Harrington Brooks
Reviews and Complaints

I paid a lot of money to these they never paid any of my debts I still have paperwork how do I put a claim against them.

HI

I require some assistance and need to know what to do. My Ex Wife (Wife at the Time) made herself bankrupt illegally, by falsifying documents and claiming she does not have money. She applied for an IVA through the bank and it was approved, but we sold our joint house in South Africa since and now she has the means to pay for the IVA, outstanding money. Currently she is hiding the money in South Africa and not paying off her debt "bankrupt", part of this was her overdraft, joint account. Now the debt collectors is asking the money from the outstanding money on the overdraft bank account that she emptied. I am prepare to pay half the money but she is totally declining not to pay for the money. How can I report this, what should I do? I have the evidence for the sold property and bank account details.
She is currently spending the money on new stuff and cars, going out without a care in the world. How is this even possible that she can get away with this?

Why am I now being liable for this when no one is doing anything about this?
Why has the police not locked her up yet?
I contacted Harrington brooks to inform them regarding the fraud that was committed but they have no interest.
I contacted Barclays bank but they also have no interest to resolve this.
I will not be liable for Viviane Kirchner (EX Wife) fraud and deceit and pay her debt while she goes happily free.

https://www.harringtonbrooks.co.uk/

Reference Number
IVA/GMN_2145854 [430572-[protected]]

Viviane Maree Address
16 Temple Way
East Malling
ME19 6SH

viviane.[protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

What is a bankruptcy offence?
Lying or failing to mention relevant information about your finances or property in your bankruptcy application, during the bankruptcy interview or any other time you make a statement about your financial situation
Hiding details of your property from the bankruptcy trustee
Hiding any belongings worth £500 or more, which should be handed over to the official receiver or trustee
Giving away or selling property fraudulently during the five years before you were made bankrupt
Leaving England or Wales with any belongings of value worth £500 or more and which you are obliged to give to the official receiver or trustee
Getting credit of £500 or more without telling the lender about your bankruptcy

Johan Kirchner Address
19 Hirschield Drive
Leybourne
West Malling
Kent
ME19 5G

My parents use these, they never signed up with them at all.

They were with another company, more reputable who got bought out by harrington brookes.

They were in the last year of their repayment plan (6 years plan, never missed a payment), harrington brooks continuously harrased a 71 year old pensioner to try and get them to pay everything off early, then with 8 months left, after a two hour phone call leaving said pensioner trembling making them give wrong figures, they tried to increase their payments by 50%. Said 71 year old pensioner said they couldnt afford just short of £700 a month.

At which their advisor turned round and said, I suggest you go bankrupt or go to citizens advice.

The advisor then said dont worry he'd contact the ombudsman himself, they were not to contact the ombudsman.

Then 2 days later an email came stating theyd agreed to the increased payments, then another email came sayign they were washing their hands off them and would cancel the payment plan immediately.

Obviously this will be going to the fca.

Basically clearly harrington brooks are not their to assist, they are their to maximise their profits.

Woudl advise anyone to avoid this company.

Long story short I entered into a dmp with Harrington Brooks in March 2012. I paid every month from conception of the plan in full without missing a payment or paying late etc.

When letters from my creditors (6 credit card companies) kept coming and phonecalls saying I needed to make payments etc. I chased HB and was repeatedly fobbed off with a variety of excuses. Two of my debts were sold on to Aktiv Kapital (who have been very helpful in helping me to ascertain exactly what has been happening) another was passed into the management of Mercers (Barclaycard's in house company I believe).

After much investigating into what was happening I discovered, to my horror that Harrington Brooks had failed to make payments as agreed with my creditors. That's not to say they didn't may ANY payments - they did - but in most instances they were less than the agreed amount and were not made within agreed timescales. So some of my creditors received nothing for weeks on end and then received a token gesture payment. Occasionally they were paid more than the agreed amount - but only after weeks of non-payment into the plan.

