Hi there, I have a claim ongoing in the Lloyds TSB section. I have two credit cards that are with Bank of Scotland as as I've gotten into financial difficult due to charges I am unable to meet the monthly payments in full and another with Egg and a clothing card with GE money.

I sent a letter to all these people giving details of my income and expenditure and worked out how much I could pay each one. GE money agreed to my proposal but say I have to cut up my card and any other cards I may have with them and any accounts that I may have with them will be closed but everyone else refused so I'm about to send a follow up letter to the today.

I also sent with the letters a request to have the last years statements mailed to me (as I thought a year wasn't too much to ask for) but they've all ignored the request. So I'm going to have to send each company a £10 fee and request them through DPA which I wanted to avoid a I'm trying to save money to make repayments to these people.

Anyway I got most me responses back today and 4 responses from Bank of scotland. Two of them declining my request and another letter containing a card. This card says Important Notice, our representative will be calling your home on : Date 8th August and another saying they have issued me a default notice and I will have to make full repayment after 21st August when they take further action against me.

I am having serious problems with bank of scotland. They are phoning our house constantly right from between 7am up until about 10pm at night (they phoned while typing this!) despite me saying they I want to correspond in writing now rather than in phone conversation as the constant phone calls are quite upsetting. My partner told them yesterday again as I didn't want to talk on the phone that I have been corresponding in writing and asking they why they keep calling. I think this may be why they've sent a letter out saying they are sending a representative round our house.

Is it true I don't have to let anyone visit my house as this is getting like serious harrassment. They can take me to court over the money I need to repay but as they can see from my income and expenditure I can't afford to pay anymore than I have proposed.

When I get my statements through, I can make a claim for all the unfair charges to be refunded, if this happens I can bring all accounts back into credit and I will be able to afford the minimum payments then if not pay off a lot of the balance.

The credit cards accounts only went over their limit when I missed a payment due to my partner being out of work and I had to pay all the bills and they charged me £30 and also charged me another £30 whenever a credit agency is called in to try and get the outstandingmissing payment. After this things just got worse and worse and so I was unable to pay more accounts.

I am sorry this is such a long post and I hope it makes sense to whoever reads it, some reassurance or help wouold be appreciated.

I think that you need to go to the citizen's advice bureau for some help on this. Don't worry, someone will be here who has alot more knowledge than me about these situations. If you are claiming unfair charges from all of these companies, then they can't do anything because the accounts will be under dispute.

It sounds like they are totally harrassing you....this is out of order, if it's making you ill (I know what it's like) the quick remedy is to change you number......hang on, someone will be here soon!

As far as I am aware (though I have no legal training whatsoever) you don't have to let anyone into your house unless they have a court order saying that they are allowed in.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

I hope so, I know you don't have to let bailifs in, but this is a bank representative so is it the same thing? Or are they just trying to presurise me.

BOS called me at 8:00am this morning, and I asked them yet again to stop the phone calls, they said they are unable to do that as the calls are made automatically but if I answer a representative is put on.

I had a letter in writing from them saying they only wanted to discuss my proposal on the phone, a day after I have just said I hadn't heard from them in writing in 14 days.

BOS are very consistent with their automated call system. As an example, I had two different accounts with BOS which meant they would call me seperately on each occassion. I was alarmed at the volume of calls which on average was 134 per month. Regular protests were ignored until I wrote a formal complaint via the OFT. I also asked to speak to the duty managers which often brought a respite of 7 days grace as a result of them removing our number from the automated system. These calls often started at 0740am and the latest 2120pm, the latter ones being silent when answered. They acknowledged the OFT letter and things calmed down, but from what I have been told, the system randomly picks out telephone numbers from the system, dials the number and if an operator is free, they will answer. If not, the call is placed back in the system. I also learned that for each account, they are entitled to call you up to 5 times a day! If you have many creditors, you will get the same pattern "Are you able to make full payment on your account today?" which in turn means they are paid online collectors! I dont mind speaking to creditors, but I hate repeating myself time and time again... so dont accept it!

Thanks, at least I'm not the only one. BOS have now sold on my account to debt collection agency and I have requested a copy of my credit agreement from capquest (who they sold it to). I didn't recieve a response from my letter and 14 days later ( a couple of days ago) I got a letter from some solicitors saying they will take me to court if I don't pay the full amount.

I brought up the courage to phone them today and they say they have no record of the letter I sent however it could take time to go through the system, they said wait 7 days and call back, however that takes me nearly to the deadline on the solicitors letter so I just said I'd send a copy of the first letter I sent in case it had been mislaid.

I also answered the phone a couple of days prior to getting the solicitors note and asked where the credit agreement was then, the person on the phone wasn't very nice saying that I am refusing the acknowledge the debt and I'd be hearing from them.

So lets hope they send me a copy of the credit agreement, else they'll be sending me to court when I haven't even recieved so I haven't sorted out a payment plan with them.

You are entitled to a copy of what you have requested, so keep pushing them for it. Some will argue that they dont have a copy and that nothing was passed across when the debt was sold. Is the solicitor Blair, Oliver and Scott.....? If so, thats (BOS in disguise)...

Stay Cool...

No its HL legal solicitors. If they don't have a copy, can I claim that they aren't entitled to collect money off me?

