First step Finance - **BANNED DIRECTORS STOLE +£6M**

[international54]

Batley

I take it you've been intouch with the Ombudsman hence your quote of £15 phoning them . Have you made any further progress over their charges.

I have stopped my standing order and have requested a refund to which they replied "they will cost it up" which i requested in writing.

I'm still waiting !

I have logged my phone calls to them and made a note of the few calls they have phoned me ( 2 or 3 ) in 7 months.

I have paid them up to now £975 which could have paid off one or two creditors.

My next move will be the ombudsman and legal action if theres no conclusion.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

I have contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service and mentioned First Step Finance

and asked the person I spoke to whether they have had any complaints.

 

They said they were not able to index complaints under First Step, or anyone (or they simply may not have been willing to!)

 

I wasn't able to make any *tangible* complaint to them, as for me FSF *have* written off a couple of small payday loans.

 

Still wondering whether to cancel my standing order for April 1st,

 

but the complication for me is that I also owe FSF money for their cut in successfully reclaiming PPI (payment protection insurance) from Egg.

 

In order for Egg to repay me I had to pay back the whole outstanding loan as they'd deemed it was all arrears.

 

So I got a situation where FSF's cut was more than what I actually received from the creditor!

 

So I have made an arrangement to pay £20 a month in addition to the standing order for them to administer/challenge my other debts.

 

So if I cancel the main standing order i hope they won't renege on that arrangement and demand their whole 'cut' straight away

 

or even make a "revenge" debit from my debit card as soon as I get paid!

 

Isn't life complicated...

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

I meant to say that the Ombudsman looked up FSF on the Internet and they do seem to have a 'consumer credit' licence. But that doesn't necessarily imply that the company is completely above board, I suppose.

[batley12]

I have been with fsf for 12mths.

 

 

Have sent them £1035.

 

 

£56 has been sent to creditors.

 

 

No debts have been written off or made unenforceable.

 

 

There as been no money put into a pot.

 

 

Had 2 monthly progress reports.

 

 

Fsf have taken the rest of my money for their fee.

 

 

They charge £50 for phone calls made to you and £15 for calls which they receive from you.

 

 

They have many hidden charges.

 

 

I am now taking legal action to recover my money.

 

 

A company which breaks promises,

 

 

sends out conflicting reports,and fails to communicate with clients.

 

 

Keep your money in your pocket,

 

 

dont put it in theirs.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Batley, How do you know that no money has gone into a pot and it's all for their fees. Have fsf said that? Yes, I agree I don't really want to give any more money to a company that breaks promises etc. I may be able to view the CAG site over the weekend, but can't submit any further response until Monday now. Thanks for your comments.

[hell-yeah72]

Been with FSF since nov 09 and wasn't having much luck, being told one thing from creditors and something completely differant from FSF! Got fed up with it and 'googled' reviews which i should have done in first place!I want out with as much of my money as possible-HELP

[GHANA01]

Hi

 

I have been with First Step Finance since Sept 09.

 

I paid a 1st payment of £200 for admin fee ect.

 

I have since been paying them £185 per month which has been so I am told put into a high interest account

while they see if my contract is disputable or not.

 

I have had a number of phone calls from HSBC regarding my loan since then.

 

When I phoned FsF they told me that they had sent a number of letters to HSBC

and last month I finally received my contract from HSBC.

 

As for HSBC taking me to court they have now passed my debt over to a collecting agency

 

who is giving FsF the 6wks to look at the contract before contacting them.

 

I have had to on most occassions contact FsF as they do not always call and give you an update.

 

I cannot leave them as I would have to find their fees upfront or have another debt on my hands.

 

As for court!...you are paying for FsF to do a job for you.

 

If you do not wish to go down that road and I don't you have the right to tell them to start making a payment.

 

For me telling me that I have a good or reasonable chance of winning in court is not enough for me

as it is me who will have to pay FsF legal fee and court fees...more debt again.

 

I am still having to wait about another 3 - 4 weeks to see what the situation is regarding my contract.

 

I am however angry that I now have a further debt of an overdraft as payments were not paid while this dispute with HSBC was and is still going on.