When I found out what was happening I binned off Harrington Brooks and dealt with my creditors directly myself. Some of them will not now allow me to set up a "formal" arrangement because for the last 12 - 18 months in their eyes I have not stuck to previous agreed formal arrangements. One in particular has said that I will not now be able to set up such an agreement with them for the next 5 years. My credit rating rather than improving has deteriorated because of their mis-management.

As a result of all of the above I wrote to the company concerned making a formal complaint. They admitted they had made mistakes and offered me £150 ex gratia payment as a gesture of goodwill. I declined this and took my complaint to the financial ombudsman. An adjudicator from their service found in my favour and advised that the DMC should pay me over £3k which they have calculated to include interest and charges added to my debts, amount paid into my plan by me less the amount paid out to my creditors from the plan, a nominal amount for "distress and inconvenience suffered". It was recommended that this be settled by the third week in March.

The deadline came and went and the DMC asked for - and were given - an extension in order to complete their investigations. Harrington Brooks complained that they were not able to check the facts given because I have now revoked their authority to deal with my creditors. The information given was backed up by the information the adjudicator had accumulated during her enquiries - supported by documentary evidence provided by the credit card companies and Aktiv Kaptial and Mercers. The second
deadline has now passed and the fos adjudicator is trying to contact the case handler at Harrington Brooks but that
person is "unavailable". A colleague has said that they will look at my case if they can. Meanwhile the deadline has been extended again to the end of this week.

I am informed that if Harrington Brooks do not agree with the adjudicators recommendations that I have the option to have my case put in front of the Ombudsman but that can take months and months - currently 6 - 9 months.

I am shocked to discover how many other people have suffered in a similar way with Harrington Brooks but have not tried to get their money back from them. Some people have passed comment that I should have used one of the free services. At the time I employed Harrington Brooks my stepson was in hospital and very nearly died, there was a huge amount of stress and they were highly recommended by a friend of a friend (who I later found out had been given £100 in Tesco's vouchers for her recommendation) and they assured me that they would do a better job than the free service and quicker since they were being paid. I am also self employed with limited the options from the free services.

I would be interested to hear directly from anyone who has had a similar experience with Harrington Brooks who can back up their account with full documentary evidence. There may be scope for a collective complaint to higher authorities - which is something I am currently investigating.

Harrington brooks rang me to say they could lower my monthly payments, I wasn't struggling but thought great, I could always use the extra money! Do I signed up, they never paid my creditors, well sometimes my loan payment got £8 towards it! Now a year later I'm in the catagory of very poor credit rating, we want to move house and give our children a garden but we are stuck all because the arrears I got into with loan payments from this! Trying to improve it but it takes a long time and I can't be happy until I get my children a garden they deserve.

I was in a mess with two pay day loans Harrington Brooks said they would help me I would pay them £140 per month and they would write to these companys that was in April continued to receive letters about the debts and could not get a hold of anyone at Harrington Brooks when i eventually did they said they would ring me back but never did, I received a text from quick quid saying they were about to send my account to a third party they had heard from Harrington Brooks in April nothing since no payment! when i rang Harrington Brooks they said that they had just sent a token payment to this company but that the first few payments i made were the charges to themselves i quickly realised the scam... they wait for these ebts to be sent to a third party then they buy them cheap! i was supposed to be in this agreement for 15 months Harrington Brooks now tell me it is 20 months! they say they have listened the the telephone conversation and it is right i know what was said and they are lying i need help t sort this out these people are ### and need stopped i paid over £400 and for what i have now phned these pay day loans myself and they have been really goog why oh why did i not do this in the begining ...

