IQ Consultants, Felicitas Solutions, ECS Trustees - loan repayment demands

[Scrogbank]

Like many other ex Sanzar scheme members, I have just received a letter, giving Notice of Acquisition of Lenders Rights suggesting that they are the lender in relation of my Sanzar loan claiming that I am now responsible for repaying the loan and that any sums due can be initiated only by them, and they may engage solicitors, debt collection agents / bailiffs and/ or other agents to act on their behalf.
Money was paid in by my employer received by Sanzar and paid into my account, there being no outstanding debt to pay as I paid my HMRC backdated tax for the time that I was with Sanzar.
It was stated at the time that the loan would never have to be repaid. I was foolish to have joined this scheme in the first place but I have paid my dues to HMRC so I thought that would be the end of the matter -now this.
My concern is that some court in the Isle of Man will authorise this claim against me without giving me the chance to put my case.
There must be many others in this same position. It would be advantageous to fight this spurious claim as a group and share the cost of employing a professional.
I feel very isolated and vulnerable at the moment.

The group you wish for already exists, contact WTT

[justice seeker]

Felicitas letter

Dear All

I am new here, I have recently written in response to one of the messages here but that has not shown up.

I have also received one these letters from felicitas supposedly based in Isle of man and working from Malta actually.

quite shocked as there is a brutalising match going on between hmrc and these thugs and we are the football in the middle getting it from both sides. not everyone who got into this scam had criminal intent, some people were simply naïve.

need advice

[IWasRobbed]

I got a similar letter today

We have become aware that

Gladstones Solicitors Ltd (based in Knutsford)

Felicitas Solutions (based in Ramsay IOM)

Have been issuing demands for interest payments and repayment of loans that were made by:

ECS International Trustees (IOM) Ltd as a lender who appear to have acquired their interest in the debt from Black Lake Ltd, formerly IQ Consultants Ltd.

(ECS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Baker Tilly, IOM, 2a Lord St, Douglas).

There is a threat of legal action if you don't pay.

Or, you can pay 12% of the alleged balance outstanding and have all loans and interest cancelled.

(helpfully, the letter includes contact details of the Samaritans).

Be aware:

Having all or part of the loan written off for less than full value is more than likely a "relevant step" for the purposes of Part 7A and therefore WILL create a tax charge.

The arrangements leading to the making of the loan may be such that the debt can be challenged legally.

There are a number of other debatable elements in the chain of events here.

We will be advising Big Group clients on this action tomorrow.

In the short term however, the letter invites you to "dispute the amount due" and we recommend that you do.

if you are not in receipt of advice on any involvement you had in IQ - NOW is the time to rectify that.

I received a similar letter today saying that Felicitas Solutions has bought my loan from Long Acre Resolutions Ltd.

How legal is this? I'm afraid they'll soon be asking me for £30,000. This is on top of the loan charge payments these scum have landed me with.

Does anyone know of a relevant solictor with experience that can help deal with this?

I've reported Felicitas to the IoM Trading Standards and the Serious Fraud OFfice. I am currently reporting them to Action Fraud.

I also emailed the [email protected] account to dispute that I owe anything.

Thanks for all the previous commentators so far. I've settled with HMRC and entered a payment plan with them. I'm going to contact Freeths tomorrow as well. If there is a joint action group that turns up, I would be very interested in joining in.

I can't believe that these scheme administrators are allowed to get away with this, keep the fees they took AND HMRC isn't doing anyting about it

Thanks in advance

[Hobo]

I lodged a contact us today to the IOM Fair Trading Office - response was instant. Hope this helps, hopefully I don't get shot down by the experts on here .


Thank you for your email below.

The Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme) has been established under Schedule 4 of the Financial Services Act 2008 to consider complaints from individuals against financial service providers operating in or from the Isle of Man where an actual financial loss has been suffered directly due to the negligence or maladministration of the financial provider although it is the responsibility of the clients to mitigate their losses at all times.

Please review our explanatory guide for the Scheme and frequently asked questions sheet which we would ask you to read to ensure you understand the remit and operation of the Scheme.

Felicitas Solutions Limited (‘Felicitas’) is a company registered with this office as a moneylender under the Moneylenders Act 1991. If you have a complaint you must first give Felicitas a chance to resolve it. Give them full details of your complaint and what you want them to do to put the matter right. We would expect them to give you a final response to your complaint within eight weeks and if you are still not satisfied when you have received that response, you may refer the complaint to us. I understand that contact details for Felicitas are included in the correspondence you have received.

If you wish to submit a complaint to the Scheme, a complaint form must be fully completed, signed and returned to this Office by post for further consideration.

