I am going to keep this purely factual, I am not going to add ANY personal opinion WHATSOEVER.... I dont want to be accused of being libellous!!! Mods do a fab job *creep, creep, crawl, crawl* but Ive been on their wrong side and it was v scary *quakes in boots* so here goes. As some peeps may know, I used to work for a certain large credit card company in the recoveries side of operations and we used to have several talks from the 'debt sale' team, who dealt with, well surprise, surprise, the sale of accounts onto DCA's. It was also their job to make sure the DCA's were playing ball if you like, and not doing anything wrong. They mentioned that they had banned Lowell from buying any accounts for a certain time, cant remember how long but it may have been a year at least, due to the fact they were using illegal tracing tactics - basically sending letters to everyone of that name saying they were responsible for the debt!!! The fraud department were basically deluged with people who thought their identity had been stolen, people who had never had a credit card with the company in their lives. The time came when we had to say enough is enough as the amount it was costing in time and money for the fraud department was way above what they actually managed to collect. (which from what I can gather wasnt that much) but they did say what they were doing is actually illegal - so it seems that even the companies who are Lowell's livelihood have had enough of them now!!!!!!!!

Ive spoken to the FOS, who were very nice, they sent me the forms to fill in which Im about to do. I havent acknowledged 1st credits pathetic final response but Im going to do so and point out that they have now defaulted on my cca request. The 12+2 is up on Thursday, so whats the situation now? I got in touch with consumer direct but they havent bothered replying!

A little hint for you - shout loud enough and long enough and they will refund it - I have had similiar things happen to me with NatWest and they have refunded every single one of my charges - I got 3 refunded in one go once. Just keep on at them.

they did the same thing to me - said they would take stuff that wasnt mine and also implied I was lying about suffering from a long term chronic illness. I complained and they didnt answer my complaint properly so Ive dobbed them into FOS and OFT... but were surprisingly agreeable with not ringing me. Tell 'em theyre breaching the Disabilty Discrimination Act!

bear in mind Moorcroft are the shower who threatened to take a murdered girls mum to court as she hadnt paid her daughters phone bill.... and it seems refused to believe the girl was dead. Lovely people.. sooo competent

ha ha Mr Sensible, wish it was that easy....!

Thank you!!! where can i find the address of their local TS?

Speaking as the (long-suffering) missus of a very long-suffering (20 years in fact) Royal Mail employee, can I just point out that recorded delivery is literally just a signature. It tells you this in the post office (well, in my local one it does) not all PO workers are crooks. I accept that it is annoying when mail goes missing which is why my partner and I ALWAYS use SD for anything important - this is so secure that the ordinary sorters dont have access to it, it is locked in a special container and transported securely, signed for just goes thru with the rest of them. the majority of RM workers are honest and hardworking - dont tar them all with the same brush!!! *climbs down off soapbox*

im really kind of upset now... they sent me a letter this morning after the complaint I sent, acknowledging *shock, horror!* that the person i spoke to had been out of order in his tone, but basically accusing me of lying about several things ( i wasnt) totally dodging some of the most serious accusations and demanding to see a letter from my doctor to prove i wasnt lying about being ill! (er, why would I do that?!) they also demanded payment. This was thier final response which I am very dissatisfied with. Can I report them to TS as well as the Financial Ombudsman?

thanks everyone! more developments have happened now. Ive been quite ill for the last week - the doc says its stress - I think i can guess what it is thats stressing me out!!! A couple of days after sending my first complaint (By special delivery, and i kept a copy) they sent back a standard letter saying they were investigating, but I've heard nothing more. Then I cca'd them Friday, they sent a letter back saying they had requested it, it was going to take 6-8 weeks and they would expect the debt to be settled when I recived what I was asking for!!! Is that too long? Help!!

that thing about 600 isnt true. Probably what theyve done is put the account into what is called 'debt sale warehouse' but they arent allowed to tell you that. That's why they cant accept a payment plan. When it is sold, probably you will get a chance to negotiate a payment plan with the DCA.

