Luckily I have an account with the Natwest that when this whole situation started, I had my tax credits etc paid into. I found another finance sheet that I have completed and I will take into branch tomorrow. I know that their next step is to offer me a managed loan, but from all the scary stories I see on here I won't be taking them up on their kind offer lol.

that form doesnt print out all the information just the last summing up. I am not sure what to do, please help

thanks for that I just feel like all control is slipping away from me at the moment. I have worked so hard to keep my head above water and now I just feel like I have let my family down and everyone else

i am not sure what that is sorry.

Will I be asked to pay alot do you think

I have done that, lol filling out the form just showed that I was £400 down each month lol.. oh how have I managed so far?? I shall go to the library and print it out if you think I should send it off? Liesa xx

Ok, I have been scared to post about this for a few reasons, I find it difficult to understand alot of the abbreviations used and quite a lot of the steps involved go over my head :( So I do hope you will be gentle with me I have had a loan with the hsbc for the past 2 years and renewed it last year after paying the initial loan back, I have a joint account and a graduate account with them also. Until September of this year I was in a high paid job and enjoying the benefits and able to afford all payments. I do not have credit card debts nor do i have debts with any other companies, having been made bankrupt 4 years ago. I lost my job along with countless others back at the end of September and since then I have not been able to afford to pay my loan payments I have missed 4 as of today for £378.00 each month. I am at the top of my overdraft on my graduate account for £500. But also my joint account is now overdrawn by £900 due to mounting bank charges £430 is charges they have put onto the account. I have told them that I am now unemployed and the only income we have is from Family tax credits(my husband has set up a small business in a market that is paying the rent on the unit at the moment but nothing else.. we hold out hope) and our rent is paid through the housing benefit. I had a phone call from them today about the loan saying that we are about to default and they needed me to write down all my income and expenditure on a form and take it into a bank branch, I explained I couldn't print at the moment and could they send one to me she said no and just handwrite it. I am not sure what to do she told me to make token payments to the bank and I said if I do that it will just be swallowed up by the bank charges and couldnt they stop them? No. Surprise surprise. She told me to put money into my savings account and they could transfer it to the loan account. I have tried to cancel the direct debit which goes from the graduate account to the loan account but it says I am not allowed to do this, as everytime it bounces they charge me. I know you all see the same old thing every day and I do appreciate that I could find the answer elsewhere, but I am frightened I am getting calls every day and I don't want to be in a position like I was 4 years ago, I have worked so hard to get out of that situation. thanks liesa xx

Ok, so long story cut very short hopefully. I have been claiming housing benefit whilst working for about a year, in September I notified council I had gone self employed. they said they would contact me about this. November 13th they suspended my claim and sent me a letter asking me to provide proof of income details and asked me to fill out form enclosed about my self employment details. No form was included. I phoned them and they said that they would have to send the form out. This was on the 20th. I explained that my situation was difficult I needed my housing benefit to pay the rent, they said that they couldnt help that and my claim would stay suspended until sorted. I told them that they had screwed up by not sending out the form, they did apologise and after i demanded to speak to a manager they emailed me the form. Form was duly received by them on the 24th and entered on system. I phoned them every other day to chase claim, they were nice enough to tell me they had 28 days to process. In amongst all of this I had changed banks and sent them a recorded delivery letter(as requested by them) notifying them of this. They recorded this on the system on the 4th November. I was under severe hardship as my business is new and I dont take any monies from it at the moment. I was using all of my tax credits just to pay rent. I have 4 children aswell to support. at the first week in december I was told my claim had been sent higher up as they had worked out the claim but due a 'computer fault'(their words not mine) it would not be entered on the system. So my claim was being delayed due a computer fault!! I was at wits end at this point and owed 800 quid. On the 8th december they finally told me that i was ok.. the money was being sent in two parts 600 in one go and the other 300 later on. i was over the moon it would be here in time for christmas. as i put the phone down i had a sickening thought, They will have sent it to the right bank?? i phoned back and was told no, it was going to the old one.. it takes up to 28 working days to be processed, it was 2 days short of that!! i broke down on the phone. not least because i had been told at least 4 times prior that they system had beenupdated. I asked them to stop the payment but it was too late. Any way I asked to put in a complaint about the whole process. I have found out today they are sending out an apology and an offer of compensation. My question in all of this is, if they are offering compensation without me asking.. if it is a negligble amount would I have grounds to take them to court for the emotional and physical strain this has put myself and my husband under? Liesa xxx

generally that wouldn't be a cost effective solution for her, she will probably send letters stating that you are liable, but as I have previously said she would have to prove that with a written agreement/contract. Don't fret, you have enough on your plate, draw up the letter and concentrate on yourself for a bit. liesa xx

I would make sure that is all it says and there is no reference to a legally binding agreement. I would also say that if it went through to a small claims court I would contest it in the first instance and show mitigating circumstances, you would have proof of your redundancy etc. Have you explained your circumstances to the owner? I would put it in writing that you are in no position to carry through with the purchase, and regretfully inform them that you will not be paying for the goods. Also if you wish you could ask if you could have your deposit back (cheeky but if your letter is heartfelt enough and the dress/es are easily sold you may be lucky) good luck and don't panic, they won't be able to do much if they don't have in writing your agreement to full and final payment regardless of circumstance. liesa x

did you sign anything? A deposit is purely that, an amount of money that is left, that is non refundable and usable against any restocking fee etc in the even the goods are no longer required.

i know that this is an old post but I felt it necessary to just comment briefly on this story. Why on earth do people feel its ok to try and get something for nothing. That is, IMHO, tantamount to theft. I know you won't regret it, but I do feel sorry for you. Liesa

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my message. I contacted my local Trading Standards and the lady helped me compose a letter explaining that we were not prepared to accept such a large discount on an already heavily discounted item. I reoffered the £100 and explained that I would have to instigate proceedings against her if she didnt pay in 14 days. I hope that this gets the desired result or I shall be contacting the small claims court(?) thanks once again and I shall keep you informed. liesa

Hello all, I do hope that you may be able to help me. I am a small retailer who sells fires and fireplaces on my local high street. We are having to move to smaller offices due to a downturn in sales and we have been selling off ex-display goods. One fireplace was sold to a lady who bought a fireplace and fire and we installed the goods. She paid a 50% deposit and is now refusing to pay the full outstanding balance of £700 because she says there is a hairline crack in the fireplace which wasn't there when she saw it in the shop. Now I know that she saw it when buying it and the engineer which fitted the fire saw it before it was fitted. When she called to complain I said we would send the engineer out to repair the crack, even though I knew that she had seen this crack before buying. She said it has been done well but is still slightly visable and wants a 50% reduction in the cost!! I think she is trying to pull a fast one and this is my livelyhood. I have offered her a £100 reduction as a gesture of goodwill but she has written back saying she wants a £350 reduction. I can't afford to do this. Am I entitled to take her to court? Its her word against mine at the end of the day and I am loathed to give into this bullying behaviour. Any advice will be gratefully received. liesa