If anyone had had experience of this would you please let me know what the opening move of a DCA is likely to be? Is there something I should be writing to them following their production of the CCA? How many days are there before we can expect their preliminary moves . I guess their efforts will be to get me into a position favourable to themselves. Should I keep paying them the amount suggested by the CCCS? How long is it before they can bring court action? Would anyone here be able to look over the CCA and see if it is likely to be enforceable? Can they repossess anything before court action? "Little bit" worried about this. Please let me know what to do for the best

Hi, thanks for the CCA request advice. I CCA'd them and they have sent a copy of the original agreement. So I guess this means the debt has been passed on to them. The agreement was written after 2007 , so I should assume this means it is enforcable? What can I expect the DDCA's next move to be? I had tried to set up a DMP with the original creditors based on a budget plan worked through with CCCS . All my letters , sent registered, were ignored, or responded to in a round-about way, and I got a flurry of default notices, and a non-stop telephone. In a way I would be happy to go to court with this because I think a court judge would have to power to enforce a DMP based on my circumstances. On the other hand, is it worth contacting a DMP company and getting them to set fair terms and conditions, to pre-empt a court appearence? Also, if we did end up with a charging order on our home, can this in any way be used to force reposession, before a date we find acceptable to put our house on the market? We have one young person under 18 who has just started college and I don't want the disruption to that persons life, We have a parent who is terminally ill as well ,and we need to stay put until the human side of things is worked through. After that I want to move, but not yet! Thank you so far for your advice.

I sent off my CSSS letters to my creditors by registered mail. I had loads of telephone calls from them but no recognition of the letter beyond asking who my other creditors were. I Just kept getting defualt notices from one company, but I thought they had accepted my DMP when I began sending token payments. Work looked like was picking up , so to be scrupiouly fair ,I recalculated the amount I could afford to pay back , sent them more registered letters because I took and average of what I had been earning and offered to increase the monthly payment from £1.00 each to nearer £25.00. (Yep, probably nieve of me ,I know ,but it felt like the right thing to do at the time.) It all went quiet for a week or so then, I got a letter from a DCA demanding full and final settlement of one of the outstanding amounts with seven days. What is the best response to a DCA first letter demanding full settlement. Should I go back to the CSSS and get them to make out a revised budget plan rather than trying to do it myself? What do I do in this situation?

Finally a fully broken-down BT arrived today. I am learning to go through all bills with a fine comb. Turns out there are a number of calls I have not made but, of course have been charged for. I know I haven't made them because I looked the number up on the internet. It belongs to a buisness about two hundred miles away , and , there is no way I would ever had reason to contact this business. BT accepted this, and knocked the cost of these calls off the bill. So, first point : eveyone get out and check itemised bills. Second point :If they accept this liability, how valid/accurate is the rest of the itemised portion of their bill relating to calls? What else could they have sneaked into there? Do I have to pay any part of this bill if it is accepted that a portion of it has been literally made up?

Cheers: I knew I'd seen something like this . I didn't know what is was called. Trespass Letter- Got that. Many thanks again! That bottom bit is a bit harsh. Must toughen up, eh.

A representative of a finance company ( not a DCA) wants to visit my home to discuss my arrears/ DMP. I have written to the company clearly requesting they only communicate in writing with me. I can see no point to the visit . What can I legally do to prevent this.

I'm not sure if this is any help.(I'm a newbie). I telphoned GE Money to request back statements, and within a week they had sent all my statements free of charge,( three copies arrived for some reason) clearly showing PPI element of loan. PPI was all rolled into the loan over five years, but the breakdown clearly showed the loan and PPI element seperately. Might be worth a try.

Do we have any piece of legislation to back this up with? It might be worth being able to quote this in the letter.

That was my gut feeling too. "Trust a creditor" , now that is asking an awful lot. I wonder if anyone has a standard letter that clearly states they have no right to ask for this information?

I have sent off my CSSS letter with token £1.00 payments to my creditors. Creditors have responded. They are asking for a finacial summary of my personal budget and a list of my creditors names and amounts owed. Can they request this? Starting from the premise that creditors will use any information you offer them in their favour, are they: 1. Legally allowed to request this information to this extent? 1a. How much detail and breakdown of finacial summary are they allowed to request? 2. If and how can they use it against me?

