Tweet
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Moneybox | Have Your Say: Automated debt calls
Have Your Say: Automated debt calls
The system is supposed to give a gentle reminder to customers
There is concern about banks using new computerised telephone technology, as a way of contacting customers in debt.
The technology, which encourages customers in arrears to pay what they owe, is called Interactive Voice Messaging.
Instead of a bank employee from a call centre contacting you about a missed payment, you are rung by the computerised messaging system.
But Money Box has been told by one listener that he feels he has been harassed by the high number of calls from the automated system.
Have you been contacted by an automated calling system?
Was it a useful way of alerting you to a problem?
Perhaps you feel you have been harassed by a lender.
Or maybe you have been employed in a call centre, chasing debts.
Do you think a computerised caller would be more effective?
Tell us your views.
We will add more of your comments later in the week.
MOST RECENT COMMENTS:
Eventually she took out a formal complaint about harassment 
Mrs Davies, Flintshire
Two years ago my disabled daughter unwittingly ran up a small overdraft while in hospital. I had informed her bank of her circumstances, so when she came out of hospital she attempted to negotiate to have the amount, which by now had accrued bank charges totalling more than the original amount, frozen and to pay it off monthly. This offer met with a flat refusal. She was then so harassed by the bank that she had all her calls transferred to my number. At first the calls were from highly unpleasant people. "So she is ill - is that our problem?" "I don't care if she will not talk to us, I will just keep phoning you until she does!" These calls were usually in the evening and often at half hourly intervals. Then the automated calls started. 6, 7 or 8 a day from morning till evening, the latest at 9.30 pm. This went on for months. Eventually she took out a formal complaint about harassment. Within a month the bank wrote to say that the whole debt (which by now was huge) had been written off as a "gesture of goodwill." I don't know how much this fiasco, which lasted over a year, cost the bank. If they had been willing to accept monthly payments they would have had the original debt paid within three months.
Mrs Davies, Flintshire My bank kept telephoning me with a deadened voice mechanical recording. I knew I would have to speak to an operator in India with absolutely no power on earth to change anything. When I received an abortive (nobody there) automatic call at 3am on a Sunday morning, I went into my account records online and removed my telephone number. The calls stopped immediately.
Ruth Hunt, Birmingham UK
I think the system amounts to harassment. The bank doesn't think it is a problem
Mead, Southampton
Our bank has taken to contacting us in this way - starting within the last fortnight or so. Calls come to our home number. My husband is at home much of the day and has answered the phone to this system, with the calls sometimes coming as frequently as every half hour and five or more times per day, usually from 1250 onwards. I have used the system as instructed to state that I would pay the required amount within the next 14 days. We had a couple of days respite but the calls have started again at least a week before the 14 days expire. I rang the customer service number this morning after receiving yet another automated call and spoke to someone in retail collections (you have to have given your card number, d.o.b. etc. three times by this stage). He apologised (why? Not his fault but it was obviously in the script they have to use) and said that the calls would stop once the money had been paid. Despite having communicated with them through the dratted automated system to tell them I would pay. It is obvious that the communication doesn't work and the contact does not seem to be logged anywhere. Retail collections have a 'robust' manner in dealing with people which does not help, my human contact was not interested in expanding on how feedback on the system was actually fed back and said that I could not speak to any one else and that I would have to write in to complain. I paid the money outstanding. He has said the calls will stop - I think the system amounts to harassment. The bank doesn't think it is a problem. My beef is that not only is it harassment, but that the automated system just does not work in the way it says it does. We also had a call this morning from another section (human caller) of the bank trying to sell a health care policy product - no surprise, no sale.
Mead, Southampton
We moved into our new house last August and within two weeks we were being contacted by several banks through automated calls trying to contact members of the previous owner's family. We called customer services who were only able to speak to the people they were trying to contact, so were absolutely useless in this context. Eventually we had to go into the local branch of one of the banks to tell them the people had moved and prove that we were the new owners. We also resorted to speaking to the estate agent who had sold the house but they weren't really able to help. The other banks have now stopped calling after about six or seven months of several calls a week - presumably because the previous owners eventually changed their contact details.