Never heard of HL, but because they pursuing the debt you should at least make token payments until you can reach an agreement with them on reduced payments, that way if they initiate CCJ action, the court will see that you have made an effort to repay at a rate you can afford. At the same time, you can request a copy of the original agreement direct from BofS or HL.... dont withold payments from HL as they will assume that you are avoiding the debt and will go down the legal route.... may i ask what the amount outstanding is and what monthly payments u are considering paying?

Hi jakena

Same scenario with the calls and stressing me and the missis eventually things went to collectors/solicitors but after speaking to citizens advice and a council run helpline providing that you can pay your council tax and mortgage you can pay these people £1 and if you are in dispute about figures etc the account can be frozen which lets you get your head above the parapet and get some air.....especially this time of year I ended up remortgaging (slightly higher rate but worth it just now anyway)after working out to offer them 60% of what I owed them.

Dont let anyone in your house unless they have legal rights to enter. If they want to meet ask citizenz advice to find a neutral venue for you both...these organisations do work for you ...dont let the bas"ar"s grind you down !!!

OK, the legal bit first

1. Protection from Harassement Act (1997) (section2)

Administration of Justice Act (1970) (section 40)

Telecommunications Act 1984

All these are very useful for the pain in the butt calls, and also I would refer you to :

TMF: Nobody Home /

search was under debt harassement

Also, but it costs use BT barred calls selector/unlisted number selection

You could just tell them to Foxtrot Oscar

OFT and Trading standards is also a good counter

CB (JP)

Hi there

I'm really really sorry you are experiencing this harrassment - that is what it is!!! In a nutshell you do not have to take this. Write a letter to BOS and send is recorded delivery. There is a template on this forum that sets out the basics that you can follow.

Please dont avoid paying your debts. At least if you send them a token payment they will realise that you are serious about paying off your debts.

You will have to get organised now and send off for confirmation of your charges. You stand to gain more by doing that at this moment in time. The letter you send will state that you are going into dispute so that may hold off the companies for a while.

I was watching a money programme the other night about unfair charges and suddenly it hit me. The people who are really experiencing the backlash of these charges are the people who cant afford it and who live on tight budgets. These banks are therefore no better than loan sharks; they dont charge the interest at the outset but they are definitely squeezing you when you have problems - just like loan sharks they are harrassing you.

I cant wait for the day when I get all my charges back and I can then start on them for defamation of character for me.

Good luck

Annie

A slight misunderstanding I think,

I have whupped A**** on RBoS and these were my thoughts to help those who were getting grief from creditORS

The key letters are those after my initials

Chris

Never heard of HL, but because they pursuing the debt you should at least make token payments until you can reach an agreement with them on reduced payments, that way if they initiate CCJ action, the court will see that you have made an effort to repay at a rate you can afford. At the same time, you can request a copy of the original agreement direct from BofS or HL.... dont withold payments from HL as they will assume that you are avoiding the debt and will go down the legal route.... may i ask what the amount outstanding is and what monthly payments u are considering paying?

I don't have a number to make payments to HL, the address is printed on the base of the letter. The phone number they gave as a contact sends me to capquest, and they say make all communication to capquest.

I've sent a copy of the original letter today recorded delivery, so hopefully I'll get the copy of the credit agreement I requested.

I was originally making monthly payments of £5 to BoS and stated that it was temporary until we catch up with the bills, but they sold on the debt anyway. So I guess I'll be requesting to make the same payments.

If you were already making payment of £5 I would write to the original address at Halifax and ask them why they sold the debt AND also if you can have sight of the original letter of assignment.

I think if you are trying to pay your debt and the bank is being unreasonable then you do have a case.

I would write to Capquest and advise them that you dispute the amount owed because you consider that you have been charged unlawful charges and intend to claim them back. Send a cpy to Halifax. Then, as a matter of urgency send of your SAR so that you can get your money back. Once you send the SAR this will keep them off your back because the account is being disputed.

Hope this helps

Gemspan

Ok, I got another letter from Blair, oliver and scott limited (it now says debt collectors and not solicitors and when I phone the number it puts me through to bank of scotland) I was getting a little confused and this is for another bank of scotland account (I originally didn't know I had two credit cards from bank of scotland).

Anyhow the letter says they are still trying to contact me, but I haven't responded despite the fact that my boyfriend has answered the phone on several occasions telling them I have sent them letters with £5 cheque in and they've recieved it because its been cashed. It just looks as though they are refusing to contact me in writing and only want to talk to me on the phone.

It tells me not to ignore the letter, but I haven't, I've responded twice now, only to have my letter ignored and a further letter sent out saying i've failed to contact them and to give them a ring on an 0870 number. They've had my letters because they've cashed the cheques that went with them, and they were sent recorded delivery. So I am contacting them, they are just ignoring it. I really don't know what to do now. Just let them take me to court as they say in the letter if i don't phone they have instructions to collect the full amount by calling at my home or going to court?

Send them another letter - To Bank of Scotland, Blair Oliver Scott, HL and anyone else who is involved.

Tell them to take you to court.

You have proof of payments.

They have been harrassing you.

Ignoring your letters.

The court will look on you favorably. Tell them if they don't take you to court, you'll be taking them to court and doing them under the following:

Unlawful Penalty Charges

Non-Compliance with Data Protection Act 1997

Protection from Harassement Act (1997) (section2)

Administration of Justice Act (1970) (section 40)

Telecommunications Act 1984

Jakena

Have a read of this thread, theres some helpful info for you there:)

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/55178-letter-capquest.html

good luck