Stay with me on this it's not too complictated. 1. They get you to sign up for dual fuel. 2. They set tarrifs ( 2007) tier 1 elect 125 kWh / tier 1 gas 670kWh per quarter. ( these are the higer priced ones.) 3. They they mess around with tarrifs during each quarter and bill you for tier 1 electric 250 kWh / Tier 1 gas 1200 Kwh . 3a. This doubles price of tier 1 gas elec. 3.b. Also something very inconsitant about conversion from metre cube gas= kwh. Minimal discrepencies and not quite accurate. 4. After a year they send you a bill you can not pay. You cancel direct debit during dispute. Magically you are no longer a DD customer, and lo an behold the above is what you would have piad on the higher, double tariff. If you Phone them up , none of them can explain why your bill is so high, but they keep sending you ever increasing bills. Futhermore these bills never have the orginal tariff tier-rate on them. ( telephone staff are very nice btw. although I guess the billing department will be gas -chimps trying to figure out how to fiddle the bills.) The primary Gas- con is . a) They can't fiddle the meter. b) they cant fiddle how much you pay per unit. But they can fiddle the tier 1 amounts by doubling the amount you pay at a higher rate, Can they adjust the tier rate back over two years if you break your DD agreement? Is this the primary reason for landing families with bills they can not pay, so they break their agreement and tariffs become backdated and doubled on teir one. Bet its about a 29% clawback.

Thanks Landy. This is so good when you start reclaimimg. Have just won first PPI claim ( straightforward: no date issues, clear case) and it is worth the hassle.

I have recently had a converstion with the Council Tax people to see if I was eligable for a reduction on Council tax. They told me I wasn't , because my Working Tax Credits made my income up to the level at which you have to pay the full rate. WTC are regarded as income. This got me thinking . If you ask why are banks taking your kids food and shoes money ,in exhange for a piece of paper telling you they have done this,( This is a Bank Charge) they reply it is impossible for their highly complex financial operation to dinstinguish between your benefits and other income. If you haven't sent the bank a letter demanding a right to first appropriation of any benefits, ( it is actually illegal for them to take your benefits to pay debt*,) then, any time they have made a charge they have still taken your benefits and you can easily prove what is monthy earned income and what is benefit. Ie if you pay in £1000 and get £100 WTC monthly then at least 10% of all charges and interest must be derived from those benefits. Irrespective of whether they recgnise hardship and fully return the full amount of charges they have a legal duty to return at least 10% of those charges and interest charged on the overdraft as well as 8% intrest on the % of benefit incurred over the period of time they have been making charges . And if you consider the legislation this should be, no quibble, immediate, and a separate issue from general hardship reclaiming of charges and interests incurred. Social Security Administration Act 1992 * 187 Certain benefit to be inalienable (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of or charge on— (a) benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act; (b) any income-related benefit; or © child benefit, and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of a beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors. What do you think? Is there a time period Hardship The FSA has set out official hardship guidelines to include the following: Are items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to insufficient funds? Are you defaulting on loan repayments or other financial commitments? Has your regular income stopped eg have you lost your job? Are you considering bankruptcy or getting an IVA? Are you making regular requests to increase your borrowing or regularly rescheduling debts? eg are you often increases credit card limits in order to pay bills? Do you have a debt management plan in place as you can't afford repayments at the usual rates? Are you taking cash out from a credit card that has a higher rate of interest? Are you repeatedly going over your credit card limit or overdraft without a prior agreement in place with your bank or creditors? The FSA has also said that: "where a complainant has incurred over £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges in the previous 12 months that is to be treated as indicative of financial difficulty.

I'm in the same situation- I have a PPI on a loan that has been paid off. I would also like to know if anyone has been able to claim PPI from a date before the regulations were tightened up.

There seem to be a number of template letters relating to bank charges and hardship. Is there one specifically aimed at hardship. Also The bank is definitely appropriating my working tax credit. Is there a template letter for this as well which would give me a means of isolating my WTC from the rest of the account. What other actions should I take?