 

I am however going to demand all copies of correspondence between FsF and HSBC as I feel that if I am paying for it

then I am entitled to see what they are or have been doing on my behalf.

 

Go to payplan if you can they may be funded by the banks via the goverment but at least you are not paying money

 

for a service that leaves you feeling continually stressed and having to pay for their services,

 

also the letters and phone calls will stop...Good luck!

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Quoted message from First Step Finance 29/03/2010:

Hi there Poor-Credit Borrower, I'm happy to see that you have benefited in our service being able to prove 2 of your debts as unenforceable.

 

Unfortunately

we appear to have let you down recently in our efforts in keeping you updated.

I would be keen to address this if you could please contact me on the email address in my profile.

 

I would imagine that the creditors that are still contacting you are those who have yet to provide a copy of the agreement.

 

Our service is proven to get people debt free,

we recently helped one gentleman become debt free having only repaid 22% of his original debt balance!

 

We would be very disappointed if you came all this way along your plan, only to cancel.

If you choose to go with a DMP company,

ou will inevitably end up paying more over a significantly longer period.

 

Please contact me directly on the email address in my profile for further reassurance

and so that I can answer any concerns you may have.

[end quote]

 

First Step Finance,

do you think I would end up paying more over a much longer period if I went to a debt management organisation

like the CCCS who do not charge a fee for the customer/debtor?

 

 

About a year and a half ago when I was with Sterling Green (a fee-paying DM co),

the Halifax said that the only debt mgmnt company they'd recognise is the CCCS,

 

 

so at least they know that all the distributed amount is going to creditors.

 

 

Black Horse finance have said the same thing to me.

 

Anyone else have any views or further views?

 

Not quite sure how to look up your email address from your profile, FSF.

 

Thanks,

PCB

[sequenci]

with "sufficient time" to produce a copy of your signed agreements.

 

In accordance with The Consumer Credit Act, this is 12 days.

 

Your thoughts on that please?

[sequenci]

CCCS do an excellent job in managing your debts. They are actually funded by the credit industry (the people you owe money to) which is why they can offer a free service.

 

This is true in part. CCCS and the other debt charities DO receive funding from creditors as part of their social policy work. They also receive funding directly from the Government. This does NOT mean that they are working for, or on behalf of the creditors.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Sequenci, thanks as ever for your comments. I have noticed that all posts written by First Step Finance have now been deleted from the forums - does that mean that you and the rest of the Site Team do not recognise FSF as a bona fide account holder, and hence 'debt elimination' provider to go with?

[sequenci]

Hi there,

 

We never delete posts, it is likely that they have been 'unapproved' which means that regular posters cannot see them - only the site team.

 

Usually posts my be unapproved if the poster breaches site rules.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi sequenci,

 

But I did see those posts from FSF and now they are not visible! Perhaps they were just deleted via an automated system and not consciously by the site team.

 

I should imagine they were 'unapproved' as the company is not, of course, a bona fide 'consumer'.

[sequenci]

It is usually the case that a member of the site team would have to manually unapprove posts, for whatever reason - I think FSF's posts were taken this way.

 

For the record, non-consumers are actually welcome providing they adhere to the site rules!

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Thank you. I hope FSF are not able to 'eavesdrop' on our posts any longer!

[diamondgirl]

Must admit my friend had a lot of success with this company but they never got charged for any phone calls either way so things must have changed with them. Has anyone checked out their website looks like its been altered.

 

DG

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi Diamondgirl

 

How long ago was your friend with the company?

 

 

did she (or he) get some of her debts written off and, as far as you know, are they permanently written off?

 

 

I haven't been informed I'm going to be charged for any phone calls,

 

 

but some of the money I have been putting in the "pot" for 11 months

 

 

now may have been earmarked to pay for phone calls I have made.

 

Website - I have just checked it out and the weblink doesn't seem to be available to open now.

 

PCB

Edited April 1, 2010 by Poor-Credit Borrower
two words or so changed

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi Daniella,

 

I have had a progress call with FSF about half an hour ago.

 

 

The caseworker I spoke to, who seems to know what she's talking about,

does not know of any separate charge for phone calls,

I'm not sure where the poster who mentioned these charges got his info from.

