Tuesday 5th July 2011
The licence of debt management company Parkgate UK Limited has been revoked by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after the company sent a threatening letter to a debt collection agency.
The letter contained a threat of physical violence if the agency attempted to collect the debts of one of Parkgate’s clients.
OFT Director of Consumer Credit, David Fisher, said: “Threatening behaviour is unacceptable. The letter Parkgate sent was inappropriate and called into question the company’s fitness to hold a licence.”
Parkgate apologised for sending the threatening letter and said that it did not intend to act on the threat. The company’s licence was nevertheless revoked after the OFT concluded that the letter, combined with the company’s failings to demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to run a consumer credit business, meant that Parkgate was unfit to hold a licence.
David Fisher continued, “We will not tolerate behaviour of this kind as it is a clear breach of the standards we expect from licensed businesses. We have therefore taken the decision to revoke its licence.”
Director at Atlantic Financial Management, Kevin Still, commented: “We welcome the on-going actions taken by the OFT during the consultation period on the updated Debt Management and Debt Collection guidance notes. It is important to establish professional standards between debt advisers/debt managers and the creditors and their collection agents.
“The updated guidance includes provisions for creditor obligations and the recent updates to the Lending Code and Debt Collection guidance should mean that negotiating with creditors and their agents using industry recognised protocols like the Common Financial Statement should become more widespread. As a Debt Managers Standards Association (DEMSA) member we are subject to a Code of Conduct and it is important that commercial debt solution providers conduct themselves in a highly professional manner.”
The OFT determined to revoke the company’s consumer credit licence on May 23 2011, allowing Parkgate a period to appeal. The period has now lapsed, and the company’s licence has been revoked.
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