Oh great. Thank you so much for your support. All you have done is have a go at me. I am very sorry I asked now! BTW while you have clearly put me in the 'stupid' box I have not acknowledged the debt, simply referred to a recent letter and asked for a full explanation of what they think I owe them as I have no record of it.

Well I have written to them and asked for an explanation of the huge sum. Not sure if they will reply. To be honest it has been on my credit record for 4 years by the looks of it so if they are not prepared to accept a reasonable offer I may just leave it. Probably the wrong attitude but at least I am prepared to pay something!

Hi I have found the following information is it helps at all? Lowell £ 1,008 06/03/2018 Default Name Address Date of birth Account type Telecommunications Supplier Account number **************9644 0 Account start date 22/04/2008 Opening balance £ 290 Repayment frequency Monthly Date of default 10/05/2014 Default balance £ 290 As you can see the default balance was £290 but they are now asking for over £1,000. Thanks.

Thank you. I wondered about making an offer. I know from reading here that they will have bought the debt for a trivial amount so they will still be well in profit. Am I right in thinking a CCJ is no longer shown on your credit record after 6 years? Would a potential lender be able to find it after that time? I have no intention of every taking out any more loans but I know a credit search is used for other things. Thanks.

I may have somewhere. I will take a look if it will help to find them. I know I should have done something at the time but I was a bit overwhelmed. Now I have the house sorted, and more money available, I am starting on the other stuff I pushed to one side. Thanks.

Guilty as charged. I was busy keeping my house from being repossessed and this just went over my head. They quote the CCJ as being from 2016 and the amount was £900 ish plus costs of about £150. That I understand. What I don't understand is where the extra £600 came from. But from what you are saying it is too late to do anything about it now???

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice please? Lowell Solicitors are chasing me for a debt to Orange (who I believe no longer exist) - I believe the original debt was about £300 maximum. They now claim that I owe them over £1,000. Is there any limit to the charges they can add? I am now in a position to repay a reasonable amount but surely this is just ridiculous? I have asked them to explain how this debt has grown to such a level but am not honestly expecting a sensible reply! This does have a CCJ against it. Can I go back to the court and dispute the matter at this stage? Many thanks.

I am interested in this post because with the help of Ellen I managed to beat.... .....I forget actually.. ....but it must have been at least 6 eviction attempts by Accord - one of which was on 23rd December!! I was never more than 4.5 months in arrears, always kept in contact with them and explained precisely what the problem was . I have no idea how much over that period their various rent-a-solicitors added to my account but I am obviously paying interest at their loan shark rates on it all! I have complained in the past about their handling of my case but they basically told me to go away. Is there any mileage in challenging this again over their high handedness? I had assumed they could pretty much do as they like, when they like, while I was in arrears. Thanks.

David is there any reason why your Wife could not secure at least a part-time job to help make ends meet? Self employed earnings can be erratic as you know and a modest regular income from her would give you much more breathing space. With no children at home and therefore more flexibiilty than a working mum it would seem a logical thing to do. I know myself that constant money worries are a miserable way to live! Also with that level of equity you could presumably buy a house mortgage free. However attached you may be to the property, imagine not having to pay a mortgage every month!!

To be fair the mis-selling is not the fault of the bank. They simply provide a product which a customer uses, or not, as the case may be. The mis-selling case would be against the broker who recommended the product (I think I read earlier that you used a broker?). Can I ask why you bought the house in the first place if it was not to live in and not to rent out? Not many students are able to buy a house until years after their studies have finished and their income permits it. I think whoever advised you would have been doing you much more of a service if he had told you to go away and come back in a few years! But then he would not have earned a fat fee in that case!

Lynn have you tried equity release? If you have a relatively small loan to value, and are in your 60s or beyond, it might be possible to swap your mortgage for an equity release plan. Could be worth looking into if you particularly want to stay in your house. And yes it makes sense to ask a judge for his opinion. In my experience judges are much nicer and fairer people than mortgage companies. Mis-selling is a bit of a long shot since you have to prove you were not made aware that you would need a mortgage repayment vehicle. Did you have one and cancel it at some stage?

Wow could anything be more complicated? I have never heard of an advisor suggesting a BTL Self Cert mortgage to a first time buyer. It just sounds ludicrous. Maybe your best course of action is mis-selling. BTL suggests a level of financial competence which, with respect, you clearly did not have at the time. Since you had no intention of letting it out, and never checked for mail, I can see how the problem arose (although I would certainly notice if my mortgage payments were not going out of my bank account each month)! Poking through all the chaos it seems to me that whoever sold you this loan led you down a path which has seen you make yourself unable to get another mortgage for years, if ever. It would certainly be worth making a complaint. But as someone else said.........you hired a barrister to sort out an earlier problem, but represented yourself, without the paperwork at an eviction hearing? Sorry, but that is just madness!

Just reading throught yur post quickly Mr P I think the bit about the mortgage not being regulated is nonsense. You have every right to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However it is hard to see how you could 'miss' the fact that the mortgage company had not taken your payment for six months, and also what happened to the dozens of letters you would have had from them threatening repossession? If you genuinely received nothing then they are in breach of the rules but I know from my own experience that you are showered with paperwork when you are in arrears with your mortgage. It costs nothing to take your complaint to the Ombudsman (HBOS will have to pay a fee to have the case investigated) go ahead and let them decide if it is a regulated product or not.

Forgive my complete ignorance of benefits Chilli. Does this mean that the entire amount of your mortgage will be paid for you going forward? You say it will be backdated, will that be sufficient to reduce the arrears to a level where your lender/s will leave you alone? Will you have enough to live on going forward? Like you I was in the position of having put every Penny into the mortgage so if the lender did repossess and sell it would have achieved well below market value as so much work needed doing! All I seem to read is of sickness benefits being cut, but I am delighted things have gone your way.

Chilli I just wanted to say that I totally understand your concerns regarding your animals. Since 2009 I have faced eviction, I think, about 8 times. I have been to court each time to fight it and fortunately won. My lenders, Accord, were incredibly aggressive, even though I was never more than 5 months in arrears. All during that time my greatest fear was for my rescued animals - cats, guinea pigs and rabbits. I could sleep in the street...........but my heart ached over what would happen to them. Like you I am single and I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights I have had. One eviction was for 23rd December and had the judge not sympathised with me the animals and I could have been homeless for Christmas. I simply cannot bear to even think about it. I have now paid off the arrears, but thinking about that horrible time still fills me with dread. Hopefully you will be able to stay but if not I might be able to guide your hand as to organisations who can help with the animals. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.