Encore via two offshore locations take over chasing debtors for Affinity Water

They are the UK’s biggest debt collector, Cabot Credit Management. Cabot buys debts and loans in arrears from banks, utilities, telecom companies and local authorities, and then chases the borrower or customer for missed payments.

AW serve 1.4 million households and 78,000 companies.

In 2019 Affinity Water (AW) did away with there own debt collectors and outsourced all their debt collection for non-payment of water bills to Orbit Debt Collections Ltd (Orbit), who are owned by Cabot.

Orbit do not just work with AW. They also undertake work for:

• Southern Water

• Anglia Water

• Essex & Suffolk Water

• Hartlepool Water

• Northumbrian Water

• South West Water

• United Utilities

• Yorkshire Water

Orbit and Cabot are headquartered at 1 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4UA.

They are owned by Cabot Financial Debt Recovery Services Limited, who in turn are owned by, Cabot Financial Holdings Group Limited, who are owned by Cabot Credit Management Group Limited and on for another three companies until we arrive at Cabot UK Holdco Ltd. 

This last company is owned by Cabot Holdings S.À.R.L whose address is 47 Avenue John F. Kennedy, L-1855, in Luxembourg; which is a tax haven.

The most important feature of a secrecy jurisdiction/tax haven is that local politics is captured by financial services interests.

The address for the company, NOT the company itself, shows up in the Panama Papers

Cabot Holdings S.A.R.L. ultimate owner is Encore Holdings Luxembourg S.A.R.L. Luxembourg

Encore Holdings Luxembourg S.A.R.L is registered at Rue De Neudorf 560 A 2220, Luxembourg.

Encore Holdings Luxembourg S.à r.l. has 15 employees across all of its locations. There are 89 companies in the Encore Holdings Luxembourg S.à r.l. corporate family.

Again, the address where the company is registered, NOT the company itself, shows up in the Panama Papers

From Luxembourg, the company stretches across the Atlantic and lands in Delaware, where the company is incorporated as Encore Capital Group Inc, with its headquarters at 350 Camino De La Reina, Suite 100 San Diego, California 92108

In February 2013, The Economist published an article on tax-friendly jurisdictions, commenting that Delaware (USA) stood for:

• Dollars and Euros Laundered And Washed At Reasonable Expense.

Now the man that facilitates the money moving from the UK to the USA is Mr Gregory Lawrence Call (pictured) who presently occupies the position of Secretary, CAO, Executive VP & General Counsel at Encore Capital Group, Inc. and Secretary & Director at Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. (a subsidiary of Encore Capital Group, Inc.). He is also on the board of Cabot Financial Holdings Group Ltd. and Cabat UK Holdco Ltd.

Gregory also is the administrator/manager of Cabot Holdings S.A.R.L. and  Encore Holdings Luxembourg S.A.R.L. which are both based in a tax haven

The most important feature of a secrecy jurisdiction/tax haven is that local politics is captured by financial services interests.

So after laying off local staff at Affinity Water who collected debts for and on behalf of the company, the Americans were chosen by AW to chase down all debtors owing money on their water bills.

In the USA and the UK there have been complaints made to regulators about Encore (USA) and Cabot in the UK.

In the USA, Encore have been hit with fines by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau totaling $66,939,872 for consumer-protection-related offences.

In 2016 heading the table for most complaints in the Debt Collection industry in the UK was Cabot Credit Management, who own Orbit.

In the first half of 2019, Cabot lost one in four of all complaints made against it by customers, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.

What with unemployment levels rising across Kent and people suffering financially due to Covid-19, the number of people likely to default on their bills, will no doubt increase.

If you have issues about paying your water bills, then please contact your supplier sooner rather than latter or contact your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau.

The Shepway Vox Team

Journalism for the People NOT the Powerful

There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in this blog post have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly.  Their group’s assets are held entirely by companies in these countries and are fully subject to prevailing tax laws and regulations.