Susan Quirin, Horley, Surrey
There is no excuse for bad manners
Ann Cooper, Preston
If I am contacted by a computer, I simply hang up the phone. If an organisation cannot provide a live person to make the call, it is unreasonable for it to expect a live person at the other end. There is no excuse for bad manners.
Ann Cooper, Preston I have recently taken action against a utility company for pursuing me for a debt which is not mine. The utility company are aware it is not mine but they are pursuing me in the hope that I will pay the amount in order to get them to stop harassing me. This is exactly what your interviewee did, to stop the calls. Consumers are in a no win situation, even if you do not owe the money.
John Green, Merseyside
Just to hear the phone ringing that often is very wearing
Peter Jay, Daventry
I have been subject to the bank charge roller-coaster thus I have incurred multiple debts which have been referred to debt collection agencies (masquerading as solicitors). The phone calls that are dialled by "power diallers" have been coming in 6 to 8 times a day each thus totalling 30 to 40 calls per day up to 9pm from 8am. Just to hear the phone ringing that often is very wearing. The family now have instructions not to answer unrecognised or unfamiliar numbers. My telephone service provider have a number blocking service that we have utilised to great effect and peace now reigns in our household. I have found that when I answer these numbers that nobody is there a lot of the time. On the odd occasion when I do answer I get very aggressive people who do not seem to understand the concept of having no money. Little wonder that I don't answer these calls is it?
Peter Jay, Daventry
I recently had a disputed debt with a mobile phone company. They would not consider my argument and instead harassed me over a 27 day period. I was called by automatic dialling twice per day over that time. I threatened to take them to court to obtain an injunction. The calls then stopped and they settled for the sum I was offering all along. Telephone dialling is being abused and causes distress to individuals who are not in a position to resist the harassment. I am legally trained so I have the advantage over many with whom I sympathize and who may bow to this unreasonable pressure.
James Black, Solihull
They did not acknowledge a problem in asking for password details when they contacted me
Huw Jones, Cambridge
I've been a customer with my bank for over 20 years and have usually paid off my credit cards in full each month. Last year my mother was seriously ill (and subsequently died) and I missed one payment. There followed a series of automated calls that started by asking me to confirm my identity by giving two random letters from my personal ID word. There is no reason why the bank should ask for my ID when they phone me. Indeed, my bank's code of practice says that they will not do this. The calls continued with a series of calls from a call centre, again asking me to confirm my ID. I refused each time and was lectured by one operator "you should take these matters seriously". My code word is to be used when I call the bank, and under no other circumstances. The call centre operators refused to stop calling me. Eventually I went into my branch and filed a formal complaint. Their response was unsatisfactory in that they did not acknowledge a problem in asking for password details when they contacted me.
Huw Jones, Cambridge
I've not received one of these, but exactly how is the customer supposed to differentiate a fraudulent scam from a real call from the bank? Various secure bank call-back systems also suffer from this problem.
Mark, Birmingham
I was contact recently by a bank's automated calling system and was asked to confirm personal details, e.g. date of birth - I hung up at this stage convinced it was a scam. After two more calls I contact their credit card helpline myself. What's wrong with an e-mail or a letter?
Doreen Rawlinson, Coulsdon
My bank's computer `phoned me to say it had urgent information for me - I pressed all the relevant buttons and was told I would be transferred to an operator. I then waited 14 minutes, listening to their ghastly, repetitive message telling me how important it was they spoke to me and that an operator would speak to me shortly. After 14 minutes they disconnected. Because I was concerned I telephoned their customer services number (which being an 0845 no is very expensive to call) and spent £2.85 being passed from pillar to post only to be told they could find no reason why I had been phoned. As so often with my bank, I was less than impressed!
A Laing, Cambridge
Despite being ex-directory and a subscriber to the telephone preference service I have continued to get frequent regular cold calls. Recently they have been supplemented by recorded messages - a gap then recorded voice saying "congratulations" or " I have an special message for you". They all get the same treatment: the phone is put straight down! If the banks think this will increase responses they are wrong.
