YAY! Success. I had to start a claim in the small claims court. They settled with £200 compensation 6 days before the court date and agreed to drop the debt and remove the default, which has now happened. Thanks for your help citezenB and BankFodder.

Thanks guys. Printed off a Deed of Surrender and me and the LL signed it. The agency are still trying there stuff, but I know there is nothing they can legally do.

Hi, Spoke to my landlord (he lives next door) and asked if we could hand our notice in early as we are still locked in by the tenancy agreement. We've been here 3 years, so the landlord is completely happy for us to do so. We've both mutually agreed to void the agreement. My landlord has come back after speaking with the letting agency. They have told him I'm not allowed to leave even though he agreed to break the tenancy. I checked my agreement and it says that agreement is between me and the landlord with the agency acting as an agent. The landlord is pretty open to persuasion still, so if I am legally allowed to leave I can get his agreement to cancel the tenancy in writing. What's the stance? Is the agency right? or can I leave if the landlord says it's OK? Thanks

I have started to look at the legislation myself and I have written a LBA that I think will be OK, but hoping that someone may be able to let me know if I'm about to make a pratt of myself. Here is the letter I've written: What do you think?

Bump. Anyone?

Thanks for your last reply BankFodder. Here's the position I'm in. The police have said they won't touch it as it's an issue with the bank (Madness!). The CRA's are still doing stuff (communitcating with Santander probably or just wasting time), been a while since my last letter from them. Santander still haven't acknowledged that anything has actually happened and so I need to push this to court now. I'll be sending them an LBA in the next few days, but I need to know what the particulars of my claim will be. I'm a little unsure of what exact laws they have broken so what do I take them to court for? I can't just say breach of DPA. Really apreciate your help

Hi, Right, I might actually be getting somewhere. I wrote another letter, this time to central complaints. They opened up a fraud case and have now concluded that. Unfortunately, it wasn't a positive response, which I suppose was to be expected. They are using the this logic: "Because we can't prove that the account was opened fraudulently, we are still holding you [me] liable." I don't feel this is very fair. I could now go to the ombudsman, but I've not heard good things about them. Do I have any case to take this to court? I really want to clear this up soon, I'm trying to get a mortgage. They don't hold any ID on file for me, so it should be obvious to anyone looking at the account that it was opened fraudulently. Ideas? David

Thanks for replying CitezanB. I really hope that someone out there will have some advice on what I can do. I really am at a dead end and none of this is of my fault

Hi, I got a reply to my SAR. It appears that they are only holding basic information on me (name, address, phone number, occupation), some of which is incorrect. Crucially, there is no account information on file and no ID is held on file either. What are my options here? Foremost, I need to get the Default removed from my credit file, but this has caused me a massive headache, not to mention making it impossible for me to get any form of credit. Based on that, would it be acceptable to go after compensation? Any advice greatly appreciated. me01273

Thanks for your advice. SAR went out last week recorded. Received by them on 31/08, so now just to 40 day waiting game. David

Thanks for your reply citizenB, I already have a copy of my credit report from Experian (Would I benefit getting it from Equifax and CallCredit as well?), which shows an unsettled debt in default and has severely brought my credit score down. I was thinking of sending a letter along the lines of a CCA request but I have been told that the account was a current account, so would a credit agreement apply in this case? Can I make a complaint to the OFT or some other organization that might help resolve this matter? Kind regards David

Hi everyone, I'm at my wits end with Santander now. About 2 years ago, someone opened and account at Santander (I think Abbey at the time) in my name and somehow put the account roughly £500 overdrawn. The first I knew of this was about a year ago, when I got a statement through the post showing the amount owed. I immediately went into branch to query, and they told me the account was closed and to contact the Fraud dept. I called the fraud dept who asked for copies of the statements, drivers license etc. I had no reason not to comply, surely the Fraud dept would take me seriously! They had all my contact details, even my correct phone number! I don't know how. I was told the account was closed and had already been through collections. The funny thing is that I've never heard anything from them. Surely if they had my address and phone number for a year and the account had gone through collections, I would of heard something, a letter, a phone call, debt collectors, anything. Here's where the fun starts, I've recently moved and attempted to give them my new address. They told me that as the account is closed, no personal details can be amended! I was gobsmacked to say the least. On top of that, they said that all correspondence will be by post and they can't give me updates on the Fraud investigation over the phone. I have been calling them every few weeks since then to dig for as much info as I can, but in the last call, they told me that the Fraud investigation had been closed because I hadn't responded to their letters. And to complicate things further, I have recently changed my name via Deed Poll, so I am a different person calling pretending to be my old name! I really don't know what to do. I could just leave it, their not contacting me, but I'll have a default on my credit file for the next 4 and a half years if I do that (albeit in my old name). Someone please help me, I'm really lost with this one. Kind regards David

Many thanks for all your replies. My girlfriend has agreed that she will try and ignore them, she will give them to me once they've come through and I will file them away. If I need any more help, I'll give a shout. David

Sorry to bump this, but I really need some help David

Hi all, My girlfriend recieved a parking ticket from Ethical Parking (or something similar) the other day for parking in a bay at Brighton uni. I know the usual advice is to simply ignore this ticket from a ppc and all further correspondence, but this case is a bit different. My girlfriend suffers from a severe mental illness and gets very anxious, esp over things like this. She almost coughed up and payed them £60, but I managed to pursuade her to not until I have some advice from here. I do not think that my girlfriend will be able to hold out and simply ignore the letters, I know she will end up paying (more) if she tries to ignore them. In this instance I was thinking of sending a letter similar to the templates here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?119917-Private-Parking-Tickets-Template-Letters-If-you-wrote-before-finding-this-site.%281-Viewing%29-nbsp What would happen if I were to write to them? are they lickely to carry on chasing longer? Shall I just ask them to take my girlfriend to court and I'll represent her? I really need some advice on this. Many thanks for reading this. David