Hello everyone, would welcome any advice on how to proceed next with my situation. I have an outstanding bill with Scottish Power for £501.69. For some reason I was getting letters from two companies chasing this debt; one a solicitor and one a debt collector-though I'm pretty sure they had a very similar, if not identical address. Anyway-last month I agreed to pay £50 per month (via a phonecall with the debt collector). A strange thing then happened in that the very next day I had a strange phonecall with someone else who called and said they were chasing the debt and when I explained that I had already agreed a repayment schedule she told me "well I don't know anything about that and you've got to pay us" I commented that she must know something about it as both companies had the same address and she hung up pretty swiftly. I left it a while and was expecting to get a direct debit agreement in the post with confirmation of payment amount etc but haven't received anything further from anyone. I saw that a dd had been setup but was concerned that more monies than agreed would be withdrawn as the two companies/two phonecalls was preying on my mind. Anyway, I cancelled the direct debit. I today received a letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells telling me that "your commitment to settle your outstanding account with Scottish Power for £501.69 has been dishonoured" (which made me nervous again as they nowhere mention a repayment agreement only settling this full amount...or am I just reading too much into that?). They tell me they are arranging for a Debt Investigation Officer to visit me unless etc etc. I do want to pay this off and I would like to do it via a direct debit arrangement but I would just like some advice on how best to proceed...should I just reply in writing stating that I am willing to pay £x per month as agreed but only on receipt of a confirmation letter from them? I just want some guarantee that they won't take the whole thing in one go. Thanks

Hello, Abbey had til today to provide all my statements-they haven't provided them. So, have parachute account with the Co-op, let battle commence.

Actually, don't suppose it's got anything to do with the fact that I am chasing for my refund do you

Hello, I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this. I am absolutely fuming with the Abbey (I know, join the queue). I regularly make a large(ish) withdrawal from our savings account and the Abbey require 48hrs notice for anything over £500-which I always ensure I do. Tried to organise this today-same branch, same amount, giving them 4 days notice and they told me that this branch won't accept the notice as there isn't currently sufficient funds in the account-which has been the case on at least 50% of the times over the last 18mths!! I asked the operator to try another branch a few miles up the road-they accepted it no problem. What the hell is that all about!? Can they do this? I would be grateful for any advice as I'm getting to the end of my tether with these people. Many thanks

I made a mistake when I sent the intial letter to Abbey asking for statements-I forgot the £10 payment. I received the "microfiche" fantasy and subsequently sent the £10 off restating that I'd asked for statements etc. I've since received about 2yrs worth of statements and nothing for the last few wks. My question-does my timescale run from my first letter (without the £10 payment being included-which means the Abbey have til tuesday 18th) or from when I sent the £10? TIA

Hello, I think I made a huge mistake when I first sent the original data request letter to the Abbey. I didn't enclose the £10 payment. I subsequently received a letter from them telling me the "microfiche" story and requesting the £10-which I then sent. I have since received only statement for the last 2yrs or so. Just so I'm accurate when chasing them-are my 40 days from the initial letter or from when I sent the £10 payment? Be really grateful for any replies as, if its from the original first letter, then they only have 'til Tuesday and it doesn't look like they're going to send me everything I requested. TIA

Thanks for the reply. I will sit on my hands until then.

Hello all, We're also claiming against the Abbey! We've sent the DPA letter, had the microfiche letter back, and we've now had a steady trickle of statements through. So far it looks like we've had statements back to 2004 (and I've asked for up to 2000)-what do I do if they don't send anymore? They've charged us thousands over the last 2.5 years alone and they have been horrendous to deal with. I am feeling very very pleased that I am able to do this I have to say :grin: Though I'll admit that I am anxiously waiting for some news report telling us that the banks have managed to stop all our court actions! Thanks for any advice

Hello, Wonder if anyone can offer some advice on the following? I recently discovered that neither myself nor my husband are on the electoral roll (having moved in Feb)-and we think this is causing us an issue when trying to open a basic bank account so that we can proceed with getting a refund from the Abbey of the humungous bank charges we've had levied over the years! I emailed our local council and was told that regardless of when we update them we won't be included on the roll until August 1st! How can that be? Has anyone else come across this and is there anything we can do about it? Many thanks

Thanks Welly, that's given me some emcouragement I aim to get that money out of there asap

No, haven't been turned down and I hope we won't be. Did the online application and they've just asked us for the normal ID requirements which we've provided. I think I was having a panic moment. We've also had a business account application accepted-subject to us sending the relevant id etc-so am hoping that's a good sign. The Abbey savings account is making me nervous so I think I need to clear that out soon! Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

Hi, we're just in the process of opening a Natwest Step account-does anyone know of any reason why that account wouldn't be opened for us? Why Natwest would turn us down? Sorry-panicking today The Abbey have cancelled all our DD's and SO's in the last few days-which I saw this morning. Also-does anyone know if the Abbey can take money from a savings account we have with them to cover a debt in the current account? I.e. legally can they move money from one account to another without our consent? It's just a concern I have as the savings account is currently the only place we have for money coming in and going out. Thanks

Hello, we recently had high charges against our Abbey account which I initially "agreed" to repay at £110 per week. We've made one payment but it's become obvious that we won't be able to afford to keep these payments up for 10 weeks (which would then have repaid charges, overdraft, interest etc). We're also starting to reclaim our charges - we've had the microfiche letter and some statements through - and I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on whether, if I contact Abbey to say that I would like to change our repayment scheme, it will effect our claim? Thanks in advance

Thanks alot everyone. It does make you feel better when they're calling you and being ever-so-nice Now onto the Abbey....

Yes we did! And we made sure that they'd removed any reference to any ficitonal mortgage! Thanks