I had been given a PCN by Park Watch / Defence Systems in June for wheels over the line in a parking bay - £50 going to £100 if appeal fails. I appealed to POPLA, it was rejected so £100 charge stood. I paid £100 in october but they referred my case to Debt Recovery plus because they said the payment was late. The charge is now £160!! Even though I've paid £100...don't understand. I've emailed them and spoken to them and they're just bullying me and threatenign court action. I can't sleep with worry but I've paid £100 after being threatened and now they want more!! Surely this is not right in the eyes of the law??? I've seen some other threads about court summons and wondered the outcomes.

Hi all newbie here recently joined to get more help and info regarding capital resolve

Hello all, as the title of my post suggests, I'm new here I have lurked in some of the other advice forums and my,oh, my, what a wealth of information. I think I am going to stick around. For those of us in the UK, have a great weekend and mind the snow.

Hello all, Thanks for taking the time to read my thread. My story is no doubt similar to many past and present, i am looking to now take control of my life and debt! After a period of tough times and illness i have started work/business again and on the road to mental well being. Background... 40k unsecured debt Self employed / Partner employed Discussed circumstances with Payplan and they recommend debt management plan or IVA I am concerned over IVA and the equity clause at year 4 as this is our nest egg, i have no pension and the property is in my spouses name but they tell me if they can prove i contribute to mortgage they could activate this clause. Given the above i am looking towards DMP which i am happy to undertake myself hopefully with guidance from more experienced folk. Our joint income at present covers households etc but only a minimum token payment off creditors which i am making. This will improve as i bring in more work/business and see no benefit in IVA and the negative stigma that could be viewed by being on the register trying to win contracts or endorsements by trading standards. I am seeking advice on 1/ DIY DMP or IVA is my thinking right? 2/ Next steps to formalize one of the above Many thanks in advance.

Hi all and thank you for allowing me to join the group. I would appreciate any advice and help you can offer me. I have started the process of attempting to claim back for miss-sold ppi on two old personal loans with Halifax both for small amounts £1,000 and both taken over a repayment plan of 24 months. I have received correspondence from the Halifax clearly showing both loan agreement account numbers at the top of the letter. Sorry I should also state both loans were back in the early 90's. From the correspondence it appears that they are aware that we were miss-sold PPI or so it appears from the correspondence and have asked for clarification on how we feel we were miss-sold the insurance. They have also provided me with quite a lengthy questionnaire to complete which I have done to the best of my ability and I have also enclosed a short written chronology of events which I believe lead to the miss-selling of the policy. So guys my question is this. It appears that the Halifax still have details of the loans we took out back in the early 90's as they have provided evidence of the 2 account numbers for the loans which leads me to believe they are just seeking clarification from us as how it was miss-sold but as this is the first time I have ever done this, am I fighting a losing battle considering the time that has passed Michelle x

Hi All Newbie here, hoping someone can point me in the right direction please. Just over 10 years ago I lost my dad to dementia, just over 5 years ago sadly he died, unfortunately he wasn't insured or had any saving it was down to me to find the money for his funeral not having much money myself I had to rob Peter to pay Paul so too speak a lot of my own bills got missed in order to find the money needed. Long story short I ended up defaulting on my very catalogue account, they quickly sold it on to I think at the time it was Reston's, they gave up after a couple of letters then Moorcroft took over again gave up after a couple of letters then Lowell took over with letter after letter they even sent a 50% reduction letter at 1 point unfortunately I buried my head in the sand and hoped it would just go away as I was in a bad place at the time after suffering ill health myself, no excuse I know. Eventually this year I finally got myself together and started looking around the web to see if I could find some help after doing some reading on various sites it all pointed to sending lowell a CCA letter by post which I did, after approximately 6 weeks I got an email from a company called Lucas Credit Services Ltd I thought it was time to join a site and seek help properly, the letter says :- Dear xxxxx Our Ref: xxxxx Client Ref: xxxxx Outstanding Balance: £4,724.88 We refer to your recent contact with our client Lowell. We have attached herewith a copy of your Credit Agreement and Statement of Account as per your request. Please note your agreement has been terminated and the outstanding balance of your account stands at £4724.88. Please telephone this office on xxxx xxxxx on receipt of this email to discuss the matter further. If we do not hear from you within the next 7 days, we are instructed by our client to refer this matter to their solicitors, Cohen Cramer Ltd to commence legal action. We look forward to hearing from you. Your sincerely Attached to the email was a statement, an agreement and a blank agreement for some reason. I joined Experian yesterday to check my credit file on there it says I have 1 negative and it was Lowell that had recorded the default on the 26/02/2014 with a default balance of £4022 on the statement it says sold balance £4724.88. now I'm wondering what I have to do next as it says never ring these people. Hope this is enough information and that someone can help me please, thanks in advance clock

