In June this year, I purchased a Living Social voucher for a photo album. The voucher was valid on a website called CU Digital or Colour Unique. You basically downloaded software to create your own album, add your photo's then proceed to an online checkout where you would use your voucher. I did this successfully at which point the album I had created was supposed to upload the project automatically. The project did not upload, even when I asked it nicely and in the end lost the hours I put into it. I was unable to redo this project because my voucher was now invalid. Since this occurred back in July, I have called and emailed until I've stressed myself out. Everytime I have spoken to someone they have informed me that the person who dealt with these vouchers was not in the office. When I do get an repsonse via email, its from the 'main guy' Allan DOLMAN who continues to advise that 'Emily' will deal with it when she is back in on Tuesday. Well, I'm sure you can imagine just how many Tuesdays there are between late July and mid-November. The situation is that I have paid for a voucher from Living Social. I've used it on CU Digital's website but my order has failed. Their website shows my order status as "awaiting picture upload" however this will never happen as theproject has been lost. All I have asked CU Digital to do is to cancel it, allow me to create a new one and give me a new voucher. My voucher is now invalid, Living Social say they no longer have any repsonsibility with the deal and I cannot get a respsonse from CU Digital. I've paid for something that I do not have, namely my wedding photo album. What are my rights and what is the best course of action to take in order to get a result? To date I have had no assurances that I will get a refund and/or a new voucher. It seems I've been conned. Any advice would be really helpful. Stephen

Thanks for that. Much appreciated

I'm still a bit confused with the default drop off dates. I had about 5 different accounts in default as of 2009. Having checked my credit files, initial defaults were recorded at varying points of the same year. So would the drop off date take place six years after the intial date? If you are in a DMP because of these defaults, does the drop off date happen six years after each account is settled? If the account you defaulted with is later sold on to an agency, do you have another account with a default and another default dopt off date years later? Its all so confusing

I've been just reading this thread for the first time this evening. I made a full and final offer to MBNA in January 2012. There was no reply but I did notice on my CCCS account that IDEM Capital Securities had taken control of the debt. I never received any letter to confirm this, so I sent the same letter to them that I sent to MBNA. 3 weeks later and I have still not had a reply. They don't appear to be playing the ball here. Unless of course I'm on a long list of people awaiting responses. I will keep this thread updated with my experience with IDEM.

I too have an MBNA owned card and in a DMP for over 2 years. I recently made a F and F offer but no reply. The only activity I have seen was on my CCCS online account now showing MBNA as IDEM Capital. Nobody has written or called so I have written to IDEM.

That would depend. Many say that these DCA's buy the debt or are sold the debt for as little as 10p in the pound. How real that may be or how close to that figure may depend on the original amount. I offered about 30% of my £9.5K loan, upped it by a further £1K but eventually they settled for 50% recently. That was as much as i had to negotiate with luckily. I would say start low regardless of the amount you have and if you have anymore, use that as your bargaining chip. Because if you start with all that you have, and they reject it, you have nothing to go back with. It's not being dishonest, its an unwritten rule of negotiating.

I was wondering the same. I'm pretty sure i have always rejected such cover but I honestly could not confirm if I have or haven't. Nor do I have any paperwork from any of those loans, credit cards or any other kind of credit aggreements. How does one obtain such data without haveing the wool pulled over your eyes?

Hi everyone. I've been on a DMP now since the beginning of 2009 and hopefully have gone a long way to curing myself of poor financial habits. It stems back further than my DMP, but it was the best move I ever made. I recently had an offer from family to aid me in my quest for debt freedom. It's a humbling offer but one which I am open to. At the moment, my family are still in the process of putting funds together. What I was looking for advice on is how much of an offer should I make to my creditors? My current approximate debts are as follows: Apex - £9300 Santander - £250 Lloyds TSB - £215 MBNA - £1555 TBI Financial - £255 Any advice on how to proceed with this would be helpful. Cheers bhoy1976

I already have two Default notices with Egg for this debt and now I fear this may be a third. I haven't checked my credit file to see if this will be a third because it costs money I don't have. When I originally did what people with debt are encouraged to do - seek help - I entered a DMP with CCCS. For my Egg loan this created a default notice about 2 years ago but after a review in the summer I had to lower my payment once again. I now fear that I could be facing a third Default Notice but regardless of whether I have or I haven't, I already have a prolonged Default period of about 8 years thanks to my review in the summer. It seems that despite my best efforts to challenge my debt problems head on and losing financial dignity I may as well have taken it on the chin and gone bankrupt. It really is a frustrating and worrying matter.

.....this is my first time on the forum. Along with yours and my own financial and ethical dram episodes I hope to 'get somewhere' with some of these organisations that pose as your freind. The main offenders in my life have been Bank of Scotland, Optical Express. These are the two that have 'taken from me' and so far have 'unlawfully'. But we'll see........