Debt Collectors.

[Ruby Gwenevere]

Hi
A professional debt collector disregards any negative (mouthy) comments and focuses on the issue at hand. The first rule of thumb is to assist the debtor in bringing their account current. If the debtor feels the need to "vent" I never take it personally... After all, they are not angry with me, they are angry for the position they are in.

If the debtor has a valid dispute regarding the debt, I work with them to resolve the issue. Once the issue is resolved the debtor is generally more willing to discuss the account with me.

[synaesthesia]

That's the difference right there, in the word "professional". There are lots of cowboys around, and some of them work for some right moronic companies, and as a result pick up some nasty habits (hello, Provident Personal Finance )
As mentioned, there are plenty of people out there willing to do their job properly and that's always going to help.

[Blitzen]

I find the 'Dont borrow if you can't pay' attitude very strange in this thread.

Firstly, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs over the last year. Many of which were happily paying their way. Debt isn't always self induced.

Secondly, these Debt Collection Agencies target ANYONE. Most of the time, the people they target aren't even the ones that owe the money.

Thirdly, these companies buy up old debts that are normally Statue Barred anyway. If they are SB, then they are unenforceable anyway. The companies will lie, intimidate, and play any trick to get someone/anyone to pay.

I only know about this stuff as a very close friend of mine has been in major debt and i helped her as much as i could.

Remember aswell, if anyone besides a Court Appointed Bailiff comes to your house asking for money then you can ask them to leave. If they refuse they are tresspassing.

I bought my house in December 2008. The guy i bought it off was trying to go bankrupt and owed in excess of £180K that i know of. Probably lots more.
On 6th March this year, a debt collector from Lowells turned up demanding money (just short of £19K). The fool was hammering on the front door. My house is a listed building so the front door although their, is false, as i couldnt take it out.
I looked through the window and he was very cross
Demanding i opened the door, i made sure i know who he was and who he was after. His target was obviously the previous owner and not me. Once i informed him i wasnt his man he got VERY angry.

I have an 8ft gate at the side of my house and the back entrance is on an entirely different street. Anyway, he opened the gate at the side, stepped through and i heard this almighty scream (like from a little girl in a playground).

My dog Wolfie, a 6 stone German Shepard, had him cornered in our garden and he was hiding on the kids trampoline behind the enclosure. The dog found this highly amusing. He didnt even bark. He is even scared of our cat but the dick on the trampoline didnt know this

Anyway, the dog kept him hostage there until he agreed to my demands that he must call his office and take our address off their records.

No contact since

[TheAnimus]

I find the 'Dont borrow if you can't pay' attitude very strange in this thread.

Firstly, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs over the last year. Many of which were happily paying their way. Debt isn't always self induced.

Secondly, these Debt Collection Agencies target ANYONE. Most of the time, the people they target aren't even the ones that owe the money.

Thirdly, these companies buy up old debts that are normally Statue Barred anyway. If they are SB, then they are unenforceable anyway. The companies will lie, intimidate, and play any trick to get someone/anyone to pay.

There are a lot of people who are very immature with the approach they have to borrowing money.

Indeed, but that is the downside of borrowing money, I have little sympathy for people who for instance borrow for a holiday, rather than save up. Their doing it wrong.
Yes there are those who will be defaulting on their mortgage, due to long term un-employment and finding out that they are facing negative equity. Sorry but some those people should have taken more care in buying a house in the first place, look at all the people who where buying barrot homes of plan, the company was purposefully inflating the property price to give them cash back, so they could twiddle their LTV. People like that made their bed with their duplicitious dealings, they can now lie in it.

There are going to be some minority of people who have been genuinely delt a appallingly unlucky hand, but that is life after all.

Agencies do often behave very badly, in student housing one of the people living their the year before had raked up some debts, the collector didn't believe he no longer lived there. He was very stressed and under a lot of pressure, so i decided to show him some mail showing the 5 different names who lived here. He was then midely applogetic at best and left. But i understand why he was such a stressed out runt, the scum he has to deal with on a day to day basis would have that effect on me.

The third kind are best controlled by legeslation and an understanding of the companies which contract them of the negative brand effect. If there was some law which made it transparent as to which companies where enganged on behalf of who, this might solve this problem, this would also include re-sold debt too. By bringing someone who has a business intrest in not pissing off the population at large, this might be a cheap natural solution.

[Blitzen]

There are a lot of people who are very immature with the approach they have to borrowing money.

It doesn't happen often but i agree with you totally.
People borrowing to the hilt either for luxuries or in order to get into the property market. What none of them seemed to realise (or care about), is the fact that a little twist in their income or interest rates, and the money borrowed would never have been possible for them to pay back. I do not feel for these people at all.

[aeonf242]

You must take into account that personal debt is now no longer seen as a personal responsibility by a large number of people.
It's hard to legislate for everything.
So as more people build up debts through greed or stupidity and then walk away the more impact on the rest of society.
So the harder it is to track down money the more room there is for rough and rogue operators...

Also probablu isn't helped by the fact that the courts are handing out more fines to people and therefore there is more money needign collecting.