Stop Companies making profit from the poor in Debt with extortion of vulnerable people
The Issue
Petition for Change
https://www.change.org/ProfitInPoor
No more taking profit from the poor with extortion of vulnerable people.
Our country is in crises. More and more are resorting to food banks and desperate people falling into hardship following loss of income, lost businesses, illness and redundancies. Everything is costing more, and incomes and opportunities are being squeezed. UK Manufacturing is in decline with factors closing and high streets are looking deserted. People in financial crises is not bad news for everyone though. Shockingly there are some parasitical directors owning companies that are celebrating hardship. Because this forms the demand that fuels their evil empires. Because they scrape the barrel of devastation and are ready to swoop on people at their lowest be. To make huge, ballooned interest and profit. This is one industry benefiting form a cost-of-living crises.
We must act now to change laws on rogue debt collection agencies/companies & prevent suicide, crippling mental health and depression.
No Limited dividend/commissioned based company should be allowed to seek out people who are in their darkest periods of unexpected debt to screw them further for profit at all costs. Crippling unexpected financial turmoil should not be a profit opportunity for apathetic nefarious company directors to get rich off.
Profit based debt collection agencies boast that they are authorised by the independent financial regulators, members of trade associations and are quick to detail their company values and their commitment to helping. They even make suggestions of where their debtors can seek further help from the great charities. To experience then what I did, can only leave me to conclude that many of these companies do a lot of ‘box ticking’ to keep them accepted within the rules, yet acting in a completely different manner. It also became clear that there is clear disregard for debtors who become victims and most of all, if these companies are working within the rules, then the rules need to change.
My journey was compounded with a lack of support network, some bad luck, being victims of fraud and complicated long term critical and chronic illness. We didn’t plan for any of that.
Added to this we see further opportunity for these business to increase sales. This is coming from backstreet car parking companies. We have received many complaints from people who’s details have been passed to rogue debt collectors. For parking a car but tripping up on what seems to be over complicated booking systems, hidden sings, poor lighting, broken pay machines, machines that don’t take cash and make it impossible for some elderly who don’t have smart phones. Apps that are full of bugs and crash. All this resulting in fines and huge increase penalties for late payments. These profits hugely outweigh the cost of the original parking. These organisations are either the same business or in commission cahoots with the debt collectors to rob you of your hard-earned money. Doing so, ‘within the law’.
I also hear of similar wows from pay day loan companies that quickly switch to ‘debt collectors’ for increased commission and profit.
I want to see change in rules that strangle the income of these companies. But to be clear, there needs to be a process. Its fair for any organisation to be paid back as per any financial agreement. There also may well be individuals that have no intention of repaying a debt and ultimately, there of course needs to be a court system which is totally understandable and reasonable. Utilities, taxes etc do have to be paid, some will avoid it. I accept a reasonable collection process needs to happen and on occasion enforcement. However, Ltd profit based company shareholders, fat cats living off extreme profits unfairly administered because government, banks and lenders can’t be bothered to take responsibility is unacceptable. I experienced a spell where I tried for hours to call HMRC and couldn’t get to speak to anyone.
Ultimately There should be fair repercussions and consequences for debtors. What you might also agree though is, for those that fall into unexpected hardship through job situations, health, injury, disability, devastation, or fraud, then there needs to a better way to recover money for a creditor. A way that, ultimately may even lead to them recovering more, help in better educating people and morally being better to its customers. What we absolutely 100% have no doubt about is, no company and directors should be lining their pockets with profit, feeding off wounded desperate people. This fundamental situation needs to change. These are the vultures of the commercial world.
We will campaign for law change with MP’s and press. It’s not only the banks. It includes government debt. DWP, HMRC and commercial companies. There is a commercial profit-making company that openly boast to be recovering debt, at a fraction of its value, from the most vulnerable people in society. They boast to recover money for DWP for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Child Benefit, Incapacity Benefit, Unemployment Benefit, Family Credit, Job Seekers, Maternity Allowance, Crises and Budget Loans. This is a company, directors making money from that list of people. Of course, those that take illegally from the system should pay it back (and face criminal action). But equally, there are commercial ‘enterprises’ making rich directors from the list of people that sit in the above demographic.
I have experienced totally unacceptable behaviour and since starting this have also heard of other horror stories. Here are some examples.
· Spoofing phone calls and using fake numbers.
· Posting fake failed delivery cards to get the consumer to call a number.
· Staff calling at housing dressed as healthcare workers to ask if a certain person lives there.
· Harassing elderly relatives, disabled and sick people.
· Trading debt from spreadsheets and openly buying data of people who have been refused loans. Targeting people they know are financially vulnerable.
· Call centre staff pretending to log into accounts with date of birth, but not previously knowing or having that information.
· Bullying and harassing more vulnerable and easier targets, single parents, people in turmoil. Training staff how to trick and mislead the most desperate people in society.
· Clear breaches of the Data Protection Act and GDPR with no recourse or punishment.