Chris Brittain, Fife
Have Your Say: Automated debt calls
The system is supposed to give a gentle reminder to customersThere is concern about banks using new computerised telephone technology, as a way of contacting customers in debt.
The technology, which encourages customers in arrears to pay what they owe, is called Interactive Voice Messaging.
Instead of a bank employee from a call centre contacting you about a missed payment, you are rung by the computerised messaging system.
But Money Box has been told by one listener that he feels he has been harassed by the high number of calls from the automated system.
Have you been contacted by an automated calling system?
Was it a useful way of alerting you to a problem?
Perhaps you feel you have been harassed by a lender.
Or maybe you have been employed in a call centre, chasing debts.
Do you think a computerised caller would be more effective?
Tell us your views.
We will add more of your comments later in the week.
MOST RECENT COMMENTS:
Eventually she took out a formal complaint about harassment Mrs Davies, Flintshire
Two years ago my disabled daughter unwittingly ran up a small overdraft while in hospital. I had informed her bank of her circumstances, so when she came out of hospital she attempted to negotiate to have the amount, which by now had accrued bank charges totalling more than the original amount, frozen and to pay it off monthly. This offer met with a flat refusal. She was then so harassed by the bank that she had all her calls transferred to my number. At first the calls were from highly unpleasant people. "So she is ill - is that our problem?" "I don't care if she will not talk to us, I will just keep phoning you until she does!" These calls were usually in the evening and often at half hourly intervals. Then the automated calls started. 6, 7 or 8 a day from morning till evening, the latest at 9.30 pm. This went on for months. Eventually she took out a formal complaint about harassment. Within a month the bank wrote to say that the whole debt (which by now was huge) had been written off as a "gesture of goodwill." I don't know how much this fiasco, which lasted over a year, cost the bank. If they had been willing to accept monthly payments they would have had the original debt paid within three months.
Mrs Davies, Flintshire My bank kept telephoning me with a deadened voice mechanical recording. I knew I would have to speak to an operator in India with absolutely no power on earth to change anything. When I received an abortive (nobody there) automatic call at 3am on a Sunday morning, I went into my account records online and removed my telephone number. The calls stopped immediately.
Ruth Hunt, Birmingham UK
I think the system amounts to harassment. The bank doesn't think it is a problem Mead, Southampton
Our bank has taken to contacting us in this way - starting within the last fortnight or so. Calls come to our home number. My husband is at home much of the day and has answered the phone to this system, with the calls sometimes coming as frequently as every half hour and five or more times per day, usually from 1250 onwards. I have used the system as instructed to state that I would pay the required amount within the next 14 days. We had a couple of days respite but the calls have started again at least a week before the 14 days expire. I rang the customer service number this morning after receiving yet another automated call and spoke to someone in retail collections (you have to have given your card number, d.o.b. etc. three times by this stage). He apologised (why? Not his fault but it was obviously in the script they have to use) and said that the calls would stop once the money had been paid. Despite having communicated with them through the dratted automated system to tell them I would pay. It is obvious that the communication doesn't work and the contact does not seem to be logged anywhere. Retail collections have a 'robust' manner in dealing with people which does not help, my human contact was not interested in expanding on how feedback on the system was actually fed back and said that I could not speak to any one else and that I would have to write in to complain. I paid the money outstanding. He has said the calls will stop - I think the system amounts to harassment. The bank doesn't think it is a problem. My beef is that not only is it harassment, but that the automated system just does not work in the way it says it does. We also had a call this morning from another section (human caller) of the bank trying to sell a health care policy product - no surprise, no sale.
Mead, Southampton
We moved into our new house last August and within two weeks we were being contacted by several banks through automated calls trying to contact members of the previous owner's family. We called customer services who were only able to speak to the people they were trying to contact, so were absolutely useless in this context. Eventually we had to go into the local branch of one of the banks to tell them the people had moved and prove that we were the new owners. We also resorted to speaking to the estate agent who had sold the house but they weren't really able to help. The other banks have now stopped calling after about six or seven months of several calls a week - presumably because the previous owners eventually changed their contact details.
