Intrum Justitita won't stop ringing me!

orezeee · 04-08-2016 04:09PM #1

I got into a debt with Intrum Justitia over a year ago about €350, its to do with a little woods account. Anyways I was paying off a bit then completely forgot about them and now they are constantly sending threatening letters and literally plaging my phone with calls of a private number, they ring about 20 times a day even tho I ignore them. Also a few weeks ago what I assume was one of their employees was texting me of a normal number telling me to contact Intrum Justitia. Is what they are doing legal?I'm pretty much being harassed by them every day. They can f*** off if they think I'm paying them now.

weisses · 04-08-2016 04:10PM

You might "forgot"

The didn't

Just pay up and get on with your life

GrumpyMe · 04-08-2016 04:15PM

You should pay your debt but they are not allowed to harass you!
See http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/debt/debt_collection.html#l0909d

childsplay · 04-08-2016 04:23PM

How did you forget to pay them? If you owe it pay it. Your credit rating will be destroyed and you won't be able to get credit with anyone else if you don't.

Avatar MIA · 04-08-2016 04:25PM

They'd stop ringing if you answered them.

faceman · 04-08-2016 04:54PM

childsplay wrote: »

How did you forget to pay them? If you owe it pay it. Your credit rating will be destroyed and you won't be able to get credit with anyone else if you don't.

That's not true. The OP's credit rating won't be effected unless he/she is taken the court and the plaintiff is successful in securing a judgement. Assuming the plaintiff issues court proceedings.

nhunter100 · 04-08-2016 05:00PM

faceman wrote:

That's not true. The OP's credit rating won't be effected unless he/she is taken the court and the plaintiff is successful in securing a judgement. Assuming the plaintiff issues court proceedings.

I don't know if Littlewoods is registered with the ICB, however any company which is reports missed payments to it. A court judgement makes no difference. You can check your credit rating by sending off the correct fee to the ICB and have any mistakes amended. But again a court judgement is not necessary to affect your credit rating.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 04-08-2016 05:05PM

It is not harassment if they keep calling and you don't answer. It would be different if you answered 20 calls a day from them. Answer the phone.

Spocker · 04-08-2016 05:53PM

nhunter100 wrote: »

I don't know if Littlewoods is registered with the ICB, however any company which is reports missed payments to it. A court judgement makes no difference. You can check your credit rating by sending off the correct fee to the ICB and have any mistakes amended. But again a court judgement is not necessary to affect your credit rating.

Littlewoods are not a member of the ICB: http://www.icb.ie/membership.php

Flippyfloppy · 04-08-2016 06:00PM

I've just had a pretty identical situation. I just logged on to my little woods account and paid them directly. I answered intrium justitia a couple of days later, it was quite dodgy as they had my surname wrong, and then for data protection Needed my address & dob. Anyway it's all done now, try to pay little woods direct if you can.

pillphil · 04-08-2016 06:19PM

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

I've just had a pretty identical situation. I just logged on to my little woods account and paid them directly. I answered intrium justitia a couple of days later, it was quite dodgy as they had my surname wrong, and then for data protection Needed my address & dob. Anyway it's all done now, try to pay little woods direct if you can.

They rang me and demanded I tell them my name, dob etc. I told them that since they were ringing me, they should provide me with those details as I had no idea who was on the other end of the phone.

Funnily enough, they never rang back.

cursai · 04-08-2016 06:21PM

Intrum Justitita should make a thread about being ripped off.

faceman · 04-08-2016 07:35PM

nhunter100 wrote: »

I don't know if Littlewoods is registered with the ICB, however any company which is reports missed payments to it. A court judgement makes no difference. You can check your credit rating by sending off the correct fee to the ICB and have any mistakes amended. But again a court judgement is not necessary to affect your credit rating.

Someone already posted the ICB membership list. As you can see its restricted to banks and lending institutes.

So if you're not a member, only registered court judgements can affect an individual's credit rating over an unpaid debt.

There's a lot of misconceptions in Ireland about how crediting scoring and ratings work.

If you find a mistake with your credit rating with the ICB the institute who made the error have to fix it. The ICB don't.

Getting back to the OP, his/her credit rating isn't affected in this instance unless judgement is registered.

L1011 · 04-08-2016 08:19PM

nhunter100 wrote: »

I don't know if Littlewoods is registered with the ICB, however any company which is reports missed payments to it. A court judgement makes no difference. You can check your credit rating by sending off the correct fee to the ICB and have any mistakes amended. But again a court judgement is not necessary to affect your credit rating.

Pretty much nobody except banks and credit untions affect ICB ratings.

Private ratings agencies exist, however. Experian/Equifax.

Guy:Incognito · 04-08-2016 09:17PM

faceman wrote: »

Someone already posted the ICB membership list. As you can see its restricted to banks and lending institutes.

So if you're not a member, only registered court judgements can affect an individual's credit rating over an unpaid debt.

There's a lot of misconceptions in Ireland about how crediting scoring and ratings work.

If you find a mistake with your credit rating with the ICB the institute who made the error have to fix it. The ICB don't.

