Force Debt Collection Agencies to disclose the actual amount they have paid to purchase a debt

[tosh1]

This petetion is to force DCA's to disclose the amount they have paid to purchace a debt

Petition to: Force Debt Collection Agencies to disclose the actual amount they have paid to purchase a debt and be forced to pass on this information to the borrower. | Number10.gov.uk

[Aequitas]

How will this help borrowers?

[dad]

This would be of benefit if the borrower had the right to buy. Ie before a third party could buy the debt the borrower should get first refusal at the same price.

Just my 2p

Dad

[tosh1]

I think that it would give the debter more information and also let the debt collectors know that the debter knows how much they payed for it.

[Aequitas]

Originally Posted by tosh1

I think that it would give the debter more information and also let the debt collectors know that the debter knows how much they payed for it.

But how does that help? In what way is the debtor worse off if he owes
£1000 to A and A sells the debt to B for £100? He owes £1000 and surely that is what he should have to repay, whoever owns the debt. Are you suggesting that if a loan is sold at a discount that the amount owed by the borrower should be reduced? Or, like Dad, that the borrower should have the opportunity to buy the debt back at the discounted price?

Of course the borrower will be worse off if the debt is bought by a DCA and he is subjected to unreasonable threats by the DCA, but that is a separate matter. I think your petition should address the issue of curbing the excesses of DCAs, rather than the price they pay.

[djgordyp]

If a creditor sells a debt to a DCA for a fraction of the total amount owed then obviously that is all the creditor will get. Why should the debtor then not have the oppertunity to pay this amount rather than line the pockets of the DCA.
Would maybe be a slightly different matter if the DCA then paid a percentage of the total debt collected on top of what they initially paid.

At the end of the day, does the creditor really care where the money comes from as long as they can of load the debt.

[Aequitas]

Originally Posted by djgordyp

If a creditor sells a debt to a DCA for a fraction of the total amount owed then obviously that is all the creditor will get. Why should the debtor then not have the oppertunity to pay this amount rather than line the pockets of the DCA.
Would maybe be a slightly different matter if the DCA then paid a percentage of the total debt collected on top of what they initially paid.

At the end of the day, does the creditor really care where the money comes from as long as they can of load the debt.

All the above is quite true, but how is the debtor prejudiced?

Apart from that I cannot help feeling that if the rules were changed the market in trading debts would collapse.

[rory32]

If a creditor sells a debt to a DCA for a fraction of the total amount owed then obviously that is all the creditor will get.

Actually no it isn't all the creditor will get. There are tax benefits to selling debts to third parties.

Why should the debtor then not have the oppertunity to pay this amount rather than line the pockets of the DCA.

In theory perhaps yes but as the debt is usually sold because the debtor can't pay the monthly installments it is highly unlikely that they would be able to raise a percentage of the total value of the debt.

I might also add that the most efficient way, from a business point of view, to sell debts is as a portfolio - not individually.

I don't necessarily see anything wrong with a creditor selling debts, just the subsequent manner of the attempted collection of them.

[thebeach2002]

well if the debt collection companies collapse then good, as they are a bunch of bullies and a lot of the time cause a lot of fear in people who cannot pay

[JR1]

just signed it.

[andrew1]

I loathe DCA's with a passion, anyone seeing the work we have done in
the Cabot Fan Club will know that, but what a company sells its debts for is a commercial transaction which has no relevance on the value of the debt what so ever and should not be used as a yard stick (metres for the younger set )
for bargaining.

I agree with most of the comments here, but to sign-up to a petition is crass folly IMHO and a complete waste of space and energy.

CAG and the Fan Club have for the last 3 years spent most of that time generating energy in people to rebel at the DCA's tactics, their methods of operation, their total disregard for the laws in place which are there to protect the consumer and the OFT guidelines which they are supposed to adhere to.

-We are winning-

I often hear about the CSA, Credit Services Agency and DCA's abiding by their rules and regulations. The CSA is a club for the boys and girls in the industry, a self regulating outfit run by the shower that run the DCA's. Ken Maynard was until last year their chief exec. Who is Ken Maynard? - oh, he runs Cabot - get the drift? Ken Maynard was in charge of keeping rules and regulations in check for the industry - I rest my case....

Making DCA's divulge the price they paid for a debt will be like asking Marks and Spencers to tell you what they paid for the sandwich you buy - don't waste your time, use your undoubted energy and enthusiasms to hit them where it hurts.


Sarah