I've just been viewing the Merseyflow website for the second bridge crossing that's just opened. The website can be found here: https://www.merseyflow.co.uk/faqs/penalties To quote them: "A PCN is a legal document, carries a fine of £40, and will be issued to the home address of the registered keeper... ...If the PCN remains unpaid beyond this 42-day period then the penalty will be registered as a civil debt and if unpaid after another 36 days, recovery action will begin." I'm just wondering whether the wording here is misleading and/or illegal. As far as I was aware, private companies couldn't issue penalty charges and fines. P.S: Sorry if I've posted in the wrong place.

Just a quick update. I put the address into Google Maps on my phone, just to get the route so I could take a run out and it turns out that the Curry Road address is actually a housing estate (I wish I'd checked sooner now). I've also received some information that's very interesting, but I'm wary about putting it on the forum at present, so could one of the site team please contact me just so I know whether it is acceptable to put on here.

Silverfox, that's what's made me suspicious. My aunt said that two of her friends who have loans with them are actually quite badly in arrears and haven't had any reminder letters. It's looking a little suspicious because of other things my aunt has been told, as well. I'll probably take a drive past the offices that are on Curry Road for a run out at the weekend and see if they look as dilapidated as the Freeman Street office is on.

I'm just wondering whether anyone has any information on Rayners who offered door step loans. They seemed to operate in the Grimsby and Scun-thorpe areas, where one of my relatives lives and she's owes them around £1K. She was recently told by the woman who collects her money each week that Rayners have sold up and got out of the business, but still has to pay. My relative has had no information regarding this or anything else from Rayners in quite a long time. I've searched the internet for information about the company and searched companies house for them, and apart from a few leads which suggest they're no longer operating, there's not much information. Could someone please advise me on how to tell my relative to proceed? She has no issue paying her debt if it's still enforceable, but doesn't want to be paying for something which is no longer being collected or if the company has become defunct. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Just to report I've had success with this, although it came about due to a call to customer services about something else, and I happened to mention the issue. If you make an order with Virgin, keep the confirmation e-mail they send you as they've stated they have to honour anything send to confirm your order. They asked me to forward the e-mail to them (NOT the usual customer service address) and I was told they'd call me back within 48 hours, but I actually had the call within an hour (which actually impressed me as I expected to have to chase them up). They're now adding a massive discount to the account so that everything balances out. Could one of the mods please change the title of my thread to resolved please.

On 4 March I made an order with Virgin for an offer that was on to tempt previous subscribers back. It was for the Big Kahuna Movies and Sports for ~£66 per month for 12 months. We received the order confirmation and everything was great until it was installed yesterday. Last night I noticed that the movies and sports channels were missing. We received a second e-mail stating the the price was £49 + line rental, but never thought any more of it as it came to ~£66 (I'm saying approx as my partner is currently asleep and I can't access her e-mail). My partner rang up Virgin as the account was in her name and asked for them to be put on and was told that the price would now be rising to nigh on £85, but it would be discounted to £66. When I got home from work I had a look at the account and it's showing ~£85 so I rang Virgin. I stated that I had the a confirmation order e-mail, that included the sports and movies only to be told that "because it's not on paper it's not legally binding" and that they had no record of the request for Sky movies, despite it being part of the deal. Is this true, and does anyone have an e-mail address for someone higher up the food chain than the call centre, because they were completely unhelpful at best.