Please note that neither the Office of Fair Trading nor the Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme can offer financial advice and that it remains at all times your responsibility to keep any losses to a minimum whilst a complaint is being considered.

I hope the above assists you in going forward but if you have any questions on the operation of the Scheme or on your specific complaint please do contact us.

Yours sincerely


Removed the persons name but can provide okay DM me.
Ombudsman Services Manager
Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading

Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road, St John’s, Isle of Man IM4 3AS
Tel: 01624 686500
Email: [email protected]

Ok so I e mailed WTT this morning and got this response back this evening. To be honest I am a confused!!!!

Like many of you I had already settled the contractor loan with HMRC and have received a letter from them stating that the matter was now closed.

I need wine!!!!

----------------
Good Evening,


Thank you for contacting us with regards to the letter that you have received from Felicitas.


We appreciate that receipt of such a letter is very worrying and so we hope the below offers you some comfort and a route for moving forward.


Firstly, the letter you have received is not a demand. It is notifying you that a purported loan that is outstanding in your name has been assigned to a new company.


The letter suggests that the original trustees of the trust from which you received the purported loans have assigned the rights under that loan to Felicitas Solutions Limited based in the Isle of Man.

You may be aware that as being within a purported class of beneficiary of a trust, you have specific rights and similarly, the trustees have obligations to act in your best interest. Originally, the liabilities had been assumed to be assigned and then immediately enforced by a debt management company. This is not the case in your letter, however, it shows that the trustee may not have performed due care and attention in acting in your best interests when agreeing to the assignment. The trustee also has a responsibility to the trust to realise true value of the assets of that trust and so if the purported loan has been moved at undervalue there may be restrictions that can be placed on the activity. From the above, it should be clear that we / you do not currently have sufficient information to consider this assignment to have taken place legitimately and therefore further questions will need to be asked of the assignee and assignor in order to resist any subsequent demands.

As a being within a purported class of beneficiary you also have a right to receive information relating to the trust. We therefore suggest that the next step is to ask questions of the various parties in order to;

Legitimise any assumed debt
Understand if the trustee has fulfilled their duties to you and the trust
Request supporting documentation

We are in active discussions with a number of third parties in this regard, including the IOM regulator and upon conclusion of these discussions, this week, we will be in a position to send our clients a letter to send to the various parties in conjunction with the above. If you would like to become a client, please let us know and we will send the relevant documentation to facilitate this. A fee of £200 + VAT will be requested as part of that process to cover costs of drafting the various communications for you. Should you subsequently join our litigation action to challenge HMRC’s view that a liability falls upon you as an employee of a Contractor Loan Arrangement (WTT Big Group) this fee will be deducted from your joining fee accordingly, if you would like further information on Big Group please let us know.


Should you have any other questions at all please do not hesitate to contact us, or if you would like to progress please let us know.

[jmmt75]

Matt thanks for the update. I too was thinking the same, ie....dispute, asking various questions and contact the FCA and Police/Fraud Office - as i have nothing to hide and complied with HMRC/rulings....But will also take your suggestion about reporting Gladstone to the SRA.

cheers
TP

I have also just reported Felicitas to both FCA and Fraud Office, thanks for the idea. I suggest everyone else receiving these letters does the same.

I have also contacted Felicitas stating I have no debt owed to Sanzar or anyone else. I am sure to receive a reply, will update you all when I do.

Has anyone else replied back to the letters? If so, what's the feedback???

[M Evans]

etc tax

Has anyone seen on the internet post from ect tax regarding letters from Felictas. If so what are your thoughts?

[IWasRobbed]

I would also be interested in joining a group

Hi Matt,

Would really like to join the group tackling these guys with Freeths, could you let me know how to go about doing this please?

If Freeths do go ahead with a group action,.I would also be interested in joining. I'm going to give them a call in the morning

[PC1976]

Ok so I e mailed WTT this morning and got this response back this evening. To be honest I am a confused!!!!

Like many of you I had already settled the contractor loan with HMRC and have received a letter from them stating that the matter was now closed.

I need wine!!!!

----------------
Good Evening,


Thank you for contacting us with regards to the letter that you have received from Felicitas.


We appreciate that receipt of such a letter is very worrying and so we hope the below offers you some comfort and a route for moving forward.


Firstly, the letter you have received is not a demand. It is notifying you that a purported loan that is outstanding in your name has been assigned to a new company.


The letter suggests that the original trustees of the trust from which you received the purported loans have assigned the rights under that loan to Felicitas Solutions Limited based in the Isle of Man.

