I agree with what others have said above. These companies use extraordinary measures to collect often quite small debts. They cut no deals, show no favour or make allowances for you while bending the law to breaking point for their own ends. They are parasites, preying hardest on those least able or willing to resist.

A few years back, a certain very well known software proprietor instigated an action against yours truly. Out of nowhere and for no reason I found myself up against one of the world’s richest men and his father’s law firm of 1400 lawyers with offices around the world.

Its the old story of might is right. And in such circumstances, there usually are only two options: I could defend myself by employing my own impressive (and astronomically expensive) legal experts. Or I could concede to the complainant’s demands and roll-over, like so many had done before and sadly will do again in future.

Instead, I did something very unexpected. I studied the law (well the part relevant to this action) and fought back. I can’t tell you how many candles I burnt in the three months of hostilities, but it was an awful lot. I hardly slept, ate or had any social life. I spend weeks on research, evidence collection, writing submissions, printing and collating a stack of argument literally two feet high. But it was worth it.

Come the day, they didn’t know what hit them. I won.

There was never any doubt that I was in the right and the chancers were just trying their luck. Why wouldn’t they? The system is rigged in their favour and they have the means in both money and manpower to bring these actions, often quite profitably. In their position I’d probably do the same.

However, its only profitable while the little guy continues to cave in. Resist everything, no matter how trivial and you’ll soon see the pendulum swing away from them.

I didn’t gain anything but my good name and a wealth of experience that has served me well since. I was interviewed by the American and British press and German TV, still receive regular invites from lawyers over the pond asking how I managed to beat the biggest of the big but most of all I proved the little guy can win and set a legal precedent too.

And there’s the moral of the story. Its not about whether its right to fight back, using if necessary the same legal system being used against you, but that YOU can and SHOULD.

First of all, most debt contracts expressly include a clause allowing the lender to sell the debt on.

Second, banks do NOT lend you “your own money”. They lend you someone else’s. That someone else has deposited their money in the bank (i.e. lent it to the bank) in the knowledge that this is what the bank will do with the money. The bank pays interest on the deposit, and takes a higher level of interest on the loan. The difference pays their costs and their profit. Every defaulter represents a big loss for the bank, which they have to pass on to their other customers.

Knowledge is power. Would that more of us knew how the system worked. Then it wouldn’t be so one-sided.