I joined up with Harrington Brooks in June 2010. I have been paying them a monthly fee to pay to my creditors and they keep £35 of it (nearly 50%). I have found out that that they have deceided to delete one of my creditors (after paying them for a year) without telling me as apparenlty it had the same reference number as another. I have now been sent letters from a debt collect advising that they are going to take legal action to get the money from me. I have spoken to the creditor myself and they advised they received the agreement from Harrington Brooks in August 2010 but in April stopped receiving payment from Harrington Brooks. I have since been charge £200 in interest and late payment charges which Barclay card will not refund as Harrington Brooks is at fault. Harrington Brooks say its Barclays fault and wont do anything. I have said I want to cancel my debt plan with them because of all this and i have to give a months notice and i wont get my money back. Harrington said They did everything correctly and so they are not at fault. Can I take this any further? Any help please

I have many questions and was not sure which forum to post on but hopefully this one is right :-)
In 2003 I got into quite a bit of debt- I ended up going to a private company called Harrington Brooks who advised they could negotiate with all my debtors for a fee and sort out my debts- what followed was a year nightmare with me dealing directly with all the companies eventually and having 3defaults on my credit report.(Please anyone reading thsi do NOT ever use them!)
All these debts are cleared but I feel so trapped by my credit file-
1 I work in a bank and am not sure if i can change jobs as banks now credit check new employees. Someone advised me that they only credit check if you are bankrupt- can anyone shed some light on this? I am not so sure.
2 I incurred £2652 charges on my account during this time- I would like to claim this back but can;t open a parachute account as my credit rating is so bad. I found a posting on this website saying citibank accept people with bad credit history but even they refused!
3 I would lke to move flat but cannot move as all letting agencies credit check you nefore you become a tennent and feel I will never get a mortgage.

I feel like my life is just on pause until 5 years time when these defaults clear

In the past year my earnigns have increased doble to £40, 000 yet and I have no more debt problems but I still am having so much hassle dealing with my financial past - sorry for ranting but I just feel so trapped - and I am out of debt!

Joined them in 2004 following divorce and getting into financial problems. Was promised that with a set figure I would be clear in 5 years and they would take care of my creditors. Continued to receive threatening letters from creditors, but was assured by HB that payments were being made. Decided earlier this year to check out status of my account since the 5 years was up and payments were still being taken and I was not receiving statements. Have repeatedly asked for an update, but no response. Then I received pages of print out with payments that were no even relating to me. Have written and emailed them as well as trying to call, but still nothing. One of my creditors came to a settlement with me and HB were still paying them long after I told them it had been settled. Original figures quoted and agreed by creditors - 3 have long since been paid out in full - but HB still paying them a year afterwards. I stopped my Direct Debit and instructed my Bank to halt anything else going out. Still heard nothing. Will certainly not be referring anyone I know to them - at least until they account for every penny I paid them - as well as the £50 admin fee each month. For what?

Joined HB in November 2010, initial set up fee £300, paid. Agreed to start payments of £300 from January 2011, split between creditors and fee of £25 to HB. Its March, still getting statements, still being charged interest, still rising debt. Cancelled direct debit on 11th March after speaking with Barclaycard and Capitol 1 who have not been paid a bean. Tried to get HB but couldn't get through. They have just called me to say they can't get moey from my account, have told them why. Alledgedly, the set up fee is £600, not £300, I have no paper work to this effect and it was never mentioned when they were sugary sweet to get my money. They have lied and cheated and broken all trust between myself and my creditors. I have told them I wish them to return the £600 outstanding which, they have taken as far as I can see, to line their own pockets. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly and without pain!

After reviewing different loan companies this company called me and offered me an unsecured loan after all the usual checks, and promised me this would be paid out within a few days. So after double checking things myself i went ahead and paid the admin fee of 49.99, after a few days nothing had progressed si i called them and left a message only to be told that what the previous advisor had said was COMPLETELY wrong and i was un able to get this loan. This is where i read my terms and conditions and knew i was entitled to my admin fee back as they had not provided me with a loan! I have called and called and left messages and they will not answer my calls. They are breaking the law! Rude, nasty people how can they sleep at night taking money from single mothers and not even providing the service?

I advise anyone to avoid Harington Brooks at all costs! They claim to help solve your debt problems but they are only out for fleecing you for as much as they can!

A year ago i found myself in a little bit of debt, having been ill for several months. I am now in a terrible debt situation - Harriongton Brooks have not helped me at all!