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

[Amethyst]

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

Okay Bryan Carter pre action

(actually shouldn't Bryan Carter include their SRA number on the letter? though this is a rather old one)




ahhh they do now, changed the bottom of the letters

[dogtired]

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

Had a reply from my e mail to FCA regarding Blair Oliver Scott.
They thank me etc and advise, if not done so already to contact the FOS.
They have also raised the issue with the bank and BOScott.
Also provided a copy of all the new guide lines.
Howver I may be unlikely to know of outcome.

[Captain Haddock]

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

Yeh, I got the same, But I have a feeling the FCA have lot more bite than the FSA ever had when it comes to the consumer.

[Nibbler]

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

More on the SLC side of it.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/new...overnment-says

[Captain Haddock]

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

....meaning that I think they will investigate this issue of impersonation seriously!

[andrew1]

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

Can someone with some legal knowledge answer me this please?

I'm rankled by this and it needs defining and the SRA previously gave rather 'OFT' type answers, so it's still not clear..

Swift Group Legal Services sent out a letter and an N434 Change of solicitor form to the court informing me that they were now acting for the Claimant: (4th Feb 2008)

"We enclose Notice of Change of Solicitor, as we now act for the Claimant"

Now first things first remembering this Wonga phenomenon. It's obvious who Swift Group Legal Services represent given that Swift Advances plc call themselves and their sister company 'The Swift Group'. So unless one is totally thick, there's no real deception as to this being some outside firm of solicitors..However,......

The mere fact that they have lodged a 'Change of Solicitor' notice to the court which states that change is confirmation enough that Swift Group Legal Services are 'presenting themselves' as a firm of solicitors even though they are at the same address as the Claimants Swift Advances plc.

Now, as I've said before, each solicitor has their own practicing certificates - no problem with that, but what work can they do given they are in the employ of Swift Advances plc and using a different operational name (Swift Group Legal Services)?

I have a letter telling me they are a 'Department' of Swift Advances plc - so they are using Swift Advances plc's staff and are Swift Advances plc's employees themselves.

They charge solicitor fee rates and refer to one item on their bill as a fee for a 'Partner' to review a file.

Swift Advances plc are not a recognised body with the SRA, Swift Group Legal Services have been registered, just like the individual solicitors under SRA number 487661, but they are not a Recognised Body we are told.

So what are they?

Swift Advances plc did not have a Debt Collection licence

Swift Group Legal Services are a ' department' so couldn't have either - as a 'department' they can't really have much can they, yet they registered that name as the 'employer' of all these solicitors with the SRA.

So, here they are issuing legal paperwork to the courts and repossession claims 'on behalf of their 'clients' who are actually their employer and charging hourly legal fees & costs to the account holders, yet they're neither a firm (with all that goes with it) or a Recognised Body.

So can someone tell me exactly what they are if they are not impersonating a firm of solicitors?...and....can a 'department' actually charge solicitors 'fees'?

A1

p.s. I'm adding this to this thread because if other so called 'in-house solicitors' charge fees too then they'd be in the same situation.

[PAWS]

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

I wish I had the legal knowledge to answer you Andrew. This is rotten to the core and the whole industry has been up to its ‘whotsits’ in fabricating fake solicitors. I have just fired off a classic example to the sra; the solicitor is real, the firm is not.
If all this does not result in a serious investigation and people being grilled then I will go ballistic. Why is ok to lie to people just because they are in debt? Why do people who are charged with breaking common law get treated better than debtors? This is my whole argument. Debtors are less likely to make a fuss because the industry and, I am afraid to say the powers that be take it for granted that the debtors will be too cowed by shamet o speak up and say ‘no more’.
Gosh, I sound like a real rabble rouser there!

[andrew1]

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

Why is ok to lie to people just because they are in debt?

Because we are all filthy debtors wasting everyone's time trying to get out of paying our bills. We are the 'lowlife'. Always have been, always will be.

It's just you and me know different.

I was a nice guy once, now I'm a rebel rouser too! Welcome to the club.

A1

[Amethyst]

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

Had a reply from my e mail to FCA regarding Blair Oliver Scott.
They thank me etc and advise, if not done so already to contact the FOS.
They have also raised the issue with the bank and BOScott.
Also provided a copy of all the new guide lines.
Howver I may be unlikely to know of outcome.

I dont think I have seen the new guidelines, any chance of a copy?

