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

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Do BOTH.

 

FSF HAVE to have a consumer credit license, so it's always worth making as much noise as possible.

 

Yes, thanks

 

Great to hear, is it a 'money adviser' that you're seeing? Let us know how you get on. For the record I work within the charitable debt advice industry and work in close proximity to both the CAB and CCCS (amongst others!). Keep us posted

 

I certainly hope it is a 'money adviser' at the CAB, but I suspect it could be a general appointment as, in their letter, they haven't asked for details of my debts or enclosed a monthly budget sheet... I might ring the branch when they're open for phone calls from 10 til 12noon on Tues and Thurs.

[hell-yeah72]

to PCB

Make sure it is a debit/money advisor cos I first went to CAB for advice and my local branch didn't have one so I would've had to been referred to the 2 other branches that did have one and the waiting times was several months in each as they were sooooo busy! They however put me into contact with the charity that are helping me now so they were useful I suppose in that respect!

 

Hope your CAB is alot bigger than mine is and you'll not have to wait so long.

Edited April 12, 2010 by hell-yeah72
rewording

[sequenci]

You can find out if your local branch has a money adviser by cheking their website. Each brach should give a list of its specialist services:

 

Get advice

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Posted by sequenci:

> You can find out if your local branch has a money adviser by cheking their website. Each brach should give a list of its specialist services:

 

They do have a debt adviser, I have checked. However, they don't go overboard with their opening hours for phone enquiries: one of the branches in my borough is only open from 10 - 12:45 Thursday and the other one (the one I have made an appointment with) is only open from 10 - 12 on Mon and Friday. I have missed the slot today, but will ask on Friday whether my appt the following Wednesday is actually with a debt/money adviser. I'm not going to say on open forum where my borough is.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

International54, hell-yeah72 or batley12, is there any progress with your claims of money back from FSF or anything? Please let us know.

Hope all goes well PCB

[hell-yeah72]

Nothing new to report yet, but it is very early days in my case and after reading the post that international54 put on I have an awful sense of dread that I may actually owe FSF money!! cos of all the HARD WORK that they done on my behalf as I may not have enough money in my pot to 'pay them'. However if this is the case then they can go on my list of creditors(at the very end!) and be treated to £1 a month. Haven't seen my new debt advisor as I had to cancel but have appointment for 2moro morning, so I'll see what the craic is then.

 

It is gr8 to know that I'm not alone and I can get sensible and worthwhile advice here too.Keep up the good work!!

 

A problem shared is a problem halved!!

Edited April 15, 2010 by hell-yeah72
spelling mistakes

[Desperate Daniella]

I've only just read International54's post and I am shocked rigid.

 

If those charges were not in the contract anyone signed, they shouldn't be attempting to charge them.

 

For example - Courier £75. Courier to where exactly? Can they provide a receipt for this? I doubt it. Of course they may have sent a whole lot of letters to one address about different clients and will charge every client for that item on the courier's bill.

 

Personally, I'd advise everyone here to ask for a breakdown like International54's of exactly where the money has gone. When you have that, and they do not have a contract agreeing to those charges, you should report them to everyone, and start demanding your money back.

 

DD

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

I was shocked myself. They were not in the contract I signed either. I paid a "document" fee of £75, which covered the initial correspondence to clients and the admin involved in sending the statutory £1 to each creditor, which in my case was not bad value as I had about a dozen creditors.

 

However, there was no mention of a Courier fee. Nor was there of an Admin fee of £50.00 per hour or Legal fee of £75.00 per hour. How can a client possibly keep track of how many hours they are working on behalf of them. Also I thought some, or most, of the admin would have been absorbed in the 25% they take of the proportion of debt 'written off' and 8% of the debt actually paid to the client's creditors.

 

I'm going to ask for a breakdown, myself.

[sequenci]

PCB - Have you sent them a SAR? could be worth doing?!?

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Sequenci - I didn't know that a Subject access request could be sent to a debt management or debt elimination co, only to a creditor! Do you think FSF would comply? You mean that I have a right to ask what has been charged to me so far. Well, there's no harm in asking!

Thanks, PCB:-)

[sequenci]

Sequenci - I didn't know that a Subject access request could be sent to a debt management or debt elimination co, only to a creditor! Do you think FSF would comply? You mean that I have a right to ask what has been charged to me so far. Well, there's no harm in asking!

Thanks, PCB:-)

 

You can use a SAR for nearly any type of company that you believe to hold personal data about you. It's an option, and one which is possibly worth using to assist with your plight. Bear in mind if they later rely on something that they do not send to you as part of the SAR they could be well and truly scuppered!

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi, yes I'll send a subject access request to them. Anyone else had any progress from FSF in, say, the last week?

[prima]

Hi PCB, posted this on another thread last week,

 

 

Hello PCB, thankyou for your comments, I understand your question, and yes the amount was not a great amount, including the fees charged she has ended up paying out approx 35% of the debt she started with.

 

I have indeed looked at some of the posts on this and other forums and there are good and not so good, as I have said previously I can only tell as I find. There seems to be a trend though people thinking creditors are paid whilst on this plan or service.

