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GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 2:50 pm
by TheNewSaint
It seems to me this matter needs its own thread, so I am starting one. To summarize the story so far:

GOODF have a new help line, with the phone number 0800 246 5285. Google Search indicates that this was the former phone number of Council Tax Advisors Scotland, a legitimate-looking debt counseling organization. We are unclear as to what ties, if any, exist between GOODF and this outfit.

Prior discussion starts here: viewtopic.php?f=52&t=11141&start=280#p236034 and appears on page 15 and 16 of that thread.

As an aside, GOODF had a prior, short-lived attempt at a helpline, under a different phone number. It is documented here: viewtopic.php?f=52&t=11060

Picking up the story, we have our first documented instance of someone using the help line, as provided by aesmith on the previous thread:
aesmith wrote:Someone here dealing with their helpline, and it sounds as if it's still a Scottish operation .. http://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/forum/v ... CGQhbRS1zI
This afternoon I got a call back from your independent partner who continually refered to me being 'South of the Border'
That whole thread is interesting. "Terrydebtfree" is a new poster who seems to be seeking legit advice:
My Credit card balance with RBS was £9000.
I have for the past four years paid only £20 per month. I have never missed a payment.

Two months ago or so RBS sent me a letter stating they had appointed Westcott Credit services to handle all administrative aspects of my account and any correspondance should be through them but that I should continue paying RBS as normal. I then received the same from Westcott. Apparently I should not deal with RBS any more.
Last week Westcott sent me a letter stating the 'hand over was now complete' and that I should now pay them direct and not pay RBS. There was no mention of this in the previous letter.

It seems to me that RBS have sold my debt to Westcott.
This is a reasonable thing to be confused about. Tiggy responds:
Wescot only ever act as agents, they're not debt purchasers. Wescot are only administrating the account they haven't purchased it, they can't 'legally demand' anything. If you refuse to pay Wescot, I suspect they'll simply pass the account back to NatWest who will then try another agency (probably Moorcroft) before eventually selling it onto a Debt Purchaser.
This appears to be correct, at least the part about Wescot not owning the debt. Wescot's website says:
Has Wescot bought my debt?
No, Wescot no longer purchases or owns debts. If an account is being managed by Wescot this does not mean we have bought the debt, it means we are managing recovery of the debt on behalf of the bank/utility company. Once the debt is repaid the account will return to the original company.

https://www.wescot.co.uk/faq/
Terry then says:
This afternoon I got a call back from your independent partner who continually referred to me being 'South of the Border' and stated several times that agencies that buy debt have every legal right to recovery the money. I challenged him on this refering to the absence of any contract between us but he was adamant the buying up of the debt formed a contract to which I was duty bound and suggested my only recourse was to apply for bankruptcy.

It was your helpline partner that suggested to me Westcott had bought the debt.


This is why I was concerned about GOODF having the former phone number of a legit debt counseling firm. Someone who seems to be seeking legitimate debt counseling advice is now getting mixed messages from FMOTL and non-FMOTL sources. He makes references to "contracting with Wescot" and "the three letters", but these appears to be from his attempts to apply the information he was given, rather than being subscribed to these stupid theories already.

His story does raise questions, such as why would RBS employ Wescott (however you spell it) to manage his account if he has been making regular payments.

At this point, I think we should contact Council Tax Advisors Scotland and ask if there is any connection between them and getoutofdebtfree.org. Thoughts?

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:06 pm
by letissier14
I just phoned the 0800 number and a scottish guy called Kevin answered and said they dealt mainly in IVA's

I mentioned I got the number from GOODF and he said that Goodf was their sister site and I was welcome to try their advice and get help from their forum

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:15 pm
by #six
Interesting that they called GOODF their sister site. I'm not sure the FSA would look kindly on that.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:17 pm
by TheNewSaint
letissier14 wrote:I just phoned the 0800 number and a scottish guy called Kevin answered and said they dealt mainly in IVA's

he said that Goodf was their sister site
Did he say who "they" are, exactly?

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:20 pm
by aesmith
letissier14 wrote:I just phoned the 0800 number and a scottish guy called Kevin answered and said they dealt mainly in IVA's
Interesting, did he give the name of his outfit when answering? IVA is an English arrangement, not Scottish. The call referenced in Goofy sounded as if they were more used to handling Scottish matters (the apparently repeated "South of the border" references)

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:29 pm
by letissier14
TheNewSaint wrote:
letissier14 wrote:I just phoned the 0800 number and a scottish guy called Kevin answered and said they dealt mainly in IVA's

he said that Goodf was their sister site
Did he say who "they" are, exactly?
He said they were Debt Advice Help line ...

