The Man With The Hammer

A couple of weeks ago I was talking about creditors resorting to violence and intimidation in order to collect their money - but violence can be a two-way street.

Some years ago a man armed with a hammer waited for me outside the office. I was lucky -someone saw him, warned me, and called the police - but other people have not been so fortunate. One young woman - a girl really, only sixteen years old and in her first job in a Solicitors office -went out with the Bailiffs on a repossession job 'for experience'. The occupant of the house leaned out of an upstairs window and shot her. She died.

I'm mentioning these things now because a couple of posts ago I was talking about visits to customers. I should have made it clear that whilst visits to commercial customers can be a valuable collection tool, visits to consumer debtors can be very unwise.

In the first place, a visit might be construed as harrassment. More importantly, a visit could well be the straw that broke the camels back for the debtor, who might then resort to violence.

If you have consumer debt, then my advice is that collecting it is best left to professionals who follow a code of good practice. If you are unwilling or unable to employ a professional to do the work for you, then you should make yourself aware of what constitutes 'good practice'.

The Office of Fair Trading has has issued guidance for debt collectors on how to deal fairly with debtors. The guidance is aimed at consumer credit licence holders and applicants for licences - but you can't do better than to read and follow it. You can download Debt Collection Guidance at: http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection.