If they write then advise them that you did have debts some time ago and believed at the time that they were collecting on behalf of the creditor.

You now understand that was not the case as sums paid to them were not reflected in statements and that you now require an immediate full refund of all amounts paid to them in the past.

You will accept that this was a genuine mistake on their part only if they comply with this demand.

I started a new thread - at least I thought i had

Same bank, different meat, same gravy - this is now his bank account (overdraft) and they have just asked for payment

Fiidelite have gone forth and multiplied, now I want to register my dis-satisfaction with them - without it being rolled up against NastyWest

I know that Nasty are ultimately responsible, but if complaints go against the bank, how will these ever get what they deserve?

As a last resort engaging in letter tennis can delay action & might give something that you can complain about,

then escalate to the FoS (after just less than 6 months).

By the time the FoS decide anything, the 6 year mark might have passed

- they aren't supposed to take any action after you have made a complaint that you can take to the FoS,

while it is being considered or while you are considering their decision!

Fidelite have written to my son about "re-establishing contact with NatWest".

They threatened to send one of their goons round if he didn't contact Nasty within 3 working days.

Their "contact manager" would be around between 4 & 19 days from the date of the letter.

Given that they sent the letter by arthritic snail (not even 2nd class),

4 days (doesn't say 4 working days) was up before the letter arrived.

I didn't have a problem telling the ex-snot to go forth,

but I feel that their letter is deliberately confusing with 4 days vs 3 working days

, and they say that they work mon-sat, so it is unclear whether they include sat in their working days.

I think that they deliberately use the arthritic snail for delivery so that time is up before delivery too.

If I complain to the FoS, they will just redirect the complaint against Nasty.

I need some advice on how to make a complaint against fidelite stick.

I found that the FoS ombudsman was easily steered by the bank into my complaint being a DPA issue. The Ombudsman like that because they can drop the complaint in the bank's favour with no further discussion - the FoS don't adjudicate on privacy issues and won't dig into it to see if it really is a DPA matter or not

Remember that 1st Crud are wanting to reset the payment plan.

List the charges in a spreadsheet (date & amount) Going forwards these will have attracted interest charges (although they say that the order that payments are applied = charges first, that will still have meant that additional interest would have been paid on the real balance).

The amount of interest each month would be the interest amount * (total of charges + interest on charges) / balance (or the whole lot if greater)

List the interest amounts as well

You can charge 8% interest on each of the amounts - another column in the spreadsheet

Add them all up, subtract from what they say that you owe (unless greater than the outstanding balance, in which case they owe you)

Armed with that, any negotiation becomes easier

If you know the amount they owe you for reclaimed charges (increases monthly because of the 8%) then you know when to stop paying them

Don't forget to verify that this is all ok from the CCA angle. While they take time to find the agreement, that's more to hit them with.

n.b. if the banking error was your bank's fault, you might want to approach them for some compensation for the hassle & extra up front costs if you do end up increasing payments. Perhaps your bank would contact them on your behalf and negotiate for you ...

In my opinion every BB agreement will eventually come to an end, one way or another, therefore they will levy that charge on every customer. That would make it a hidden charge that should have been in the connection charge to be clear. Presumably they don't want to do that so try to charge at the end...

why would someone from a firm of solicitors phone rather than write?

just say that you don't discuss financial & legal things over the phone ask for whatever they want to say in writing

You could phone and ask, or mention that it has already dropped off the other credit reports

you have a connection i.e. mortgage (joint) also current account - they are correct it seems

I think that they should have asked for your permission before doing a search. The current application isn't a joint one.

Have you contacted Swift Sterling & asked them to substantiate their claim?

At the very least make them work for their money. You may have spent the money but that doesn't excuse the lenders adding unlawful penalty charges, PPI etc

Had a letter from Marlin saying that they are now part of Cabot

Also mentions that they really need to hear from me because they aren't getting any money ... shame

I think that acknowledgement has to be in writing for it to count anyway. In any case "I'm pretty sure I don't owe it" is pretty difficult to make into an acknowledgement of debt!

They might be just using an LLP to frighten you into paying even more since you increased your payments and haven't questioned the amount outstanding

Check the PPI & penalty charges & negotiate the true amount outstanding. You can do that for the closed accounts too - work out something to take off the current ones

Go to the FOS - it will cost them. You can claim that your losses exceed the account balance and that they owe you

One of them might have bought the account - you should have received a notice of assignment.

It would be worth phoning O2 to find out if the account has been sold or whether it is still with O2

Them using the disclaimer is a lazy way of saying "we arent bothered".

That might fly if you could read the disclaimer before you opened the email . That would be a good trick. Many email clients open the email in preview anyway & by then it's too late. Go get them.

But with many people having the virus, the balance of probability is that this originated with Lowell, that it wasn't injected afterwards, that Lowell wanted you to read the email & so are liable for losses ...

This wasn't a loss resulting from the use of the email, it was a loss resulting from opening the email to read it. Lowell know that the people they communicate with are short of cash & probably can't afford virus protection, even if their PC is powerful enough to run it. They should take reasonable care sending out emails.

Would this be any different if their snail mails had noxious substances in them?

The only way to verify that a call is genuine is if it is from their published number. Anything else could easily be a criminal enterprise.

Anyone receiving a call from a different number should (if they answer it) when they say who they are, advise them that you know the number that the organisation would use, that it looks as if they are criminals and that if they really are from xxxx then a formal complaint will be on its way to them & the FSA.

That applies to mobiles & local numbers. Really - how can you be certain that anyone who calls from any unpublished number is genuine. That applies to slight variations on numbers that they might use to avoid call blocking.

When they say who they are, tell them that the display on your phone shows that they are not who they say they are ...

They will change if challenged. If they suggest that you phone their published number, tell them that you are broke and can't afford the call

Start the fight back to stop the use of different numbers. Don't discuss anything other than their phone number on the call. Refuse to take notice of anything that this unknown person says. Tell them to put it in writing anyway.

I thought acknowledgement would have to be in writing to the creditor to the to reset the SB clock. This is just heresay.

You have to be very assertive with banks in general & Lloyds in particular to force them to do what they they should do. They should (and can) do all of this instantly so don't settle for "later"

Lloyds seem very reluctant to refund charges so be very insistent that they do so - and watch out for charges in future months too

Time to contact O2 & find out what they say the position is / was

most likely any amount claimed would include allowances for calls that they prevented you from making - difficult to charge for

you should ask for copies of any bills/invoices, especially the final bill.

It's difficult to see how they could have incurred these losses by terminating the contract.

I thought that most of these organisations are intermediaries in setting up the contract.

It's possible that they were to get additional payments somehow. Their claims do see a little excessive ....

Don't expect a rapid response from the Llloyds DPA team. They took months to even acknowledge receipt of my request. There were gaps in it, they claim to have lost the list of deficiencies that I supplied & we are coming up to the first anniversary of my request - with stuff that I know about missing - never mind the stuff that I don't know about