08-8217-0000

Pretty sure this number is Lion Finance... Very dodgy credit agency, normally collecting for old GE Money loans..

Dodgy Lion Finance - beware this company buys up debt, then tries to get people to admit ownership and persecute them.

A woman from this company said she is from Lions Finance and I google it to validate that they are legit. Is this company a bogus??? Please let me know. I don't even know where she got my no.

thanks...

please stop ringing me & track down the relevant party

They are - the company Lion Fiance is a subdivision of collectionhouse, a company that deals with debt collections and customer "skip tracing". They are legit, sometimes you will receive calls because you possibly live in the same house that the former debtor did or have a recycled number from the previous debtor.

Hi Jessica, they are a Real company....

Generally if they are asking for you to contact their office is because you have a debt with them,  if they are contacting your home trying to contact you and only leaving messages when someone picks up this would mean they are trying to contact someone that owes them money.. either past owner or renter that lived were you live...

if you have never had a debt with Diners Club, Toyota Finance, GE Money, St George, Combank, Westpac, Telstra, optus, Vodafone, Tastel, APG, AMEX, BOQ, Bank West   then you will be ok...  Just call them and find out  then make your decision...

if they keep calling you, you might be the right person....  who do that ask for?
there must be a reason for the continued calls...

if its not you ask for a manager and get them to remove your number

Hi Rob.... first lets get something clear...

"persecute them" I think you mean Prosecute you?   and this will be only due to you not talking with them and sorting your debts out....  

I am a debt collector myself for another company... it would cost me 3k to take someone to court... I know that a company like Lion would rather talk to you and sort it out, then take you to court and have them sort you out...

Also i think your wording of DODGY is a bit harsh, as the only reason they are contacting someone would be because they have taken the money, spent it, and stopped paying it back to the original lender...  

Be glad rob it was not like many years ago and the laws have changed... the old knee's would be sore!

Look call them Be a man and deal with your problems, explain the issues, answer there questions...  you do have other options... if they can see that you cannot afford to pay, they will put you on an arrangement and if they see you can they will give you options... at the end of the day its your bill... do something about it.

Hi skyzblu7...  I would guess people who loan people money and they dont pay it back must think that those people are dodgy as well?

look call them sort your crap out its simple as that... dont avoid them as they will keep calling and making calls to the people next door, and your work, and family until they contact you...  it is best to either pay... explain your issues with them....

if you dont well upto you i guess... but i wouldn't be complaining and saying they are dodgy, as they wouldnt have a company if people paid their bills.

It's their busiNess to help the marginalised by lending them money and asking a big favour interest in return so that the initial debt grows per time, and each minimal repayments accruing .  .to cover the company's wages,  bills and more money... to lend to another gullible, sleepless sucker

these people calling me all the tine some times with private no and some times with this number. specially they calling on Fridays and the afternoon its  very hard for us. I don't know how they get my number and the name with my last name.  They are calling me more than three years I don't like change my mobile no because of them.

Hi James, there is no issue with companies chasing debtors when they don't make payments. However, when a $10k debt is purchased for $500, then the likes of Collection House have to be as aggressive as possible in recovering money from people. ASIC has a long rap sheet for Collection House and its associated companies such as Lion Finance. Threatening people, intimidating people, and contacting people well in excess of ASIC guidelines. Fact is (you know this as well as I, also in the industry) if the debt is unsecured then there's 2/3 of SFA a creditor can do to coerce people to pay. Especially for a purchased debt. Financial counsellors all over the country are informing people to ignore the calls and not to admit liability. Once they do, the statute of limitations resets and the people can be contacted for a further 6 years in most cases. Once they agree to a payment plan, people are harassed for higher and higher repayment levels until they give up and file for bankruptcy - kind of a sick justice for the likes of Lion. Ironically this doesn't work in their favour as once bankrupt to Lion they can't be pressed for money anymore.

Shut up and pay. Simple as that

They fact is they search for someone on their list.  The fact that they called a person in no way implies that that person is guilty, as you have assumed.   They will call you if you have a similar name, address, weight or height!

They start with "give us your date of birth just to verify who you are".   Don't be caught off guard - don't give someone who calls you any details of who you are.

I agree with everyone. Lion are really aggressive and keep calling even if you just have a similar name.  they also use Veda to track down peoples addresses, phone numbers and other details.  They will ring neighbours, friends, family, work, anybody with the same surname.  My married name is the same as another woman's name and so now I get called.   If the debt collectors were so caring, people may be able to talk to them, but they aren't.  They are rude, ignorant, play games etc.  I once had one put a note on my post box to say I had a fedex parcel and I had to ring a certain number.  Rang it, was a mob called Creditcorp looking for an old tenant.  That is not being legitimate. The easy solution is to go bankrupt, only lasts 3 years and then all debts are cleared.  And don't believe the rubbish that you can never get credit once bankrupt - there are a lot of people out there who now have homes loans, business loans etc who have been bankrupt in the past - I know I am an accountant and I deal with it every day.

Lion Finance are really dodgy.  They look up the web, use electoral rolls, car regos, anything to get to you through your neighbours, friends, workplaces.  They call everyone on their list who has even a similar name or who lives or lived where you did.  I don't know my neighbours all that well, but I certainly wouldn't be giving out anybody's phone numbers or contact details to someone over the phone.  You have no guarantee who they are - what if they are a stalker, someone's ex-husband or wife, or criminals trying to steal identities.  How would you feel if you were party to this, even unknown.  How would you feel if you ended up a the victim.  These companies like Lion make money out of other people's misfortune.  I know few people who deliberately set out not to pay debts (yes, there are some), but when bad things happen and they ask for some time or compassion to get themselves back on their feet, the banks give them 3 months then back to normal.  If you are undergoing cancer treatment, lost your job or your spouse, three months is not enough.  Then the banks sell your debt to someone with even less compassion or ethics than they have.  I deal with this every day with clients.  I tell them to pay all small business people off and other debts they owe, but if it is to the banks or these leaches, I say pay them last and screw them. They make billions out of other peoples misery.  I would prefer to go bankrupt then gives these leaches anything.

ok if wat u say is true then why donthey call and give out the name of the place where they are calling from why the secrecy?

Sick and tired of these people calling, have never owed anything and never received any calls like this until last year, constantly calling even called our next door neighbour to get our details, how dodgy is that, if it is legit then send a letter explaining what the concern is???they obviously have our address if they called our neighbour.

I do not blame anyone but on myself for having outstanding debt, what bothers me is you try and do the right thing and pay it off or even offer after paying installments for two years on time them a pay off figure which i thought was fair seeing as my debt hadn't gone down due to the ridiculous interest they are charging , so offered them what they wanted minus the interest and they said no .
Still wanted their interest even though we have now paid out much more than the original debt , also had been rung previously by them with an offer to freeze the interest for an extra repayment and didn't have the money at the time, when i rang them two weeks later offering to pay they said no .
Would have been better going bankrupt but didn't want to shy away from our responsibilities !!! You cant win .

They keep calling me, I dont answer, been years, you would think they would get the hint?