I hate banks. All banks..........
I apologize if this goes on a bit but I have an axe to grind with banks. They do my head in!

Story 1. I received a letter from a debt collection agency last year. They're called LOWELL FINANCIAL and they are basically a bunch of criminals. The letter was very threatening and made mention of debt collecters calling at the door, being taken to court and basically being harrassed until I paid up. The problem was that it wasn't my debt!
They were collecting on behalf of HSBC who I have never had any dealing with in any way. I telephoned Lowell and got to speak to some snotty, arsey, horrible bitch who wouldn't listen to me when I said that they'd got the wrong guy. She had the attitude that I was a liar and she told me so. I couldn't believe it and by now I was convinced that I'd had my identity stolen. Eager to sort this mess out I asked to speak with a supervisor but was told that wasn't possible. I told her to shove it where the sun doesn't shine because there was no way I was a debt that wasn't mine and she said someone would phone me back.
Later that day someone did indeed phone me back. He was slightly less arsey and wouldn't give me his name. After a very short converstation during which he checked my full name, date of birth and previous addresses he decided that the debt wasn't mine. Of course I was pleased at this but now I was concerned how they'd got my name. He told me that they actually get peoples name from the voters register and if your's is only similar to one of their debtors they'll send you one of their shitty letters to you in the hope you'll pay up! I mentioned that this was disgraceful and he replied "Yeah well, it works though". So basically if I'd have taken fright and paid the debt they would've let me!!! Incredible!
I demanded a letter to confirm the debt wasn't mine which arrived a week or so later. I emailed the director of the company to complain but never got a reply. A few months later I applied for credit but got rejected. I thought this was odd so got my credit report. Guess which bunch of fuckwits had put a nonpayment notice on my record!? Yep, LOWELL sodding FINANCIAL. It got taken off after I threatened turning up at their main office with an axe but watch out for these chancers. They disgust me! Watch out for them.

Story 2. I swapped my credit card balance from Natwest Goldcard(idiots by the way) to Nationwide Goldcard (not so bad really) as I could get 13 months zero% if I did. I soon got a phone call from a Nationwide salesman asking why I'd been so stupid as to do this and that he could save me money if I took a loan from him. I only put a few hundred onto the Nationwide card and it would be paid off well before the 13 months was up. The sales monkey was quite pushy and aggressive and took great pleasure in telling me credit cards were expensive and he guaranteed he could do a better rate for me.

I said "Wow ok. A better rate than zero percent means you'll have to pay me to take the loan out. It's a deal!".
"Oh, I can't beat zero percent" he says.
"You just guaranteed me you could".
"Well, I can't".
"You said you could".
"I didn't know you had zero percent on the transfer though"
"But it says on the Website it's zero percent. It's not rocket science"
"Sorry I can't beat zero percent"
"So either you're a liar or stupid then?".
He says "I'm not a liar so I must be stupid", made his excuses and hung up shortly after.

Fair play to him for his honesty though. With honesty like that he'll never get anywhere in banking.
(muttley001, Wed 22 Jul 2009, 15:26, 4 replies)

I got angry just reading the first one!
Good work on getting them to fuck off, what they're doing does not sound legal, I'd look into that, if I were you/had the time/cared.
(The Kwyjibo A big, dumb, balding North American ape., Wed 22 Jul 2009, 17:13, closed)

Yep.
Indeed that's why I posted it. To make others aware of these bunch of bastards. So far I've reported them to the financial ombudsman, CAB, watchdog, the ferret. Basically everybody I can think of!

I write them a strongly worded letter every few months billing them £29 an hour for the time it took me to sort out their attempt theft and another £20 for each letter. The balance is about £2grand now. I know they'll never pay it but I'm hoping to make a complete pain in the ass out of myself until they fuck off and die.

This is my new mission in life.
(muttley001, Wed 22 Jul 2009, 20:04, closed)

Just an idea...
But why not sell that 2,000 debt onto a different debt agency...?
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Wed 22 Jul 2009, 20:18, closed)

Even better
sell it to Lowell Financial and they will have to bumrape themselves. You can ring them every now and then to ask them if they've paid and if not could they call themselves up and sort it out.
(tinypod will never learn. Ever., Thu 23 Jul 2009, 12:34, closed)