection Guidance to creditors to which they are expected to adhere when dealing with their customers.
In order to provide detailed information for any complaint, it is worth keeping a diary of phone calls, letters, and visits and so on, which can be used later as evidence. If you receive a visit by a collection agent, it would be helpful if another person could confirm what happened during the visit.
You may want to politely but firmly refuse to allow a collector into your home or answer the phone to the collector until the problem is sorted out.
The first step is to write to the creditor and outline your concerns about the company’s behaviour, preferably using Recorded or Special Delivery. Tell your creditors how you would prefer to be contacted and ask that they confirm their agreement to this.
You should advise them that you are aware of the OFT Debt Collection Guidance and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and that you will consider making a complaint about their behaviour under the guidance. A copy of this Guidance can be found at the end of this section.
Please note that it is usually difficult to persuade the police to prosecute in cases of harassment unless a more serious offence such as violence, fraud or blackmail is also involved.
Use this link to download the OFT Debt Collection Guidance
If you find that the creditor does not change their stance after you have asked them reasonably to do so, you can make a formal complaint to your local Trading Standards Officer in the first instance, though you can also raise your concerns with the Office of Fair Trading.
The following examples of harassment are taken very seriously by the OFT who will take appropriate action:
- Falsely claiming that non payment is a criminal offence – you cannot face a criminal prosecution because you have not paid a consumer debt
- Falsely state or imply that they can legally seize goods or property belonging to you, or indeed take any other action regarding your property without going through the Courts
- Exert unreasonable pressure on you in the event of non payment
- Make unreasonable or nuisance visits or phone calls, or use threatening language or verbal abuse, whether this be in person, by phone or in writing
- Contact you at your place of work, or contact your employer with the intent to create embarrassment for you and placing your job in jeopardy
- Visiting you at your work or waiting outside your place of work on your pay day
- Calling on neighbours, on the pretext that they believe the neighbour is you, resulting in intended embarrassment and intimidation
These will be treated seriously though you should ensure you can furnish appropriate evidence of such events.
The team at National Money will be pleased to discuss your situation in greater detail. Call us on: 08448 247 260
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