· Agreements for payments that are not actually clearing debt and huge interest being applied meaning there seems to be no end for the debtor and never squaring the circle.
My call for change in this industry is as follows: -
1) Introduce another layer of referral. Banks and lenders to be forced into working with a not-for-profit organisation that takes on unsettled or workable debt. We want pressure on banks and lenders to back up what they promote in their straplines which most use supporting its customers. Prove it.
Independent debt agency is a multi-layer support system.
a. It has skilled qualified debt people that work to establish graded personal situation. Criteria based on history, unexpected situation and willingness to co-operate.
b. Proper affordability assessment with a new category of people who get offered help before going to court. An independent Not for Profit body.
c. All interest immediately frozen. It can never be increased unless circumstances change and agreements ae broken.
d. Any agreement on reduced settlement offered to ‘debtor’ with no added profit.
e. Debtors offered a domestic financial learning course. Drivers get offered driving courses after speeding. Prisoners get offered money advice. Everyone in financial trouble should be offered help as part of a recovery plan. Advice is there now but its confusing and many have financial motivation, something to gain.
f. Set sum agreed with debt owner that is acceptable. Perhaps this could be agreed with the independent agency. If they recover more then this can be repaid to the lender minus cost. This could result in more recovery than if they sold off to a company.
g. If noncompliance, then court process is acceptable
h. If banks, lenders, companies don’t follow this new process then they can be reported, and the debt completely removed.
2) Stop certain crises debt being sold to commercial limited companies. No one should profit here! Debts in this category should not be traded around for unscrupulous companies to then jump on for huge profit margins. Those companies only motivation is profit. Paying staff commission on profit made from people in their lowest ebb. All Limited companies should be removed from this consumer food chain. I want to end this lowest form of creative industry.
a. No profit driven company can buy debt
b. No organisation can employ salespeople to be motivated by commission earning bonus by hounding vulnerable people
c. Once a debt is statue bard, no organisation can communicate with the ‘client’.
d. Any organisation offering to ‘help’ debtors, e.g. Debt consolidation, IVA advice etc must openly and clearly declare that they are a limited company and will be profiting from the individual they are ‘helping’/advising.
e. If the government don’t change the law to stop these limited companies trading off the poor, then at the very least, they should have much more severe penalties for their behaviour and it should become a criminal offence if proven to break new much tighter rules. Not loose guidelines.
Ultimately, this change in law and procedures, will save someone’s life. Maybe many! I came through it, now I look back and I can’t leave it there, I must help. So, please sign it and share it.
Thankyou
Anthony McCool
40
The Issue
Petition for Change
https://www.change.org/ProfitInPoor
No more taking profit from the poor with extortion of vulnerable people.
Our country is in crises. More and more are resorting to food banks and desperate people falling into hardship following loss of income, lost businesses, illness and redundancies. Everything is costing more, and incomes and opportunities are being squeezed. UK Manufacturing is in decline with factors closing and high streets are looking deserted. People in financial crises is not bad news for everyone though. Shockingly there are some parasitical directors owning companies that are celebrating hardship. Because this forms the demand that fuels their evil empires. Because they scrape the barrel of devastation and are ready to swoop on people at their lowest be. To make huge, ballooned interest and profit. This is one industry benefiting form a cost-of-living crises.
We must act now to change laws on rogue debt collection agencies/companies & prevent suicide, crippling mental health and depression.
No Limited dividend/commissioned based company should be allowed to seek out people who are in their darkest periods of unexpected debt to screw them further for profit at all costs. Crippling unexpected financial turmoil should not be a profit opportunity for apathetic nefarious company directors to get rich off.
Profit based debt collection agencies boast that they are authorised by the independent financial regulators, members of trade associations and are quick to detail their company values and their commitment to helping. They even make suggestions of where their debtors can seek further help from the great charities. To experience then what I did, can only leave me to conclude that many of these companies do a lot of ‘box ticking’ to keep them accepted within the rules, yet acting in a completely different manner. It also became clear that there is clear disregard for debtors who become victims and most of all, if these companies are working within the rules, then the rules need to change.
My journey was compounded with a lack of support network, some bad luck, being victims of fraud and complicated long term critical and chronic illness. We didn’t plan for any of that.
Added to this we see further opportunity for these business to increase sales. This is coming from backstreet car parking companies. We have received many complaints from people who’s details have been passed to rogue debt collectors. For parking a car but tripping up on what seems to be over complicated booking systems, hidden sings, poor lighting, broken pay machines, machines that don’t take cash and make it impossible for some elderly who don’t have smart phones. Apps that are full of bugs and crash. All this resulting in fines and huge increase penalties for late payments. These profits hugely outweigh the cost of the original parking. These organisations are either the same business or in commission cahoots with the debt collectors to rob you of your hard-earned money. Doing so, ‘within the law’.
I also hear of similar wows from pay day loan companies that quickly switch to ‘debt collectors’ for increased commission and profit.
