So how can they punish Wonga now
When the government is doing the same thing?
Warnings sent by ‘Smith Lawson and Company’ to graduates for the last nine years carry a banner in red stating ‘Do Not Ignore This Letter’, with a demand for payment within seven days and a threat of legal action.
They gave the impression of a separate company with the line: ‘We are instructed by our client, in connection with the sum outstanding shown above.’
But the supposed firm does not exist and is little more than a masthead designed to intimidate.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) is a subsidiary of the Government and reports to Vince Cable’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The firm said it introduced Smith Lawson as a ‘cost-saving exercise’ because the use of conventional debt collection agencies required payment of commission.
Last week City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed Wonga would have to pay £2.6million compensation to 45,000 people sent letters from two invented debt recovery firms.
Bit tricky that, isn’t it?