Hi, I have finally checked my credit file and I have 2 defaults from PD loans and 1 from Lloyds. Cash on Go ( I think may be Satsuma) - £410 ( Initially borrowed £200) Provident ( I think may be Peachy) - £755 ( Initially borrowed £400) and Lloyds £410 ( 100% unplanned overdraft charges that have accumulated.My account was a basic account with no OD facility.) United Kash have been contacting me for the Satsuma loan but from reading on here, I have not replied or answered the phone. As they are defaulted what can I do now? Just ignore them? There is a very slim chance that I could possibly borrow the money from a family member to pay them all off but I don't know how to start as they are now in default? Any help appreciated! Thank you!

Hi New to the forum but have reading through a lot of related threads and now i'm a little confused as what action to take (if any next). I have spend the last couple of years fixing my shambolic credit history, got myself into a right state back in 2010/2011 with debt totalling around £12k with various creditors, defaulted on everything and avoided by ignoring letters/moving, etc. Over the last 2 years I have been tackling them one by one arranging settlements and have a single creditor left totalling just over £4k. This debt is related to a Bill of Sale Agreement for car finance. I paid the agreed amount for nearly 2 years of the 3 year agreement before I defaulted. They ended up taking the vehicle and sold it at auction. I later found out that I could of contested them doing this since no Bill of Sale stamped by the court was produced. They also never provided me with an auction receipt to prove the amount the car was sold for. This was back in 2010/2011 but can't remember the exact dates. Fast forward to now i'm being chased by a DCA to pay the outstanding amount. They have sent a few letters which I have ignored up until now, letter essentially reads that if I do not contact them in 28 days then my account will be reviewed for legal action. Previous letters up until this have all been very nice. Considering the age of the debt, it's very close to being statue barred which could be why they are now looking at escalating. I have a default registered on my credit file from the DCA (not the creditor) dated 05/2011. I don't have any paperwork relating to the agreement or statement of the account so can't check if this date is true. So far I have not responded to any letters but I did call them around 6 months ago and tried to offer a settlement. They said they would call me back if they accept the offer but never did, nor have they attempted any other phone calls in attempt to recover. No subsequent letters have been in response from the phone call. So a few questions on this if I may:- 1) (In relation to SB) Have a shot myself in the foot by offering them a settlement over the phone? Haven't confirmed anything in writing. 2) What should be my next action? Continue to ignore or send a prove-it letter or CCA request? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Hello, I'm a newbie here and also a foreigner. My knowledge of dealing with debt in UK is limited. Please, help. My mother became terminally ill in 2010 and died shortly after. During her sickness I had to travel to the country my mother lived in and pay significant medical bills. I used all my credit cards to the limit and started to apply to payday loans. At the moment I have bad credit history and rely on payday loans to pay my day-to-day expenses. Even my salary is pretty good every month I struggle. As the situation is very unpleasant I became a shopaholic as well and instead of reducing my loans spent money on unnecessary goods. I think I had long enough buried my head in the sand and want to finish this debt spiral. My current credit cards are having very small limits £500-1000 and close to the limits but don't have any arrears, I have two overdrafts for £1500 with HSBC and 2370 incl. 250 emergency borrowing with Barclays and used to the limit just a days after payday as as my earning go to pay short-term loans. I had a loan from my son to repay payday loans but it wasn't enough at the time and after few month I ended up having several payday loans again. At the moment I have myjar -£1700 with an interest, 2 loans from Satsuma - £1100 each plus interest, one is half-way through, another just taken last month, Ferratum - £540, unclebuck - £450 plus interest, wagedayadvance -£930 due tomorrow, quickquid - £850 plus interest. 4 payday loans are due tomorrow with the total amount of the repayment of £2000. I can't pay them as I don't have enough money on my account. I tried to cancel CPAs but HSBC refused to do so. They cancelled my debit card instead. I wrote to all of my payday lenders. Only unclebuck came back so far with the request to discuss my budget on the phone. I refused to talk on phone. Also two credit cards from my past are sold to DCAs. After reading this forum I realised that I'm paying PRA Group and 1st credit without any reason as they probably are unenforceable as they are defaulted many years ago. And even I pay 1st credit every month they post a default on my credit card. I plan to set up repayment plans with each payday loan company and may be send them letter about irresponsible lending. What are my first steps? Thanks in advance, Angelica

