We are in a similar position although not to the same extent. I would recommend the CCCS. Dont do it over the phone, ask for a face to face meeting. You may have to travel a way to the nearest office but it was well worth it for us. They fill in all the income/expenditure sheets for you. they have a set rule as to how much you should have each week for food/bills/leisure etc. They give you a sheet showing what payments to offer to each creditor and also letter templates to send to them. Just take everything to show them, they are much more experienced than the CAB. Good luck.

What happens when, in a case such as mine, the Halifax havn't met the deadlines at all. Im sending the correct letters as per the templates but as I have no statements I still dont know how much my claim will be. Therefore my query is, after I have sent the letters, informed the information commisioner and started court action, how do I get my money. I seem to be doing all I should and yet I am no nearer.

I sent myine off of 6th Feb and still no statements. I have followed it up with the letter of none compliance and the 7 days given to respond to that has gone by. I have made several phone calls and told them I am going to take court action and report them to the information comissioner but its making no difference. I spoke to 3 different people in the customer relations department yesterday and they all told me the same thing. They are so inundated with requests that they dont have a hope of keeping to the timescale and that even if I report it I wont get my statements any faster. As one of them told me ' We are just having to take the hit, if we get reported, so be it.' One of them was extremely nice and said she would personally see that they were sent out yesterday but she couldnt do it in time for me to get them today. She said they should arrive Saturday. She also said that when I send in my next letter with my claim it will take far longer than the 14 days they are allowed to deal with it and that even those that go to court are going to have to wait as the backlog is increasing every day. She was ever so nice and said the situation was terrible but that the days of them actioning things quickly are long gone.

Thank you Hope. At the moment we dont know that they will try to put a charge on the house but I didnt know what the implications were. As someone explained it to me it just meant that when you sell they will get repaid, as in like a secured loan. Are you saying they can force the sale? The house is jointly owned but there are no dependant children now. I am waiting for statements from the Halifax so I can reclaim my bank charges but I havnt done anything about the credit card charges yet. obviously

We owe a considerable sum of money at the moment and we have been to the CCCS and have a payment plan and so are making small payments to each creditor. Our problem is that we owe the Halifax the bulk of it. I have a credit card and my partner has a credit card and a loan with them. Paying off the amount set down by the CCCS it would take years to pay the debt back. we are hopeful that our finances will improve in time so that we can begin to pay a more substantial amount. However, the counsellor at the CCCS said that it may happen that the Halifax wont accept the payments long term (they have agreed them for 6 months) and so may choose to put a charge on our house. Can anyone tell me what effect having a charge on the house will have? One person I spoke to said we would be better selling up than letting that happen but I would welcome a more experienced opinion. Thank you.

Hi Bigmac. Thanks for the reply. The thing that confuses me though is, just what have I to gain by taking them to court for non-compliance. will it make things any faster or help me in any other way. Sorry to sound dumb!

Just a thought, reading through some of the latest postings Im getting the impression that as they are so overworked the timescales are just out of the window and the days of things being actioned on time are gone. I have just read the thread about the baliffs working so far behind that even they are not a threat to the Halifax. Is it now a case of whatever you do you have to go with the flow?

IM GETTING REALLY WORRIED NOW. Im beginning to lose heart and think that its just not going to happen for me. I sent off for my statements 6th Feb. Waited the 40 days. I did call them on 19th March but was told they considered the 40th day to be 20th march and that I would have my statements by 22nd at latest. They never arrived so I sent the letter of non-compliance. I have now waited the 7 days but still got no statements. I rang them today but could not get through to customer relations. Tried another number who told me to kep trying. When I explained the problem she said they were very busy but all I could do was keep trying. I asked for a different number to try but was told she had no numbers (even though she had been trying to put me through) and that she could only contact them through email. The number I did have for the Data control department now has an answering machine saying they cannot take cals due to demand but if I leave a number they will contact me. I have done this four times but had no response. So today, I told her that I was reporting to the information comissioner tomorrow and would also start court action. She more or less told me it would make no difference as so many were reporting it another one means nothing. She told me that starting court action would not speed things up and that it will cost me money (which I know I can claim back) but that I may as well save my money and just sit back and wait for the statements as everyone else has to. She did type an email message to the data protection team telling them that if they didnt call me today I would begin court action tomorrow. She took all the details and read it all back to me after she had typed it so I do believe she did it. However still no phone call. Do I sit and wait or do I start court action. I dont really want to have to pay out for court action at the moment especially if its not going to speed things up, but I will if its necessary. opinions on what to do would be appreciated, thanks

Thank you sea-sidelady. But, all the posters seem to state over and over again how important it is to stick to the timescales. If I go to court to get the statements will it not delay things andadd ages to the timescale. Im trying to figure out if it would be just as simple to give them more time to send the statements. What will the courts do if I do go to court?

Hi again, you guys are probably sick of seeing this thread being bumped but I am still concerned and trying to get an answer on a couple of points. Its now 4 days since I sent off my letter of non compliance so in a few days the time for them to act will have passed. I still have no statements after sending off my SAR on Feb 7th. I had rang the Halifax and were told they were due out and would be with me by March 22nd. If i dont get my statements at the ens of the 7 day period what will my next step be. I know it says on the letter that I will take court action because they have not complied with my SAR but how does everything go after that. Im getting a bit worried as it strays from the path set down to follow and sort of changes all the time scales etc. I would appreciate some advice on this. Thank you so much.

