Harassment and the law

Some Companies Continue to Harass despite having no Legal right

If a company continues to contact you after you have told them not to in writing, you have a number of ways to deal with the harassment. You can first of all apply your FEE SCHEDULE and bill them for every letter and contact. After the bill has reached a significant amount you can then make a claim in the small claims court and get them to pay you.

You can also report companies to their regulatory bodies and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

How to complain:

Step 1: Contact the firm directly. If you have a complaint, it is best to first ask the firm involved to put things right. ...

Step 2: Make the complaint yourself. ...

Step 3: Contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. ...

Step 4: Take the matter to court.

What counts as harassment by a creditor

If the creditor tries to do any of the following things to try and get you to pay back the money you owe, this could be considered harassment. They include:

• contacting you several times a day, or early in the morning or late at night

• pursuing you on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook

• putting pressure on you to sell your home or take out more credit

• using more than one debt collector at a time to chase you for payment

• not telling you if the debt has been passed on to a debt collection agency

• using paperwork or business logos that appear to be official when they’re not, for example sending you letters that look like court forms

• putting pressure on you to pay all the money off, or in larger instalments when you can't afford to

• threatening you physically or verbally

• ignoring you if you say you don't owe the money

• trying to embarrass you in public

• telling someone else about your debts or using another person to pass on messages, such as a neighbour or family member

• falsely claiming to work for the court or be a bailiff

• implying that legal action can be taken when it can't. For example, implying that your home can be taken from you without a court order

• giving the impression that court action has been taken against you when it hasn't

• giving the impression that not paying the debt is a criminal offence. For most debts, it is not a criminal offence if you don't pay them.

Who is harassing you

If you’re being harassed by a creditor it's important to know who is asking for payment. They may not be the people you originally owed money to. This is because your original creditor is allowed to pass the debt onto someone else to collect. If your original creditor does this, they can no longer chase you for money. If your creditor decides to pass the debt on, they must tell you in writing before they do it.

Your debt may be collected by:

• your original creditor

• a debt collection agency acting on behalf of your creditor

• a third party who has bought the debt from your creditor

• bailiffs or sheriff officers in Scotland.

What can you do about harassment by a creditor

You first need to find out who is actually collecting the debt. You then need to take the following steps:

• collect evidence of the harassment

• complain to the creditor

• complain to a professional body.

Collecting evidence

Before you make a complaint, gather as much evidence as you can to support your claim. This can include:

• recording the number of visits or calls with dates and times. Write down what was said to you each time and who you spoke to

• any letters or documents you have received

• witness statements from neighbours or other people who live with you.

Complaining to your creditor

You should write to the creditor who is harassing you asking them to stop. Tell them how you want to be contacted in future and ask them to confirm this in writing.

You should point out in the letter that harassment is a criminal offence and you can take further action if your creditor doesn't stop. Remember to send all letters by recorded delivery and keep copies so that you have a record of your complaint.

After receiving your complaint, your creditor has 3 business days to respond informally. This could be by phone or email. A final response letter might take longer. Your creditor also has to report your complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), even if they respond within 3 business days.

Complaining to a professional body

You should always complain directly to the creditor first but if this does not solve the problem, you may also want to complain to a professional body too. Your debt collector may belong to a trade association or professional body with a code of practice that sets out how they are supposed to behave towards you.

Trade associations

Find out if your lender belongs to a trade association which has a code of practice. The trade association may also take action against its members who break the code of practice.

If your complaint is against a bank, building society or credit card company, they may belong to the Standards of Lending Practice.

The Standards of Lending Practice set out principles that its members should follow. These include:

• not harassing you or putting too much pressure on you.

• telling you how to get debt advice.

• providing support if you are vulnerable, for example if you have physical or mental health problems.

• using trustworthy debt collection agencies who also follow the Standards of Lending Practice if the debt is passed on or sold.

You should complain to the bank, building society or credit card company first, using their complaints procedure. If this does not sort out the problem, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, telling them that a debt collector or creditor has broken the terms of the Standards of Lending Practice. For more information about complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service, go to the Financial Ombudsman's website at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Complaining about a solicitor acting for a creditor

If a solicitor is harassing you on behalf of a creditor, this is considered to be professional misconduct. To make a complaint, you will first need to use the firm's internal complaints procedure. If this does not resolve the problem, you can complain to one of the professional associations. To work out which association you should complain to, you first need to check where the solicitor is registered.