Help getting Catalogue charges reclaimed I have accounts with Studio and also Fashion world the admin charges from Studio £28 plus £12 are crazy around the same for Fashion world been paying these for near on ten years these accounts will never go down been to CAB who advised me to write asking for my credit contract and also payment history and in closed a £1cheque for each account have have them 40 days to respond what next? I would be very great full of any thoughts thanks Mike really struggling to pay off this account keeps getting higher I have never seen a credit contract and never signed anything same with my other account Fashion world exactly same thing never knew this was as bad as it was as my wife looks after these accounts been paying these near on 10 years now I went to see the local CAB they advised my all these fees except the default fees are reclaim able and write and ask for your credit agreement enclose £1 cheque also ask for all you statements under the protection act letters went off today just a waiting game now could do with a bit of advice really don't know what I can ask for back and how to do it advice would be very welcome thanks Mike

Hi I am new to the forum but have been looking at similar posts etc to try and get my head around my situation etc. This site is incredible and has given me the confidence to fight my alleged debts. I entered a DMP in 2004 as got into financial difficulty due to numerous factors. all the debts were obviously taken out prior to this probably late 1990s or early 2000s at the latest. I have dumped the DMP as 12 years on nothing seems to have changed. Was originally told that I would be debt free in 6 years but that's another story. I have SAR'd the DMP company. I am sending CCA requests for any credit card/loan debt. Also have a overdraft debt with Lloyds - sending then a SAR. List of debts below any advice greatly accepted. All below defaulted 2004 M and S Loan now Robway £8k Halifax CC now Cabot £4.5k Lloyds CC now PRA Group £4k MBNA CC now Link £4k Barclay Card (EGG) CC now Cabot £3k Barclay Card (Morgan Stanley) now Link £2 Capital One CC now Lowell £2k Lloyds Loan now Cabot £580 Lloyds Loan now Apex £400. Also my DMP provider put my Lloyd's current account/overdraft on the DMP without informing first saying because I had debts with Lloyds on the DMP then I couldnt bank with them - that was in 2007. I am more than capable of handling the CCA requests etc but will probably need some help with checking the agreements when they come back. Also seems like the DCA's are escalating a lot to court these days. Again I will have no issue defending any claim that can be defended with some assistance if possible. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'd appreciate any help/advice about my situation and what I should do next. I got into a lot of debt back in 2006. I have 10 debts ranging from £250 to £12k. Around £42k in total. When I got into this debt I panicked slightly and took out a debt management plan with a fee paying company, paying £310 a month, which includes a fee to them of approx £65. I have paid this payment faithfully for the last 10 years. The DMP company contacted me recently to raise their fees and it was at this point I realised why was I paying them £65 a month? I have now cancelled my denit payment with them and if necessary will deal with each company myself. I also received some PPI money back, around £6k and was going to utilise this to write Full and Final Payments letters to some or all of the companies I owe money too. My questions are, is this the best way for me to proceed or should I be doing something else ? Thanks in advance

hi cag, just signed up, looking for advice and offering it aswell.