Laura. I'm new to this but the one thing that really got me to act was the bank took my working tax and child credit in the form of bank charges. I 'phoned the FSA and they told me there is some right you have not to have Tax Credits and Child Benefit taken from you in this way. I'm looking into it. One problem you have is that the bank will tell you ( as they did me) the benefit/credit could be taken as a percentage of your total income , hence it is difficult to show what they actually took. So I'm trying to think of a way around this. Here's the law: Social Security Administration Act 1992 187 Certain benefit to be inalienable (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of or charge on— (a) benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act; (b) any income-related benefit; or © child benefit, and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of a beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors. I'll let you know, good luck

And, we didn't even know there was a PPI element in the loan. The loan cmpany itself , when asked about a year ago said that it would be difficult to show what the PPI element was because at the time it was all aprt of the loan. I have since then managed to get them to separate loan from PPI and it runs at about 10% of the total loan.

Thanks for the reply. I rang the FSA yesterday- I was told as the loan was taken out through a double glazing company , and they had gone bankrupt, it would be difficult to do anything. To make matters worse the loan was from 2002 , before regulations governing PPI sales came into force. The PPI amounts are about £350.00 PA over five years.

The first loan I ever had was for double glazing. It was sold by the salesman who sold the glazing. I was not even aware the PPI element was a voluntary arrangement. There was no breakdown on the statements from the company. When the loan was cleared I asked for a breakdown, I was intially told that the loan and the PPI were all rolled together as a package. I never used the PPI. I want to claim it back. Is there any problem given that it was sold through a double glazing company and not directly through the loan company. Is there a specific template letter for this? How long does PPI reclaiming usually take?

Thanks Tawnyowl, I actually reposted this in general debt issues, because I thought it was in the wrong place. It is very helpful to know you are not on your own.

Nottslad, thinking about this- if the worst comes to the worst , what's the difference between the cost per unit of gas on a meter and the cost per unit from an ordinary account paid by DD? Might be worth considering if there's not too much difference. Cheers again

Cheers for that nottslad. They suggested I repay over twelve months. Is there any legal timeframe they can hold me to? I would prefer longer if I can get it. It's going to work our about £180.00 per month ,with the twelve months split and added to existing bill. £2160 is a colossal amount to pay for gas given we spent all last winter scavenging wood and had the heating on one point above zero. Don't forget they are also going to take £65.00 for electricity as well. That is three grand for energy, and I guess that puts people like us deep into fuel poverty. Bit of a shock. Have you had hassle with British Gas?

Today I sent off all my CCCS £1.00 postal orders, came home and began to get ready for work." I thought, I'll just open this letter before I go". Very polite letter from British Gas sheepishly asking I might have forgotten to pay my gas bill. So, as you do , I rang them up. No I haven't forgotten to pay anything. I paid a direct debit for both gas and electricty and I was told that amount of DD was all I had to pay for both gas and electric. Ten months later they have decided there had been a "slight administrative error" , appparently there is no record of what I agreed to . They argued the "tarrif raising" had proven difficult and taken this much time to arrange. According to them I have only been paying the electricity bill. Could I pay them the better part of a thousand pounds in the next fourteen days to bring my account back into credit? This is the first correspondance I have ever had on this matter. Can I Cadge them on this, because it is a bit of a blow and I am sick and tired of companies taking the mickey like this. Sounds like a salesperson got "overenthusiastic" , suggested they could fix me at this rate to get me to sign up ( don't remember signing anything) and then said salesperson "forgot" to file the paperwork correctly, and all this has just come out. CCA? / SAR Funny it happens on the day I send out £1.00 token payments to creditors.

Think I might be able to run to one of those. Does it need a cable to connect to a telephone, how does it work? This is the Homeowners Scheme. I think this is a voluntary arangement between banks and us. There is some suggestion that it should run for up to two years, but this is not the deal I was offered. Like I said this one only gives you three months, and then a final saftey line of splitting arears over a number of months, making the amounts due each month higher. Lenders offering Homeowners Mortgage Support : Directgov - Home and community There is another scheme in which a Housing Trust buys some of the equity in your property, or buys your house outright and rents it back to you. I think this is the one that had two uptakes, and looks like last resort Mortgage Rescue scheme : Directgov - Home and community

Carnut, where did you apply to?