 

 

All the phone calls and charges they have to pay (for example, they have had to pay a £10 on my behalf for a DSAR request to Capital One)

do come from the 8% that is paid to them to any debt that is paid to the creditor.

The other charges that FSF receive are 25% of any debt that is written off

(and some has been written off in my case).

 

The question about PPI being part of the debt, which Black Horse disputed:

FSF said that if they are successful in recovering this mis-sold PPI it would come off 'outstanding' balance to pay

and they said they'll keep on at the creditor even if they claim the payment protection was 'correctly' sold.

 

 

They said I should have no contact with the creditors,

or the DCAs representing them, wherever possible and just refer the enquiry to them.

 

When I mentioned to FSF that a couple of creditors seemed very keen for me to move instead to the CCCS,

they said that they would say that as firstly the CCCS wouldn't query the validity of the debt and,

secondly, the CCCS is funded by some of the credit industry.

 

 

So, all in all, I'm reluctant to relinquish my plan with them or cancel my standing order.

 

Finally, when I said that all this seems to be affecting my credit file with Experian and Equifax (etc)

they said unfortunately that would happen.

 

 

I expect a number of my credit accounts would be recorded as "missed" payments even if I were with the CCCS?

 

PCB

Edited April 1, 2010 by Poor-Credit Borrower
typo/misspelling

[hell-yeah72]

I'm still very confused with FSF

have made an appointment with a group called Debt Action to see if they can give me abit more advice!

 

 

FSF can be VERY convincing when I'm on the phone to them and

 

 

at the end of it all they keep saying that the credit companies will say anything to get me to pay them and not FSF!

 

Will still keep reading your blogs and thanks for the advice you've given me so far,good to know I'm now the only poor sod in this boat!!!

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi hell-yeah72 (nice user-name),

thanks very much for your post.

Do please let me know what that group Debt Action say - I assume they are a Government-funded impartial organisation? I think there are a few on the forum that are in this boat now!

I'm leaving the office now, so will only have occasional access to e-mail until Tuesday now.

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi PCB,

 

I'm a bit confused about the 8%. If, for example, you had an enforceable debt of £1,000 which had to be paid, does this mean that they get £80 from you on top of that £1,000, or the creditor actually allows them 8% - so from that £1,000 the creditor would get £920 and FSF keep £80?

 

Re. Blackhorse. Is the agreement enforceable or not? If it's not you won't be paying them anything, and so can easily claim the mis-sold PPI. Even it's enforceable, you are still entitled to the mis-sold PPI and (I think) you should get that paid as a refund. I'm honestly not certain about that, so will have to ask around further.

 

Have they actually started getting this PPI back? Get it from them in writing if they say they have and say that you must be copied in with any correspondence.

 

CCCS are funded by the card companies and won't tell you about challenging your agreements, which I personally think is wrong because it means we have to do our own research to find somewhere like CAG.

 

Unfortunately this will all affect your credit file but unless you can pay everyone back or get the companies to admit they don't have enforceable agreements, and then remove defaults from your credit file, you are stuck.

 

Do you pay FSF on the basis of a job lot? Or do you pay one amount for Blackhorse, one for Capital One, and so on, so they are all treated as separate accounts?

 

Finally, when did you take the Capital One card out?

 

DDx

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi Daniella

 

I have come into the office even though it's Good Friday, as I can view the posts from my computer at home but cannot actually post as the site is registered to my work email address. Probably won't come in again until Tuesday.

 

Anyway, I think I would have to pay 8% on top or £80 on top of every £1,000.

 

Blackhorse: the agreement is enforceable. They have not started getting any PPI back but FSF think they have a chance of doing so. They asked me how much the original loan was for and I said £1000 (back in 2005) so they've said the PPI will only be a couple of hundred but still worth claiming, of course.

 

I'm not sure whether FSF would copy me in with any correspondence, but it is worth asking next time I speak to them.

 

This is why a lot of the creditors prefer the CCCS as they don't actualy challenge any of the agreements! Yes, I am grateful to CAG

 

At the moment, I'm trying to get a re-mortgage to pay off the existing mortgage and the secured loan (which I'd made a mistake in taking out), but my credit file just will not help.