If they are registered in England or Wales, you can complain to the Solicitors' Regulation Authority (SRA) at www.sra.org.uk. If they are registered in Scotland, you can complain to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) at www.scottishlegalcomplaints.com. If they are registered in Northern Ireland, you can complain to the Law Society. Go to www.lawsoc-ni.org.

Complaining to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

The FCA has rules and guidance about debt collection. Although the FCA cannot take up your individual case, they can refuse or revoke the firm's authorisation or, for example, fine the firm. It may be worth reminding the creditor that breaching the rules could affect their FCA authorisation.

More about the FCA rules and guidance on debt collection in the FCA's Consumer Credit Sourcebook at www.fca.org.uk.

Illegal money lending

You may have borrowed money from a money lender who is not FCA authorised. These lenders are often called loan sharks and they may physically or verbally threaten you if you can't pay back the money. They also charge extremely high rates of interest, which means you may end up owing much more money than you originally borrowed.

It's important to remember that loan sharks are breaking the law by lending you money in this way. They can’t enforce the high rates of interest they are trying to charge. You can’t be legally made to pay back the money and you have not broken the law if you don't pay it back.

If you are being harassed or threatened by a loan shark, you can report them in confidence in the following ways:

Telephone: 0300 555 2222. Calls, including mobile phones, will be charged at local rate.

Text/SMS: text loanshark and your message to 60003. Texts will be charged at your network's standard rate.

Email: reportaloanshark@stoploansharks.gov.uk

Website: www.stoploansharks.direct.gov.uk

Further help and information

Trade and professional associations

Your creditor may belong to one of the following trade or professional associations which have a code of practice that its members must follow. You can find a list of members on the organisations’ websites:

Credit Services Association

Wingrove House

2nd Floor East

Ponteland Road

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE5 3AJ

Tel: 0191 286 5656

Email: info@csa-uk.com or complaints@csa-org.com

Website: www.csa-uk.com

Consumer Credit Trade Association (CCTA)

Suite 4 The Wave

1 View Croft Road

Shipley

West Yorkshire

BD17 7DU

Tel: 01274 714959

Email: info@ccta.co.uk

Website: www.ccta.co.uk

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

25 The North Colonnade

Canary Wharf,

London

E14 5HS

Consumer helpline: 0800 111 6768 (freephone), 0300 500 8082

Email: consumer.queries@fca.org.uk

Website: www.fca.org.uk

Debt buyers and their FCA registration details:

CABOT

Cabot Financial (Europe) Limited are regulated by the FCA Reference number: 743525

Registered office address: 1 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4UA

LOWELL

Lowell Portfolio I Ltd (company number 4857418) and Lowell Financial Ltd (company number 4558936) are incorporated in England and Wales with their registered offices at Ellington House, 9 Savannah Way, Leeds, LS10 1AB. Both Lowell Portfolio I Ltd (FCA number 730071) and Lowell Financial Ltd (FCA number 730175) are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Sample Harassment Warning Template Letter

[Your Address]

[Your Postcode]

[Date]

[Company Name]

[Company Address]

[Postcode]

Dear Sir/Madam

Account No: [Your account number]

Further to your recent [telephone calls/letters/visits], I am writing because I think your behaviour towards me in trying to collect the debt is unreasonable and could be considered to be harassment.

I have been advised that, under the Financial Conduct Authority's Consumer Credit sourcebook, it is an unfair and improper business practice to:

• [explain here exactly what the company is doing to harass you]

Please stop trying to recover the debt in this manner. In future, please only contact me by email at [email address] and stop the behaviour I have outlined above.

If you ignore this request or do not change your behaviour, I will make a formal complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority

Yours faithfully,

The Financial Ombudsman Service will raise the complaint with the company harassing you if that has not already been done

Example of Complaint to the Financial Ombudsman

FINACIAL OMBUDSMAN - WARNING

The Ombudsman is biased in favour of the industry they "regulate" and not there to act as a Court on matters of LAW.

If I ask a person to collect a debt for me (whether it's owed or not) that is an EQUITABLE Assignment. The Ombudsman would be quite happy with this arrangement but a Court of Law would not entertain it because it simply hasn't followed the process to be a LEGAL Assignment. So don't go into any details of debt purchase when making a complaint to the Ombudsman, focus on that fact that the debt has been disputed and the LEGAL route is to take you to court, NOT HARASS YOU!

Successes