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Reporting a trouble to Trading Standards

Trading Standards deal with complex consumer problems and potential criminal activities.

If you lot desire to written report a problem to Trading Standards, you should contact the Citizens Advice consumer service, who share information reported to them with Trading Standards.

Creditors are the people you owe money to. If you owe money to a creditor and stop making payments, they can take activeness confronting yous to get their money back.

This page tells y'all how creditors are supposed to behave towards you lot when they are trying to recover their coin.

It also tells you lot what kind of behaviour is non acceptable and how to tell if you are existence harassed by a creditor. Harassment is any action that makes you feel distressed, humiliated or threatened.

If you feel you are being harassed by a creditor, there are several things yous can do to stop them doing information technology.

If y'all need help talking to a creditor well-nigh their behaviour, you can phone our debt helpline on 0300 330 1313. We can usually help between 9am and 8pm, Monday to Fri. Calls cost the same as calls to landline numbers.

You tin can also get help by contacting your nearest Citizens Communication.

What counts every bit harassment by a creditor

If the creditor tries to practise any of the following things to try and get you to pay back the money you owe, this could be considered harassment. They include:

contacting you lot several times a 24-hour interval, or early in the morning or late at night
pursuing you on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook
putting pressure on you to sell your domicile or take out more than credit
using more than than one debt collector at a time to hunt you for payment
non telling you if the debt has been passed on to a debt collection agency
using paperwork or business logos that appear to be official when they're non, for example sending you letters that wait like court forms
putting pressure on you to pay all the money off, or in larger instalments when you can't beget to
threatening yous physically or verbally
ignoring you if y'all say you don't owe the money
trying to embarrass you in public
telling someone else about your debts or using some other person to pass on letters, such as a neighbor or family fellow member
falsely claiming to piece of work for the court or be a bailiff in England and Wales or sheriff officer in Scotland
implying that legal action tin be taken when information technology can't. For example, implying that your domicile can be taken from yous without a court order
giving the impression that court action has been taken against you when it hasn't
giving the impression that not paying the debt is a crime. For most debts, it is non a criminal offence if you don't pay them.

What doesn't count as harassment by a creditor

Not all action that a creditor takes can be called harassment. Creditors are allowed to take reasonable steps to get back the money yous owe them. These include:

sending reminders and demands for payment
telephoning you lot to ask for payment
calling at your dwelling house, equally long as this is at a reasonable time of the mean solar day
taking court action.

Who is harassing you

If you lot're being harassed by a creditor it's important to know who is asking for payment. They may not be the people you lot originally owed coin to. This is because your original creditor is allowed to pass the debt onto someone else to collect. If your original creditor does this, they tin no longer chase you for money. If your creditor decides to pass the debt on, they must tell you in writing earlier they do it.

Your debt may exist collected by:

your original creditor
a debt drove agency acting on behalf of your creditor
a third party who has bought the debt from your creditor
bailiffs in England and Wales or sheriff officers in Scotland.

What tin can you do about harassment by a creditor

You first need to observe out who is actually collecting the debt. You then need to accept the following steps:

collect evidence of the harassment
complain to the creditor
complain to a professional body.

Collecting bear witness

Earlier you lot make a complaint, gather as much show as you tin can to support your claim. This can include:

recording the number of visits or calls with dates and times. Write downward what was said to you each time and who y'all spoke to
any letters or documents you lot have received
witness statements from neighbours or other people who alive with you.

Complaining to your creditor

You should write to the creditor who is harassing you request them to finish. Tell them how you lot want to be contacted in future and enquire them to ostend this in writing.

You lot should point out in the letter that harassment is a offense and you can accept further activeness if your creditor doesn't stop. Recollect to ship all messages by recorded delivery and keep copies and then that you have a record of your complaint.

Afterwards receiving your complaint, your creditor has three business organisation days to reply informally. This could exist past phone or electronic mail. A final response letter might have longer. Your creditor besides has to study your complaint to the Financial Acquit Authority (FCA), fifty-fifty if they answer inside 3 business days.

If yous demand help with this, you tin telephone our debt helpline on 0300 330 1313. Nosotros can commonly help between 9am and 8pm, Monday to Friday. Calls cost the same every bit calls to landline numbers.

You tin can as well become help by contacting your nearest Citizens Advice.

Lament to a professional person trunk

You should always mutter directly to the creditor first simply if this does not solve the problem, you may besides want to complain to a professional torso too. Your debt collector may belong to a merchandise association or professional body with a code of practise that sets out how they are supposed to behave towards yous.

