Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

[righty]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

FCA interim Permissions names: Tax Debts, Mercury Debt Solutions, Platinum Management ; Platinum Management Loans ; platinummanagementloans.co.uk ; Platinum Management £oans

Directors were also Directors of Hamilton Brookes

Blimey its getting worse! Despite what they have been advised by Levy I really do think victims should contact the Ombudsman now

[Pallawan]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

I'm with StepChange now and do NOT want him sending my files to anyone but StepChange or myself!!!
Why is a administrator pushing us to another fee charging shark! Surely he should be advising clients to go to free a DMP company.
Mr Levy has said "There are no financial compensation schemes that are available to clients" so reading between the lines it looks to me there will not be any refunds.
What does the Ombudsman do that is different to the administrator or the FCA ?
How or where would they get monies to refund clients.
Sorry for my ignorance but I don't understand how the Ombudsman works, my husband tried to explain but I didn't understand.
Thank you in advance.

[homemakercat]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

This is my first post, apologies if it is not in the right thread, here is the text of an email I have just sent to the FCA after reading all your other posts about Bournes, I will let you know the outcome:
"Dear Sir/Madam,

I have been receiving notifications from the Administrator in the case of the demise of Bournes Debt Solution regarding his progress. Following advice from the FCA, I contacted the Money Advice Service who signposted me to non-fee paying debt management companies; Step Change or Pay Plan. I am now pursuing the Step Change option. I have a number of concerns to which I would appreciate the FCA’s views:

1. The Administrator’s letter made no reference to customers being able to obtain advice from the MAS or these non-fee paying organisations; surely as they are being overseen by the FCA this should have been a requirement? And if not, why?

1. The Administrator’s email and attachments received on 12 October 2014, advised me that Bournes’ client list had been sold to Platinum Management. This is another fee paying company (although the fee structure takes some finding on their website) whose fees are significantly higher than Bournes and they appear to be charging their own set up fee. Bournes’ clients have already been ripped off so how can it be ethical for the FCA to oversee and approve the transfer of the client list to another company with similar risks for its clients to those of Bournes, when free services are available?

1. Would the FCA please set out how by permitting the Administrator to get another Debt Management Company to take over Bournes’ business is in any way beneficial to its debt management clients, especially when free, risk free organisations can do the job?

1. After six years with Bournes I have £10k in my so called savings pot. From searches of online forums, Money Saving Expert and Legal Beagles, and taking note of the Administrators’ cautionary words, it seems unlikely that Bournes’ clients will receive their ‘savings’. I ask that the FCA takes action to freeze the company’s assets (if this has not already been done) in order to prevent the Administrator from making any payments from Bournes’ bank accounts to creditors other than Bournes’ debt management clients. Clients’ money (savings) should be ring fenced and not considered to be company assets and should not therefore, be used to pay other creditors including government departments. I should be grateful if you would confirm that this action will be taken.

1. If the Administrator finds that he is unable to repay Bournes’ clients in full, will the FCA inform the police of criminal activity by Bournes e.g. embezzlement, theft, fraud?

I look forward to receiving your response."

[righty]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Excellent

[Pallawan]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Excellent letter. Look forward to hearing what they say.

[Amethyst]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Very much look forward to hearing the response to your letter homemakercat, and I'm sorry to hear you have £10k tied up in this shambles xxx

[righty]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Me too Ame

[Last]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Excellent should more of us right similar letters/emails to the FCA - what email address did you use for the FCA -Thanks

[Kati]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Excellent should more of us right similar letters/emails to the FCA - what email address did you use for the FCA -Thanks

If you want to write a letter, then go right ahead - as far as I can see, there's no harm in making your views known :tinysmile_twink_t2:

you never know ... if enough tell them that they are unwilling to allow their details to be passed on to another fee-based company, it might change th way the administrators are behaving

K x

[Ripped Off by BOURNES]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Hi,
Great thread & I thought I would share an email I just sent to Levy the Administrator

Following your update on Saturday 12^th October I am really surprised to hear you have sold the Bournes Client List to another
“fee paying” Company like “Platinum Management”

However, as I have contacted all my creditors directly and have successfully set up my own repayments plans with them. Therefore
I would like to request that you do not pass on my information to “Platinum Management” and send all my Bournes information
directly to me. This is based on the following statement included in your email update on the 12^th Oct. “You may request details
from me in writing, but I shall require certified true copies of a valid photographic identity document (passport / driver’s license)
and recent utility bills in your name.” I have attached copies of my Passport & latest Utility bill to this email.