ok, having read the Barclaycard/Mercers post from Rock and Roll, I decided to come clean myself. I worked in Capital One's Recoveries department for three months earlier this year. I was forced out when the stress became so great my doctor said i was basically a few days away from going into diabetic coma. Trust me. They claim to be nice but they all have an ulterior motive. If anyone falls into trouble with a Cap 1 account, you will recieve millions of phone calls from a bunch of edit who call themselves the collections department. They work from a dialler system and their job is basically to edit people who are even behind with one payment. They have very limited powers though. Basically, there sohuld be an indicator on their screens which works from PD1-8. Their favourite trick is to threaten people at PD1 with a default. (PD means past due, the amount of time that the cardholder has been without making a payment) however, I believe everything changed around the time I left so I'll try and include all that as well. Anyway, I digress. What I do know is that they cannot default you at PD1, so ignore that. What you need to tell them is you are in 'financial difficulty.' the criteria for this is huge - illness, pregnancy, redundancy - you name it. I heard it all when I worked there. Theres also a category caleld hardship where they can accept a nil payment for up to three months. But this is in real bad cases eg terminal illness, criminal death in family etc, also 7/7 cases and tsunami cases went into this portfolio. They will then ask you questions and if they are satisifed you meet the criteria they will send you a pack out to complete which will then be passed to the recoveries team. At this stage it is important to ask them to VC block the account, this will stop all interest and charges. Then the Recoveries team will get in touch. We used to adminster the payment plans and reset them when there broken. If you break it they will say to you 'the account will be passed for further action' but thats just cobblers. It wont. Basically, they do sell huge maounts of accounts at random to any old DCA. There were loads of problems with missing payments and stuff, and Capital One admitted that these 'Classic' cards with stupid APR's they kept issuing to any old Tom Dick or Harry wether they had income or not (i saw loads of applications declaring the applicant had no income of their own yet were still given stupid credit limits) were the problem. Alos with Debitas like I say - Debitas have little or no powers. They are just the most edit from collections. They wont take you to court - Capital One do not take anyone to court. They will flog your debt to someone else who will. But in the meantime they will threaten to squeeze every penny out of you, particularly on the '6 month reviews' just tell them your situation has not changed and refuse to pay any more.

Oh, thank you so much for that!! I havent CCA'd or SAR'd them yet as I dont have the money to send them until I get paid Friday, but I most certainly will and am going to come out fighting. I think my aunt has already spoken to a very senior police officer she knows (in confidence) and just been told to monitor the situation, she was told if the threats get any worse to get in touch. Im going to wait for their reply now. They gave me 7 days to pay, so I'll get those letters sent Friday. Am I able to get in touch with Trading Standards at this stage or am I best to wait?

ok, here goes. I have never heard of Debitas taking anyone to court as Capital One have a policy they do not issue court proceedings against any account holder. It used to be the case they did but is not now. Usually, what will happen is that once a default notice has been placed on the account, it goes into something called 'Debt Sale warehouse.' and an outside company will collect.In a case like this, it will be 'pre-lit debt sale warehouse.' It will then be sold onto another company who will then instigate the proceedings. However, Capital One are very lazy. It can take them months to flog accounts. Make sure you get on to the ERC about your charges. Debitas can only do short-term payment plans as well. On any acct that is about to be sold they will not offer payment plans. They are also likely to reject a settlement BUT that is at their discrestion - they can accept. As for the phone calls, they use a dialler. Once they get in, it can be impossible to get out of it..... hope that helps

