I received a high VM bill in January of £183.00 - I called to question this and was met with a real patronising lady by the name of Julia Waite. I escalated this - all I wanted to do was to spread the bill as it was unexpected. I was not challenging the fact I had gone over my limit at all. Eventually I get a letter saying that I now owed £351 and if I was having problems to contact them....I received a call from a Matthew Kemp who was fine on the phone and suggested that if I paid £100 he would see what he could do to help. I agreed I would do this to show willing the following week. Before I could do anything my bill then became £651.00!!! I immediately refused to pay this and contacted CISAS. Of course CISAS sided with VM but missed the point completely - I never once said the initial bill was wrong!? I now have until the 24th Dec to reject or accept the CISAS decision - what do you folks suggest? Thanks Kentoot

Their BCCA membership has lapsed according to the BCCA themselves. Not sure of this helps things. I will be completing the OFT form today regarding these sharks! Cheers KT

Latest Update Santander are refusing to refund me anything back, and that includes chargeback, as they deem it my fault for not reading the small print. They agree that CFO have shared my details with other organisations and will lift the block on my card in 2 weeks!!?? Of course I am changing my account but I am absolutely furious with their attitude. I have reported CFO to the BCCA. One of the other companies: myloan.co.uk are trying to offer me a refund minus £5 only if I fill out more details and then they say it will take so days even for a card reversal - they are linked with CFO so beware. Any thoughts, help or suggestions? My intention now is to close my account with Santander and, as I have had ongoing issues with them over the years, take legal action. Cheers KT

BT and LCS - sorry don't know how to start a new thread... I had agreed a Direct Debit amount with BT for my broadband/calls and have email proof of this. However they changed the amount without informing me first. I complained and eventually had a very rude manager on the phone to me the day before I was going on holiday last year. I explained that I couldn't do anything as I was about to go on holiday so she said that she would terminate my contract, which, when I came back, she had done. I reported BT to the Ombudsman and they backed BT however I am still unhappy with the charges etc. LCS are now involved and have now sent me a letter stating I am on 72 Hour Notice. I WAS trying to resolve this myself and do want to take BT to court for Misrepresentation among other things but am now tempted just to include this in my IVA. Any suggestions? Thanks Kentoot

Here is the latest heap of crap from CFO to me: Thank you for your email. Your documents were received by us on 11/04/12 and we have made contact with Emma Parry at the Money Group who has confirmed you are in a drafting stage of your IVA and this agreement has not yet been processed. You have on 9 seperate occasions made re-applications for further finance which is in breach of your contract with Capital Finance One. As a result we are unable to refund any money as this was money owed to the company. Your due date for your loan repayment was 29/02/12 and as we failed to receive any payment or correspondence, your account had fallen into default and incurred additional interest charges. Your account has since been settled and closed on 30/03/12 due to the full outstanding balance being paid. Please accept this as our final response to your complaint If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Kind Regards Rebecca Phillips Customer Relations Capital Finance One Tel : 020 8166 1470 Santander are so slow and show nor real interest - the 9 applications is rubbish by the way. Any further suggestions? Thanks KT

This lot are "indicating" that they MAY refund my charges once they see the IVA paperwork (which was sent yesterday by my IVA company) - they are definitely stalling again though but let's see!

Dear Ken, Thank you for your email. Please inform them to forward all relevant documents regarding the IVA as we have not received any documentation. Kind Regards Capital Finance One

This from MYLOAN.CO.UK this morning: If you believe that someone has used your details without your permission, please let us know and we’ll be happy to investigate for you. In these instances, we advise our customers to speak to the police as well and cancel the card which payment has been taken from. If you would like us to investigate a payment that has been made to myloan.co.uk please contact us on 0845 491 8820. Please help us to help you and give us any information you can to get your case resolved.

Just been into the branch and they more or less told me off for coming in! Because I am dealing with the fraud department there is nothing THEY can do. I handed them a letter asking for the CPA to be stopped, a list of charges I wanted chargeback on, and asked them to initiate chargeback. I spoke with three different people who did not seem to understand or know the procedure. They even attempted to hand me the letter back! They have now said that it can take up to 30 days to get any money back. I have now had a response from MyLoan.co.uk too who have said this: Thank you for your message. We can confirm your application has been cancelled as per your request. Please find attached the Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (Refund Request form), please complete and return to us. Once we are in receipt of the completed form your refund will be issued within 30 days. If you are still using the exact same card as the payment was taken from your refund will be done by card reversal, if you are no longer using the exact same card refund will be issued by cheque. Please remember, because we have already carried out work on your behalf, we are legally allowed to keep £5.00 of the fee paid. This means you will get your money back but minus £5.00. Many thanks The My Loan Team They then ask for all my details on a form even though I have no reference number and have never asked for a loan with them!

Have spoken with Stella Creasy via email and she has put me in touch with my local MP. I have also volunteered to be contacted by investigative journalists. Onwards and upwards and let's put these people in their rightful place!

This is what I told her - Visa Debit card but she was having none of it!

Just spoke with the Bank and they said "BY Law we have to give a company 30 days to refund you." I quoted the FSA to her but she said it doesn't matter - they still have to give 30 days....

Thank you for your email. We have not received any correspondence from you to state you have entered into an IVA. Please forward these documents to us in order for us to investigate. This is the latest just now from CFO - have referred them to the company handling the IVA.

Angel, my bank, Santander, said that I should approach the companies concerned first then come back to them if no joy - this is a fob off in my opinion. I will be contacting them again today to reiterate the chargeback request. As far as a civil suit, depending on your circumstances, I have tried two options before: when I was unemployed I used Legal Aid and a couple of hours if a lawyers time was all it took to get my money back from an employer! I have also issued a small claim through the magistrates court which also did the trick. The one I like and I got this from Consumer Direct, "misrepresentation under the Misrepresentation Act of 1967." Phones 4 U tried to con me with a Blackberry and in the end offered me a sum to settle.

Angel, sorry to hear of your issues. I fully intend to take action against them as I am now out of pocket an cannot even pay for groceries for my family because of these people. I have had to cancel direct debits as well and it is absolutely infuriating. The CAG forums are wonderful with lots of great advice from a great bunch of people.

Silly Girl - have emailed Stella re the above and will contact OFT/ Trading standards too

Have emailed myloan.co.uk and had no response - tried calling and can't get through. CFO have gone quiet and not responding to my emails now so time to speak with the bank

Thanks for the response. How long does the chargeback take? CFO haven't sent me any letters at all and I only told them recently about the IVA butI guess this is before the letters were sent since they haven't sent any if you get my drift? But all this has made me unable to pay direct debits and one worrying thing is that I have to pay HMRC this month as agreed... Furious with CFO - no contact at all from them until this happened.

I hasten to add - no contact nor letters from these people were ever received - no communication whatsoever.

Hi There, Dealing with these people via email tennis as we speak. I took a £100 loan out in Feb - due to be paid back on 29 Feb. During this time I had started the ball rolling for an IVA and was advised to change my debit card and the IVA company will handle my loan. This I did. The following payments were taken by CFO on Friday: £100, £39, £39, £25, £25, £25, £25 This is their response: “If You default, our tariff charges are as follows: We will charge You the sum of £25 for missing the agreed payment. We will charge You the sum of £25 per letter for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth letter that we send to you in respect of the collection of any outstanding sums on your account. If You are in arrears for 14 days after the agreed due date, 39% of the original Amount of credit will be applied to the account. You must pay us any reasonable expenses and costs that We may incur in tracing You if You move address without first notifying Us. In addition, You must pay us any reasonable expenses and costs we may incur in taking other steps to enforce, or attempt to enforce, our rights against You under this Agreement, and You will be charged simple interest, both before and after judgment, at the rate set out above from the date payment falls due until payment is made.” Under the terms and conditions of your agreement, 1.3: * You authorise us to collect any monies owed under the Agreement from any debit card account of which you have supplied details to us. We may make these attempts as frequently and at any time we choose while there is an overdue balance on your loan account, up until the time where the total amount collected equals the total amount owed. At this stage it will be deemed that your loan has been fully repaid. We do not have to give notice of these intended collection attempts. Your account was settled on 30/03/12 and you have no outstanding balance. Unfortunately we cannot issue a refund as this was money owed to the company. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to get in contact. Kind Regards Capital Finance One Tel : 020 8166 1470 Email: [email protected] How did they get my new card details? On top of this myloan.co.uk who I have had NO dealings with have taken a £69.99 fee from my card! Sister company perhaps? I have asked CFO why they couldn't collect payment and they won't answer - I know they have accessed my new card somehow. Santander told me to speak with both companies to resolve this. Any advice greatly appreciated Many thanks Ken

Thanks for the replies. Orlok, I have just started on JSA. I was originally paying £500 per month, called them to ask for more time - they gave me two weeks (this week) but I called last week to say I couldn't afford it and was thinking about JSA and could I reduce by 50%? They had someone call me who agreed to this for 3 months and I am awaiting a letter to confirm this. However, I reviewed my situation over the weekend and decided to file a new claim for JSA which I did this morning. My concern is, will they think I am chopping and changing things or will they recognise this as a genuine case. Quite simply I do not want someone knocking at my door with a view to seizing goods! I have a wife and young family. Pinky, where can I go and see them face to face - I know there is a tax office in town here but will they deal with things like this? Many thanks.

Well nothing dramatic happened - I have had a couple of letters from DG solicitors/metropolitan. Have paid token payments on my DMP past two months. Looking at IVA once my situation is more stable. Cheers KT

Hi, I can't find anything focused on HMRC so would be grateful for any advice please. I have a tax bill of £4k for last year which I agreed to pay off in £500 installments. I have since spoken with HMRC and they have agreed to reduce this by 50% due a change in my circumstances. The first payment is due on 26th March and they have informed my about distraint should I miss a payment. It might sound odd but I am struggling to come up with even that amount simply due to timing! I am also filing a new claim for JSA on the 22nd. If I inform them about this will they take that into consideration before a distraint order or will they see my case as being too unsettled and start proceedings? Many thanks. Kentoot

Thanks for the replies - so another threatening letter beckons - wish I had your confidence - scares me to hell all this! I do apprecit your responses though!

Hi, Yes all my debts were under my old address - I fowarded all letters to Payplan plus my change of address but perhaps there has been a delay. What do you suggest? Should I expect a knock at the door? Many thanks. KT