By any chance is the receiver called Walker Singleton? If so I'd seriously advise looking for another house now. My sister had fun and games with these muppets. This is just general advice regarding receivers, although it mentions WS. Her LL went bankrupt at end-2011 and the mortgage company, Mortgage Express (I'll call MEx from now on), appointed Walker Singleton as receiving agents. Their job was to manage the property on be half of MEx and two guys with what sounded like Polish names. Around January 2012 sis received a letter from them informing her of what had gone on and from now on all rent payments for the flat (it was a house split into an upper and ground floor flat which she lived in) should be made to them. She naturally asked what the situation was, and should she start looking for another property as she has kids and she doesn't want to stress them out if the property was to be repossessed. WS advised her that as long as she kept paying rent nothing would happen to her and it was just a change of who the rent was paid to. They did say that they'd need to send surveyors out for the state of the property and for it to be valued, but this was purely administrative. She was cooperative with them, and they even asked her to write up a list of "repairs and maintenance" that she felt needed doing. The list was quite long due to the original LL dodging them, and two of the problems were inadequate heating (they were turn off/on electric wall heaters that just ate electricity) and a fault with the electric shower as guests (myself included) had reported static shocks occasionally IN the shower. They sent an electrician and plumber out who both agreed that the shower needed replacing urgently, the wiring was a cowboy job and it needed to be completely redone, and that panel heaters should also be fitted. She received a call from WS saying that they'd arrange date for the work to be done as soon as they'd had authorisation from MEx. This never happened. In July the boiler went completely (it was a pathetic electric thing that wasn't really any good). For 5 weeks she made almost daily calls to WS as they were saying that the contractors were busy, putting in estimates and getting a boiler was problematic, and it was only when she got her solicitor involved that they sorted it out. If there's a plus side to this, it's that it got my sister and her kids into swimming as they started to go swimming three nights a week so they could get a shower In October she received a section 21 seeking repossession of the property so it could be sold at auction, along with the couple upstairs. It gave her 60 days to find another property, after which they'd start eviction proceedings and pass the cost onto her. Now at this point she told me what was happening (she tried to handle stuff on her own out of pride more than anything) so I was able to advise her, but it was a bit late in the day to really do too much. The date to vacate was also 18 December - exactly a week before Xmas and she has two kids! Now this will be an absolute shock when it happens as you'll get absolutely no prior warning before it happens. WS are also pains to negotiate with regarding this. As hers was a week before Xmas, she asked was it possible to have an extension of 28 days as she didn't want the kids disrupted over Xmas, and she also knew of a property that was becoming free straight after new year due to a LL my parents knew. WS' answer was a flat out no. She could refuse to vacate, but at that point she was told they'd start eviction proceedings and pass the cost on to her. If you get this, or even when you start dealings with WS, change your rent to weekly and pay it as you go. DO NOT withhold the rent or be unnecessarily awkward with them. Most (decent) LLs will ask them for a reference and if you withhold the rent then they can claim you're not paying rent or you're a nightmare tenant. If you've also paid a month up front or some sort of 'cash' deposit to the original LL then make sure you have the receipts for it. My sister paid a month up front as a deposit, and WS said they would return it as she had receipts. WS wouldn't let her go "rent free" for those 4 weeks and would only return the deposit as soon as they had the keys back (I guess due to damage as the couple upstairs did - they totally smashed the place up and had to be removed by force a few months later). What happens in regards to the bond guarantee scheme I don't know as my sister wasn't affected by that, but I guess they'll take instructions from WS. DO demand that the receivers help you with moving costs. WS actually did agree to pay the moving costs of £175 for my sister as a "gesture of goodwill". What she wasn't able to get was any help towards the deposit, although she got this partly from work (as a loan) and partly from family. One positive point of the S21 is that you don't have to wait out your notice period. You can just get a place, let the receivers know when it is, and then move. My sister literally saw her new place on Tuesday, viewed it Wednesday, had managed to arrange the deposit cheques for Thursday (and let WS know, while the LL fasttracked her credit checks), signed the tenancy on it on the Saturday, moved in on the Sunday and handed the keys back to WS on the Monday. This is the main reason to pay the rent as you go, as you're not trying to claim it back. Also, when you sign off on the old property, make sure you have the piece of paper that says there is no damage, or exactly what it is. This stops WS saying "oh you put a massive hole in a wall" or something at a later date. As far as the financial side goes of getting money back, my sister's experience was that she had to prod WS quite a few times to get them to get around to it. It wasn't until I wrote her an "e-mail before action" that she received a call from WS to arrange a BACS transfer and it came through the Friday before Xmas. There is actually a woman that deals with this at WS, but she's hard to get hold of so e-mails work better here and make sure she has the correct account details where you want the money putting. I'm guessing this specifically is WS' modus operandi as the LL owned several properties on the street and all the tenants got hit with S21 notices on exactly the same day (although one of them actually bought their property after making a deal with WS). As I've said though, I'd start looking for a new property before the mortgage company decide to repo the property. Sorry for the long amount of text, but this is what to expect if you snared by WS.

I personally think they should be called Sith Loans as they've obviously given themselves to the dark side lol. Anyway, last post I'll make on this seeing as I don't want to hijack the thread, but I've had a confirmation e-mail from Disney saying that they've received my e-mail and they'll investigate it. Unfortunately they don't reveal nor correspond with sources (not that I'm bothered if they did and I'm on record publicly now as dobbing them in) so I guess I'll just keep an eye on their site and see what happens. I know Disney can be very aggressive and take domains over etc, so if they suddenly disappear that may be why. It just goes to show that they have a very poor grasp of the law anyway as any idiot would know you don't go using the IP and likenesses of others without permission. I'm surprised their in house 'solicitors' haven't mentioned it before now.

This might be slightly off topic, but I've just let Disney know about "Jedi Loans", seeing as they're using trademarks, likenesses and IP that's property of Disney now. Disney are quite protective of what they own and like to make legal threats that they WILL carry out. Let's see how a PDL likes being on the sharp end for a change and hopefully harrassed.

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but could the letter not be construed as trying to impersonate a judge or officer of the court? The language used such as "My findings" and the paragraph that follows sounds like something a judge may use in summarising a case. Could that not be construed as some sort of offence by DRP, merely down to the way they've worded it? If someone less knowledgeable or someone who was easily fooled read it they may believe it's already been "judged" (for want of a better word) by someone who actually has some authority.

Business can't be that good if they can't afford proper jigsaw puzzles.

Metty, do you realise you've just posted your address all over a publicly visible forum. I'd advise you (and Citizen B) to edit your posts and strip out that information. In case you don't get this message in time, I've just reported the post to the mods so they can edit them. This hasn't been done out of malice, but purely for your own safety and privacy

Possible connection with http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?422888-Has-anyone-heard-of-National-Collection-Services-(NCS)-based-in-Newcastle ? I'm wondering because I've noticed both usernames are in caps, but what the point would be, I have no idea. Maybe it's to 'advocate' paying them or it's some sort of $cam and they're trying to appear legit by having posts on here.

*LONG POST ALERT* This advice is offered from my own experience with an ex-partner who I helped sort out her financial situation and she was in similar circumstances to you, albeit hers where only approximately £37K and minus the CCJ. I'm assuming the house is going up for sale, and it's not a case of your ex-wife just saying "if you want to buy me out you can". I'd sell it and then split the proceeds with her accordingly. I know it can be hard to let go of something like a house, but from a financial and emotional perspective it makes sense. You'll be constantly reminded of her if you live there and if you get a new partner they'll be fairly reluctant to live there as well, but that's something else altogether. Now your finances need the boost so take the £70K. Get breakdowns from all the creditors or DCAs of exactly how they've arrived at the figure and also request CCAs (no CCA no debt) and assignment of debt if they've bought it. Do all this in writing (keep copies of what you send, obviously), and don't try and handle it over the phone. A lot of DCAs are highly skilled in the art of "misdirection" so it's generally a good idea to get everything they're stating in writing as it's also legally binding then. Once you have those, sit down and see how many of these are penalty and late payment charges. As a rule, a lot of these are unenforcable (although others on here can state which are and which aren't). Charges added on by DCAs are not allowed as you have no contract with the DCA and they can't charge you for normal operating expenses either. Subtract the charges from the amount of each debt, and then whatever you're left with is how much you owe. Send letters to the creditors stating that you're willing to offer 20% of the revised amount that is owed. You can try 10%, but I doubt that will be accepted as there's the possibility that they could end up losing money especially if they've bought the debt. My ex gave me permission to negotiate with her creditors over the phone, and with all of them I never went any further than 40% and with all of them it was successful. Remember, you negotiate up and then negotiate down. See what the lowest amount they say they'll accept is, and then once you hit your threshold limit don't budge from it and tell them it's that or nothing, and there's other creditors you could choose to pay off - you'll be surprised how quickly they back down once they realise you won't budge and with the possibility of others getting paid. Now this bit can be done over the phone, but get them to send it out in writing that the agreed amount will be considered full and final, and that there won't be any attempts to recover whatever is left over. Don't pay until you have these, and ensure you get a letter stating that the debt has been resolved. On a side note, do not state that the money is from a house sale. How you've got the money to pay them is none of their business at all. If you want to say anything then simply say you've had a small windfall and don't say how much. Once they know the money is from the sale of a house they can get extremely aggressive. I slipped up in my first phone call with one of her creditors, but thankfully I refused to budge past the upper limit I set. Of the £37K my ex owed I got managed to get one of the debts written off as they couldn't find the CCA, a couple were statute barred, and after I'd stripped off charges and everything she ended up owing £29K she ended up paying around £9.5K back! Now I know renting can be a drag, but the question is whether you can get credit elsewhere (excluding DSL and PDL companies). If you can't get credit easily, then there's no way on Earth you'll get a mortgage, unless you've suddenly started earning massive amount of money. If you're in private accommodation and you're finding it too expensive then it might be worth approaching the council and seeing if you can get on their waiting list, although it will be a long wait unless you're at risk of being homeless and even then they tend to offer crisis accommodation, and also see if they have a list of "approved" landlords. These are landlords that the council have checked to make sure they're charging a fair rent, and that are also pretty good at keeping on top of repairs. My ex was a victim of domestic abuse so she managed to get a council place quite quickly, but she was offered a list of "approved" private lets at the time. Now I know that having a large amount of money in your pocket is very tempting to spend, but don't. My ex wanted to get straight back on the property ladder, but considering she couldn't even get a mobile phone contract at the time, there was no way she was going to get a mortgage. I talked her into putting the remaining £30K (the amount she got for her share of the house was a lot more, but she did have quite large a splurge) in a savings account and just forget about it for a few years. She occasionally moved it about to ensure she was getting the best interest rates, but apart from that she didn't touch it. Don't put in an account you can access easily, because you're more likely to succumb to using it for impulse purchases that you don't really need. Doing this allowed her to keep it as a deposit, but she was also earning interest on it (although not massive amounts) and if a lender can see that you can keep a large amount of money for a period of time and not be tempted it adds to the fact that you've turned over a new leaf so to speak. I've also heard that it doesn't do your credit score any harm as well, but can't comment definitively on this. This all happened back in 2007, and in 2012 she was able to get a mortgage at a good rate, and it really helped that she had a large deposit she could access easily. I know this may be what you don't want to hear, but it's a fairly positive direction to move in. You could probably use other means to sort out your situation in the short term, but chances are you could end up back in the same mess again. Yes, I agree it's going to take a while, but it's preferable to ending up back in the same position. Sorry for the long post, and no doubt other caggers may disagree, but it's a situation that worked for my ex and hopefully may be of help.

