Hi everyone I didn't know where to post this one, It's a long time since I've posted but I've come to pick your brains and ask some advice. As many of you whom already know me personally or are a part of my facebook I do a lot of work with and for Craig Busch ( The Lion Man ) Anyhow I've started a little project for the orphaned son of Dalu McNube who was killed by a White Tiger whilst working at Zion Wildlife Gardens ( after Craig was dismissed from there by his mother ). Over the past few weeks I've managed to form a small group of people from facebook and offline and we now call ourselves the friends of Darlington. Whilst the courts are dragging their heals in New Zealand over the death of Dalu we have decided to send what we call gifts of love to the home of Dalu's son in Africa. We had a huge sucess with members of the public donating items to send and we sent our first shipment by courier lastweek - school books, toothbrushes , toys , clothes , etc not just for Darlington but to benefit the whole community. The only problem we're facing is the high shipping costs because the mail system in this part of Africa is very unpredictable so everything we send needs to go by courier. I've come up with the idea of contacting companies to offer raffle prizes so we can do a huge raffle before we send our next shipment which will be around October time so it gets there in plenty of time for Christmas. Because this is not an actual charity I'm collecting for I'm coming up against a bit of a brick wall so if anyone can offer any tips or advice about the best way to go about this I would be eternally grateful. If anyone is unaware of the story of Dalu here is a link from a New Zealand newspaper from lastweek : http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3979...h-orphans-case

This is quite a long one so please bare with me. Any advice greatly appreciated. My sister withdrew her money from her local atm machine ( The Natwest ) even though she banks with the Halifax - it's just that this atm is closer to home for her. Anyway she withdrew an amount of cash with a reciept and crossed over the road, going into a shop to purchase some cat food. The shop owner noticed her £20 note was a fake and refused to take it. So in shock she went straight back to the Natwest ( she was a little shook up because she's never done anything illegal or out of sorts in her life and the shop owner telling her that the note was a fake embarrassed her tremendously ). Inside the Natwest she was told that because her actual account is with the Halifax that they would have to deal with it and was sent there ( myself I would have argued that the £20 note came out of their machine so was their problem ). At the Halifax my sister explained the situation and a member of staff checked all the notes , 3 x £20 notes were found to be fake so were taken off her and a slip was filled out to say they had recieved them. She was told that the money would be credited back into her account soon. Today she decided to chase it up because she had still had no funds credited to her account. The manager at the Halifax is now saying it is the responsibility of the Natwest to refund the money because it was their ATM it was withdrawn from and the Natwest are saying that it is the Halifax who should pay because it is their branch where the account is held. So in the meantime my sister is £60 out of pocket ( she lives on disability benefits so it is a large amount of her income ) and she was so upset on the telephone earlier she doesn't know which way to go with this. She's always trusted the banks and cannot belive that money in their machines was counterfeit. She feels like £60 as been stolen from her because of the ATM and that nobody cares. Is she within her rights to call the police, I'm asking this because she's worried this might happen at the ATM to other innocent people and she also would like some advice of what to do next. Any suggestions greatly appreciated

Hi Thanks for your reply but there's no details how to get in touch through the post which I'd really appreciate if anyone knows the address

Hi Does anyone have the postal address for Education Maintenance Allowance? I have looked everywhere for it to no avail. My daughter is still waiting for her contract to be sent out to her and whenever I phone the helpline I get a very unsatisfactory response ( usually that her claim as been processed and the contract is in the post ) this has been happening for ten weeks now. I would like to complain to someone but need an address to do it...any help would be much appreciated:)

Hi Mishel I know a few people on here who have had Studio investigated by FOS. When Studio wrote back with their final response to my complaint they enclosed a leaflet for FOS in with it incase I wanted to persue the matter further. So I'd look into again and perhaps give FOS a phone.

Recieved another letter from FOS today which is rather bewildering explaining that I am still awaiting allocation and that they have a really big back log at the moment. I'm not in a rush and I suppose Rome wasn't built in a day:) At least I'm in the system.

Just to let you all know that at long last I've had the result I've been striving for with these folks. Back in February a young girl called Kaylee at Littlewoods took over my case and kept me informed by telephone at regular intervals. On Tuesday I recieved a phone call with another full apology and was told that everything recorded on my credit file by Littlewoods or any debt collector regarding this alledged debt would now be deleted. I've left it a few days and low and behold all data as been totally removed. My best advice to anyone dealing with them is to keep at it ( send the letters, stick to your timescales and keep badgering them - it does eventually work) It's taken nearly two years of me being a pain in the Aris!

Thankyou all for your input and I have followed your thread sister and think in the light of everything you've done extremely well. I am going to see my friend armed with all the advice given and let it be her decision passing her onto national debtline's the best course of action. One thing which get's me really angry is this particular Bank when I've looked through some of the paperwork again the last two loans applied where done so knowing at that stage she was living solely on benefits because all benefits were being paid into that account.I know it's equally her fault but when is borrowing large amounts of money to people who clearly can't pay it back going to stop from the Banks?

Hi Write back and point out that there is no signed CCA for this account and as such this account is in dispute , something along these lines ( amend to suit your own circumstances) : ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE Dear Sir or Madam, Account number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I must admit that I am rather puzzled as to why this account has been passed to yourselves, as it is in dispute with the **original creditor/DCA** and has been since DATE 2007. Not only is this a breach of OFT collection guidelines, but also in breach of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Data Protection Act 1998 My last letter from **original creditor/DCA** was DATE and they informed me that there was no original signed credit agreement ( amment to suit ) As **original creditor/DCA** are now in default of my Consumer Credit Act request, OFT Collection Guidelines, I consider this to be in SERIOUS DISPUTE. As you are aware while my Consumer Credit Act request remains in default enforcement action is NOT permitted, under s127 this constitutes a complete defence at law. Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be seen as unlawful and harassment. Now I would respectfully suggest that this account is returned to the **original creditor/DCA** for resolution of these defaults and breaches, as **New DCA** cannot lawfully pursue any enforcement activities. If **New DCA** chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will initiate legal action and file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office, Financial Ombudsman Service and possible court action. After taking advice, I am of the opinion that any continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines I hope that this will not be necessary and an acceptable solution can be accomplished. I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you in writing. Yours faithfully

Thankyou both it's really put my mind at rest.

Thankyou so much Tom:D your advice has been invaluable x

Hi Tom and thanks for your reply, Unfortunately it looks like her unemployment is going to be long term. I've checked through all her statements and unbelievably there are no charges - she's managed to keep up all her monthly £300.00 payments on the loan until last month when she could cope no longer. What exactly is CCCS/Payplan ? to be honest she's only ever visited the CAB and they were not in the least bit helpful. Do you also happen to know how much it would cost for her to go bankrupt she's on income support and child tax credit at the moment so funds are tight and she's also worried that the recievers might take away her settee . I know it sounds silly but she's been going without food and essentials to try and pay all these back but couldn't cope.

OOoooo it would be so funny to see their faces if you did Alf:D Out of interest I had a reply from FOS today re my complaint about Studio back in January.The letter explained that due to the high number of complaints recieved by them about this particular company it was taking longer than anticipated to resolve the matter but that they would keep me updated and be in touch regularly with any updates. If you haven't complained to FOS already Alf it might be a good idea because it seems like they are taking an interest:)

A few months ago my friend popped over extremely depressed and eventually told me about her piling debts. Being a Cagger I offered her my advice and encouragement because she was going to pay some bloke £500.00 to make her bankrupt ( I don't know the ins and outs because it sounded fishy so I just said " No way" and planned to work through her debts one by one the Cag way.) A bit of info she is on benefits and that is her only income,she doesn't own her own property ( it's rented ) and doesn't have a car. Her debts are made up mainly from catalogues and store cards BUT she had a loan,credit card and overdraft from the same bank. The first thing we did was send CCA's to all the catalogues and because she said she has been paying the loan off forever but didn't know how much was still outstanding we sent a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to the Bank. Everything was going well until last week - she's recieved the normal letters from the catalogues with blank agreements etc. The problem is the amount of the loan is now £13,000.00 ( growing daily) - I was in shock and so was she!When I asked her why it was so high she told me the bank have just kept consolidating her borrowing and because she was in a pickle she went along and accepted it each time and signed whatever was put in front of her. We have written letters offering token payments to the Bank and she opened a different Bank account. All offers have been refused and now interest and charges are being applied daily. With it being such a large amount would Bankruptcy be the best option? I'm in a little bit over my head here and feel guilty telling her not to go bankrupt in the first place:sad: Any advice would be greatly appreciated

A few months ago my friend popped over extremely depressed and eventually told me about her piling debts. Being a Cagger I offered her my advice and encouragement because she was going to pay some bloke £500.00 to make her bankrupt ( I don't know the ins and outs because it sounded fishy so I just said " No way" and planned to work through her debts one by one the Cag way.) A bit of info she is on benefits and that is her only income,she doesn't own her own property ( it's rented ) and doesn't have a car. Her debts are made up mainly from catalogues and store cards BUT she had a loan,credit card and overdraft from the same bank. The first thing we did was send CCA's to all the catalogues and because she said she has been paying the loan off forever but didn't know how much was still outstanding we sent a SAR to the Bank. Everything was going well until last week - she's recieved the normal letters from the catalogues with blank agreements etc. The problem is the amount of the loan is now £13,000.00 ( growing daily) - I was in shock and so was she!When I asked her why it was so high she told me the bank have just kept consolidating her borrowing and because she was in a pickle she went along and accepted it each time and signed whatever was put in front of her. We have written letters offering token payments to the Bank and she opened a different Bank account. All offers have been refused and now interest and charges are being applied daily. With it being such a large amount would Bankruptcy be the best option? I'm in a little bit over my head here and feel guilty telling her not to go bankrupt in the first place:( Any advice would be greatly appreciated