This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/07/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

I wonder why they changed your account number? That usually, in Accounting terms at least would imply a change somewhere internally such as a securitisation or sale of the loan product to some SPV or other new lender perhaps or a change in product. They won't tell you of course and the name and everything else will remain the same, but computerised systems are programmed and these sorts of changes are not just randomly applied without good 'internal' reasons. If you raise the question they'll tell you nothing's changed as far as you are concerned and your liabilities remain as was, but keep an eye on your paperwork Markez if and when you do a DSAR on them. The devil's in the detail and it could raise other interesting issues. Keep notes of the dates you spotted that and raise it if you find anything 'unusual'. It's like when you see a wart come up on your skin, you know something's going on underneath. Nothing like a good scratch to uncover it!! Have a good weekend.

That's good news Markez and it sounds like you are budgeting well, but keep a bit back for a rainy day just in case you do get a surprise expense and the mtg payment looks vulnerable. Having a payment tucked under the mattress might come in handy although getting these dross out of your hair quicker is paramount to your longer term aims. Well done thus far.

We had this problem when attacking Swift who operate the same business model. They put their rates up in a similar manner when the Libor and B of E rates plummeted and somehow, when they took people into court and the point was argued, they said the increases reflected their own 'borrowing' and financing costs which the Judges seem to accept as okay as this was to fund the business and did not reflect Libor or B of E like most other high street banks. It's another ruse by companies who operate this kind of sub-prime business which seems to be above the intelligence of the Judiciary to see through. It just makes it harder for people like you markez to argue when faced with court hearings and is another reason why you should get the hell out of their grips at the first opportunity. Just listen to what the guys here say though, they know what they're saying. Keep calm and just keep to the payment plan. good luck.

Thoughts in my day? - How many free days do we have before we are inundated with Brexit all over again? Hasn't this last week or so been wonderfully silent on all that? Let's hope the imbeciles left in charge to sort this do so in an educated way....!

Now you're giving me evil thoughts labrat, makes me think I might make a visit to an acquaintance who keeps a fair few diamonds in her safe! Happy new year! But I agree, far too much on these Youtube video's which help the not so friendly characters out there. Now, about that locking picking experience you say you have!!

You should ask if Sainsbury's will give you Nectar points for frightening their rude customers off

Thanks Honeybee, me too - but just imagine how I feel right now whilst he, in his new car he had to hurridly buy, is today driving 900 miles to Berlin with the family for Christmas - and back in 3 wks time!! I daren't even think about it!! Kids!!

Offside wheel (Drivers side!!) - sorry, couldn't edit the post - timed out LOL!

My only child, my son, drives 70 miles a day each way to and from work on the motorway. Three weeks ago, just after 8.15 pm in the dark and in driving rain he aquaplaned and lost the back of the car in a slide. Thanks to his youth on the XBox and these games they play, he steered out of the first slide, the car went the other way and he steered out of that slide too. Then his tyres hit drier road and the car shot into the central barrier broadside, the whole back panel broke off, the car spun around twice going across 3 lanes of the motorway from the outside lane to the hard shoulder and the car came to rest near the ditch. Most days there would have been a line of HGV's waiting to greet him as he spun out of control, most days there would have been a line of cars speeding behind him. Most days there would have been carnage and I would have lost my son under a pile of twisted metal. That day - he was spared. Just a bump on the head, a bit of the shakes and a reality check. He walked away! The car was wrecked and looking from the back of the car to the front, I could see the width of the near-side wheel which had been exposed when the side of his car was punched-in from crashing against the barrier. Occasionally people look back and wonder what would have happened-you are right. A wife, two young children, my only son. There is a God, or an angel or something or somebody who thought that day was not for taking him. I look back and wonder. But that's heart attack material if ever there was - for him and for me! This time I'm lucky. May you all have a happy and safe Christmas. Drive carefully.

Okay, will do - thanks very much, I'll see what we can do, but that's very helpful, cheers. Instructions will be read too, thanks.

Thanks King, that's most helpful. Would you recommend any particular masonry paint at all? He just wants to do it white again, but given the messy surface, would it need anything in particular to cover those already badly filled patches of repair? Many thanks

Never expected you on the builder question Termi! Thank you though for this. Would you know if that would suit putting over the top of what is already there as in these pictures because my lad is not keen to spend out having to remove it all first, just wants to paint over what's there and cover the rotten look? He can then consider having it all replaced a couple of years down the line because he has more important things to attend to first.

Hi, On a low budget so wondered if anyone could recommend any kind of product which might help my lad cover the surface of this outside wall of his? To remove all the plaster and have it redone will be expensive so he's hoping to DIY and try and get a decent finish which hides up most of the crass mess made by the people he bought his place from. Any idea's of any product which he can paint onto this surface which might hold for a year or two? Thoughts appreciated.