Hi all I have an interest in a car which has been purchased using Blackhorse. I'll give you a bit of background info as this might get confusing. my friend owns the car and the finance is in her name, but neither of us could afford the finance if we were paying it alone. I pay half of all costs for unlimited use of the car, and obviously this includes the finance. If she decides to sell I only have to pay 50% of the book value at the time of sale if I want to buy it and if I don't I get 50% of what it sells for so it was a decent idea for me and my friend and it's worked well. The only problem is I've had a bit of financial turbulence since January and I've had to restructure my finances so at the moment I've not been able to pay my share of the finance (although this will be cleared up by the end of May). We've got one payment due on 13 April, and then the last and final payment (the amount borrowed was over 60 months) was due on 13 May. As the final payment is double the normal payments, and the fact that my friend has been carrying me for the past couple of months there's no way she could afford the final £320 that Blackhorse would want. When she rang them up they gave her the following options... 1: Split the final payment into 2 payments, but they said they'd place a default marker on her credit file which she doesn't want. 2: Cancel the direct debit and pay it on her card (?!?), but I'm assuming this would end up with another marker on her credit file. This option also made no sense as I can only assume by 'card' they meant a credit card which she doesn't have. If they meant debit card then it still comes out of her bank account so that confused me. 3: They'll not take the payment out this month, but carry it over until May and then take the double payment in June (by which time I'll be sorted financially and I'll have caught up with my contributions to the car). Strangely they said this wouldn't involve a marker being put on her credit file. Now my friend has chosen option 3, but I'm not sure this isn't going to adversely affect her credit rating. Am I right in assuming it's similar to a 'mortgage holiday' where you don't have to pay for a month? If so, why on Earth can't they just split the final payment as it would still be cleared on the same date. If push comes to shove I can borrow the money and get some money into her account for the final payment in May, but it would involve a payday loan and I really don't want to end up in that situation. I do feel bad about it as well as my financial problems were entirely avoidable and self inflicted, a nd I don't see why she should have her credit rating trashed because of it. Anyone who could help clear up the confusion or even give alternative options to present to Blackhorse would be greatly appreciated.