There's a good layman's expose of Harassment at: www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/index.php3 Click on "debt advice" on left menu and click England (or Scotland) flag for FAQ's and Factsheets (look in these for "harassment". There's also some good other advice leaflets here).(posted 7877 days ago)Anyhow, National Debtline's outline of harassment looks beyond S40 of the Administration of Justices Act, and gives a brief outline of the OFT's "Fair Trading Code of Guidance on Harassment", a code designed to supplement the Act's requirements; a list of vulture-companies' professional bodies that subscribe to the OFT's code is also listed on the NDL site. Check whether the company "harassing" you is a member of a subscribing body (if such memberships aren't listed on vulture-companies' letterheads then find the professional bodies' websites - most provide a list their members).
NDL also have a general "How to Deal with Harassment by your Creditors) piece under "Harassment". May I add to that the following practical advice:
1 Deal with creditors by post, and only by post. Anything else and you're thinking on your feet and will make mistakes and agree to things you don't mean to. Stressful, too, having the door or phone going at all hours. Besides, you've no evidence of what's said/done/agreed unless it's all done by post.
2 Talk to the CAB. Tell them how stressful it is having people calling in erson or by phone. They should advise you to limit dealings with creditors to postal. Then, with hand on heart, you can let all your creditors know, in the course of writing to them, that CAB have so advised you.
3 Firmly but politely refuse to speak to phone callers. Keep a list by the phone of the dates that you wrote to each company to advise them of your letter-only policy. Refer callers to these. Get an answerphone to vet calls. Respond to messages asking you to phone someone by writing a letter, asking them to put in writing anything they wish to ask. I recorded copies of vague messages left on answerphone by different employees of one persistent collector company, made a transcript, and posted both to their MD with appropriate prosecution warning. Good stick to beat him with!
4 Finally, for personal callers I used to sellotape a copy of my most recent letter to each creditor (in a sealed envelope) to the inside of my front-door. Any personal callers (buy a door chain, and don't let them in under ANY circumstances) received a copy (a photocopier being absolutely essential equipment) of the most recent correspondence, itself always calling for a WRITTEN reply.
5 The minute legal action is threatened or undertaken this gives an additional reason for insisting that all contact be in writing "due to the seriousness of the matter" No-one can expect you to compromise your position with heresay conversations.
One more thing: National debtline have some excellent advice and downloadable leaflets published on their site. Some are quite robust and dispense vigorous advice considering NATIONAL DEBTLINE ARE FUNDED BY BANKS AND FINANCE COMPANIES. You can make use of their online advice anonymously, but be aware of this fact if you telephone (can take hours to get through) and/or otherwise register for their services.
Darius