You lot can likewise contact the Citizens Advice consumer service who can help. They may be able to refer your instance to Trading Standards.

In Northern Republic of ireland, yous can contact Consumerline at world wide web.consumerline.org.

Trade associations

To discover out if your lender belongs to a merchandise clan which has a code of practice, see Further Help. The trade association may also take action confronting its members who break the lawmaking of practice.

If your complaint is against a banking concern, building society or credit card company, they may vest to the Standards of Lending Practice.

The Standards of Lending Do prepare out principles that its members should follow. These include:

not harassing you or putting also much pressure on you.
telling you lot how to get debt communication.
providing back up if yous are vulnerable, for case if you lot have physical or mental wellness bug.
using trustworthy debt collection agencies who as well follow the Standards of Lending Practise if the debt is passed on or sold.

You should mutter to the bank, building society or credit card company outset, using their complaints process. If this does not sort out the problem, you lot tin can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, telling them that a debt collector or creditor has broken the terms of the Standards of Lending Practice. For more than information about complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service, get to the Financial Ombudsman's website at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

For more information virtually the Standards of Lending Practice or to observe out if your creditor is a member, become to world wide web.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk.

Lament about a solicitor interim for a creditor

If a solicitor is harassing you lot on behalf of a creditor, this is considered to be professional person misconduct. To make a complaint, yous will offset need to use the firm's internal complaints procedure. If this does non resolve the trouble, you can complain to 1 of the professional associations. To piece of work out which association you should complain to, you showtime need to cheque where the solicitor is registered.

If they are registered in England or Wales, you can complain to the Solicitors' Regulation Authority (SRA) at www.sra.org.uk. If they are registered in Scotland, you lot tin complain to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) at www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk. If they are registered in Northern Ireland, you can mutter to the Constabulary Lodge. Become to world wide web.lawsoc-ni.org.

Complaining to the Citizens Communication Consumer Service

If you lot want to complain about a local firm, yous can contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service. They can put you in touch with your local Trading Standards Function, who can investigate whether an offence had been committed.

In Northern Republic of ireland, you can contact Consumerline at www.consumerline.org.

The FCA has rules and guidance nigh debt collection. Although the FCA cannot have upward your private case, they can pass up or revoke the house's authorisation or, for example, fine the house. It may be worth reminding the creditor that breaching the rules could affect their FCA authorisation.

More near the FCA rules and guidance on debt collection in the FCA's Consumer Credit Sourcebook at www.fca.org.uk.

Illegal money lending

You may accept borrowed money from a money lender who is non FCA authorised. These lenders are often called loan sharks and they may physically or verbally threaten you if y'all can't pay back the money. They as well charge extremely high rates of interest, which means y'all may finish upwards owing much more money than you originally borrowed.

It'south of import to remember that loan sharks are breaking the law by lending y'all coin in this way. They can't enforce the high rates of involvement they are trying to charge. You can't be legally made to pay dorsum the money and y'all have not broken the law if you lot don't pay information technology back.

If you lot are being harassed or threatened by a loan shark, yous can find out how to report a loan shark on GOV.UK.

Farther help and information

Trade and professional person associations

Your creditor may vest to i of the post-obit trade or professional associations which have a code of practise that its members must follow. Y'all tin find a list of members on the organisations' websites:

The Finance and Leasing Clan
Imperial House
fifteen -19 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6UN

Tel: 020 7836 6511
Email: info@fla.org.united kingdom
Website: www.fla.org.uk

Credit Services Association
Wingrove House
2d Floor East
Ponteland Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE5 3AJ

Tel: 0191 286 5656
Email: info@csa-uk.com or complaints@csa-org.com
Website: www.csa-uk.com

Consumer Credit Trade Association (CCTA)
Suite 4 The Wave
one View Croft Route
Shipley
West Yorkshire
BD17 7DU

Tel: 01274 714959
Email: info@ccta.co.u.k.
Website: www.ccta.co.britain

Financial Behave Say-so (FCA)

12 Endeavor Square
London
E20 1JN

Consumer helpline: 0800 111 6768 (freephone), 0300 500 8082
Email: consumer.queries@fca.org.u.k.
Website: world wide web.fca.org.united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland

Other useful data

Borrowing money
Activeness your creditor can take
Assistance with debt

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Source: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/harassment-by-creditors/