 

To answer your last question she has been charged to date 8% of the debt plus 25% of what is saved or written off, but has been advised a payment is due back to her.

 

I would only add it has not all been happy days a little stressful at times due to mither/harrassment but worth it from our point of view to be free of the debts and mither, perhaps not for every one as help is available on this and other forums for those people that have the time and inclination.

 

Good Luck with your situation.

 

prima

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hi Prima, a reply has now been sent to you from me on the thread you originally posted to last week.

 

PCB

[chezney66]

I'm aware of how first step operate as they are not the only company to offer debt elimination plans. To provide this service a company must have a ministry of justice licence and be highly regulated and frequently scrutinised.

A debt management company works off a consumer credit licence which, anyone who watched a recent panorama will know, are the same licences door step loan sharks work from. They are not regulated by the government and are at liberty to behave how they wish- hence the common practice of neglecting to tell new customers the first 2 to 3 payments will not even go to the creditors (putting the client into immediate arrears).

As for non-fee charging organisations such as the CCCS or Payplan; the reason they don't charge fees is due to the fact that they are majority funded by the people YOU owe money to. Common sense should therefore tell you that the effort with which they endeavour to stop your interest and charges is limited...because YOUR creditors pay THEIR wages.

As long as the debt elimination company that approaches you has the relevant MOJ registration number and does not ask for a huge upfront fee of hundreds of pounds then I think its very safe to assume its a genuine and efficient way of getting out of debt as quickly and cheaply as possible.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hello chezney66,

FSF do have a ministry of justice licence, but I don't know how often they are scrutinised as the MOJ probably have a lot of companies on their books.

The actual upfront fee is £75 for them to send the statutory £1 fee to each creditor, but they do ask the client to pay 'what they can afford' each month and most of it does NOT seem to go to any creditors in the early stages. In my case a very small amount is going to creditors where the agreement has been fully validated.

The problem seems to be when a client tries to extricate him/herself from their services and they seem to put on charges that were NOT in the original agreement with them.

Welcome to CAG, but do you mind if I ask what your interest is in the forum, a friend of someone in debt, or a debt advisor yourself, for example?

[sequenci]

To provide this service a company must have a ministry of justice licence and be highly regulated and frequently scrutinised.

Any man, or his dog, could quite easily get a MOJ license.

They are not regulated by the government and are at liberty to behave how they wish- hence the common practice of neglecting to tell new customers the first 2 to 3 payments will not even go to the creditors (putting the client into immediate arrears).

Both the OFT and the MOJ are government departments, no?

As for non-fee charging organisations such as the CCCS or Payplan; the reason they don't charge fees is due to the fact that they are majority funded by the people YOU owe money to. Common sense should therefore tell you that the effort with which they endeavour to stop your interest and charges is limited...because YOUR creditors pay THEIR wages.

This typifies the kind of spin that a fee-charging, commerical firm dupes their postential customers with. Yes CCCS and Payplan recieve funding, so does that mean that they are working with the creditor's best interests at heart? And if so, why is it that CCCS and Payplan have a much higher success rate at having agreements sorted with interest and charges frozen than the commercial firms?

As long as the debt elimination company that approaches you has the relevant MOJ registration number and does not ask for a huge upfront fee of hundreds of pounds then I think its very safe to assume its a genuine and efficient way of getting out of debt as quickly and cheaply as possible.

 

This has made my Friday afternoon

[Desperate Daniella]

And what is genuinely misleading on some of these websites is the way they infer that they are working with the Ministry of Justice to give themselves credibility.

[hell-yeah72]

well chezney66 this sounds like the EXACT same speil that FSF have come out with to me when they didn't get last months payment!! What you say is correct as my debt advisor has said but did you happen to read international54's blog?please justify!!!

 

I am now waiting to hear from someone higher up than the operator that phoned me wanting to know why there was a missed payment,can't wait! Nothing major to update, but when I do-you will too;)

[sequenci]

And what is genuinely misleading on some of these websites is the way they infer that they are working with the Ministry of Justice to give themselves credibility.

 

Yup, many firms actually cold call people implying that they are working with a government offering a government-backed scheme.

 

Terrible behaviour IMO.

[sequenci]

Can someone please PM their website? I cannot find it via google. DOn't post it up on the forum, commercial links are not allowed!

 

Thanks!

[chezney66]

I have taken a keen interest in debt solutions and researched the various channels for quite a while now since a member of my family was left in a mountain of debt after a relationship ended. In aiding the family member I explored all routes of debt reduction. In response to Poor Credit Borrower, it was my understanding that with a debt elimintaion plan no money will be paid to the creditors until absolutely necessary as it contradicts the idea of disputing a debt and attempting to deem it unenforcable whilst paying the debt at the same time. As for the £75 payment, I think this will probably be the company recouping costs in relation to the way that they distribute the documents, which I understand that they do by courier from my research and earlier posts in this thread.

And as for Sequenci, they answered most of their own questions...misread my passage and I feel they have no true interest in the sharing of experience and opinions, only to champion non-fee charging companies...who I myself also believe to be the best choice when managing debts... I was merely trying to define the difference between managing your debts and challenging them.

