Jump to content

Lorraine856

Registered Users

Change your profile picture
  • Posts

    22
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

1 Neutral

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. Yes the ccj has gone now. It was back in 2012. I paid it all off bit by bit. I did owe it but Calor were ruthless and didn't help very much with alternatives at the time. They refused to fill my heating gas tank up until the debt was paid and I couldn't use a different company as Calor owned the tank. I was without heating for over a year. I'm going to send the CCA letter to Hoist today. Thank you for your advice.
  2. Hi DX, Thank you for your comments and I understand where you're coming from. Not all my debts were from loans and borrowings. I got a ccj from Calor Gas because I couldn't pay my heating bill and got behind with payments. Another was from overpaid Council Tax. Another was from a bank for an overdraft I couldn't pay. I was in a real mess. I lost my job, was made homeless and ended up living in a caravan, and my mental health was poor. With the help of a good friend who gave me somewhere to live, I managed to get a job, get better and getting clear of debt gave me back myself respect. I have read some of your posts and I respect your opinions and you clearly have a lot of experience of dealing with this stuff. I just want to stay clear of the trouble I was in before. Thank you for your input and help. I do appreciate it.
  3. Hi Bazooka Boo, Thank you for your reply. I am on the electoral roll at my new home and this shows on my credit file. I don't remember the Tesco Personal Finance debt, but that doesn't mean I didn't have it. It just must have been quite a while ago so I don't know how it's just surfaced now? Hi Dx100 Uk, thank you for your reply also. I'm not sure what a cca request is or what it does but I will now check that out. Thank you both.
  4. Good morning, I'm hoping you can help me please. I last posted here in 2011 and at the time I had been made redundant, was quite poorly and was being chased for lots of debt. The forum gave me so much help and advice and I was truly grateful. Since then, I have worked really hard to become debt free. I got a great job and started systematically repaying all my debts. It took a very long time but two years ago, I was able to get a mortgage and buy a house, and my credit score today is showing 999 on the Experian site. I have vowed never ever to get myself into that kind of trouble ever again and am managing my finances well. I am even able to pay a bit more off of my mortgage each month as I want to clear it quickly. A few weeks ago, I received a letter out of the blue from Hoist Finance, welcoming me and offering to help me pay off a debt to Tesco Personal Finance for £4710.17. I don't even remember this debt and thought I had paid off everything that was showing on my credit files. I was originally using Clear Score as they showed everything. I have since received a couple more letters from Hoist - with two weeks between each one. The letter I received today was a little more insistent and at the end of the pseudo supportive narrative says in bold letters, "Remember it's important that you use our portal or contact us directly to find a way to manage your account (I don't have an account - not one that I have set up anyway). Actively managing your account means that we won't have to consider taking any further collection activity on your account". I have worked so hard to improve things for myself and I don't want to get into difficulty again now. This debt can't be on my credit files or my score wouldn't be so healthy would it??? Do you think it is statute barred? Do I just ignore the letters? Please can you give me some advice so that I can do the right thing. Thank you so much for reading my post.
  5. Thank you also DX for your reply. I own the debts on my credit file. I check it regularly and although it is "very poor" I have made some headway in repairing it over the past year. Living back home with my parents is driving me mad but it has given me a breathing space to get a job after redundancy and to clear some of my debts etc. The same woman from Restons called both times. I spoke to her on the second occasion but because I didn't answer her questions "correctly" she wouldn't disclose what the call was about. She wouldn't even say which of the answers were incorrect so it was a pointless conversation. L
  6. Thank you for your reply. I hope they will write and say what the matter is concerning.
  7. Hi, I would be grateful for some help with the following situation regarding Restons Solicitors. I have not had any contact with Restons until two weeks ago when I received a phone call from them at my place of work. I was not in the office that day so a colleague passed the message on. I didn't recognise the name and the message didn't say what it was about or that they were solicitors, so I didn't do anything about it. On Thursday last week the same person called my place of work again and the call was put through to me. The woman said she was from Restons but didn't say they were solicitors. She asked me to confirm who she was speaking to and I asked what the call was about. She wouldn't say until I had answered some security questions, which I refused to do whilst I was at work. She then gave me a number to call back at a more convenient time, which I did. She asked me for my name, date of birth and address. All of which I gave (reluctantly but by now I was worried and wanted to know what they wanted). Apparently, some of the information I gave didn't match theirs so they refused to tell me anything. I asked how they got my work number and they said they couldn't disclose their sources! I have no idea what this refers to at all and having read the internet about Restons I am very worried what will happen next. I have had debt problems through being out of work for a long period of time but I have cleared many of these now and am still in the process of clearing the rest. I have one CCJ against me from Calor Gas but this was all cleared in full at the beginning of this year. I don't have a home of my own anymore and am living with my parents - at 52 years old this is no fun but I have hopes of being able to afford a place of my own again in the next few years. I now have a job and I don't want this put at risk as this is the only thing I have to my name now. I don't even have a car! I'm sorry for the lengthy post but if anyone can she some light on what might come next or f there is anything I can do to help myself, I would be so very grateful. Thank you in advance.
  8. Surfer and Jadeybags - I have used the calculator links you have given me and I am still entitled to claim full housing benefit and council tax as I am not working and have no income except what help my parents and boyfrined are giving me. I won't be able to work again for some time due to illness but I will be able to at some point. I think I will appeal the overpayment now. I would like to say that I feel so much better about things now than I did even this morning. This is a fantastic resource for people and you are all really supportive, helpful and knowledgable people.
  9. Dear all, sorry not to have replied to all your posts yesterday but I had a really bad day healthwise. I rang the council today and spoke to a really helpful lady who said that if I paid the money back that would be an end to it. I'm not conviced though - it seemed too easy. I still feel like something horrible is going to happen to me. She did say that it s a standard letter though so that reassured me a little bit Jadeybags - I would be interested to hear your story as it seems close to mine. Thank you to everyone that replied. I have taken it all on board and thoght it all through. I will keep you informed of progress. best wishes to all x
  10. Good morning everyone and thank you for all the replies and comments that have come in. Leemack - I didn't know that you could claim HB if you didn't have other benefits but I learnt here yesterday that you could. I've thought over what you and everyone has said and because I am not working and haven't been since before December last year and also that I am now quite poorly and will be for a while, I believe you are right and that I am entitled appeal. I still have the money because my parents and boyfriend agreed to help me out financially while I was sick so didn't really touch my bank account from the time of my op until now. My feeling is that I just want to be free of the worry of it all. I feel sick just thinking about being cautioned or taken to court and I know you've all said this is unlikely but until it goes away I won't be free of it. I would rather pay the money back and hope they will leave me alone after that. I am really grateful for your help though - truly I am. You sound very experienced. Please don't think I am ignoring your advice out of arrogance. I can't cope with too much at the moment but if I were well enough I would probably fight. xx
  11. I know what you mean Jadeybags but I will just be grateful if they accept the money back and let me go without any further incident. I've got enough to worry about with my health and immediate future without the fear and shame of prosecution. I just wouldn't cope with it. It was an oversight through not having the right information - i.e. thinking that the job centre would cancel the Housing benefit claim - and having my life turned upside down because I got sick. They've made me feel like a criminal - they're really scary.
  12. Thank you Sillygirl1, for your good wishes and reassurance. I will defintely let everyone know what happens as you ahve all been good enough to reply. Lx Kingfisher, your reply made me cry. I came here looking for help and advice and got it in bucketloads. I'm really so grateful. xx
  13. I'm just going to pay it back - in the hope that it will appease them and make it all go away. I don't have the strength to appeal and I don't want to have anything more to do with the benefits system after this. It's all a huge worry. This is the first time I have made a claim for anything and this whole experience has scared me so much.
  14. OMG you are all so fabulous. Thank you so much Jadeybags for your reassurance. It's difficult to see things from the outside in when all you can see is the worst case scenario. And Leemack, thank you for your detailed reply - I didn't know any of that. The letter I have says "you have overpaid housing benefit of £1107.72 due to Job Seekers Allowance Ceasing. I thought you had to be claiming JSA to claim housing benefit and because I didn't make the claim in person - it was done through the Job centre, I assumed it would automatically cease too. This has all made me feel terrible - like a criminal. I can't even think straight about it. Thank you again for your brilliant replies. x
×
×
  • Create New...