ok, thanks. Ive sent them a VERY nasty letter totalling 8 pages today after collating dates, times etc from my past dealings with them on the account, sent by Special Delivery. I have photocopied these and sent a copy to Lloyds TSB by thier request and kept a copy for myself. Another question is, after getting the CCJ, can they just apply to send the bailiffs in without giving me a chance to pay anything? they have said they can and this is what they intend to do. Also, they have said they can look at my bank account to see what Ive got going in and out. Can they do this??? If they get an attachment of earnings can they ignore what I have told them I can afford and take my whole wages each month? When I was at university they actually threatened to contact the student bursary people and tell them they had to pay my bursary to them! Are they allowed to do this???? Lastly, Im really scared now reading their track record with the charging orders in case they go ahead without properly reading the Land Registry records. If they do do this can I sue them??? Im absolutely terrified now and really am thinking aobut going to a loan shark just to shut them up and get them off my back. And if I went to the police about what they have done, (it really is this bad) would it make things worse for me??? Advice please!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for the advice. I realise now it was a mistake sending them this letter but they were so abusive I really think Im going to have to get the coppers involved. My aunt also threatened to speak with the media (they didnt like that and started spluttering but had no answer) she also has spoken to her local MP who shes quite friendly with and they didnt like that either. What should I do now/ It was an overdraft, is it too late to CCA them?

hi jo, thanks for replying, but its not First Direct Im having probs with - its the debt collection agency 1st Credit! thanks anyway!

Youre right about the credit limits. These cards with stupid APR's - Classic cards - tend to be very difficult to get a credit limit increase on as they are the cards most likely to default. They tend to give the increases to people who have the more 'prestigious' cards ie Premier or Platinum where some of the limits are a bit stupid. (eg one of my family members who is permanently severely disabled and claims benefits, when she closed the account her credit limit was heading towards the 10,000 mark) It is an automated process, the results of which should be held on thier system under 'automated CLI increase/decline' whether or not this will hold up on a sar, Im not sure as it tends to be under the 'technical' notes rather than the notes just about the customer. It might be worth asking them about this if they fob you off. (which they will, is it ERC youre dealing with? ) Pebs, the whole 'credit limit increase on 4th payment' should be the case. If you have used the card, and paid on time, kept within your limit, the credit limit will be increased by £100 on the 4th statement date. If not, call customer services and they will do it for you. They wont tell you it's £100 though if you do need to - you may need to play dumb here hope this helps!!!

Whenever I see the words Capital One mentioned on here, I roll my eyes. I have damn good reason to hate them!!!!!!!!!! Fredricksons are not allowed to add any further charges. If the debt has not been 'debt sold' to Fredricksons then you need to CCA Capital One - you need to contact the Executive Response Dept. If it has been debt sold, you need to contact the agency it was sold to. If you need any further advice please pm me as I know some things about the workings of Cap 1's debt sales that might help you.

Hi everyone, having read through these forums before taking the plunge and registering I have worked out I am not the only person having problems with these bunch of muppets! I have an old student account with Lloyds TSB which I have struggled to pay for years. These muppets have now got hold of it and have threatened that if I dont pay five thousand quid in 7 days (which I dont have) they are going to put a charging order on the house AS WELL as sending the bailiffs in. The house isnt mine. It is solely in my partner's name, all deeds, mortgage etc - I have no right at all over it which they are refusing to believe. None of the stuff in the house belongs to me either. My mate who works for the Inland Revenue reckons if they take anything that doesnt belong to me its theft - is that true? They have also threatened to go through my partner's bank account to 'see if what i told them is true.' again, my partner's account is solely - and always has been - in his name alone. In that first call, judging by what i read they broke the law 3 times. Ive written to them and pointed this out, and Ive also spoken to Lloyds TSB who have been surprisingly good, the branch went out of their way to find out who I needed to speak to and advise me what to do - I think it cos I mentioned the magic word - 'police!' When I spoke to 1st credit they were very defensive and said 'they didnt see what they have done wrong.' Also what makes it worse is I suffer with several health problems and became unwell on the phone. When i do this I begin stammering and cant get my words out - they refused to allow me time to answer any of their demands and in the end I had to give a relative authority to speak to them. Can anyone advise me as to how to proceed Thanks!!