Using the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act to stop lenders harassing you

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ajapale

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How difficult is it to get the Guards to act if you are the victim of a person who makes demands for payment of a debt as outlined in section 11 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997


redbhoy said:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0026/sec0011.html#sec11

Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997
11.—(1) A person who makes any demand for payment of a debt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(a) the demands by reason of their frequency are calculated to subject the debtor or a member of the family of the debtor to alarm, distress or humiliation, or

(b) the person falsely represents that criminal proceedings lie for non-payment of the debt, or

(c) the person falsely represents that he or she is authorised in some official capacity to enforce payment, or

(d) the person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.
Click to expand...
 
If you have a problem relating to one of the four offences a-d I would go the the guards and make a complaint. they will most likely take a statement from you. They will investigate the complaint, sent a file to the DPP and await response. The DPP will decide on what action to take based on the contents of the file.
 
Ive sent letters to two alleged creditors of mine and when I mentioned that Act they have both responded very nice rather than with bully boy tactics as they had been using.
 
I have found that writing to creditors and quoting the act gets them to stop fairly fast.

I have on one occasion complained to the Gardaí about a debt collector who would not take no for an answer. The Gardaí would not take a statement but they said they would deal with him. I never heard another thing so I guess whatever they said to him worked.
 
Often times the Gardaí will want to deal with the debt collector in an informal manner i.e. give an informal warning. If they then got more complaints they would prepare a file and send it to the DPP for directions.
 
This original question was raised a year ago. Has there been any developments in the meantime?
 
redbhoy said:
Ive sent letters to two alleged creditors of mine and when I mentioned that Act they have both responded very nice rather than with bully boy tactics as they had been using.
Click to expand...

Had a very minor one which I was sure I didn't owe. One mention of the relevant section never heard from them again!
 
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