You may be aware that as being within a purported class of beneficiary of a trust, you have specific rights and similarly, the trustees have obligations to act in your best interest. Originally, the liabilities had been assumed to be assigned and then immediately enforced by a debt management company. This is not the case in your letter, however, it shows that the trustee may not have performed due care and attention in acting in your best interests when agreeing to the assignment. The trustee also has a responsibility to the trust to realise true value of the assets of that trust and so if the purported loan has been moved at undervalue there may be restrictions that can be placed on the activity. From the above, it should be clear that we / you do not currently have sufficient information to consider this assignment to have taken place legitimately and therefore further questions will need to be asked of the assignee and assignor in order to resist any subsequent demands.

As a being within a purported class of beneficiary you also have a right to receive information relating to the trust. We therefore suggest that the next step is to ask questions of the various parties in order to;

Legitimise any assumed debt
Understand if the trustee has fulfilled their duties to you and the trust
Request supporting documentation

We are in active discussions with a number of third parties in this regard, including the IOM regulator and upon conclusion of these discussions, this week, we will be in a position to send our clients a letter to send to the various parties in conjunction with the above. If you would like to become a client, please let us know and we will send the relevant documentation to facilitate this. A fee of £200 + VAT will be requested as part of that process to cover costs of drafting the various communications for you. Should you subsequently join our litigation action to challenge HMRC’s view that a liability falls upon you as an employee of a Contractor Loan Arrangement (WTT Big Group) this fee will be deducted from your joining fee accordingly, if you would like further information on Big Group please let us know.


Should you have any other questions at all please do not hesitate to contact us, or if you would like to progress please let us know.

Hi. Same boat. However it’s worth understanding that you haven’t settled the loan with the HMRC you have settled the tax that they deemed to be owed as HMRC classes it as income.

The loan from trustees is a separate issue, one which they are trying to get you to pay back. Suggest you do what I have and join WTT and gain their support to tackle as a group.

[Old Kent Road]

Sanzar Loan agreements

I joined this forum shortly after Sanzar disappeared, and subsequently setup a private vetted forum for ex-Sanzar scheme users to explore whether the scheme was genuine or not, and to try to challenge HMRC if needed. The private forum reached about 200 folks in the end I think.

In that time I never came across a proper loan agreement signed by Sanzar and a scheme user I.e. something stating the loan amount, interest, and payment term etc. Neither I nor any of the private forum members had one, to my knowledge. From reading this thread it seems that later schemes run by the same crew e.g. IQ did use loan agreements, although who knows if they are valid and enforceable.

The "original trustee" stated on my felicitas letter does not match anything previously provided in Sanzar correspondence, which was always sketchy at best.

I've not had any chaser on repaying interest or loan since Sanzar disappeared nearly 10 years ago.

Possibly not coincidental that this arrives at a stressful time for contractors with IR35 changes, and the previous comms from the Trust Helpline dodgy folks was around the time of the Loan charge last year, or whenever it was.. More stressed means more likely to quickly pay up?

Would advise folks arriving to this thread to read it properly, rather than just posting afresh.

Felicitas letter arrived today, I think there is enough info in this thread for me to respond to Gladstone letter when that one arrives. But I can see some comfort and sense in joining webberg's group.

[TakenAlongForaRide]

I joined this forum shortly after Sanzar disappeared, and subsequently setup a private vetted forum for ex-Sanzar scheme users to explore whether the scheme was genuine or not, and to try to challenge HMRC if needed. The private forum reached about 200 folks in the end I think.

In that time I never came across a proper loan agreement signed by Sanzar and a scheme user I.e. something stating the loan amount, interest, and payment term etc. Neither I nor any of the private forum members had one, to my knowledge. From reading this thread it seems that later schemes run by the same crew e.g. IQ did use loan agreements, although who knows if they are valid and enforceable.

The "original trustee" stated on my felicitas letter does not match anything previously provided in Sanzar correspondence, which was always sketchy at best.

I've not had any chaser on repaying interest or loan since Sanzar disappeared nearly 10 years ago.

Possibly not coincidental that this arrives at a stressful time for contractors with IR35 changes, and the previous comms from the Trust Helpline dodgy folks was around the time of the Loan charge last year, or whenever it was.. More stressed means more likely to quickly pay up?

Would advise folks arriving to this thread to read it properly, rather than just posting afresh.

Felicitas letter arrived today, I think there is enough info in this thread for me to respond to Gladstone letter when that one arrives. But I can see some comfort and sense in joining webberg's group.

Thanks old kent road, i remember the private group you created, looks like we're about to buckle in for another fun ride.

im hoping the 6 year statuary limit applies here in addition to there being no real documentation and am concerned writing back to them disputing the Gladstone letter would initiate contact again and start the clock on the 6 year limit.