Sorry for the bumpage. Any news on this? I'm in a similar situation, I don't have the patience to go through their official complaint procedure then spend months in limbo waiting for the FOS lottery results so I'm minded to take them straight to court.

OK, not sure if I'm missing something but I'm thoroughly confused by this.. I have a secured mortgage with Acenden that is due to end in February next year. I got into arrears with them about 4 years ago but cleared them and have kept my nose clean ever since. Last week they sent me a odd letter telling me about the end date, informing me of the current balance (~£2500) that they will carry on collecting my monthly payments and that I don't need take any further action at this time. However they then go on to say that that I should make arrangements to pay any outstanding balance full next February and that they will send me a redemption statement just before this date. It's obvious to me that my current payment(£170/mo) will not pay off this balance during the next 10 months even if they stopped adding interest. Now surely if I have a fixed-term loan with no arrears on the account then the entire balance should be paid off at the end of the term and there should be no shortfall? I suppose the only way to find out is to make enquiries with them but I'm loathed to deal with this disgraceful outfit. Perhaps it's time for a SAR?

Certainly has gone quiet with Lowells and SDs here. They're either pausing for breath before resuming with another flurry or maybe the OFT are finally starting to take an interest. It's also quite possible that the cost of losing set-aside and petition hearings is starting to bite them. The process server would cost them up to £150, £20 for a land registry search to see if their victim owns property. If they have to go to court the solicitor would another couple of hundred and if they lose (which they do at least 90% of the time), another £200-400 in costs. If they lose at petition stage it would probably cost them thousands. Not very clever when they're chasing a debt that's barely over the £750 bankruptcy threshold like they did with me.

Has the buyer gone straight for litigation, no attempt at mediation, no LBA? Also has he gone ahead and had the watch serviced and is now attempting to recover the cost from you? I think if any of these is true you it should be a doddle to get this set aside.

Am I right in thinking that for pre-2007 agreements that re-cons are not admissible and that they have to produce the original signed agreement?

Vodafone took 56 days to comply with my SAR. I sent an LBA and the info I required was sent to me via courier three days later with a letter apologising for the time taken. As a former contractor for Vodafone I suspect their tardiness is due to staffing issues. Sending an LBA for their non-compliance will probably wake them up and they'll comply within a week.

Do Lowell's ever issue county court claims? From my own experience and from what I've seen on here they seem to deal exclusively in SDs and bankrupcy and have been doing so for several years now. I have no doubt their whole business model would be screwed if the ridiculously low bankrupcy threshold was increased.

I just want to know how Muck Hall are getting hold of work telephone numbers and addresses. I had a problem with them calling work a couple of months ago and I got a letter sent there as well. I don't do Farcebook and I have no internet presence whatsoever under my real name. What made me most angry is that the debt they were chasing was at least 8 years old and well and truly SB. I can only think that they are getting this information by very underhand means. I wouln't be surprised if they were somehow accessing governement records. Whatever the means the ICO should come down on them like a ton of bricks.

If I may I wish to add a dissenting voice to this. I will not be signing this petition as it seems overtly political and of little substance. An open letter containing four rhetorical sentences such as 'We are watching you' and 'We’ll challenge you every step of the way if you try to do our NHS any further harm' is unhelpful and does nothing to describe whatever problems the NHS has, and offers no solutions. For the record I work for the NHS in a soon to be abolished Primary Care Trust. I've seen a lot of change over the years, not least the huge growth and investment in the last decade. Growth and investment is good right? Not really, because the vast increase in spending we saw since 1997 has been squandered. Billions have been wasted on a vast army of middle managers, enhanced GP contracts, failed IT projects and other questionable spending. Very little of that money made its way to where it mattered, the patients. It was a standing joke that the money would have been better served if it had been shoved in the hospital boilers, in that at least it would have had a use in keeping the patients warm. I love the NHS like anyone else but it's in desperate need of reform because we are in no way getting value for money from it. The debate is whether this government's reforms are the right ones, so in that respect Mr Hunt, we are indeed watching you very closely.

You can claim £80 per day for attending court. Litigation in person costs are £18 per hour. Personally I would claim 10-12 hours for time researching relevent legislation and case law and time taken for preparation of documents. Also claim for mileage to and from court (40p/mile), parking costs and whatever you've spent on postage. You need to submit your costs claim to the court 24 hours before the hearing.

Ruthbridge were chasing me for an old CC debt a year back. Well and truly SB'd. After about 4 letters with me in ignore mode they gave up. From what I've learned about them is that deal almost exclusively in SB debts, probably bought for a couple of pence in the pound. They rarely (if ever) litigate. They're not worth the cost of the stamp to send them the SB letter. Ignore.

Technically you were guilty of failure to display which can attract a £100 fine but it's disgraceful that the police seized your car for being 1 day out. I've heard of a few cases where police have stopped people for being a couple of days over with their tax or MOT but in all cases they've been sensible and given the driver 7 days to produce their docs at a police station. As Conniff said complain to the chief in the strongest possible terms.

I don't think so, it's been at least 7 years since I last applied for credit and I've been working for my present employer for only 5 years, so I'm still baffled how they've got hold of my work number. I suspect that whatever they're chasing me for is SB anyway.

I won't start my own thread but I've also been getting calls from MH at work. The first I knew about it was a couple of weeks ago when a colleague took a message asking me to contact them on an 'urgent matter'. Since then they've been calling almost daily. I've never spoke to them because my desk phone has caller ID and I ignore it every time I see their number come up. I also have no intention in entering into a conversation concerning alleged debts with earshot of my colleagues. I do however want them to stop asap. I've never had anything through the post from MH. Surely DCAs are obliged to write to alleged debtors before trying to contact them by telephone, especially at work? I'd also like to know how they got my work number in the first place.

If there is any kind of dispute over the debt; PPI, charges, no CCA etc then it should be relatively easy to have it set aside but you must act and submit an application to set aside within 18 days. From what I've heard Lowell do persue these so your are at risk of being made bankrupt. Was the last payment you made in June 2006? Could be SB.