Communicating with banks re Personal Guarantees 1:

Ensure to communicate with banks through letters and faxes. In doing this, delivery is traceable and it reduces room for confusion.

Avoid phone calls and email communications at all cost. To assist in persuading the bank not to attempt to contact you through any methods other than by letter, ensure not to include email addresses and phone numbers in letterheads and only include a fax number if you want their letters to be faxed to you. Should you choose, accepting correspondence by fax does have the benefit of ensuring delivery to you and helps prevent any lapses in communication.

If the bank does contact you by phone or email, make it clear to them that you would appreciate it if they only communicated to you in writing so as to avoid any misunderstandings. If necessary, outline to them that you are not willing to accept communications by email as it is not a secure and reliable format of communication.

For more information, have a look at our website at www.personal-guarantee.co.uk

RBS/Natwest- how they operate 1.

Commonly, but not always, easier personal guarantees to contest than other banks due to the rarity of positively ensuring their customers to get legal advice. They also tend to scan and/or microfiche documents rather than keeping originals.

 

They, like most banks argue vehemently that they are not required to keep originals so this matter has to be handled sensitively if you are not going to end up with having the expense and trauma of dealing with solicitors acting on their behalf.

 

They have a customer service centre based in Telford that deals with personal guarantee and overdue debt issues, which is often haphazard in their communications.

 

For more information, have a look at our website at www.personal-guarantee.co.uk

Lloyds- how they operate 1.

Their centre for dealing with most personal guarantee issues is in Bristol. Local bank managers normally send the first letter or set of communications and often try and get a deal done- however, they have limited power to negotiate.

 

Lloyds do the right things, by offering fixed repayment figures over periods of time as part of their demand or follow up letter.

 

They also tend to perform better than other banks in preparing PG documentation, but don’t use that as a reason to cave in- they are by no means perfect!

 

For more information, have a look at our website at www.personal-guarantee.co.uk

Barclays- how they operate 1.

Their central base for dealing with pg issues is in Cardiff, sometimes a bit quick off the mark going legal, particularly if they think there are some assets to grab. Tend to be better at ensuring clients get solicitors advice at the outset but again, inconsistent in this as well as other areas.

There may be some initial communications form the local branch but for the most part it is Cardiff that do the bulk of the chasing.

Tend to get a bit feisty when asked for original documents, strongly denying the need for them to be produced.

For more information, have a look at our website at www.personal-guarantee.co.uk

HSBC- how they operate.

In the last 15 months or so, we have seen a department allegedly based in Canary Wharf but actually based in India manage collections regarding PGs- the long Indian names and .in email addresses tend to give them away. However, they are difficult to contact and relatively slow to respond, which is great under normal circumstances if you are fighting a war of attrition but dreadfully frustrating if you actually want to do a deal. We have seen a recent move by HSBC to use their internal Birmingham based resource, Metropolitan Debt Collection Services and DG Solicitors, but again find they can be just as ineffective in pursuing on behalf of the bank. For more information, have a look at our website at www.personal-guarantee.co.uk

Mainstream bank centres for dealing with Personal Guarantees

In each of these blogs, I will try and provide some insights into how the institutions such as banks approach their calling in of personal guarantees.

Most of the mainstream banks have centres that deal with the chasing of personal guarantees- so although the local manager might send the initial demand letter and try to negotiate a repayment plan, they have little authority to do a deal and will often suggest taking an interest bearing loan.

An agreement at this stage would be a result for the bank, but certainly not for the person who signed the personal guarantee!

However, the longer the matter is being dealt with at this level, the more time the personal guarantee holder buys themselves, so don't be in too much of a hurry to move it on to the banks' centre! And remember, many personal guarantees are at best dubiously enforceable and many are not enforceable at all.