I want to see change in rules that strangle the income of these companies. But to be clear, there needs to be a process. Its fair for any organisation to be paid back as per any financial agreement. There also may well be individuals that have no intention of repaying a debt and ultimately, there of course needs to be a court system which is totally understandable and reasonable. Utilities, taxes etc do have to be paid, some will avoid it. I accept a reasonable collection process needs to happen and on occasion enforcement. However, Ltd profit based company shareholders, fat cats living off extreme profits unfairly administered because government, banks and lenders can’t be bothered to take responsibility is unacceptable. I experienced a spell where I tried for hours to call HMRC and couldn’t get to speak to anyone.
Ultimately There should be fair repercussions and consequences for debtors. What you might also agree though is, for those that fall into unexpected hardship through job situations, health, injury, disability, devastation, or fraud, then there needs to a better way to recover money for a creditor. A way that, ultimately may even lead to them recovering more, help in better educating people and morally being better to its customers. What we absolutely 100% have no doubt about is, no company and directors should be lining their pockets with profit, feeding off wounded desperate people. This fundamental situation needs to change. These are the vultures of the commercial world.
We will campaign for law change with MP’s and press. It’s not only the banks. It includes government debt. DWP, HMRC and commercial companies. There is a commercial profit-making company that openly boast to be recovering debt, at a fraction of its value, from the most vulnerable people in society. They boast to recover money for DWP for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Child Benefit, Incapacity Benefit, Unemployment Benefit, Family Credit, Job Seekers, Maternity Allowance, Crises and Budget Loans. This is a company, directors making money from that list of people. Of course, those that take illegally from the system should pay it back (and face criminal action). But equally, there are commercial ‘enterprises’ making rich directors from the list of people that sit in the above demographic.
I have experienced totally unacceptable behaviour and since starting this have also heard of other horror stories. Here are some examples.
· Spoofing phone calls and using fake numbers.
· Posting fake failed delivery cards to get the consumer to call a number.
· Staff calling at housing dressed as healthcare workers to ask if a certain person lives there.
· Harassing elderly relatives, disabled and sick people.
· Trading debt from spreadsheets and openly buying data of people who have been refused loans. Targeting people they know are financially vulnerable.
· Call centre staff pretending to log into accounts with date of birth, but not previously knowing or having that information.
· Bullying and harassing more vulnerable and easier targets, single parents, people in turmoil. Training staff how to trick and mislead the most desperate people in society.
· Clear breaches of the Data Protection Act and GDPR with no recourse or punishment.
· Agreements for payments that are not actually clearing debt and huge interest being applied meaning there seems to be no end for the debtor and never squaring the circle.
My call for change in this industry is as follows: -
1) Introduce another layer of referral. Banks and lenders to be forced into working with a not-for-profit organisation that takes on unsettled or workable debt. We want pressure on banks and lenders to back up what they promote in their straplines which most use supporting its customers. Prove it.
Independent debt agency is a multi-layer support system.
a. It has skilled qualified debt people that work to establish graded personal situation. Criteria based on history, unexpected situation and willingness to co-operate.
b. Proper affordability assessment with a new category of people who get offered help before going to court. An independent Not for Profit body.
c. All interest immediately frozen. It can never be increased unless circumstances change and agreements ae broken.
d. Any agreement on reduced settlement offered to ‘debtor’ with no added profit.
e. Debtors offered a domestic financial learning course. Drivers get offered driving courses after speeding. Prisoners get offered money advice. Everyone in financial trouble should be offered help as part of a recovery plan. Advice is there now but its confusing and many have financial motivation, something to gain.
f. Set sum agreed with debt owner that is acceptable. Perhaps this could be agreed with the independent agency. If they recover more then this can be repaid to the lender minus cost. This could result in more recovery than if they sold off to a company.
g. If noncompliance, then court process is acceptable
h. If banks, lenders, companies don’t follow this new process then they can be reported, and the debt completely removed.
2) Stop certain crises debt being sold to commercial limited companies. No one should profit here! Debts in this category should not be traded around for unscrupulous companies to then jump on for huge profit margins. Those companies only motivation is profit. Paying staff commission on profit made from people in their lowest ebb. All Limited companies should be removed from this consumer food chain. I want to end this lowest form of creative industry.
a. No profit driven company can buy debt
b. No organisation can employ salespeople to be motivated by commission earning bonus by hounding vulnerable people
c. Once a debt is statue bard, no organisation can communicate with the ‘client’.
d. Any organisation offering to ‘help’ debtors, e.g. Debt consolidation, IVA advice etc must openly and clearly declare that they are a limited company and will be profiting from the individual they are ‘helping’/advising.
e. If the government don’t change the law to stop these limited companies trading off the poor, then at the very least, they should have much more severe penalties for their behaviour and it should become a criminal offence if proven to break new much tighter rules. Not loose guidelines.
Ultimately, this change in law and procedures, will save someone’s life. Maybe many! I came through it, now I look back and I can’t leave it there, I must help. So, please sign it and share it.
Thankyou
Anthony McCool
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 20 March 2022