Interesting question. My take on this.... When I was about 10 or 12 years old (just a few years back!) I was walking along a High Street with my mum. We weren't rich, but we got by okay, I always had clothes and she fed us relatively well. We lived in a nice house. Out of the blue, a homeless looking chap with bedraggled hair, filthy clothes and skin lept over the barrier onto the road and peeled off the tarmac a piece of a chocolate bar which a car must have run over which certainly looked to me like there was life on it from the road and popped it into his mouth to eat it. That memory stays with me. Was there life on Mars? He didn't care, but maybe this probe into the abyss of space will actually find there is/was/could be elsewhere. And as the Beach Boys sang " wouldn't it be nice?" (So long as we humans don't screw that up too!)

The minute you get into arrears they have a right to repo. That's when the clock begins to tick with regard to if and when the lender will go for it. With the likes of Kenny's it's not 'if, it's always when. They know they have a legal right and will just remind you to keep the control freak attitude over you as DX suggests. Just keep doing what you are doing and paying on time and gradually the balance of control will reduce and once you are out of arrears the game changes. Kenny's know they can do and say what they have said to you and no doubt the charges applied can be charged too under their Mortgage Conditions. If you can pay those charges to save yourself added interest then so much the better, but they'll take whatever you paid and just reduce it from your arrears. Try and ignore their emotional attitude because it will wind you up - but then that's exactly what they do as it's their business model, so try keep off the phone and put anything you want to ask them in writing - just keep up the payments until the arrears are paid and 6 months of payments will make a significant difference to any outcome if they haul you in front of a Judge again. Wipe out of your mind what they say, like you would something you scrape off your shoe that's been left on the pavement by a dog walker - there's not a lot of difference! Look forward to the day you are rid of them and having a happy Christmas with your family. Search out for the 'feel-good' factors around you, not these dross.

How's the plan going Markez? Still on top of it?

Not for those Limited Company contractors it's not! IR35 is going to knock a huge slice off their take home pay. I think the point about trying to harness the Contractors into a PAYE scheme is okay in principal when you think most people are paying PAYE and have no choice in the matter to pay their tax that way, but apart from Zero hour contracts, these individuals who are working through their own Ltd Co's have absolutely no benefits or security and can be fired from clients without notice or compensation so they do not have the protections but offer a vast amount of flexibility to companies that require outside assistance running their businesses. Hammond hit the wrong people and whilst I accept there are abusers of the IR35 system, as there are in any area of our democracy, the majority offer a flexible workforce which for the UK is the envy of the world. I ran a financial recruitment agency and had hundreds of 'temps' out working, some Ltd co, others on our Payroll and in the 80's Europe and the Labour Party and Unions did everything they could to introduce legislation to cripple the temp market here as they did not enjoy that flexible workforce themselves. There were many rights and wrongs about the rights of workers or the lack of them, but having a flexible workforce that could be deployed at very short notice to tackle big issues in companies was a phenominal asset this Country had. It's not so attractive now because that legislation dampened the appeal of being 'flexible' and companies have been poorer for it. My thought for the day on that little subject of the budget! Have a good one.

The FCA 'Guidelines' are often stated as just being guidelines by these companies, not the law, happened with the OFT back then too. I have had many dealings with the FCA, but as with most regulators, they won't entertain any dialogue with the customer so you never know whether your particular complaint or concern is thrown in the bin when it arrives or is being treated seriously and acted upon. Regulators do not get involved in individual account disputes, they just 'listen' to people's concerns and if they do act on them, you never get to know how or what was done. To the concerned punter, that's not much help when he or she is fighting for their life against an alleged injustice by an unscrupulous lender or practice. In fact, it just frustrates the punter even more. One just hopes someone hears what's going on and does something for the rest of mankind to stop the organisation from doing it again - but you never know! That takes people to the legal option and I have not seen many people come away unscathed from taking these companies on as the T & C's in their contracts mean that the punter pays for their defence and costs no matter what the result is and that's hardly a fair term in a consumer contract is it? There is no level playing field from the very start. It's a very hard battle to win against these people without cost so best not get into bed with them in the first place if at all possible - credit can be useful, but it's dangerous to one's health. Andrew

