hello debtdiva, All the people are giving you good advice, all I can say if you can pay your mortgage first, if the rest are unsecured loans and credit cards split what you can pay between them. Inform your creditors of your situation in writing and never sign your letters. Use the formula below to allocate payments after you have informed them of your situation. For example, for simplicity's sake, let's say that your total expendable income is £400 per month and you have 3 creditors, creditor 1 is owed £10,000, creditor 2 is owed £7,000 and creditor 3 is owed £3,000. You have a total debt of £20,000 and you have £400 per month to service the debt. First, divide £400 by £20,000, this will give you a Multiple of 0.02. You then multiply this figure by the amount owed to each creditor, so using the above example, creditor 1 would get 10,000 X 0.02 = £200 per month. Creditor 2 would get 7,000 X 0.02 = £140 per month and creditor 3 would get 3,000 X 0.02 = £60 per month. This would take 50 months to pay off. You are going to go through a difficult time but your priority is to keep your house above all else. I can give you more advice if need be but professional free advice is the best. Samba

Hi, I currently have 39k worth of debt 3 cards and two loans, this has been going on for 3 years and my original debt was 56k. I am fortunate that I have a reasonable job. I cannot give you legal advice but what I can say is acknowledge to yourself that the debt you have is yours and that you are going to deal with it as best you can, Don't worry I did for two years it's not worth it. Write to your creditors and offer them what you can, use a debt advice web sites income and expenditure form and whatever you do do not leave yourself short with too much to pay as you will continue to struggle. If you need advice on dealing with nuisance calls I can try and help. Do not pay anyone to deal with your debt there are plenty of free services available. Most of all keep your sanity its what will get you through this!

Hi Winkermanda, I'd be interested to see how you get on in with a solicitor please keep updating. I suspect all the stalling is because they do not have the original agreement and despite a recent test case in December 2009 in order to present a case the creditor must have the original or copy of agreement. I suspect creditors are going around making copies now, interestingly the Yorkshire Bank have suddenly found mine. I suspect it will be a copy. I do not know your personal circumstances but I know what it's like to have no money and have these people harrass you I owe £40,000 in total to 5 creditors always bare in mind you can only pay them what you can. Samba

Hi Ben, You stated: "As such, the terms of the membership that you are buying are clearly displayed during the buying process, and confirmed as well during the Welcome email." This was not the case when I signed up after more investigation I tried to sign up for NuYuu fitness on line as an anonymous user. When signing up I realised that the questions I was being asked on line were the same as your employee was asking me which they were obviously using the on line system behind the desk (which I could not see). So no it was not made clear to that I was signing up for a direct debit mandate in fact on two occasions I asked the employee if I was signing up for direct debit and the reply was NO. Unless another direct debit mysteriously appears then I am satisfied with the outcome of my compaint and if NuYuu can get rid of the LA Fitness culture and are fair with complaints then I can see no reason why your new venture should not be a success. My colleagues also tell me that Newbury is now receiving new equipment and the place is looking good. Samba

Hi winkermanda, I feel for you having to deal with the stress. I cannot see how you can get to court without all the relevant documentation. You must inform the court that you have not got this. My gut feeling is that this will be a stalemate and that the debt will stay with you but the judge will order a stay until both sides have there case. I cannot understand how this got this far I owe £8,000 never used a solicitor but remained in constant contact. Just ensure that you keep all parties informed.

Hi happymittens, MD contacted me with polite email informing me of an error with LA fitness computers. And also gave me the address in London. Nuyuu Fitness Ltd 5th Floor, Suite B 63 St Mary Axe London EC3A 8AA Whilst I am happy with the response and apology, I was not pleased that my details are on some LA fitness database when I have nothing to do with them. Will probably send a letter so I have some formal response. This has left a bitter taste when joining Gym's and if I had any advice it would be to allow cash or card payments as well. I would have happily paid more for one two, or three months membership rather than an annual membership by direct debit. I for one only prefer the Gym in the winter which is why I have always opted out of direct debits.

Just been back to NuYuu in Newbury, the staff tell me that they do not have a head office to make a complaint and nocontact person, Sorry they do have managers but I was told they are out of the country, I am really dissapointed with this they promised so much but have delivered nothing but grief.

Hi, I went to join as a trial in Newbury at the end of January 2010, my wife used her debit card to pay for one yes one months no contract fee. She called today me telling me that NuYuu had set up a direct debit using her card details needless to say I was furious as I had decided not to join based on the fact that no new equipment has arrived as promised and I have seen no improvement since I was an LA fitness member around two years ago which I also cancelled. Has anyone got the head office address, it seems that emails are unanswered and telephone calls go in an endless loop and do not get answered either.

Hope your (Winkermanda) court appearence went in your favour, I have not got to that stage but as Yorkshire Bank have not provided me with amy documents I am presuming they don't have them. Only ever had dealings with Mortimer Clarke once and they quickly went away after I asked for evidence I believe they are only a legal representive and have very little powers. I am now going through the the financial ombudsman to try and get documentation I have been told if there is none then the debt is "nulled". Would like to know if anyone has got this far yet.

I requested the original signed credit agreement from Yorkshire Bank and have received the following reply: "I refer to your request of a signed copy of the agreement stating that the account can be transferred to a debt collection agency without prior warning. The banks right to sell debt is not recorded on the account opening forms however it is detailed in the Bank's recovery procedures which are not published" Not sure what to do now should I contact Marlin and start paying or fight on? There is a lot of forums saying that the debt is unenforcable without the original signed agreement but I have yet to come across anyone saying they have done it!

I have had a reply from my original creditor Yorkshire Bank who are looking for my original signed documents which I requested (no sign of them yet), in the mean time Marlin have referred my account to there solicitiors Mortimer Clarke. I have reitterated that I do not and have never had a financial agreement with Marlin and until I am satisfied that Yorkshire Bank have acted within the law I am unwilling to pay any money.

My debt has also been assigned to Marlin. I hope we can keep this thread going at the moment I have complained to Yorkshire Bank and asked for my original signed agreement (which has not arrived yet) Marlin insist that the debt is now with them and it is strictly legal, I have sent them a letter back stating that I cannot proceed as I have no financial agreement with them. I do wish to pay my debt so I am not trying to avoid it but you cannot allow them to walk all over you.