Also a FYI this website link is not working : http://www.platinummanagement.co.uk/Bournes.html

This is the error :
Not Found

The requested URL /index.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I look forward to hearing from you & receiving my information requested above
Regards

[Kati]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

Hi [MENTION=54105]Ripped Off by BOURNES[/MENTION], and to LB!!

It would be interesting to find out what reply you get to your email to the administrators (and how long it takes to get one :lol

Kati x

[Ripped Off by BOURNES]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

I was surprised as the response was immediate:

I will seek out the information you have requested and will let you have it in due course, once I have completed my internal checks and when the Administrator is content to provide you with it.

Platinum do not charge a set-up fee and in the circumstances no charitable debt management company will have paid for the list. As you may appreciate there is a commercial aspect to this matter and creditors will want to learn of the value we have sought to achieve

I then responded with :

I would have to disagree,because this is clearly visible on their web site : http://www.platinummanagement.co.uk/...ment-Plan.html


We then distribute your single weekly or monthly payment to all your creditors in a proportion based on the amount you owe them, this means everyone gets a fair slice of the available cake. Within these payments we do deduct an initial set up fee and, thereafter, an ongoing monthly management fee (you can read more about our DMP fee structure here: DebtManagement Plan Fees)..

Regards

and again the response was immediate, but as you can see no comments on the Monthly Fees

The reply was : Our terms of sale exclude set up costs.

[Kati]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

I was surprised as the response was immediate:

I will seek out the information you have requested and will let you have it in due course, once I have completed my internal checks and when the Administrator is content to provide you with it.

Platinum do not charge a set-up fee and in the circumstances no charitable debt management company will have paid for the list. As you may appreciate there is a commercial aspect to this matter and creditors will want to learn of the value we have sought to achieve

hmm :tinysmile_hmm_t2: sounds like they're trying to pass the buck there (in my opinion)

I then responded with :

I would have to disagree,because this is clearly visible on their web site : http://www.platinummanagement.co.uk/...ment-Plan.html


We then distribute your single weekly or monthly payment to all your creditors in a proportion based on the amount you owe them, this means everyone gets a fair slice of the available cake. Within these payments we do deduct an initial set up fee and, thereafter, an ongoing monthly management fee (you can read more about our DMP fee structure here: DebtManagement Plan Fees)..

Regards

Exactly .... Platinum's terms and conditions state:

5 How we will be paid
5.1 Because most of our work will be done at the start of the Period, we will charge an initial fee based on your programme payment. The initial fee will be spread evenly across the first 4 months of the plan by allocating 50% of the monthly payment to the creditors and the remaining 50% will go towards the set up fees.
5.2 We will take from each monthly payment under the Debt Management Programme a fee equal to 22% of the periodic payment, subject to a minimum of £38, however if a situation arises where taking the minimum would represent more than 50% of the full payment it will be reduced to 50%. If in accordance with our records you have conducted and completed your Debt Management Programme satisfactorily will, refund 9 months of management fee. EXCEPTION; Waiver of the latter fees will not apply where ‘full and final’ settlement has been arranged.

and again the response was immediate, but as you can see no comments on the Monthly Fees

The reply was : Our terms of sale exclude set up costs.

I like that :tinysmile_cry_t: they say: "in the circumstances no charitable debt management company will have paid for the list" in their first reply, and "Our terms of sale exclude set up costs." in their third!!!

Do they even realise that they are contradicting themselves (they deny selling the list, but then use the phrase 'terms of sale')??? and at the same time saying that Platinum are not a 'charitable' company?? :tinysmile_twink_t2:

K x

[Amethyst]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

They are saying they have sold the list, as no charitable company ( like stepchange/payplan) would have paid them for it. Standard practice, and exactly what happened with FSF & co, and Debt Help & Advice, previously.

It may be the terms of sale include no set up fees to be charged to the customers who are moved from Bournes, ie. a special arrangement separate from their standard T&C's from their website.

[Ripped Off by BOURNES]

Re: Bournes Debt Solutions (Bournes Limited) - FCA requirements & administration

okay this was response to this : The reply was : Our terms of sale exclude set up costs.

Hi

Thanks again for your reply & I see you did not dispute this part “thereafter, an ongoing monthly management fee”
And that is why I am surprised, because we as Bournes clients have already been ripped off by a company doing this

Regards

and within 15 minutes I got this response

I fully appreciate your (and the other 2,000 clients’) position in respect of being ‘ripped off’. These allegations are being assessed by us.