Swift went on the rampage using this business model repossessing thousands and thousands of people's homes right across the Country. Northern Ireland was particularly badly hit. The minute a customer got into arrears the profit machine kicked-in charging for letters, default notices late payment fees and anything else they could add to the capital balance. One particular gripe I have, and this applies not just to Swift but to most lenders including the High Street lenders and that is the procedures, or lack of them, in place to stop the debt spiraling out of control. Rarely, when charges are being applied at the time of what they'd like to term as the 'offence' did the debtor get informed they might like to pay the 'fine or charge' off so as not to attract further interest over the term of the loan. With 1st mortgages (1st Charge that is, not your first mortgage ever), a mortgage statement is issued generally once a year in January meaning that any charges which had been applied say the January before, the cost of the penalty for want of a word, had been applied to the capital balance for almost a year before the customer was informed or aware of the charge and that charge had attracted interest for that year. Many had that with Second charge loans too and this makes a hefty profit for these companies. It is my belief that any charge being applied to a loan of any kind should be preceded by a letter stating the charge will attract interest and should the customer wish to pay it, the interest would not make their debt situation worse. To me that's common courtesy, to them it's profit so keep stum! I agree with you Elle-nn the sub-prime market should be exterminated, regulators are no use, we had the OFT overseeing the likes of Swift and they were as much use as a chocolate kettle and the unregulated loans (over 25k back then) were like giving them a blank cheque. Try get them out of your life Markez, you'll be a happier man for it!

I told you Markez about this Business model and I attach here a chart I drew up about the Swift Advances rates which are based upon the Libor rate or so they said when it was convenient, but changed it in court to suit themselves and introduced ' financing costs' too when asked why they raised rates rather than reduce them when the Libor and Bank of England rates went down. Punters never saw a rate decrease throughout their loan term and as Kenny's business model is the same, yours won't either. You can see the initial Swift rate for a loan was 13.44 in the yellow column on the right against a Libor rate on the left of 4.75 back in Feb 2006. I have nothing against the mark-up, that's what business is all about and they make their profits on the mark-up, but follow the headings down and watch as the Libor rates and the Bank of England rates tumble, yet the Swift margin increases as they fail to reduce rates to customers. Their margin (Profit) goes from an initial 8.62% to a whopping 15.5% + when everyone in the country is struggling at that time from the banking crashes. That's why you won't see these kinds of companies giving you a penny unless forced to do so. Hope that helps? (It probably won't, but it helps understand what makes them tick!) Swift Advances rates Libor & Bof E comparison.pdf

Hi Termi, why just yesterday? I am the same age today (+ 1 days wrinkles) and the same year of birth and that equals 2018, so why is it restricted to just one day? I'm sure you're right because you are usually spot-on, but my aging grey cells are somewhat reluctant to stretch much further into the depths of this philosophy. Oh, and yes, yesterday was a special day for me too - cleared my shed and rid myself of the thousands and thousands of pages of all things Swift - angered me as I read through again what they got away with which affected so many people, but to see Mark White's name going through the shredder was as therapeutic as breaking his legs with a baseball bat which was about what he deserved for the l1es he and his colleagues told. They'll be pleased to know I had to draw a line in the sand sometime and yesterday was it! Sparkie would be sad the fight is over, but may the souls of the culprits in Arcadia House who engineered this business model and travesty of the truth rest in the same place sparkie is at present - in a deep freeze somewhere up near Liverpool as the poor soul appears not to have been rested in peace as yet as his family still fight over his life. He'll be up there laughing and wondering who to sue!! RIP Sparkie my ole friend and bye bye Swift! Ahhhh!!

Tis me again with my constant niggle. Find out Markez if any of these legal costs are accruing on your mortgage at some point now you have a bit of breathing space. Someone is paying for either Kenny's or E'sheds and you can guarantee that person will be you. I can't shake this from my mind even though you have had something in writing saying there are no charges - I don't buy it.. This might be a good time to SAR both Kenny's and Eversheds (they won't like it, but if this were me, I'd be doing it). Look at the terms in your mortgage loan documents and see if you can spot anything which states they can add their legal costs and then if there's anything in there, the question is where are these costs shown, where are they going to be shown if not already and when are they going to be shown? I know I bang on about it, but thus far I have seen nothing from you which tells me they are paying all their own costs - and I smell a rat. Prove me wrong and I'll be happy. I am jubilant you have pulled this off and whilst you sing the praises of everyone on here (and rightly so if I may say so) it is you who have actually executed the whole thing and believe me, there have been thousands of people who have come on the forum over the years who have been given real solid guidance but who have, for one reason or another either bottled it and left it, ignored it and lost the lot, or been just too frightened of the whole legal, court and challenge scenario, which is fully understandable given the fear people face and endure going through what you have experienced. So, take nothing away from what you have done my friend, you've just climbed a mountain! - I'm proud of you. Well done. Just don't sit back as dx points out, keep on top of this, plot your way through the next stage cos it ain't over quite yet - just enjoy the break, but be prepared, line the ducks up for the next round and be ready for it. Keep coming on here asking all the way, don't wait for it to happen. Elle-nn - You're just plum amazing! Andy Pandy.