Complaints Against Link Financial Ltd | Link Financial Outsourcing

Important Notice

If you are currently having problems with debt collectors, or if you suspect them of using illicit or unfair tactics, then please contact the BBC in complete confidence at the following email address:

Laura.Ancell@bbc.co.uk

(United Kingdom enquiries only, please)

Link Financial Ltd (also known as Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd) is a debt purchasing company or debt collecting company listed in the website of the DBSG (The Debt Buyers and Sellers Group) and/or mentioned in consumer finance forms. They have a legitimate function as debt collectors, but there is some indication that some such companies (not necessarily Link Financial), and especially the debt purchasing element, go a bit too far sometimes and can make people's lives a misery when those same people are at their most vulnerable. We do not suggest that they are acting outside the law, but getting that letter or phone call is not exactly helpful to you right now.

So the first thing you must do if Link Financial are bothering you is not to panic or despair. That's just what they want! They'd love you to call their number and speak to their specially trained sales team for 'advice'. But once you do that you'll be suggestible to whatever they tell you, instead of getting independent advice. While we always say that you should keep an open dialogue with debt collectors, we would recommend that you do so in writing only. This will prevent them 'railroading' you into any action which is not in your best interests, as they so love talking people into doing things on the spur of the moment. Of course, they are only doing their job, but that's hardly a consolation for you in the present situation.

There are several courses that are open to you, and some will suit your own situation better than others.

A sensible option, we would suggest, is a debt management plan or even an IVA - which is designed to actually write off a large chunk of your unsecured debt. But you would need to take advice on this and look at your income and expenditure in detail. This option won't suit everyone. There's more on this below.

For an alternative type of loan you could apply for a 'logbook loan' which many people find a very handy option. It is actually a loan secured on your car, except you get to keep the car and keep the cash as well! That's why some people find it such a good idea, as it unlocks the equity in your vehicle without taking away your means of transport (there's no need to sell the car). To apply for a logbook loan click here.

Yet another option is a no credit-check guarantor loan. This is especially useful because your own credit rating is not looked at; you must find someone else willing to act as a guarantor for you such as a friend or family member. This is an ideal solution if you're at the stage where your credit profile has been downgraded by recent events, etc. So click the following link for Unsecured Loans that don't need you to be credit checked.

If you wanted to try a debt management plan, then we provide a whole-of-market service, with a number of debt management experts on our panel. So whatever your circumstances, your application will find the plan for you, meaning the optimum outcome for your situation. It also means there are no minimum requirements for debt levels or income.

So apply for a debt management plan using the form below.

DPC Registry. Consumer Credit Licence number 633327.

Name: Link Financial Ltd
Also Known As: Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd, Link Debt Collectors, Link Financial, Link Financial Limited, Link Financial London.
Associated Trading Names: Instantsilver, Elmwood Park, Thesis Servicing (Thesis Servicing, which certainly doesn't service theses, was set up to pursue student loan debts, many of which were securitized by the Government).
Address: Camelford House, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP. Also: Link Financial Outsourcing, PO Box 30095, London, SE1 7WU.
Telephone: 0207 7932650 and 0844 736 0022 (BUT DO NOT PHONE LINK FINANCIAL)
Fax: 0207 7932660
Email: mail@linkfinancial.co.uk
DX: DX 140020, Caerphilly 6

Get a free QuickCreditScore check by applying here.

Link Financial Ltd and the Truth About Your Debt

Link Financial Ltd is a debt purchasing agency which has purchased a debt account from the original lender (or in some cases another debt purchasing company) for a small percentage of the original value of the debt and is attempting to recover the full value from you.

To find out if you qualify for an IVA or can benefit from a debt management programme, try the IVA Test. It's free to apply, and again you are protected by the consumer laws regarding debt management at all stages. Click here to go to the application form.

Free Invoice Finance Quotes and Free Invoice Factoring Quotes

Here are a few websites to help you to raise capital if you are in business, or are self-employed to any extent, and you find yourself in a position where you need to raise funds. The following services will allow you to get Business Factoring Quotes and also Invoice Factoring Quotes in the event of being able to raise money, without obligation, l if your have invoices remaining unpaid. Also take a look at the Invoice Finance Quotes website, where it is possible to get Invoice Financing Quotes.

More Data On Link Financial Ltd

Never talk to Link Financial operatives on the phone: always insist that they write to you. Make sure you keep reminding them of the true facts in every letter you send as they have a habit of slipping back into the fantasy world that they wish to actually inhabit (and which they wish YOU to inhabit).

Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd are fond of asking you to send them a list of your income and expenditure. You don't have to do this. Remember that you are under no legal obligation whatsoever to tell anyone details of your income or outgoings. They like to do this to control you, and to get you into the habit of complying with them. But there is nothing to comply with: they have no legal right to expect you to do that. Debt purchasing companies actually have almost no legal authority, but their whole approach requires them to pretend that they have. Nobody would take them seriously if they were simply honest about this.

There are indications that Link Financial is involved in dealing in statute barred debts. We cannot list all of these instances here because we just haven't got the space! However, if you'd like to do a search in any search engine using the following search pattern you will bring up hundreds of references to Link Financial Outsourcing' involvement in statute barred debts:

"Link Financial" + "statute barred"

Link Financial Loses 'Torture' Case

In a case which is bound to have a bearing on subsequent debt legislation, Judge Chambers ruled on 28th February 2011 (Mr Keith Harrison vs. Link Financial Limited) that Link Financial had used tactics which were tantamount to torture in order to attempt to bring to heal one of the people whose debt accounts they had bought from MBNA.

Included in the statement of the judge was the following:

Cumulatively and damningly is what I find to be the way that MBNA and the Defendant [Link Financial] went about recovering their debt. I am satisfied that the Claimant's description of the way that he was hounded by his creditors is essentially correct not least in the use of “non-traceable” telephone calls. It seems to me that such conduct has no proper function in the recovery of consumer debt....

... it was only well into this action that the Defendant was able to comply with section 78 and thus able to pursue a claim. An inability to comply with section 78 can be no excuse for conduct of which it must be supposed the sole purpose must have been to make the Claimant's life so difficult that he would come to heel. I cannot think that in a society that is otherwise so sensitive of a consumer's position this is conduct that should countenanced.

There is more coverage of this on the excellent Consumeractiongroup forum in the discussion on Link Financial's antics in this case. The BBC also covers the Link Financial 'torture' story.

Special Notice: Link Financial Outsourcing Dirty Tricks

It has come to our attention that Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd have attempted to shut down this website by apparently writing to our hosting company and threatening them, in the knowledge that our hosting company will threaten us in turn if we don't remove this site. Their opinion is that this website is defamatory. But as lawyers and many other people will know, the best defence against a charge of defamation is 'fair comment'. In other words, if it is true then it cannot be defamatory.

Well, that hosting company is now our ex-hosting company. We are now using a much better hosting facility (better in all sorts of ways) where freedom of speech is still something to be cherished and protected. If Link Financial Outsourcing wishes to bully the new hosts then they will have a bit more trouble doing so.

We note that Link Financial did not contact us directly, because they know that we'd tell them where to go. So instead thay have tried to get at us via our host. This is a vile and cowardly way to go about things - vile even for a debt purchasing firm - and any right-thinking person reading this who has an interest in openness, honesty and transparency in the media will take note.

We hope that Link Financial Outsourcing also take note of this, and we warn them that any further attempts at censoring the truth will result in this website publishing all of the documentation that we have at our disposal which will corroborate what is stated here in the most full and comprehensive way. If Link Financial doubts that what we say is true, then let them call our bluff, and we will publish everything. We will also do this in open Court and under oath if necessary.

As it is, we have published (below) the humiliating warning given to Link Financial by the Office of Fair Trading as a taster of what they can expect if they wish to 'try it on' again.

Again, this is not defamatory: it is true.

Let the truth be known.

Office of Fair Trading Gives Link Financial Fair Warning

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has given Link Financial fair warning by imposing restrictions on its working practices in a public document which it published in relation to Link Financial's habit of asking neighbours of the whereabouts of the people whose debt they have allegedly bought, in the hope that these people might be traced. Telling people that their neighbour is a debtor was, apparently, frowned upon by the government department. We can't think why.

The OFT rounds off their instructions with a nice warning to Link which we reproduce below:

Here is a link to the specific document which enforces this requirement on Link Financial:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/press_release_attachments/Link-requirements.pdf

Of course, if you know of any cases where Link Financial has done this again then we'd love to hear from you. It's often the case that these people, so lacking in legal powers and ideas of their own, revert to their old tricks, so do get in touch.

The above link is to a press release which is freely in the public domain. Interested parties should therefore note that it is neither defamatory nor a breach of copyright. It is simply the case.

If you have any information that you would like honest people to know about Link Financial Ltd then send us an email in complete confidence and we will try to corroborate it with the clowns involved. You could also write to your local Trading Standards office if you have a complaint or if you think that Link Financial Outsourcing Ltd have overstepped the mark. Or you could write directly to the Office of Fair Trading at:

Office of Fair Trading
Fleetbank House
2-6 Salisbury Square
London
EC4Y 8JX.