Dept Enforcement Group claiming wife owes Uclaim4me fee on basis of fake signature

[andy59]

Hi, my wife is panicking about a letter from the Debt Enforcement Group who apparently have taken the supposed debt from Uclaim4me for an unrequested PPI claim. They are saying pay now or we add 8.75% per day.and will petition for bankruptcy procedures, Wife received £876 from HSBC redress account and when she asked the bank just said PPI claim. We were then bombarded with phonecalls / letters to pay fee of £404 but had no clue as to how they had been instructed . When we asked for a signed contract from them all they had was a vague signature from an electronic device. Has anyone any idea what to do other than pay this company £1537 !!!!. they wont supply any paperwork or subject access request so we dont want to pay if this is a scam. Any help would be appreciated .

[EXC]

Hiya

Do you know if Debt Enforcement Group have bought the 'debt' or just trying to collect it on behalf of Uclaim4me?

It sounds like the same kind of scam that Allay Claims and Fast Track Reclaim were running in 2019 where they placed ads on Facebook for a 'Free PPI check' that somehow morphed into a claims management contract without the informed consent of the customer, but I've not heard of Uclaim4me doing it before.

You could try and make a formal complaint and if rejected go the Financial Ombudsman but they normally reject complaints on the basis that they can't rule on whether a signature is genuine or not and because the CMC had all the information it must have been provided by the 'customer'. You might be better off going to court - see here Allay LOSE in Court - LegalBeagles Forum

But it wouldn't hurt to go to the Ombudsman first as their rulings aren't legally binding if you don't accept them.

Looking at the FCA register and Companies House, Uclaim4me (Waterloo Solutions Ltd) went into administration in October.

Waterloo Solutions Limited (fca.org.uk)

WATERLOO SOLUTIONS LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK (company-information.service.gov.uk)

In the first instance you should send an SAR to HSBC and ask them specifically for any correspondence and Letters of Authority they had from Uclaim4me regarding the PPI. In the meantime you should inform Debt Enforcement Group that you are disputing the 'debt' subject to HSBC's response during which time it would not be appropriate for them to continue collection activity.

Let me know when you've heard from either HSBC or Debt Enforcement Group.

[andy59]

Hi , thanks so much for the reply, we are waiting for the bank to send out any paperwork they have but the person dealing with it said the signature they have is a very vague copy. We were under the impression that unless there was a signed contract with terms and conditions we are under no obligation ?.
When we asked the Debt Enforcement Agency guy for any paperwork or details of the case he just said that its not relevant now because he has taken on the debt. A bit strange if Waterloo Solutions have gone bust. I feel that morally i should go to court but realise that these things can end up getting out of hand and i don't want my wife's health to get worse. Thanks again.

[Shela]

Hi, can I ask how you got on with this? I am in the same situation feel like paying it as spent hours on the phone to HSBC and Financial Ombudsman with no luck!! It feels so wrong to pay them!

[DE DOGS]

Take the advice as offeredbyEXC that is In the first instance you should send a SAR to HSBC and ask them specifically for any correspondence and Letters of Authority they had from Uclaim4me regarding the PPI. In the meantime, you should inform Debt Enforcement Group that you are disputing the 'debt' subject to HSBC's response during which time it would not be appropriate for them to continue collection activity.