Susan Quirin, Horley, Surrey
There is no excuse for bad manners Ann Cooper, Preston
If I am contacted by a computer, I simply hang up the phone. If an organisation cannot provide a live person to make the call, it is unreasonable for it to expect a live person at the other end. There is no excuse for bad manners.
Ann Cooper, Preston I have recently taken action against a utility company for pursuing me for a debt which is not mine. The utility company are aware it is not mine but they are pursuing me in the hope that I will pay the amount in order to get them to stop harassing me. This is exactly what your interviewee did, to stop the calls. Consumers are in a no win situation, even if you do not owe the money.
John Green, Merseyside
Just to hear the phone ringing that often is very wearing Peter Jay, Daventry
I have been subject to the bank charge roller-coaster thus I have incurred multiple debts which have been referred to debt collection agencies (masquerading as solicitors). The phone calls that are dialled by "power diallers" have been coming in 6 to 8 times a day each thus totalling 30 to 40 calls per day up to 9pm from 8am. Just to hear the phone ringing that often is very wearing. The family now have instructions not to answer unrecognised or unfamiliar numbers. My telephone service provider have a number blocking service that we have utilised to great effect and peace now reigns in our household. I have found that when I answer these numbers that nobody is there a lot of the time. On the odd occasion when I do answer I get very aggressive people who do not seem to understand the concept of having no money. Little wonder that I don't answer these calls is it?
Peter Jay, Daventry
I recently had a disputed debt with a mobile phone company. They would not consider my argument and instead harassed me over a 27 day period. I was called by automatic dialling twice per day over that time. I threatened to take them to court to obtain an injunction. The calls then stopped and they settled for the sum I was offering all along. Telephone dialling is being abused and causes distress to individuals who are not in a position to resist the harassment. I am legally trained so I have the advantage over many with whom I sympathize and who may bow to this unreasonable pressure.
James Black, Solihull
They did not acknowledge a problem in asking for password details when they contacted me Huw Jones, Cambridge
I've been a customer with my bank for over 20 years and have usually paid off my credit cards in full each month. Last year my mother was seriously ill (and subsequently died) and I missed one payment. There followed a series of automated calls that started by asking me to confirm my identity by giving two random letters from my personal ID word. There is no reason why the bank should ask for my ID when they phone me. Indeed, my bank's code of practice says that they will not do this. The calls continued with a series of calls from a call centre, again asking me to confirm my ID. I refused each time and was lectured by one operator "you should take these matters seriously". My code word is to be used when I call the bank, and under no other circumstances. The call centre operators refused to stop calling me. Eventually I went into my branch and filed a formal complaint. Their response was unsatisfactory in that they did not acknowledge a problem in asking for password details when they contacted me.
Huw Jones, Cambridge
I've not received one of these, but exactly how is the customer supposed to differentiate a fraudulent scam from a real call from the bank? Various secure bank call-back systems also suffer from this problem.
Mark, Birmingham
I was contact recently by a bank's automated calling system and was asked to confirm personal details, e.g. date of birth - I hung up at this stage convinced it was a scam. After two more calls I contact their credit card helpline myself. What's wrong with an e-mail or a letter?
Doreen Rawlinson, Coulsdon
My bank's computer `phoned me to say it had urgent information for me - I pressed all the relevant buttons and was told I would be transferred to an operator. I then waited 14 minutes, listening to their ghastly, repetitive message telling me how important it was they spoke to me and that an operator would speak to me shortly. After 14 minutes they disconnected. Because I was concerned I telephoned their customer services number (which being an 0845 no is very expensive to call) and spent £2.85 being passed from pillar to post only to be told they could find no reason why I had been phoned. As so often with my bank, I was less than impressed!
A Laing, Cambridge
Despite being ex-directory and a subscriber to the telephone preference service I have continued to get frequent regular cold calls. Recently they have been supplemented by recorded messages - a gap then recorded voice saying "congratulations" or " I have an special message for you". They all get the same treatment: the phone is put straight down! If the banks think this will increase responses they are wrong.
Chris Brittain, Fife
Comment