Debt Collection

Premier Foods Named and Shamed on Exceedingly Bad Payment Practices

Premier Foods - owners of the Mr Kipling brand, along with several other household names - have encountered their fair share of negative press recently, since it emerged that they were demanding that suppliers should invest in the company in order to continue receiving orders.

Yep, that's right - suppliers to Premier Foods, many of them fairly small foodservice businesses, were apparently told that if they wanted to keep receiving future orders, they had to put their own money into Premier in the form of investment finance.

'Fake it 'till you make it' - Fake Debt Collection Testimonials

Finding a supplier for your business can be a tricky process at the best of times; so many online businesses rely heavily on customer testimonials. So what do you do if you are a new business, say a new Debt Collection business and you want to impress potential customers? Are you going to be honest about the fact the business is new and try and offer a great service or do you "fake it till you make it"?

Unfortunately for many businesses trying to find a reputable debt recovery partner the latter seems to be the preferred option, with many so called debt collectors recycling or just stealing testimonials from other sources. Now not only is this dishonest and as such contrary to the Advertising Standards Authority rules on misleading statements, it also shows a marked lack of invention and imagination. As such, we've decided to offer a helping hand to all those debt collection companies out there with fake testimonials by providing some suggested "testimonials" of our own.

Chocolatier Threatens Tesco With Winding-up Petition

A dairy-free chocolatier was forced to threaten supermarket giant Tesco with a winding-up petition after they failed to pay for part of their order for five months - leaving him without his staff's Christmas wages.

Moo Free Chocolates produce dairy-free and gluten-free confectionery, with an annual turnover of around £1 million.

But when a £2 million order came in from Tesco, co-founder Mike Jessop was understandably excited.

Indy or Bust: Scottish Referendum ramifications for rUK

The Scottish Question is about to be answered, and whether the majority vote Yes or No, changes are on the horizon for the Scottish economy and for those of us labelled rUK, short for either the 'rest of the UK' or more disparagingly, the 'remnant UK'.

We're not arguing in favour of either viewpoint - that's for the Scottish public to decide - but it's important that English businesses should be aware of the ramifications that may arise from a vote either way.

HFO CAPITAL, HFO Services and Roxburghe UK Ltd unfit says OFT

The OFT has refused to renew the consumer credit licences of debt purchaser HFO Capital Limited, and two associated debt collectors, HFO Services Limited and Roxburghe (UK) Limited.

From Dodgy Debt Collector to Convicted Fraudster

Back in March of 2013 we ran an article called "Dodgy Debt Collection Agencies Liquidated" that featured the story of how the Insolvency Service had liquidated two companies run by a Mr Stuart Paul Cooper of Topping Street, Blackpool.

Then it all went quiet and we heard no mention of the name Stuart Paul Cooper until an eagle eyed reader contacted us this week. They informed us that the infamous Mr Stuart Paul Cooper is now serving a three year jail sentence for fraud. So what happened?

Local Authorities Urged to 'Manage Debt Collection More Responsibly'

Local authorities have been urged to manage their debt collection processes more responsibly, in order to cut down on the 1.8 million instances each year in which bailiffs are hired to recover overdue council tax payments and similar arrears.

Figures from the Money Advice Trust show substantial regional variation in the use of bailiffs by local authorities - but hint at a worryingly high prevalence of bailiffs being used to collect county court judgments nationwide.

Otium Corporation – The Danger of Off-Shore Tax Haven Companies

Otium Corporation Ltd have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons recently, particularly in a Daily Record report of how they left one aerospace contractor out of pocket by £9,000 after their payments to him simply stopped.

Stuart Jack was on a one-year contract to work at BAE Systems in Prestwick, but his payments did not come directly from BAE - instead, they went through Otium Corporation's Ltd’s service address in Batley, West Yorkshire.