[money_worrier03]

I have also been with First Step finance for about 8 months and have paid them hundreds of pounds and so far none of my creditors have received a penny. They have had several of my agreements since December & January and they still can't tell me if they are valid, they just keep telling me they are with their legal team! Also we are supposed to get regular monthly updates from our caseworker which was stated in our agreement we signed when we went with First Step but this never happens, we always have to phone up to find out what happens, if we can get through to them that is, we are on hold usually for about 20 mins before the phone is even answered. Also some of our creditors can't produce a signed agreement, we were told by First Step that if any of our creditors can't produce the signed agreement then they would get the debt wiped off but they can't tell me how and when they will do this. Meanwhile I am getting hounded by debt collectors wanting paying. They tell me that the debt won't be wiped off and I will have to pay the money. I wish I had never heard of First Step finance as I am deeper in debt than I was when I started but I don't feel like I can cancel now as it seems I will get little or no refund due to all their hidden charges. I'm at my wits end now and can't get any sense from First Step, they tell me they will get me debt free within 60 months as per my agreement which I have re-read but it seems a bit vague to me, it just says we aim to get you debt free within 60 months but it doesn't say you will definately be debt free.

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi money_worrier, and welcome to CAG.

 

We will help you.

 

Let's take things one at a time. If you can start a new thread for each of your agreements and post the links here we can look at the agreements and tell you if they are likely to be enforceable or not. You should also join threads relating to your card companies. Knowledge is power. I knew absolutely nothing when I joined CAG (with great trepidation) in late 2008, but it's been a learning curve, and I'm still learning and trying to help people where I can.

 

When you start each thread put the card company name in the title. This will mean that others dealing with that particular company are more likely to read it.

 

Next, you need to do the maths. Work out how much you have paid and see if you should continue with them or not. It's always awful to have to give up money when you are desperately short of it, but it may be better to stop throwing good money after bad, and only you can make that decision. If you have paid hundreds, rather than thousands, it might be better to stop now. Have you read the agreement about their charges and if you can get a refund? They aren't allowed to have "hidden" charges which they bring in after you have signed the agreement.

 

A credit management company shouldn't be taking four months to let you know whether an agreement is likely to be enforceable or not. Anyone who is on CAG for three months or more and has done some research should be able to tell you the likelihood, and we can also let you know what is happening in terms of particular DCAs and how to handle them.

 

You have friends now, who know how you are feeling. I didn't know where to find people who were in my situation and then I found CAG, just like you. Honestly, it was such a relief, and it will help you too.

 

DDxx

[M'n'M]

Hi I have read this thread, because my wife and I have signed up with FSF, within the last 48hrs, they have yet to recieve direct details as a means to take payment for their services.

 

The charges stated to us were:

£75 admin Fee to start, (with us it was agreed it would be included with the first monthly ammount).

There is a 8% fee for them handling your debts. This 8% is of the orginal amount of debt you hand over to them.

There is a 25% fee for any debt they get written off (this would have to be in full down the road of unenforceable because of the next fee).

There is a 15% fee for any debt they get renagotiated (This would be where they get interest stopped or fee's repaid, they cannot charge the 25% for this as the debt is not written off in full).

 

The "Expert" caller with us did state that best case scenario was total wipe of debt (100%) with a Time frame (based on the payment we would make) of 1 year 7 months, the payments made for this scenario would be the 33% (25% + 8%) , and that would be of the total ammount of debt passed as it is a best case scenario, total debt wipe.

 

It gets more complicated with the 15% fee.

The bit that worried US was the fact that he mentioned a worse case scenario and gave a timescale and % for that, 50% debt wipe would be 4.5 years based on our payment ammount, he couldn't possibly know this as he doesn't yet know how the 50% reduction would be achieved.

 

I would like to thank Chezney66, The penny dropped when I read your post I am pretty sure I now understand the difference with these companies and how it all works.

 

If you sign up with FSF and hand over debts of 10,000 you agree to pay them 8% while they handle your debts ( not sure how they calculate the %) but rest assured if you pull out, whilst no renagotiations or wipe offs have been made then you will owe them money.

 

After reading posts with regard to this company I have seen that during this process with this company that some now have further defaults, some posts say that they have been paying hundreds of pounds for in some cases over 12 months, with their creditors recieving nothing, what I don't understand if nothing has been paid to your creditors for over a year, why have they not taken you to court to enforce your agreement and demand full settlement, as I understand it they can't, you have put your account in dispute and authorised someone to act on your behalf.

 

The way it seems to me that in a best case scenario total wipe of a unenforceable debt of £10,000 you would end up paying £3,300. (33% the 8% + 25% rightoff fee) potentially you haven't payed £6,700.

Could you have done this yourself saving the 33%, to be honest I don't think we all could, would it get more stressfull for some if we did yes it almost certainly would.

The total wipe off scenario is unlikely in my opinion ( I have a bit of a conspiracy theory as to why, and intend to do alot of research ).

 

We have alot of work and reading to do now.

I think it is safe to say though whether we tackle our debt, or go forward with FSF its is going to get tougher for a while.