Sorry to bump this again but Im still hoping somewone can help with the points raised in 'post number 10'. Many thanks

Bump!

I have sent the letter saying if I dont get the statements within the next 7 days I will report it to the commissioner and also start court action. What happens if it comes to this and they dont send the statements. I expect the commissioner will slap their hands but it dosnt get me my money back. If it goes to court action will it not delay my claim even further as until I have the statements i dont even know how much I am claiming. I am sticking to the timescales and using the letter template but Im feeling no further on after nearly 8 weeks. I would love to hear from anyone else who has got to the stage of sending the letter of non compliance. Did it help? How did you go on?

Still had no statements and its now day 48. I have sent off my letter of non compliance. However I dont understand whats going to happen if they ignore that or the statements dont arrive within the next 7 days. Can anyone advise please if this has happened to you. Thanks:confused:

Rang them on Monday. Spoke to a really nice lady who said they were snowed under but that my statements had been ordered and they had me down for them to go out by the 20th. She said I would get them 21st or 22nd. Still not arrived so I rang them today. Now its an answering machine saying 'sorry, we are unable to take your call. There is a delay with SARs but you should recieve them soon' If they dont arrive tomorrow I have my follow up letter ready to send. I dont really understand though, the letter says I will complain to the commissioner and begin court action. Im confused by this as what would the court action be and would this not delay my claim. Its so frustrating as I cant do anything until I know what they actually owe me.

I used to work for the Royal Mail. When a recorded delivery goes to a hous it 'should' be signed for. However when the postie is delivering to a big company where they get dozens of letters a day (Halifax are probably getting hundreds a day) each letter cant be signed for individually so they have large sheets on which they stick all the stickers and then the company just sign it once. therefore your letter dosn't have a seperate signature but it should still be scanned to show delivery.

Well, still no statements. Monday will be day 40 although a few days ago I did recieve an acknowledgement letter saying I will get my statements within the next 8 weeks!!!!! If I dont get them in tomorrows post then i will ring them. Which number is best to call them on please? I havent had much luck on the phones to them recently. Thank you all for the continued help and support.

I only recieved my letter acknowledging my SAR yesterday. It will be the 40th day on Monday. I sent my request on the 8th Feb. They are so busy and I think its a case of whos desk your request lands on as to how fast you get your statements. I wouldnt panic yet.

Do you know which number you used smoorach? I have quite a few different ones.

Thank you for that link. Very useful. I am now at 32 days since I sent my SAR and have heard absolutly nopthing yet. Can anyone suggest the best number to call to give them a nudge. The last time I called a number I read on here I got a snotty woman who demanded I tell her where I got her number from and told me she dosnt even deal with SARs. Can anyone recommend a number they have used for the same reason. Thanks.

When you send a letter recorded delivery it should show signed for on the Royal Mail website. However I know from working there that when recordeds are sent to a company where there are a lot of recordeds on the same day the stickers are all put on one sheet and the sheet is just signed for once. There would be far too many for them all to be individually signed for. That may be why it does not show on the website.

Thank you for the reply. I am not over limit on the account but I do have a credit card with arrears and I wondered if they could take it for that.

Hi all Can someone please clarify a small detail for me please. I read on here that when you have a debt with the Halifax they can keep your claim and delete it from your debt rather than paying you out. BUT- when I am reading the 'instructions for claiming' page it does say 'Things to remember' If you have a debt with them ask to be paid by cheque so they cant keep it. This is in the part of the instructions where you add the 8% if you have to proceed to the court stage. So my question is, do you ask for a cheque only id its going to court or are you in your rights to ask to be paid by cheque anyway. Thank you

I also have been waiting 28 days for my statements to arrive. I was getting worried as some people seemed to get letters saying thier request was being dealt with before the statements were actually sent out. I have had no response at all. I did ring a number that I got from one of the threads saying that the lady was very helpful. However when I called her to ask how my SAR was coming along she was not happy that I had dialled her direct line and asked where I had got her number from. She then told me that she couldnt help and gavce me anlther number to call. I rang that and got a guy who then put me through the security questions. I have 2 accounts witht he Halifax and one of the last questions was 'What was the last transaction on this account' By mistake I gave him a direct debit tranasction from the wrong account number. Even though I told him that I had quoted from the wrong account and gave him the correct transaction detail he told me that I had failed security and would not help me. He told me to go to my local branch who would reset my security. I went along to the branch and was told that the person who could do it was in a meeting and I would need to come back as no-one else could help. I was also told that they did not need to fail me on the security for the reason given and that the guy on the phone was being a jobsworth. So today I have been back to the branch to get my security reset, only to be told (by the same person I spoke to a few days ago) 'Sorry, we cant reset security here, you have to go to a main branch' When I told him that I had been in previously and had been told to come back he asked who I had been talking to as I had abviously been given incorrect information. When i told him that it was in fact him he remembered the conversation but wasnt even embarrassed. He just said 'Whoops, i was wrong. sorry' Oh well, thats alright then!

We have had the same problem. I complained and was told by the citizens advice that they are not allowed to call you after 9pm and that they could only make 5 calls a day, any more was harrasment.