Getting back to the OP, his/her credit rating isn't affected in this instance unless judgement is registered.

Is the credit rating the be all and end all of what anyone, inc banks see about you though?

Say you had bad debt in the past but get a credit score sent out today and it shows nothing. Is that it back to a clean bill of health again? (albeit with no good rating as such, but also no bad one)

childsplay · 04-08-2016 09:30PM

Thanks for correcting me on the credit rating thing. I honestly did think it was the case that all unpaid debts effected it.

faceman · 04-08-2016 10:45PM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Is the credit rating the be all and end all of what anyone, inc banks see about you though?

Say you had bad debt in the past but get a credit score sent out today and it shows nothing. Is that it back to a clean bill of health again? (albeit with no good rating as such, but also no bad one)

Yes and no. If you have had a judgement registered against then that info is in the public domain so you don't have to check with the ICB. Same goes for the new insolvency ratings under the new laws. (Which are far too penalising in my opinion)

However if you have no judgements against you then the ICB is one indication of creditworthiness. However it's not tied to a PPS number. Instead it cross references names with addresses that are provided.

Most private companies and utility companies don't bother with ICB checks. Instead they use scoring models to determine the risk of non payment. Factors such as your address (some counties are considered riskier than others!), occupation, homeowner/tenant etc can all be considered in applications for services.

That being said, it's not wise to flout a debt. Even a debt of a couple of hundred euro is worth pursuing legally in many cases.

If someone is on financial difficulty it's always worth talking to the company to try work something out.

pillphil · 04-08-2016 10:48PM

faceman wrote: »

Yes and no. If you have had a judgement registered against then that info is in the public domain so you don't have to check with the ICB. Same goes for the new insolvency ratings under the new laws. (Which are far too penalising in my opinion)

However if you have no judgements against you then the ICB is one indication of creditworthiness. However it's not tied to a PPS number. Instead it cross references names with addresses that are provided.

Most private companies and utility companies don't bother with ICB checks. Instead they use scoring models to determine the risk of non payment. Factors such as your address (some counties are considered riskier than others!), occupation, homeowner/tenant etc can all be considered in applications for services.

That being said, it's not wise to flout a debt. Even a debt of a couple of hundred euro is worth pursuing legally in many cases.

If someone is on financial difficulty it's always worth talking to the company to try work something out.

Come on, you can't just leave it at that.

starshine1234 · 06-08-2016 01:41PM

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

I've just had a pretty identical situation. I just logged on to my little woods account and paid them directly. I answered intrium justitia a couple of days later, it was quite dodgy as they had my surname wrong, and then for data protection Needed my address & dob. Anyway it's all done now, try to pay little woods direct if you can.

pillphil wrote: »

They rang me and demanded I tell them my name, dob etc. I told them that since they were ringing me, they should provide me with those details as I had no idea who was on the other end of the phone.

Funnily enough, they never rang back.

I agree.
If random strangers ring you on the phone you shouldn't answer their questions. I refuse to answer personal questions even if I'm expecting a call from the company.

You should say to the company that if you asked the company whether or not you should reveal personal information to strangers who ring you on the phone claiming to be from their company what would be their answer?

They have no choice but to say that you should refuse to give your information unless you are certain you are dealing with the company. I'd suggest you can never be certain and therefore you should never engage with random calls.

A company would be able to verify that it is they who are calling but strangely enough companies seem unwilling to do this. For example, a credit card company could provide you with a secret codeword and they could use that codeword to prove it is them on the call. No company does this as far as I know.

So, in summary, if companies are going to be so arrogant and contemptous that they refuse to use secret codewords as I suggest then I'm not going to put my privacy and security at risk by providing personal information to strangers on the phone.

atticu · 07-08-2016 12:32PM

orezeee wrote: »

They can f*** off if they think I'm paying them now.

Why?

What makes you believe that you don't have to pay for goods that you received?

I am not having a go at you, I actually want to know why you feel that you don't have to pay them now.

Fred Swanson · 07-08-2016 04:57PM

This post has been deleted.

rawn · 10-07-2018 10:17AM

Sorry to bump an old thread but I can't find a definite answer to the question!

I have debt collectors ringing over LW debt (actually my brothers debt in my name, grrr family!). Anyways I have the money to fully pay off the debt now, so do I have to pay it to Interim or can I just pay LW directly?

Avatar MIA · 10-07-2018 12:48PM

rawn wrote: »

Sorry to bump an old thread but I can't find a definite answer to the question!

I have debt collectors ringing over LW debt (actually my brothers debt in my name, grrr family!). Anyways I have the money to fully pay off the debt now, so do I have to pay it to Interim or can I just pay LW directly?

I imagine your credit rating is as bad as it's going to get. If I were in your position I'd ring up and look to get a discount based on a final payment. Could offer them 50%. I would try IJ first.

CeilingFly · 10-07-2018 01:03PM

rawn wrote: »

Sorry to bump an old thread but I can't find a definite answer to the question!

