Right, I understand better now. Can you please scan it up here, but first make sure you cover over personal details that could identify you. If that is not possible, can you please retype what the letter says.

Ok, fair enough, I see where you are coming from but generally, the folk in the bank forum inc mortgages will have a knowledge of the current legal issues. Are you clear on what to do now?

Hi I think you have 2 or 3 threads on the go regarding this issue which can make it difficult for you to keep a tab on the advice given to you. Here is my advice on another thread. I suggest you ask a team member to merge your threads which would help you keep everything relating to this issue in one place. Best wishes, kennythecelt

Its not a problem. You need to exhaust the complaints procedure with GMAC first. I think they will give you what you want during that process, and they have already made a first offer, take encouragement from that. This is just stalling. Keep copies of everything in case its needed for later, everything in writing. If you are unsucessful, then refer it to FOS. FOS will need to see you have exhausted complaint procedure. Court requires that you have exhausted all available routes. I don't see it getting to that stage. Be firm and remember you are in a strong position. The Supreme Court decision did not affect charges on mortgages, loans, credit cards, catalogues etc.

Thanks for posting this thread Martin! So, could this be a way to get bank charges back on the agenda after the Supreme Court decision, how do we do that?? Thoughts everyone, this could be very important. From paras 45 on (from the call for evidence) Evidence of Contingent, Ancillary and Non-transparent Charges 45. Informal discussions with the OFT and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) would indicate that a range of potential contingent/ancillary/non-transparent charges may arise in both financial, and non-financial sectors. 46. An illustrative list can be found below. (BUT- my words) Please note that only a court can decide whether terms fall within or outside the test of fairness under the Regulations, and whether, if the test applies, a term is fair, having regard to all the circumstances of the case. 15 Financial Sectors Insurance Sector – Exit Charges; Compulsory secondary expenses; Unexpected revision charges (mid-term). Investment Sector – Inactivity Fees (fees payable by customer if they do not carry out any transactions on an account during a 12 month period); Cash account charge. Banking Sector – Unauthorised overdraft charges; Transaction charges (e.g. bounced cheque); Copy of Statement fee. Mortgage Sector – Post completion administration fees (e.g. deeds production fee), mortgage exit administration fee, breakdown of account fee. Non Financial Sectors Gym Contracts (termination charges) – overly long termination notice periods and large termination charges. Book Clubs/Film Clubs – Buying less than minimum purchase commitments, returning items late. Car Clubs – Charges for dropping cars off in locations other than agreed. Car Hire - Penalty charges incurred for punctures, hire, theft of car, but not clearly defined in rental agreement where consumer’s liability starts. Service Contracts – Charges for fixing unexpected problems in home improvements, or charging extra for cases that are hard to fix, e.g. cars. Retirement Homes – Transfer fees or "exit fees" paid by consumers when they sell or rent their purpose built retirement apartment. 47. It is unlikely that this is an exhaustive list. The Government would welcome evidence on the type of charges - across all sectors – the level of which could be assessed for fairness if the price exemption provision was restricted in the manner described above. 16 6

Hello I am assuming this is a property you don't live in and wish to pursuing letting it vacant to the Council, so they can allocate it to someone. The short answer is yes, as Councils have been given the powers to do that. It depends if your Council has chosen to do it. Normally, Councils are keen to address a shortage of social rented housing in their area. I suggest you check with your local council- someone with responsibility for private housing or homelessness. Let us know how you get on please and best of luck. Kind regards, Kennythecelt

Gesture of goodwill was normal condition. You can safely hold out for the full amount and they know that- also claim interest. Was there PPI with it, if so, claim that back. Have a read of this and refer to it. Keep everything in writing and keep copies. http://www.gmacrfc.co.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,1061 Good luck!

Hi there I replied to this on your other post. They have made you an offer. Is it for a different mortgage with GMAC?

Here is some info on CERT and Housing Associations. http://www.housing.org.uk/default.aspx?tabid=997#CERT%20funding CERT Funding What is CERT? What measures can CERT fund? Who can CERT funding help? Innovative projects How can housing associations access CERT funds? What is CERT? The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) - came into force on the 1 April 2008 and will run until 2011. The programme sets an obligation on energy suppliers, with 50,000 or more domestic customers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, by promoting energy efficiency and micro renewables to domestic energy users. The Government has set a CERT target of 154 million tonnes (lifetime) of CO2 – this target is divided between the obligated suppliers according to the number of domestic customers they supply electricity and gas to. The Government estimates the new obligation will stimulate around £2.8 billion investment by energy suppliers in carbon reduction measures. In September 2008 the Government announced plans to legislate to require energy companies and generators to provide an additional £910 million towards the National Home Energy Saving Programme – it is expected that £560 million of this additional funding will be added to the existing CERT scheme – this equates to a 20% increase in the CERT target placed on obligated suppliers. CERT replaces the old Energy Efficiency Commitment 2005-2008 (EEC2) programme which ended 31 March 2008 – The CERT target is equivalent to double the old EEC2 target. CERT is a carbon dioxide target rather than an energy target – this allows for suppliers to promote a wider range of initiatives. What Measures Can CERT Fund? Under CERT, measures can be provided to any domestic household in Great Britain that is heated by gas, electricity, coal, oil or LPG. Eligible measures include: Wall cavity and loft insulation Lighting Heating (excluding standard boiler replacements) Appliances Innovative measures including micro-generation, biomass community heating etc Ofgem have found that the majority of cardon reduction savings under the CERT scheme, since it began in April, have come from insulation and lighting measures. Heating schemes account for a very small proportion of the savings achieved so far. Who can CERT funding help? Energy suppliers have a Priority Group obligation to meet under CERT – this equates to 40% of the individual suppliers overall contribution. The Priority Group includes those aged 70 and over and low income households (those in receipt of relevant benefits / tax credits) Suppliers have some flexibility on how they reach their 40% Priority Group obligation and overall target. For example, they can direct activity at those in the priority group most likely to be in hard to treat homes – by promoting ground source heat pumps and solid wall insultation they can achieve up to 5% of their overall CERT obligation via this route and receive an uplift on the savings made. Innovative Projects Under CERT innovative actions can count towards 6% of the suppliers obligation or 8% were at least 2% micro-generation is delivered. Innovative actions include: Those which aim to transform the market: those items not already covered by the programme with an aim of getting these approaches mainstreatmed - an uplift of 50 per cent additional energy savings is available to obligated suppliers on market transformation actions which include micro-generation Demonstration projects: a proportion of suppliers obligation can be met through carrying out demonstration projects, to trial new types of measures or to assess customer reactions to information or measures How can housing associations access CERT funds? CERT obligated suppliers can work with Social Housing Providers to deliver energy efficiency measures to households within the social housing sector. For the purpose of CERT the term “social housing providers (SHP)” refers to borough councils, city councils, housing associations and registered social landlords. Read the National Housing Federation's Get Grant Funding leaflet about CERT funding for housing associations (PDF document, 578KB, opens in new window) The obligated suppliers provide the funding for the installation or distribution of measures. Obligated suppliers are not limited to offering measures to their own consumers - they can partner with other organisations for the distribution of measures or to encourage the uptake of measures. Ofgem must approve schemes where a CERT obligated supplier partners with a SHP. To obtain funds under CERT housing providers should contact an obligated supplier. At present these are: British Gas EDF Energy Npower Powergen Scottish and Southern Energy Scottish Power More information about CERT http://www.housing.org.uk/default.aspx?tabid=997#CERT%20funding CERT contact details for the above energy suppliers (Ofgem website, external link) Information for housing providers involved in CERT projects (Ofgem website, external link) Ofgem CERT Update August 2008 (Ofgem website, external link)

Buzby added value to my post- thanks Buzby, glad to see you again!. You as a tenant of a Housing Association property would not have to pay anything.

Its quite a major upgrade and its only when it goes live that glitches appear. Its almost impossible to get it right first time, even Ebay had difficulties when upgrading. Its unfrotunate about losing your subscribed threads. Is it possible to do a search and resubscribe, by checking your previous posts, although I know that will take a bit of time?

Glad to hear that you are now getting used to it, new things take a while to get accustomed to sometimes. What is it you want to do that you are having difficulty with and someone will help you out.

Hello Were your first charges reclaimed in 2005? Is this a different mortgage you are reclaiming charges against? Did you sign a consent order saying you would not pursue further claims?? If so, why are they offering £180?

Hello there I have a background in housing. Cavity wall insulation has never been compulsory. The housing association will have been required to build the house to the relevant building regulations in 1991. BR includes standards of insulation. The Housing Corporation would have insisted that insulation was at least to those standards before releasing funding to build. Houses built today will be to different Building Regulations and a higher standard of insulation. Many of the utilities give access to CERT funding for insulation measures, and it is available to individuals, Councils and HA's to reduce the costs of insulation upgrades. Perhaps suggest that to them as it reduces their costs of an insulation upgrade. I'm afraid compensation is very unlikely unless the house or rooms are unfit for habitation, which does not seem to be the case. A better route is to ask the HA what plans they have to insulate the house and that you and other residents have difficulty with heating bills. They probably have plans to meet set insulation standards. Equally important is the type of heating in your home. What type is it and how efficient is it?? Perhaps the HA can give advice. You should check that you are getting the cheapest possible power deal- you can check on price comparison sites. Check it carefully. If you are on certain benefits or over 60, check with your power supplier about a social tariff. This is reduced bills for certain folk and can be 20% cheaper. Please let us know how you get on.

Hi Carrie Try not to worry too much and we'll try to help you on the right path. Can you please be clearer on the figures please: How much is the interest pm? Is the £9480 comprised entirely of shortfall on the interest you should have been paying? Are you claiming that this is entirely due to a mistake on behalf of the bank? Do you have correspondence from the bank which indicates that your monthly payments should be less than you should have paid. Regards, Kennythecelt

Hi HAWC Michael is perfectly correct in the advice given. As there is money owing, over the credit card limit, the bank placed the section 75 repayment in that account to offset the current debt. It is within their rights to do so, I'm afraid and you can verify this by checking their T&C's. You can't get the money back as the CC co have used it to offset your debt to them. One positive side to this is that your debt has been reduced, meaning less interest applied to the account and the other is that you are not worse off financially, thankfully. Many folk who paid by different means got no refund ie cash, cheque etc. I know for a fact that Cartel would encourage "clients" to charge all their fees to cards and say that if it went belly up, that section 75 could be used. That was sharp practice at best.

Thanks!! I hope that's due to tears of laughter but I sense perhaps not. If not, things should sort themselves out. Good luck!!

This is entirely environmentally friendly and follows the best recycling principles. Let one of these fellows loose and hey presto, black mouse no more. The frying pan comes in handy when you have no further use for the ferret, in more ways than one. You also save money that week on housekeeping! http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://thespinfactor.com/thetruth/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/friedfoo21.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thespinfactor.com/thetruth/2007/06/02/why-i-wont-vote-for-ron-paul/&usg=__ZAYoI0l0yNrgxtWLQx7tPzQpXgI=&h=466&w=670&sz=274&hl=en&start=36&tbnid=PCpHiWjHonywGM:&tbnh=161&tbnw=235&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dferrets%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1C1RNPN_enGB385GB386%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D675%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=485&ei=5GNhTLzDHNGSjAe_lZjACQ&oei=tGJhTL7OIaGhOJbFyL0J&esq=11&page=4&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:36&tx=90&ty=67

Many thanks my friend!

Ahem, back on topic: Lets share what made us smile today Woke up, spent quiet time on my own with cup of tea and a couple of cigarettes (outside as Mrs K and girls say so and I agree) before going to work. Nice and quiet in the house and everyone nicely asleep which made me smile. Kissed my wife before I left and that made me smile. Had a bit of a happy chappy smile on drive along the road. Big smile came when I found out that my daughter has been accepted by Glasgow School of Art for her chosen subjects. My family makes me smile, I hope yours do too.

Hi there Mrs B You are right to be concerned about the use of personal information- so many people give it away without a seconds thought- and you have special issues that concern you. Information about your employer will not show up on a credit report. I have used the free Experian credit check and I can confirm that to be the case. What type of info are the new bank asking for in relation to your present one? They certainly need sort code and account number to arrange a transfer of account including any payments you have coming off it and income going into it. If you go ahead and transfer to a new account please keep a careful eye on it for the first few months to check that the correct payments are being taken and credits made- otherwise, unexpected overspends need to be repaid later. Kind regards,kennythecelt.

A very smart upgrade indeed!! Warm congratulations to webby and the site team as this type of improvement is not easy and means a heck of a lot of work for all involved- well done everyone.:) All the minor glitches will soon be ironed out and I'm sure everyone, including forthcoming newcomers, will enjoy CAGs fresh look.

Fantastic news Stephen. Everyone on CAG is delighted for you and your team. Keep up the good work and best of luck!!

Hi tinkerbell20 Hopefully Stephen will post an update as soon as he can. This is obviously taking up a lot of his time at the moment.

Thankyou Martin.