anyone know owt about 'secure homes plc'
Feb 15 2006 21:14
(sorry mods if this is in the wrong forum)
I need some really urgent advice on this one
just had a call from some mates back in brum, same ole story, they live on a council estate which appears to have been targetted by this company
this company is coming back in a few days to sign loads of people up to its scheme
i know nowt about the company but from the little ive read i dont like the sound of them
has anyone had any dealings with them? any horror storys? any reasons why i should advise these people not to use them?
the idea that some scummy company is going to get loads of people i grew up with in to debt is making me feel a bit sick, but i need some advice to send back.
http://www.securetrustbank.com/securehomes.htm their website
someone please tell me this company is run by green fingered hippies from a loft conversion in a tree house
Feb 15 2006 21:38
#2
I'd advise people not to on principle. Any company that wants to be an intermediary is going to make money off you at some point.
From a logical point of view this is a money loser, you will start paying weekly payments immediately when your bills are due less frequently. This means they can park the cash in an account and earn interest until th bill is due. If you pay the bill yourself then you would get this interest.
The parent company makes £3.5M profits a year, that comes from somewhere. There seems to be a large connection to credit as well, I imagine that they expect to be the first port of call if you need a loan.
They also offer payment protection for your bills, trading standards have attacked the banks over payment protection plans on loans etc. I wouldn't expect these guys are any better.
There's a lot of info on the website, I'm just not great at reading financial bollocks, especially when I've had a drink.
I'd recommend that you don't use them. I really don't see any real benefit unless you're paid weekly and piss away all your money in which case you'll end up screwed anyway.
Feb 15 2006 21:51
#3
a lot of people are paid weekly and have other accumulated debts than immediate bills so paying immediately to stop them getting interest is irrelevant for many people.
but i'd agree. don't touch them with a bargepole. use other routes.
Feb 15 2006 21:55
#4
Sorry Lucy, you must have been typing when I started my post otherwise I'd probably not have bothered. Nice post btw.
Feb 15 2006 22:09
#5
don't apologise. your right. 3.5 million in profit doesn't come from acting in the best interests of your customers when your customers are there because there so fucked over with debt to start with.
Feb 16 2006 17:42
#6
I was going to write this on the assumption on you were debt free, now it sound wanky having read the tread.
Quote:
Sound like that you can do it yourself with direct debit for free except I would guess the company would take a slice of the proceedings. Late payments would probably mean credit card size fines and probably the most common problem would be late/non payments of bills on your behalf.Don’t bother with them would be my advise
I like the quote on the website "Based on a marriage of charitable and commercial principles". One percent Charitable and Ninety Nine percent Commercial...
Feb 16 2006 19:59
#7
yeah theres nothing remotely charitable about accumulating shitloads of money and that comment goes for the big charities too with highly paid directors and senior staff and questionable at the very least routes for the money your average gran fishes out of her purse.
The age thing about debt is interesting. I have a tenant who is old school with debt and because of the way housing benefit works ended up with a large overpayment after her husband died plus my work fucked up her direct debit reducing it to a few quid when her rent payment grew because of private pension from her husbands death. I had to go round and tell her she was in debt to hundreds of pounds and she went white. seriously. i was really worried about her and spent ages with her explaning what had happened which was complex enough for anyone let alone someone grieving the death of their husband who'd always done the money stuff..
in the end, she made me take a cheque for the full amount even though it felt like robbing her and i argued with her for ages about taking it but she wouldn't have it. she didn't want to owe a penny. but then theres another generation some people really don't give a shit and will run up debt of 4 grand and don't care and in between those people who do care but want their kids to grow up in a nice home like other peoples kids and are trying to keep going and constantly stumble from one pile of shit to another.
thats when the moneylenders with pockets full of 'charity' move in....
sorry kidda, its not hippies in a tree house. secure homes are another debt company that consolidates debts into one debt and charges interest. the plus side is that they make payments to creditors on a regular basis (in that they are genuine, ie. they aren't gonna run off with the money) which i suppose is helpful if you find it hard to track your debts/payments etc but they aren't doing it for love. they target council estates for obvious reasons.
What they sell themselves on is taking the worry off people but you pay interest for that. Debt advice or CAB will assist people in similar way without charging for their services (ie.negotiating with creditors, assessing income/expenditure) but not in actually taking over the debt and making the one off payment.
From securehomes website (which i'm sure you'll have read but for anyone else interested): "As soon as you open an account, we'll contact all of your creditors on your behalf and assure them of the steps you are taking to repay your debts.
We'll request that all further action and additional charges are suspended. And then, once we've worked out together exactly how much you can realistically afford to repay, we'll make affordable repayment offers to your creditors that will allow you to clear your debts as soon as possible. You simply make one regular payment to us.
From that moment on, the pressure will be off. The phone calls will stop and you should once again begin to feel more in control of your money".
but they are a bank and need to be paid via interest.
Part of the problem is that people sometimes think its more respectable somehow to be dealing with them when they offer the assistance they need whereas going to CAB or Debt Advice is seen as failing somehow. I meet this everyday when I try to persuade people that they don't have to pay for the service which mostly mirrors what people can get for free and in that way take control of their debt. but for some people seeking debt advice is humilating in a way that a debt deal with securehomes isn't.