Hello I had a few letters from bw legal saying I had until 6th August to resolve outstanding parking pcn charges before court action, I've been away for a few days and phoned them today to sort it (defend) and they said they have already issued court proceedings on 2nd August! Ten mins later I've received court claim papers. The amount they are claiming is £1950 for 19 alleged offences. There is no way I've parked on their car park and not paid 19 times and I've not had loads of letters either. Some dates go back to 2013 Is it too late to defend this now? I'm totally new to this forum and don't understand a lot of the jargon and I'm on my phone so limited access. If anyone can please give me any advice I'd really appreciate it. I feel sick with worry.

Hi everyone. I am a newbie to CAG. So I need to read through everything first before I know where to post, but in the meantime, can someone tell me if 1st Stop is a legitimate Loan Company?

Hello there. I have been served an N1 claim form from a dodgy builder I sacked for substandard work. The Statement of truth has been filled in by an unknown party ( Name printed and signed) but they have not stated who they are. They are NOT the claimants solicitor as he doesn't have one. Neither Claimant ,Litigation friend or Legal representative has been selected from the options and neither has the name of firm or position held . It seems clear to me that the statement of truth is not binding and the form should not have proceeded through the court system with this error. I am in court this Wednesday the 20th April. The question is - Is this claim form legally binding . What is my legal position. Is the claim void in its current state. Thank you.

Hello all, I apologise for what I can see is yet another post regarding these people. I am hoping someone can help me in this matter, I write on behalf of my son. A long story short..... Here goes. October 2015 my sons friend rang and offered him a complimentary membership to the local exercise4less gym. A brief chat and five minutes later my son comes in the room looking puzzled. He asks me.. Mum, why on earth did i give them my card details? I reply, you don't if its complimentary, basically Son I think you've been signed up for a paying membership. He rings his friend straight back and says sorry man Im not up for that, he says no problem ill get my manager to ring you. She/he rings back and says no problem its sorted. He receives an email on 14/10/15 saying in brief....... Mr.... Your membership was processed in error, I shall send down an email to remove/cancel, ( can't recall what word they used), fine he says great thank you. I told my son to check his bank and cancel any DD that was there, he said there isn't one set up mum so can't. We think things are ok, how wrong. January 2016 arrives and my son finds that they have taken £9.99 from his bank using his card. He goes straight to bank, they cancel his DD which has appeared suddenly and also cancel his current bank card. 12th February 2016 he receives a text message from xercise4less tell him to ring to reinstate the DD or he will be charged. He replied to the original email which states it was processed in error, asking them to rectify it. Following day, 13th he gets a letter from Harlands saying this..... Your bank has advised us that your DD instruction has been cancelled. The terms of you membership agreement mean that you have to repay all your instalments by DD. Therefore you must call HARLANDS helpline immediately to reinstate your DD. If you do not call us by 28th Feb you will be charged an administration fee. He tried to ring them on Friday, but there was no answer. He signed no paperwork, and has an email stating that it was processed in error in October 2015. They took money they shouldn't have done. He let this slide due to the sad circumstance that the friend whom initially rang him was killed in a hit and run beginning of January, so felt it hard to deal with asking for his money back. As a parent I always give my kids the tools they need to progress in matters of adult life but all I can do when I don't have the tools or any answers is look to others. So any help, advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. Swiftvalley16

Hi Thanks for letting me join this forum. I have a wee ongoing issue with a company called Debit Finance Collections. My husband joined a gym just over 12 months ago and signed a contract and DD agreement with DFC. Due to work commitments he is no longer able to use the gym. I e-mailed them at the beginning of the year to give them a months notice for cancellation as stated in the contract. The terms of the contract are worded - [*]I have received details of the subscription packages on offer I am committing to a minimum period of 12 months This suggests to me that after 12 months we can cancel the contract with a months notice. Following this e-mail I received a reply from DFC the reply was as follows - Dear Mr Sazno Thank you for your recent correspondence, the contents of which have been noted on file. We can confirm that you are able to cancel once 12 months have been completed however, this is subject to a termination payment. Please advise if you would like to go ahead with this option. If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to contact us either via email or by telephone on 01908 422007. Kind regards I replied to this e-mail saying I did not agree and will not be paying a cancellation fee etc etc. I received an automated reply to say they would reply with in 10 working days. It has now been over 10 working days and I have not heard anything from them. The phone number provided does not work. I have allowed Febs payment to come out of the account but want to go ahead and cancel DD but don't want any threatening letters from this company. Just wondered if there was anyway to approach this. Thanks Sazno