 

I pay just one amount per month to FSF. Even when I was with a traditional debt management company, I paid one lot monthly, but they did give me a written breakdown each month of how much was paid to each creditor. Was generally just over 1% of the original debt.

 

I took my Capital One card out in about 2004 to 2005, but I used it as an active credit card until September 2007. The two Halifax credit cards (separate accounts and they currently even have a different DCA acting for them) I took out in 2004. FSF are not satisfied that the Capital One account is an enforceable agreement, nor even the Halifax ones, but they did say they would not go to court until they were pretty sure they'd win the case. From what the lady at FSF said to me yesterday, they want to make sure they have thoroughly given Halifax every opportunity to provide a 'valid executable' agreement before even starting to go to court.

 

By the way, they have said, this 40-day rule for providing agreements is not necessarily for providing an actual valid agreement, but just to return with some correspondence. It seems that even an interim reply within 40 days is acceptable in law, and they can't seem to do anything about it. This is one reason why some of the negotations are so protracted...

 

A good Easter to everyone.

 

PCB x

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi PCB,

 

It's a pretty miserable Good Friday anyway, so it's hardly as if we are missing any sunshine by being online, although I'm running around all over the place with just occasional visits here.

 

As far as Blackhorse is concerned, you shouldn't be paying 8% more than the actual debt because FSF are handling it.

 

If you sign up to some more threads, which you will over time, you will see that you do not want to be taking the card companies to court to force them to say they have an unenforceable agreement. You want to be the Defendant in any case - not the Claimant. That way it's up to them to prove they have an agreement and for you to challenge what they send, argue about the Default Notice if relevant, and so on.

 

I haven't got any Halifax accounts so you'll need to search Halifax and join some of their threads and see what is said about the agreements/application forms for the same time frame as yours.

 

If your Capital One card was taken out in 2004, and probably as far as April 2005, it won't be enforceable anyway, so you should not be paying FSF anything at all for that one. Join Sunflower's Capital One thread if you are not on it already.

 

As FSF are admitting negotiations are protracted, which they are, this could drag on for years with you paying FSF every month.

 

I honestly don't know what you should do about the money you have already paid them. Is there anything in the agreement about your choosing to not continue working for them, and if so how much of your money they must give back to you or pay directly to a creditor?

 

Also, if they actually did take a company to court, which I doubt they will, what do they guarantee in terms of a barrister to represent you? Would they be taking just your case to court, or would you be part of a job lot?

 

You need to check your agreement with them carefully before you decide what to do next.

 

Happy Easter to you too.

 

DDxx

[hell-yeah72]

Hiya PCB,

 

 

hope you had a decent Easter and had not too many eggs!!!

 

 

Well I got my advice from a charity agency set up by the government over here to help people like ourselves .

My worst fears were confirmed and I will not be making any more payments to FSF,

the likelyhood of having any success with them is next to zero.

 

 

He will comunicate with my creditors and because my husband is on JSA and I'm a housewife(hardworking)

I shouldn't be paying any of the creditors anything since hubby was made redundant in Aug 2008!!!!(which I had struggled to do)

 

 

The creditors mightn't like it but it's either that or me go bankrupt and them get nothing

(We rent of the council so therefore have no assests and nothing for them to come after, which I already know!!!)

 

I came away with good news and bad news.

FSF might have got some of my money but that'll be it!!

If I can put up with the phonecalls that I've had from my creditors since I signed up with FSF

I can fob off FSF as they are not regulated and have no hold over me.

 

The advisor that I talked to was very helpful and there MIGHT be a glimmer of hope in getting my finances somewhat sorted the right way.

 

 

Hope get your head sorted cos even though I've only been with FSF for a short time

 

 

I'm ready for the nearest mental institute!!

Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted!!!

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi hell-year and welcome to CAG!

 

I hope you are having a good Easter too.

 

PCB, as they have said above, probably won't be able to post until Tuesday, but I was very interested to read your post.

 

PCB's choice is going to be a decision to dump them or stick with them, and if it's possible to get any money back from them. Did you get anything, or just decide to write it off? Did any of the money you gave them actually go to the creditors? Would love to know what your new advisor thought about this aspect.

 

DD