Letter from santander with copy of credit agreement

[dannypike]

Hi everybody, Wondered if you can give some advice....
I have sent off second letter to Santander and they have sent me back a letter with a photocopy of the credit agreement.On the credit agreement there are 2 signatures, mine and someone else's(i cant make out who or what it is) and their signature is not dated. My agreement is dated March 2011. Does this make any difference to my position?. I have been told that the consumer credit act changed in 2007, so does this effect my case ?
I have seen the same letter on here sent by Santander, so i think it's just the bog standard letter, but i was a little worried as it came with a copy of my credit agreement. If anyone has any words of advice, it would be much appreciated....

[ceylon]

no
do you remember if it was signed by them infront of you?

[dannypike]

Thanks for you reply,
Nothing was signed in front of me. i signed the agreement and sent it back to them. I know have letters coming from Viking recovery service. They say that i must call them, as they have tried to contact me.If i don't contact them they will send a representative to see me.
Any help would be appreciated as my wife is getting worried (and so am i, if im honest)
Many thanks

[ceylon]

first its just scare talk but if you want to deal with them use the debt letters or ignore them, if your worried about a visit which i really doubt they have the licence to visit you denial of ccess with letter 1

[GANGSHIELD]

Viking are in house DCAs who send out threats as a last resort it seems, if nothing happens the account is sold off, this info as reported on the net by an employee to-day, so do not worry, send letters anyway but be ready for DCAs buying the account and start letters with them>>

As was said no visits ever made etc. also it seems very few DCAs have a licence to visit people only book keeping licence. we learn something every day.

[GANGSHIELD]

In one of our forum under Banks - Satander: -

I have noticed that there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about Viking on this Forum and what is here is not 'filed' under Viking as a main Debt Collector Topic. Hopefully Ceylon or another moderator can sort that for us.

So, I thought I'd attempt to provide some more comprehensive information on them, with the objective of calming a few nerves of those who are having to deal with Viking.

An increasingly common thread with Debt Collection Companies is that many of them are registered as 'Dormant' companies (at Companies House: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/), i.e. they are not trading or executing any type of business activities. At least, that's the theory!

So, if Viking really are 'Dormant' and are not trading, why have I received three separate letters from them in less than a month? - all signed by M Galloway, the Viking Collections Manager! (btw, you can view his Linkedin public profile here: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mark-galloway/16/330/911).

If you do a check on http://www.companycheck.co.uk/, you will see that Viking has four registered Directors (and, therefore, only four 'employees', as the company is supposedly 'Dormant'). Mark Galloway is NOT one of them. But then - silly me - according to his Linkedin Profile (as at today), he's the Operations Manager at Santander (Geoban) !

Maybe, he's been 'seconded' to Santander from Viking (or maybe he's just a 'ghost writer' for the letters!) But then, he mentions that he's accountable and responsible for a number of Viking activities (here's an example: "... Responsible for controlling the communication of all Viking related processes and information within the Collections Contact Centre.") - How can a 'Dormant' company have processes or a Call Centre?

The four Directors are: Mr Francis Eugene Armour (6 active Directorships), Mr Callum Hamish Gibson (11 active Directorships), Mr Adam Nicholas Mussert (11 active Directorships), and finally, but by no means least, is Mr David Martin Green with 124 registered Directorships, about 61 of which are with 'Active' companies. He must be a busy man! He must work out!

Most, if not all, of the companies listed are part of the 'web' of Santander companies.

Anyway, my overall point of all this is: Remember that the tactics employed by these Debt Collection companies (and the major financial organisations behind them) are nothing more than bullying and intimidation, designed to scare us into submitting and handing over more of our money to them, to help fund the continuation of their fraudulent activities (and their luncheons in the City!)

In another thread that I found on moneysupermarket.com (cough!), there was a post from a member of staff who said:

"I work for Santander Cards on collections and I'm quite happy to let people in on our system. Heres advice and tips. Basically Viking is the last chance you get before we sell your debt on to a debt collection company. We pretend we've already sold it on and call ourselves Viking. Santander/Viking will not take you to court, send balifs round etc, that make us look bad. Instead it get sold on to another company at a discounted price, we swallow the loss and let them chase you for it...."

So, there you have it - Santander just try to get what they can for the debt when the Viking 'process' fails (as it always should if you follow the advice of the Get Of Debt Free web site); and another toothless, unwitting DCA may get involved... only to fail themselves and lose their 'investment' too!

So, don't be scared - stand up to them, play the game and have some fun. Viking are 'Dormant'. They have no teeth, so they can't bite!

Another example is Mercers Debt Collections Limited (operated by Barclays Bank) - see my post on them here: http://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/forum/v ... 34&t=31238

In that post, I also suggest that as many of us as possible report these rogue 'dormant' Debt Collection companies to HMRC using their Tax Evasion Hotline. I have done this already - see the post for details.

[Cathy1]

Thanks for that information , I have just received a letter from Viking today, and was not to sure with regard to what I was dealing with (tactics) and so forth. Thanks again for all the information it has put my mind at rest.