[Amethyst]

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

Swift Group Legal Services sent out a letter and an N434 Change of solicitor form to the court informing me that they were now acting for the Claimant: (4th Feb 2008)
.

Mike770 has had the same with DG solicitors and HSBC. He's sent copies of all the letters and change of solicitors notice to the FCA.

[Amethyst]

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

Also Andrew, who is the signatory on the 'solicitor' letters - is it a named person, and can you check them on the law society listings?

[PAWS]

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

It is hard to see debates in parliament over travel agents charging more for holidays during school holiday time and yet they ignore draconian regulations and disregard for the precious few rules that do exist to protect debtors. These regulations and breaking of the rules are not just ruining people’s lives; they are allowing professionals such as solicitors to bend the laws. This is a profession that is expected to behave with integrity and absolute honesty. If you get a letter from a solicitor it is natural to assume that legal action has begun and that a solicitor is not going to deceive you.
I find the fact that a few of them have been using the LLB and other letters after their name to terrify and practically extort money from people is abhorrent. It is also quite true that the few, and I do stress few solicitors who have put their names to these documents and letters to be directly responsible for causing despair and depression that some people will never recover from.

In the past lenders, collectors and the legal system used and indeed profited from the ignorance of the debtor. They also banked on those vital weapons of fear and shame. Now, mostly due to Legal Beagles, MSE and other sites people are educating themselves and accessing the vital information that was the privilege of those ‘in the club’. Also due to an alarming increase in the previously secure middle class getting into financial difficulties rumblings are being heard in the wine bars of Westminster. We can only hope that these ‘Volvo & V neck’ debtors will shrug off the cloak of shame and turn those rumblings into cries of anguish. The same cries that have been heard for years throughout the rest of society but have been muffled by the clink of champagne glasses on party barges on the Thames River.

In this I must also attack those judges who allow judgements against debtors when the claimant has not followed correct procedure. If a murder weapon is found in the home of a murderer without the correct search warrants then the weapon is inadmissible as a piece of evidence yet on this very site you will find debtors being taken to court even though the claimant cannot produce an original agreement or other documentation that should be vital in proving their case.
Yep, Andrew debtors are treated like dirt but the tide must turn and when it turns the sh** will float back and stick to those who made us believe we were criminals. Hardly a week goes by but we do not get a headline or a case on here that gives me hope. I will certainly never give up banging on the doors of the powers that be.
I better stop now before I start quoting Churchill or William Wallace and people will be even more convinced I a nutter!

[PAWS]

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

The OFT and now the FCA seem to give a fairly ‘standard’reply to every complaint don’t they. A bit of ‘Thank you very much’ then a slight hint of ‘take this complaint somewhere else’ and then finish off with ‘we will only get back to you if we need more information’.
Now I know they must be very busy but that is hardly our fault! I don’t want a new pen pal but a bit more of a ‘we are taking this seriously’ wouldn’t go amiss. After all; who is paying for them?
Have to go and stop hubby throwing the telly out through the window as Germany have just scored again!

[Fred]

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

The FCA are adopting the very same investigative tactics as the previous "failed OFT" the staff from the "failed OFT" are continuing to investigate issues brought against them (the defunct OFT) as employed now by the CMA, I do not see much change other than "rhetoric" from the newly & expensive set up big shout FCA, do I have facts, some perhaps on small scale but do they or are they doing much about the the "major issues".......its a "no" am afraid.

You have the power to impose law abiding sanctions immediately on providers but choose to negotiate, you use the the powers afforded to you by the populous to remain unanswerable in the restrictions you impose, you are for the people yet you have the bare face balls to remain resolute in your own secretive importance & waste public monies in this "self preservation"

Clear, concise & politically free regulation is a long way off.......but completely necessary in an opinion by a member of the public.

[andrew1]

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

I offered the OFT my time to go up there and show them and explain everything I and a few others had found, it's not easy just sending documents and an appraisal expecting them to both have the time and inclination to follow the money like we did and spend 10's of thousands of hours between us digging out the rot or understanding the reasoning why we were complaining as we were, but they refused, they refused and refused and refused. Just this 'thank you for the information, we are looking into it, but won't tell you what we are doing with it. - as it turns out - they did nothing with it!

One day I was walking up Moorgate in central London and I could see into the offices of a new glass building and there were fella's up there kicking paper footballs around the place and throwing them around. Ah ha, maybe that was the OFT's offices and my submissions - now we know what becomes of our complaints and email evidence!!
7-1 the last score!!!:tinysmile_cry_t: