Hi brassik Sequenci has changed his appearance!!! I actually liked the stern, magisterial look. I still say go for it. Since nobody on the forums knows where you are thinking of going just give us an idea of the amounts and creditors and I'm sure you'll get practical advice on what others think. I don't think any creditor or debt collector is going to run up costs of collection for relatively small amounts. Regards. Van

Hi PD + Pete Why does the biblical story about virgins and lamps keep coming to mind? I've sussed the [problem] about "arrangement fees" I'm afraid. After a pleasant chat with my "Bank Manager" I was made aware that none of my four letters had reached her as they had been sent to a "processing centre" which, she assured me, was in England (surprise, surprise). She immediately offered £250 off my charges with no conditions attached. Ta very much says van. But, being the sort of person he is, van likes to trot off to the village store to buy papers, tins of beans (for when he is really hard up) and the occasional luxury sausage for Mrs. van. He pays by cheque and the village shopkeeper has always written my cheque guarantee number on the reverse. That is until one day her assistant said "we know vandermerwe" and didn't bother. The good lady pays in her cheques about once a week or every ten days (she doesn't get many) and guess what? Cheque numbers 001, 002, 004 were paid (being duly guaranteed) and cheque 003 bounced for which she was charged £4.00. Van grovelled, repaid (by means of a guaranteed cheque plus her £4 charges) and will now await a patronising letter from HSBC telling me I owe, quite probably £75 in "arrangement fees" for paying the 'guaranteed' cheques. Banks - I hate them. Took me a week to get through your site, PD, as last Sunday my best friend was taken to the local A & E where he was given a blood transfusion, diagnose with acute leukeamia, whipped off to the local oncology unit (50 miles away) tubed up for chemotherapy but then given another blood transfusion and sent home complete with open catheters in his chest because the oncology unit has closed down because of a) the floods and b) the new intake of unknown junior doctors. If you think I don't like banks, just don't get me going on the NHS! How was Ibiza? We're seriously thinking of relocating to France. I favour Spain because I speak the lingo, but can't object to France as the language would come back pretty quickly and the grub's so good (and cheap) Best regards Van

Hi Bos 67. You can tell I'm a newbie too. My message has been cut short or so it would appear. Funny things can happen, so I'll check later and if I'm still minus a bit in the helpful department will try again. Meantime, good luck. Van

Hi BOS 67. First of all "welcome". I was a newbie 3 months ago but have learned a great deal since. To answer your questions, my advice would be: 1. For an easier life let the CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service) set up a debt management plan (DMP) for you. It will cost you nothing other than, of course, the money you pay to the sharks. Contact them on 0800 138-1111. Also contact National Debtline (0808 808-4000 National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000) They, too, are a charity and although I have a DMP with CCCS I find National Debtline's fact sheets more comprehensive. 2. You are faced with three type of collectors, namely:

Which bank boss 123? Suggest you start a new thread under that particular bank and give some background to the stay of execution. Don't give up! Regards Vandermerwe

Thanks Sequenci. Have sent you a PM on the subject. Van

Hi keelclose. Curlyben is quite correct (as usual!) If you Google "telogram" you'll find a bit more about them. Regards Van

Made it at last PD! 31 pages now and you're still not there, but it's made interesting (not to mention amusing) reading. And I'm still at the beginning stage, but my persistence paid off because I had a letter from my branch giving their direct number so sent them a wodge of unanswered letters and got an immediate offer of a 50% refund without any conditions attached. So now I must try and do a spread sheet about which I don't have a clue and may try to do it on a calculator as the entire issue has existed for no more than five or six months. I don't even have too much of a problem with the interest - its what the bank term "arrangement fees". Another £150 coming up on the 11th of the month I gather. By the way don't you and Pete ever get any sleep - I've noticed the time on some of your posts. Long after the hour when I've turned into a pumpkin. Wonder if you'll get to court or not? All the best Van

Thanks brassik. I think you've made the right choice. Not only will you have support from family but they live in a wonderful country. You've obviously checked here (anonymously) with the country's representative office on the latest visa requirements but your idea sounds fine to me. I presume you have a British passport. Please remember, though, that once you've made your decision keep your new location and intentions to yourself except for postcards from the airport as already suggested. Please keep us posted on here, Godspeed and good luck. Best regards Van

Good morning brassik - TheAnalyst has done it for me - thanks TA! Please do let me know the country concerned. It's probably me being over-cautious but I do believe all the banks, DCAs etc. monitor CAG and with the mighty computers they have at their disposal share information between them. Look forward to hearing from you and I'll reply on this site if I feel it's OK to do so as its success depends on us all sharing information. Regards Van P.S. If you click on my name at top left you'll see a bit of information about me which is available to all.

Hello Dicklett. Avoid any organization that charges you. The CAB, in my view, is not up to this sort of job. There are two highly professional charities that make no charge for their services these being: Consumer Credit Counselling Service - telephone 0800 138-1111 and National Debtline - telephone 0808 808-4000 I have relied on the former for over a year now. You'll find comment about both on the debt forum, but do speak to both the above before you go any further. Hope this helps, and suggest you start a new thread on the debt site. Regards and good luck. Van

Hi Tanya Again, welcome! Suggest you find the name of your bank on the list given and start a new thread on that site. Regards Van

Hi JP7. When did LLoyds tell you BLS closed down? They were sending out letters to me as recently as May. I can't reproduce documents, unfortunately, but the info. on their letterhead gives an address of P.O. Box 467E, Oxford OX4 1WA. Telephone (08701) 5094400 plus (the small print) BLS Collections is a trading name of Lloyds TSB Bank plc. They send out all their letters using Lloyds' contracted mail service with TNT and showing Lloyds' collections P.O. Box number in Brighton as the return address! Google them and you'll find plenty about them on page 1. Don't confuse them with the British Lichen Society - I'm sure they are very honourable even though lichen is some sort of primeval growth that clings to non-life supporting rocks! I'm sure our good friends at 'sayno to 0870.com' linked their 08701 to a Lloyds TSB geographic number once, but I can't locate it now since I refuse to discuss my financial affairs by telephone anyway. Hope this helps - I'm sure there's more about them elsewhere on the forum. Van

Glad you appreciated the link, Sosumi, but the last bit where the dear girl says "if the complaints are low then perhaps the industry is getting it right" just about takes the biscuit. Someone really should introduce her to CAG. Van

Hi brassik. I know exactly how you feel. Do you really need a resident visa to stay with you parents? PM me with the country concerned and I'll do what I can to help, but must emphasize I am not an expert - I just know the rules and regs. for some countries. Beware what you post on your thread. CAGgers are decent people, the snoopers, by and large, are not! Good luck. Van

Hey, that's spooky! I typed a web site link and up comes Debt Services etc. etc.! I have always thought that the sinister looking building - recently much enlarged - at Cheltenham with more pricks sticking out of it than a porcupine intercepts every communication and conversation in the land. That's enough for today. I'll go and have a drink - if I may, GCHQ? Van

Well done to all you scavengers out there - particularly pmhcfc! The truth will out eventually, and hopefully "all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword". But I find it particularly repugnant that some of the worst scumbags hide behind legitimate public companies with their holier-than-thou pronouncements. Look at Cattles plc (FTSE 250), scratch deeper and up come Lewis Group, CL Finance and Howard Cohen all with snouts in the same trough and office!). But it's well worth reading some of their press releases - if you have the stomach for it - to see how their minds work. Try Debt Services, Debt Purchasing, Investigaton Services - The Lewis Group for a start. Van

Jonnygage, I can only say that among the 'small print' of one of my accounts it says something to the effect that monies held in any other division of our bank can be utilised to settle debts in another. Regards Van

Hi Classylady. Are you sure you applied for the most basic account from Barclays? It would have a 'brand name'. Among my philosophies are: a) Bankers are w*****s, er wallies for the sensitive ones; b) I believe in a belt and braces. I applied for a Co-op Cashminder account by telephone, which was approved in 'principle' and am currently awaiting the paperwork. I was advised to do so by national debtline. Van

Listen Mitch, if you take the little ones down to the launderette don't put them in the spindryer! Do you like my new avatur? Regards Van

Sleeping be b******d lateralus. With 27 pages of pinnkdutchess to read and inwardly digest before I can even think of it? Happy days! Van

If there is one thing in life I like, it's a girl who likes me! Sorry to 'second best you' deedee, but pinkdutchess deserved the first revelation. Hope it doesn't disappoint you. Keep trucking as they say - much better in a Merc.! As ever. Van

So glad you feel the way you do PD, but then any girl that understands spread sheets gets my culture vote any time. And yes, I'm going back to your pages now and have reached...er....page 2. Sorry, but I haven't even finished last Sunday's newspapers yet! And Mrs. Van reckons she doesn't like Wagner (but suspects that's only because I do) but then she's also objecting to six or more calls per day from some sweet sounding girl in the Philippines asking for me. She gives her name as HSBC but Mrs. Van reckons it's some sort of code between us since she overheard me chatting to her asking about the weather in Manila and the restaurants I know in Manila before wishing her goodbye with 'mabuhay'. The cheeky girl wanted to know my date of birth so I said 'over 21' and told her the legend of old fiddles and sweeter tunes. Keep it up - I'll now read some more pages. Best regards. Van I have the feeling

Well, pinkdutchess, your wait is over thanks to Bookworm. Why? Well I Googled 'avatar' and up came details of a game of that name with a synopsis that reminded me a Wagnerian opera, so what better than a bust of the Maestro himself? He also happens to be my favourite composer. Hope you like it, but I can already hear the groans of the modernistas out there! Now to tackle 27 pages of your thread - I'd rather sit through the four cycles of The Ring, especially the bit where Brunnhilde rides to her death on Siegfried's funeral pyre and Valhalla, sorry, HSBC is doomed! Best wishes Van

Thanks, Chris. Moral support works wonders - it really does. Just hope my poor computer skills aren't going to let me down. I've never been able to do spread sheets. Pinkdutchess - who is about to get the revelation she has long awaited - knows as her thread versus HSBC came up today entirely by coincidence, but she's managed to clock up 27 pages!! Of course I'm going to read them, but swear Mrs. Van thinks I am looking at something I shouldn't be looking at when she sees me gazing at the screen for hours at a time. Thanks again. Van