My name is James and I just thought that I would say hello to everyone and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Just to give you some background into who I am; at present I am actually a complaint handler for a company that sold PPI policies and prior to this I was a Motor Insurance claims handler (before the dreaded redundancy came along). If I can, I will try and help anyone that has a problem with the 2 things that I am fairly knowledgeable in. Just contact me or point me to a thread and I will see what I can do to help (not making any promises though) Nice to be here, James

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum having been recommended by a mate - I have several outstanding debts dating back to pre-2007 and have been in a DMP since 2008/9 paying £100 a month that is distributed to ten different DCAs. I have recently lost my job and in my 60s... I need to know how I can clear these debts as it is affecting my health and preventing me from getting a new job - because of the industry I work in. I have a very small pension and no other income so am now struggling to even pay the £100 per month. The debts are totalling roughly £40k and I am now at my wits end. My friend has suggested I send CCA letters to all of the DCAs which I am going to do this weekend. I'm also going to read as much as I can on these forums to 'educate' my self a bit more but would be grateful for any advice or suggestions. Thank you

I currently have two complaints with the FOS, both have been upheld and we're at the arguing about redress stage. On both I have asked for bank charges, etc to be returned if they were incurred as a result of being without the PPI monies. I should add the bank charges could be a significant amount. On the first loan ppi, the adjudicator found against me, that the bank's offer of ppi repayments plus 8% interest was fair. I have appealed this decision to the ombudsman proper. They state that the all charges on the LOAN account have been returned, whereas I argue that the money to pay the PPI was originating in my current account and thus it should be IT that is restructured rather than the loan account, with the repayment of charges, etc. Similarly on the second mortgage ppi (this time the payments were directly taken from my current account). the (different)adjudicator has asked me for my expectations with regard to redress. I stated the same, that since the payments were taken directly from my current account, I expected it to be restructured with the return of any charges incurred as a result of being without the PPI monies, etc etc. to which she replied " I will let be taking the information you have sent me into consideration as I investigate your complaint. I will need to look into what you have told me about your current account. This is not something that is generally considered when refunds are calculated. You say in your email that this would be “as per [our] guidelines” but this would not be covered by our standard guidelines to businesses. We would need to see an exceptionally clear link between the sale of the PPI policy in question, and the fees and charges on the account, to say that the business should consider these costs. I will need to consider the specific circumstances of your complaint to see if that would apply here. I will let you know if I need any further information. I do not know at this time how long my investigation will take but I will keep you updated." What are people's general thoughts/experiences with the FOS with regard to charges incurred as a result of being without PPI monies? Are people generally getting them or not?

Evening all I would like some advice on 2 debt's i have listed on my credit report,both are a couple of years old. One is with santander for around £1500 The other is with link financial (was a barclaycard) for nearly £7000. I dont hear from santander as i dont think they have my current address! and link financial only contact me by e-mail asking me to call them urgently. I would like to get rid of these debts and wondered what the best solution is?? have read about asking for credit agreements,is this something i should do? or am i better off offering a settlement figure? Thanks Naylz

Hi there in need of some advice I started working for an aerial & satellite company I was totally mis-sold the job at a open day reluctantly I got offered a trainee role I was a bit in two minds as I had no experience in the field so I went along to my induction (if you can call it that) upon arrival I was greeted with chaos and the pa wasn't even ready so upon dumping piles of paperwork in front of me nothing was explainec apart from sign this sign that, I did skip read most things but she seemed to not know how to explain things clear anyway my health and safety training was to sit in front of a computer to watch a poor h&s PowerPoint presentation I left knowing the following day I was due to start a basic aerial course Upon arriving at the hotel the room wasn't even paid for so straight away that was strike 2 for me of how unorganised this company was, after 1 day of the course and speaking to current employees and hearing how bad the company actually was to work for after being sold it was amazing at the open day I decided there and then to leave after only 5hrs I explained to them job wasn't for me Anyway there now want me to pay back training course and hotel The hotel was booked at room rate it was shared with another employee and I didn't even sleep in it It was used by the employee for the duration of course and the course on the official website can be booked by the company for 220 yet they think I owe them 550 for course and hotel I'm after some advice what to reply I think it's unreasonable apparently I signed a form to say I would pay it back I don't remember this as my induction was so poor Help needed please Thank you