I have debt collectors ringing over LW debt (actually my brothers debt in my name, grrr family!). Anyways I have the money to fully pay off the debt now, so do I have to pay it to Interim or can I just pay LW directly?

If its recent and you just got the letter, ring IJ immediately and pay it off and also explain it was a family member who used your name - they can add this to any notes on the account and hopefully it doesn't affect you.

Whilst they are not a member of the iCB, IJ do provide credit reports to some companies including utility / mobile phone / other goods credit providers (Littlewoods and the like)

They act as a debt collector on behalf of a company.

If the debt cannot be collected and the client company puts the debt into non-recoverable file, they may also then purchase the debt and try and then collect part of it - but a debt would need to be well over 12 months old for that situation and many attempts to collect on behalf of the owner of the debt having taken place.

rawn · 10-07-2018 01:58PM

It's recent enough, i think he stopped making the repayments only a few months ago, there's 2 accounts and both owe a total of 440 between them. He gave me the full amount to pay off, I'm just not sure if I go to lw or ij. No repayment plan needed, just pay all off in one go. I don't want to give them his name or anything, he went through a horrible experience and he's just coming out of it now and starting to fix things.

lawred2 · 10-07-2018 02:04PM

childsplay wrote: »

How did you forget to pay them? If you owe it pay it. Your credit rating will be destroyed and you won't be able to get credit with anyone else if you don't.

it's best not to offer advice when you don't know what you are talking about

A strike against a person's credit record can only be done by financial institution or the courts. And those institutions must be members of the ICB.

Neither of which this shower of debt collectors are... They will have picked up this unpaid debt for about 1c in the euro and will try all bullying tactics available to get that back.

OP - don't be afraid of them. It's ALL bluster. Offer to settle for €100 with them. Or offer to enter into a monthly repayment of something hilariously small.

I'd also avoid buying things you can't afford. Nobody 'forgets' their debts.

Their behavior doesn't excuse yours.

CeilingFly · 10-07-2018 05:33PM

lawred2 wrote: »

it's best not to offer advice when you don't know what you are talking about

A strike against a person's credit record can only be done by financial institution or the courts. And those institutions must be members of the ICB.

Neither of which this shower of debt collectors are... They will have picked up this unpaid debt for about 1c in the euro and will try all bullying tactics available to get that back.
.

You should heed your own advice and not advise when you do not understand how these places work.

I engaged a similar company a while ago to chase some customers and know precisely how they work.

It is highly unlikely they have purchased the debt. That only comes at the end of the initial process.

Yes it can affect credit rating with any commercial company that uses them for credit reports. - People don't just get credit from banks.

So take heed of your own advice and don't proffer advice on something you don't know about

lawred2 · 10-07-2018 06:20PM

CeilingFly wrote: »

You should heed your own advice and not advise when you do not understand how these places work.

I engaged a similar company a while ago to chase some customers and know precisely how they work.

It is highly unlikely they have purchased the debt. That only comes at the end of the initial process.

Yes it can affect credit rating with any commercial company that uses them for credit reports. - People don't just get credit from banks.

So take heed of your own advice and don't proffer advice on something you don't know about

They have no capabilities to affect anyone's credit rating without going through the courts.

I'm not sure what credit ratings you're on about

L1011 · 10-07-2018 06:26PM

lawred2 wrote: »

They have no capabilities to affect anyone's credit rating without going through the courts.

I'm not sure what credit ratings you're on about

There is no such concept as a single credit rating. You are talking about the ICB one as if it is the only one. And ICB members don't need court orders.

Equifax and Experian trade in Ireland and are extensively used by mobile firms, hire purchase firms etc. These get credit data from a significantly wider range of sources than the ICB do (and yes, you will have given consent for the lender to submit data to them in the loan contract).

The state Central Credit Register also records data from various non-bank/credit union sources and will expand this in the future.

So while defaulting with Littlewoods or a phone company may not affect a mortgage application (and certainly didn't in the past) you may find it impossible to get a bill pay phone, be requested to pay hefty deposits on energy supply contracts, or bin contracts, or be refused direct debit payments for car insurance, or anything else involving a credit agreement.

lawred2 · 10-07-2018 06:28PM

L1011 wrote: »

There is no such concept as a single credit rating. You are talking about the ICB one as if it is the only one. And ICB members don't need court orders.

Equifax and Experian trade in Ireland and are extensively used by mobile firms, hire purchase firms etc. These get credit data from a significantly wider range of sources than the ICB do (and yes, you will have given consent for the lender to submit data to them in the loan contract).

The state Central Credit Register also records data from various non-bank/credit union sources and will expand this in the future.

Neither littlewoods nor IJ are ICB members

That and also recently the CCR are ultimately the only credit records that matter. Not too many people are overly concerned about credit scoring agencies for mobile phone contracts or store credit when discussing their credit record.

L1011 · 10-07-2018 06:30PM

lawred2 wrote: »

Neither littlewoods nor IJ are ICB members

And as I said, that isn't the only credit rating.

Intrum Justitita won't stop ringing me!

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