Quick research brought this lot up

Getoutofdebtfree Helpline number: 0800 246 5285

Google search brings up

http://www.counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com/

Counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com is owned by Rite Financial Limited

authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Reg: 637244.

Rite Financial Limited is owned by a MCCALLUM, James Thomas

According to Companies house Rite Financial Limited is currently Non trading

https://companycheck.co.uk/.../RITE.../ ... house-data

Dormant

https://www.endole.co.uk/search/...

And then you have

http://www.counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/scotland/ who use virtually the same logo as Counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com which is a trading name of Council Tax Expert CIC

which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Carrington Dean Group Ltd

Financial Conduct Authority Consumer Credit Interim Permissions Registration No: 582212

I could be wrong but it appears that Counciltaxadvisorsscotland which seem to be connected with GOODF are trying to copy the website of http://www.counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:36 pm
by letissier14
Counciltaxadvisorsscotland which is linked goodf by the phone number has 1 current and 1 resigned director, both linked to another dissolved company called Debt Advice Bureau Limited. MR JAMES THOMAS MCCALLUM and MR GARY KEVIN WILSON. Could this be the Kevin I spoke today claiming to be from the Debt Advice Helpline?

Also

Counciltaxadvisorsscotland is owned by Rite Financial Limited who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Reg: 637244

Just checked the FCA register and they only have Interim Permissions at the moment.

Other trading names for Rite Financial Limited

www.ritefinancial.co.uk,
Www.Trust-Deed.Com
www.trustdeedsscotland.co.uk

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 5:19 pm
by TheNewSaint
letissier14 wrote:I could be wrong but it appears that Counciltaxadvisorsscotland which seem to be connected with GOODF are trying to copy the website of http://www.counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/
I think you are right. counciltaxadvisors.co.uk has a "live in Scotland?" link which goes to their own counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/scotland sub-page, not counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com. The phone numbers, addresses, and social media accounts are different as well.

The sites do look similar, but I wouldn't read too much into that. Everyone uses Wordpress nowadays, which leads to a lot of similar-looking cookie-cutter websites out there.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 5:31 pm
by Chaos
TheNewSaint wrote:
His story does raise questions, such as why would RBS employ Wescott (however you spell it) to manage his account if he has been making regular payments.
I would imagine a minimum monthly payment required on a £9000 balance would be more than £20, so they technically would be 'late' on payments as the minimum monthly payment amount would not have been met. Just the interest every month would put them over their limit as they aren't even covering that with a £20 payment.

I have $9000 on a credit card and the minimum monthly payment required is around $225-230.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:37 pm
by Muggy
TheNewSaint wrote:
letissier14 wrote:I could be wrong but it appears that Counciltaxadvisorsscotland which seem to be connected with GOODF are trying to copy the website of http://www.counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/
I think you are right. counciltaxadvisors.co.uk has a "live in Scotland?" link which goes to their own counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/scotland sub-page, not counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com. The phone numbers, addresses, and social media accounts are different as well.

The sites do look similar, but I wouldn't read too much into that. Everyone uses Wordpress nowadays, which leads to a lot of similar-looking cookie-cutter websites out there.
According to 'Whois', I think that you will find that Counciltaxadvisors.co.uk and Counciltaxadvisorsscotland.co.uk are more closely related than you think.

The domain name of Counciltaxadvisors.co.uk is owned by this outfit:

Domain name:
counciltaxadvisors.co.uk

Registrant:
Carrington Dean Group Ltd

Registrant type:
UK Limited Company, (Company number: SC357979)

Registrant's address:
89 West Regent Street
Glasgow
Lanarkshire
G2 2BA
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 25-May-2016

Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 23-Jul-2012
Expiry date: 23-Jul-2018
Last updated: 23-Jun-2016

Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.
And this outfit own the domain name for Counciltaxadvisorsscotland.co.uk

Domain name:
counciltaxadvisorsscotland.co.uk

Registrant:
Carrington Dean Group Limited

Registrant type:
UK Limited Company, (Company number: SC225672)

Registrant's address:
Fyfe Chambers
105 West George St
Glasgow
Lanarkshire
G2 1PB
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 20-Jun-2016

Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 20-Jun-2016
Expiry date: 20-Jun-2018
Last updated: 20-Jun-2016

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 7:24 pm
by TheNewSaint
The site in question is counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com ,not counciltaxadvisorsscotland.co.uk. (You said .com the first time, but your WHOIS result was for .co.uk.) The owner of the site question is using a privacy service:
Domain Name: COUNCILTAXADVISORSSCOTLAND.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2027409362_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.meshdigital.com
Registrar URL: http://www.domainbox.com

Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Identity Protection Service
Registrant Organization: Identity Protect Limited
Registrant Street: PO Box 795
Registrant City: Godalming
Registrant State/Province: Surrey
Registrant Postal Code: GU7 9GA
Registrant Country: GB
Registrant Phone: +44.1483307527
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +44.1483304031
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com@identity-protect.org

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:27 am
by Muggy
TheNewSaint wrote:The site in question is counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com ,not counciltaxadvisorsscotland.co.uk. (You said .com the first time, but your WHOIS result was for .co.uk.) The owner of the site question is using a privacy service:
Domain Name: COUNCILTAXADVISORSSCOTLAND.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2027409362_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.meshdigital.com
Registrar URL: http://www.domainbox.com

Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Identity Protection Service
Registrant Organization: Identity Protect Limited
Registrant Street: PO Box 795
Registrant City: Godalming
Registrant State/Province: Surrey
Registrant Postal Code: GU7 9GA
Registrant Country: GB
Registrant Phone: +44.1483307527
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +44.1483304031
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: counciltaxadvisorsscotland.com@identity-protect.org
I see what you mean now.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:51 am
by Muggy
TheNewSaint wrote:It seems to me this matter needs its own thread, so I am starting one. To summarize the story so far:

GOODF have a new help line, with the phone number 0800 246 5285. Google Search indicates that this was the former phone number of Council Tax Advisors Scotland, a legitimate-looking debt counseling organization. We are unclear as to what ties, if any, exist between GOODF and this outfit.
GOODF explain more about the relationship here:
https://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/help


Get your debts under control before Christmas

By listening to our members we appreciate that the 3 letter process isn’t for everyone and you continue to struggle with getting your finances in order.

To this end after many months of deliberation we have decided to partner with a professional fully regulated company called The Debt Advice Helpline.

If you are still struggling with debt then you can contact The Debt Advice Line by calling 0800 2465 285 or registering for a call back below

We know that dealing with debt especially this time of year can be extremely stressful and through this new partnership The Debt Advice Helpline can offer you a more professional view to debt relief.

To get this started all we need you to do is tick the relevant boxes below of debts that you hold and fill in the last few details below. Once we have this info we can start to help you.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 2:58 pm
by letissier14
Apparently GOODF claim that The Debt Advice Helpline is a professional fully regulated company

Image

Not with the FCA though

Image

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:49 pm
by aesmith
Also noticeable that this outfit doesn't apparently advertise it's business anywhere other than Goofy.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:54 pm
by TheNewSaint
"Professional fully regulated company" seems purposefully vague. Perhaps they are registered as a company, but not with the financial authorities. I didn't find anything at https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk , except a dissolved and seemingly unrelated company called DEBT ADVICE HELPLINE (without THE).

Can that statement be reported for false representation? At the very least, I think FCA and Action Fraud should be made aware that these people are claiming to be "fully regulated." And they offer advice like:
Promissory Notes must be treated as cash!

A4V or Accepted for Value is a very simple process of writing on the remittance form that comes with your bills, thereby paying your bill.

There are three letters, which need posting at least 10 days apart. Together they will create a tacit contract, which is a lawfully binding agreement.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 3:55 pm
by aesmith
One Goofy not happy with the outfit ... http://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/forum/v ... 5&t=104123
Shooter wrote:Looks like time to dump these "partners". Who authorised them to piggy back on this site? very fishy!! Seems to me this could undermine what this site stands for, Ceylon, Tiggy Faljay et al any comments?

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 4:21 pm
by TheNewSaint
aesmith wrote:One Goofy not happy with the outfit ... http://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/forum/v ... 5&t=104123
Shooter wrote:Looks like time to dump these "partners". Who authorised them to piggy back on this site? very fishy!! Seems to me this could undermine what this site stands for, Ceylon, Tiggy Faljay et al any comments?
The sad thing is, Shooter is right. If this outfit is giving legit advice to negotiate and pay valid debts, that would go against the raison d'etre of GOODF. The F stands for "Free", after all.

Perhaps this is an effort by someone to shift GOODF away from failed freedman theories to proper debt counseling. I remember a discussion awhile back where they were seeking proper industry regulation. Obviously, they cannot attain that with the advice they give currently.

Maybe we ought to just let this play out on its own.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 4:52 am
by notorial dissent
Count me in as one of those who takes it that "the raison d'etre of GOODF" is to NOT pay debts, reasonable, honest, or otherwise.

Re: GOODF's new telephone help line

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 7:24 pm
by TheNewSaint
In addition to the helpline, GOODF now features an ad for an IVA service. Some of the GOODFers aren't happy about this:

http://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/forum/v ... 83#p493176