Hello I have may times previously read posts from this forum but never felt I had any authority, experience or knowledge to write and place a post before now. It has taken me a while to rebuild my confidence, self esteem and self worth after one of the most stressful periods of my life. As a very proud, hard working person throughout the times of my troubles I did not ever seek help until it became a necessity legally and neither did I claim from the state or share my problems with my family. I am only telling you this so you can understand the type of person I am and whether this was the right or wrong thing to do is now irrelevant as what is done, is done. What I can say is that I did what was right for me but if I was to advise anyone else I would immediately and without hesitation tell that person to seek advice and help. My troubles stared in 2004 after my business collapsed partly through my own stupidity, partly because I was ill and partly because of identity theft. The end result was I faced certain bankruptcy unless I could pull together £5,500 within 28 days. Everyone who has been in debt, has debt or in financial trouble knows that this is near on impossible. What made my situation worse, is that I was being made bankrupt over a fine imposed on me by a third party that was not a government official but by a membership association that I was not even a member of! I tried to resolve the issues myself without involving a solicitor because frankly, I had no money to pay for one. I was ashamed of my predicament and ashamed that I had not prevented the situation. By not seeking proper legal advice I made a bad situation worse. Despite being in court and the 'other side' admitting to having no contract or liability to impose a fine, in a moment of sheer panic, stress and if I am honest being bullied by the 'other sides' solicitor I made the fundamental error of agreeing to pay the debt in instalments in a futile attempt to avoid bankruptcy. The District Judge awarded the 'other side' and I was made bankrupt. It was a devastating blow. I don't have the words to express how I felt that day or for the few days to come but I did phone round every solicitor in the google list that specialised in bankruptcy and not one offered me any help or were prepared to fight my corner because I had made an offer to pay in the past. The fact that this company had absolutely NO jurisdiction to fine me meant nothing. I simply had to accept the bankruptcy and face my car being taken, the humiliation of my home being repossessed and my lifestyle scrutinised. It was worse than horrific. I am quite a determined individual and in the normal course of things can handle stress not too badly and through work I have learnt to thrive on it and use stress as a motivator. After 3 days of complete despair, crying and wanting to kill myself I finally picked myself up to face things. I met with the official handling my bankruptcy and whilst even she was shocked at the why, the evidence and the amount being demanded by the 'other side' which had now increased to over £15,000 and counting as that figure did not include their legal fees nonetheless, the official procedure of freezing and claiming my assets begun. Throughout this painfully shameful & hideous process I questioned whether there was any way around the bankruptcy and losing my assets and more importantly my home. I was given a leaflet. I learnt annulment was the only way. In this department, I found no end of solicitors who would gladly prepare my case once I had paid their fees and the debt in full up front. Obviously, being made bankrupt I was not able to borrow any money to save my skin and lets be honest, if I could have borrowed any money I would have done it before the bankruptcy, I was in a predicament but my determination had kicked in. I chose a solicitor, informed him that I would be seeking an annulment and would have the funds to cover his initial fee in his account by the end of the week. My solicitor had explained that it would take a couple of weeks before the cash was needed to settle ALL debts I owed was required so I had a little time. A fortnight to be precise to find in excess of £25,000. When you are made bankrupt, in order to annul your bankruptcy ALL your creditors (not just the person who made you bankrupt) MUST be paid off in full before it goes before a Judge. I am pleased to say I stopped my house from being repossessed, I still have my car and my bankruptcy was annulled because I raised the money to pay it off. Throughout my ordeal, I learnt a very painful lesson which was get the facts clear, find out the law and seek advice before opening my mouth. I now strive to pass that lesson on to try and help others avoid my predicament.

Just a quick hi, I've loitered on this site for far too long so thought it was time to join up, take part and hopefully get some great advice on my "situation" which I'm going to post about in the relevant section Hope to be an active member on here and share some of my past experiences!