Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k custs

[Nibbler]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

Another article on Student Loans Company

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/ar...epayments.html

"our client"

Yeah. Right....

[EXC]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

The President of the Law Society interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Today.

In addition to the Police they've asked SRA to investigate.

Starts at 34.10

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047w54n

[andrew1]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

The President of the Law Society interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Today.

In addition to the Police they've asked SRA to investigate.

Starts at 34.10

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047w54n

That's encouraging..

[Amethyst]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

DG Solicitors referring to 'our client'

and another - http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...1/scan0003.jpg

[Amethyst]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...-Court-Albuque


A unanimous court said the interest rates charged on small loans targeted to the working poor by two companies, Cash Loans Now and American Cash Loans, were “substantively unconscionable.”

The court applied an interest rate of 15 percent to the loans, and ordered the companies to refund money to borrowers in excess of that

[Fred]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

Some interesting developments which clearly show the "need" for the FCA to act & communicate with other authorities, I hope they revise the way the FOS operates in line also & not in another ten years like usual.

[PAWS]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

The ‘This is Money ‘ article Nibbler posted makes good reading.
sections of the Theft Act which cover demanding money with menaces.
The bullying approach was backedup in Smith Lawson’s training manual which told staff that if people refused to pay ‘then the threat of legal action should be used’, including seeking a County Court Judgment.
Many DCAs and OLs think they are higher up the food chain than loan sharks just because they use a paper cosh.

[MissFM]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

[Nibbler]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

Time to hire some real ones?

https://www.lawsociety.ie/Careers/Vi...s/0628-Lawyer/

[Fred]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

Time to hire some real ones?

https://www.lawsociety.ie/Careers/Vi...s/0628-Lawyer/

A poison chalice perhaps !

[Amethyst]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

The ‘This is Money ‘ article Nibbler posted makes good reading.
sections of the Theft Act which cover demanding money with menaces.
The bullying approach was backedup in Smith Lawson’s training manual which told staff that if people refused to pay ‘then the threat of legal action should be used’, including seeking a County Court Judgment.
Many DCAs and OLs think they are higher up the food chain than loan sharks just because they use a paper cosh.

Ahh I was reading the FOI request for that manual yesterday.

[Amethyst]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

Time to hire some real ones?

https://www.lawsociety.ie/Careers/Vi...s/0628-Lawyer/

lol, sounds like such a fun job

Key responsibilities:

Responding to regulated complaints;
Advising customer service operations about complaints, compensation and redress;
Providing feedback to the business;
Identifying key issues and problems from a legal point of view and providing feedback to the business;
Assisting in the implementation of policy across the business;
Managing litigation related to customer complaints.

[EXC]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

Ban on fake Wonga-style legal letters to chase student debt

The Student Loans Company suspends the use of a fictional debt collection agency to chase up late graduate repayments after Vince Cable brands the system as "misleading"

The Student Loans Company has scrapped the use of “Wonga”-style tactics to chase graduates who fall behind on repayments amid claims hundreds of thousands of ex-students had been misled by the system.

Officials said the SLC had “suspended all use” of a fictional debt collection agency after the government branded the tactics “misleading”.

The move came as it emerged that around 309,000 ex-students had been sent letters from Smith Lawson and Company Recovery Services – which shares the same initials as the SLC – in the last decade.

In a statement, the company defended the system but agreed it would withdraw the letters.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said the government had a duty to recover taxpayers’ money but insisted it must not attempt to “scare people into doing the right thing”.

The changes were made following controversy over the use of similar tactics by the payday lender Wonga which was ordered to pay £2.6m in compensation after sending letters to thousands of customers from made-up debt collection agencies.

It later emerged that the SLC – a subsidiary of the government – had been using a fictional debt recovery firm to chase up graduates since 2005.

Today, Mr Cable criticised the approach, adding: "It is important that government recovers taxpayers' money that it is owed, but it must do so in a way that does not use tactics to scare people into doing the right thing.”

He said the SLC had agreed to stop sending “misleading letters to borrowers”, adding that they would be made “clearer in the future so those who took out student loans know who the letter is coming from”.

It had emerged that the SLC had been criticised by the Office for Fair Trading for the approach earlier this year. It was ordered to include a footnote in the letters pointing out that Smith Lawson was part of the SLC.

But in a statement today, the SLC said it had now “suspended all use of Smith Lawson branded correspondence”. “The company had reviewed its Smith Lawson letters following discussions with the OFT in March 2014 and had agreed to implement their suggested changes," it said. "The issuing of any revised Smith Lawson correspondence has still to be agreed.”

The SLC also admitted that around 309,000 customers had been sent letters using the Smith Lawson brand in the last nine years.

Colum McGuire, vice president of the National Union of Students said: “The suggestion that many thousands of former students have received potentially misleading letters from the Student Loans Company is deeply troubling.

“There are now serious questions to answer as to how and why thousands of apparently unchecked letters were ever sent out to borrowers in the first place.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education...dent-debt.html

[enaid]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

“There are now serious questions to answer as to how and why thousands of apparently unchecked letters were ever sent out to borrowers in the first place.”

This is because naff all is checked before it is put to us consumers, always after the horse has bolted and always us on the losing side.
Our laws and regs for consumers are a joke, no prevention whatsoever always 'lets find a cure' and shut the poor sods up as we've been caught.

[PAWS]

Re: Wonga to pay redress for unfair debt collection practices – FCA - £2.6m to 45k cu

I do not believe this!!!!

Today, Mr Cable criticised the approach, adding: "It is important that the government recovers taxpayers' money that it is owed, but it must do so in a way that does not use tactics to scare people into doing the right thing.”

Whoa, that pony!!!! He wants us to believe they had our best interest at heart yet wrote off £750 million of tax payer’s money when they sold student debts to Arrow. A COMPANY THAT WILL SYPHON OFF ALL THE MONEY IT MAKES TO GURNSEY AND NEVER HAVE TO PAY A PENNY TAX IN THIS COUNTRY.:target: