Mainstream bank centres for dealing with Personal Guarantees
HSBC- how they operate.
In the last 15 months or so, we have seen a department allegedly based in Canary Wharf but actually based in India manage collections regarding PGs- the long Indian names and .in email addresses tend to give them away. However, they are difficult to contact and relatively slow to respond, which is great under normal circumstances if you are fighting a war of attrition but dreadfully frustrating if you actually want to do a deal. We have seen a recent move by HSBC to use their internal Birmingham based resource, Metropolitan Debt Collection Services and DG Solicitors, but again find they can be just as ineffective in pursuing on behalf of the bank.
Lombard Leasing
This leasing arm of RBS has proved difficult for assessment with any consistency. Lack of consistency in pursuing personal guarantees can work in your favour. However, along with other leasing companies, many personal guarantees often don’t stand up to scrutiny, are integrated into finance agreements and aren’t clear enough as to the parties involved.
HBOS - how they operate when enforcing personal guarantees
The lending policy of HBOS was very aggressive. It’s symptomatic of an institution that is going hell for leather for market shares by sacrificing some first principles of lending.
There has been particular comment in the press about the lending practices of the Reading business centre of HBOS, where it is alleged that customers were encouraged to take up facilities they did not need or indeed, under normal scrutiny, could not justifiably afford. This all adds grist to the mill when challenging the validity of a personal guarantee or the funding that it relates to.
Lloyds- how they operate when enforcing personal guarantees
Lloyds do struggle with personal guarantees. For example, we have seen them use an "abbreviated" form of personal guarantee; you would have to wonder in what circumstances it would be appropriate to not use the full version.
Lloyds used to have the reputation of referring to solicitors more, however have not been as immediate more recently; but as more personal guarantees are being collected, the pressure is on, so there may be change.
Communication with banks and debt collectors
Avoid email communication at all costs; imagine you are a ‘tick the box’ jobs-worth at one of the banks central departments. Five emails in one day can be the equivalent of ticking three months worth of correspondence by snail mail. It can be forwarded off their list and straight to their solicitor to deal with.
Emails are also notoriously unreliable; (not that normal post is much better) with today’s virus scanners and ability to be lost in a myriad of emails, there is no guarantee of delivery. Fax and guaranteed delivery posts are your safest form of communication.
Dealing with the pressure from banks and debt collectors can take its toll. Daily worries about the post arriving, the dread of opening it and the hours of worrying about it whether you have opened it or not have an enormous effect. One way of dealing with the stress is by not opening them as soon as they arrive. Put it in a box and allocate two hours a week of which you dedicate to opening the letters. Don’t change that time, (a bit like the time of a church service or a train you must catch) and don’t allocate weekend time for it. Most documents can wait 7 days before having to be dealt with.
For further assistance call ‘Debts on Ice’ on 07730435751
