Having given up work a few years ago to look after my disabled wife, who was very ill at the time but has now improved I want to get back to work. Being a plumber, I want to work self employed as it will allow me some flexibility so I continue to look after my disabled wife and son - But, I cannot afford to come straight off benefits and I will not be able to work full time in the foreseeable future. So, how do things work out in our situation? I don't want to turn up at the local benefits office without a good idea of what will happen and of my rights. Is there some kind of plan where I can declare my earnings each week and the benefits are adjusted accordingly and will they make allowances for expenses? We are on benefits, including; 1 - Income support 2 - Housing (and council tax) benefit 3 - Child benefit 4 - Carers allowance 5 - Disability living allowance X 2 I assume that the first two will be affected differently to the rest? Thank you for any helpful information.

I have had problems with my old ISP – ‘Supanet’, they want the rest of the money for the contracted term. I have told them to get lost, and I will not pay because they failed to provide the service for which I was paying them for and so in my opinion they have broken the contract. Therefore any remaining time and payments are forfeited by them. They are going to send me a bill for the rest of the year, I told them not to bother as I won’t pay it and to take me to court if they want. Having been to court before on other issues I have found that the judges tend to take the view of the little people over that of corporations so I am sure I would win I am fairly sure that you are in a similar position so if I were you I would just change ISP and let them waste their time trying to get the rest of the money from you. A few letters adapted from the Debt Action Group on here should frighten them off if they try to get heavy with you.

and in less than 24 hours the broad band was on so it goes to prove that they can turn on broadband as fast as they like, and the "it takes 5 days and cannot be done any faster, even if you talk to head office" is a load of b######'s"

I had a phone call today from the manager of the complaints department at BT's head office, apologising for the problem's and promising to have me connected within 2 days . . . result!!

Yes, I phoned the No. above and got a very helpful chap on the line.

I have not got the BB sorted yet but it should be in a few days. . . . I have got a couple of phone numbers here for anyone interested, BT Wholesale, who can deal with tag removal etc (they are the real broadband provider) who were quite helpfull, and informed me that BT were messing me about and there was no marker on the line, just BT's incompetance here, and BT fobbing me off with excuses!! 0800 169 0934 And BT's head office, who have now helped speed things along for me, once I pointed out that the BB department had been messing me about; 0207 356 5000

Thank you MrShed, I will try on Monday. In the mean time, any more names/numbers or advice will be much appreciated

Hi all, Just moved house last month (20th) and have not had broadband since. . . I was with Supanet, but they made such a mess of moving over to the new line that I told them to get lost. . I asked Supanet for a MAC code but they refused and only finally agreed that they would provide one for £50, this was before the new rules came in on the 14th of February, I of course refused to pay. I phoned BT and asked if I could have broadband from them, they agreed, but as Supanet had an account they had to wait for Supanet’s order to disconnect their BB in preparation for a new order to be made. On the 12th of Feb. the Supanet’s order to disconnect went through and BT accepted the order for BB from me. Yesterday the line was supposed to go live, the equipment arrived and I plugged it in, eagerly awaiting a decent connection for the first time in a month. . . but no, nothing. . The letter from BT said if nothing, wait till 8pm and plug in the equipment and wait an hour for the connection to stabilise. This I did, but still nothing, I messed about for another hour trying different cables and filters to try and get it working, but still nothing. I called the phone number on the paperwork only to be told that the office was closed! Do they do this on purpose? Get you to wait until it’s too late to do anything about it until Monday morning if it does not work? The only info I got first of all was that the BB had not been switched on because the order had been cancelled! Well it was not me that cancelled it and further investigation revealed that it was something to do with another company’s marker on the line. So after all this, I am stuck all weekend with no BB and the prospect of having to place yet another order for BB and wait yet another week or more before I can get sorted! I said to the manager at the BT Broadband centre that if I was a big company like ICI etc they would sort it out immediately, but he still insisted that nothing could be done. I said that there are BT vans running about all the time, surly they could get on to pop in to the exchange and sort it out manually but they refused, even under the threat that I would cancel all my services with BT and go with another provider if nothing was done. I will have to accept that for the moment, even if I give BT the push and go with another provider. But I do have one question; Does anyone have a phone number for someone high up in BT that has the power to over rule all their petty rules and sort something out immediately?

Hi all Is there a short cut now that we have won one claim against NatWest? Would a letter saying 'pay up or else as we have already done you once before' do any good or will we still have to go through the court process while they string it out to the last minuet as normal?

Its works like a debit card, not a credt, so no interest to pay. .

I went to 'The Money Shop' and they cashed the cheque, with the account Number on - no problems, so tough luck NatWest . . . . . your not getting your hands on the money.. For those interested, the money shop does a basic Master card that you can pay your wages etc into, so if you are stuck due to bad credit for an account then here is the answer. .

Yes, to the court bundel and Yes to the account No. on the cheque, does this mean I can only pay it in to my bank account? I was going off to the money shop this afternoon to get the cash.

Can a Moderator move this tread to the 'won' section please Thankyou everyone for your support and help, its now on with the next account. Is it worth sending a letter to cobbetts saying, "we are about to start another claim, to save time, expense and trouble, why not just pay out now?"

Got a check in the post for the full amount WooHoo!! :D As we are overdrawn about 2500, is it safe to pay the check in to the bank?? or will they just take the lot against the overdaft??

I have a lot of photocopying to do then :o(

I am just at the moment filling in the court bundle In the contents, there is a section, 'statements' I have hundreds of pages of statements, Do I have to supply all the bank statements to the court and a copy to Cobbetts, as well as keeping a copy for myself? Or can I just delete that bit from the contents as the important information is covered in the schedule of charges?

Come on guys, any one know if this would work?

After sending a DPA letter to Credit Security Ltd over a disputed bill, then sending another letter saying that they have failed to respond within 40 days, we received a reply saying that they know nothing about the first letter!! (but the cheque has been cashed) I have drafted to letter below in response --------------- Dear Sir/Madam The debt you are pursuing is disputed. Unless you can respond with the required information promptly I will have no option other than to issue a N1 court paper for non compliance of the data protection act on this account. No mater what you say in your letter you must have the account details or you will immediately fail in any action to claim money from me. I understand that the regime of 'fees' which have been applied to my account in relation to late and none payment and so forth by you and your client are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations. Therefore, any attempt by you to issue court proceedings will be defended and counterclaimed. I have in the first letter previously asked for the original signed agreement and terms of account which has so far remained unsatisfied. This is a complete defence to any action you may bring. I will not be forwarding any documentation or payment to yourselves until this matter is resolved. I would suggest that unless you can respond positively you drop this account to avoid prosecution under the Data Protection Act and various consumer laws and regulations. ---------------- I wish to resolve and conclude this mater and not stir up a hornets nest. LOL Any comments to make on this letter gratefully received Thanks all

What about six years and one week for the first one? the second one is ok

What if we all put a few pounds in a fund and hire a lawyer to take all the banks to court, to get an injunction preventing them taking charges from all/any of their customers until they can prove their costs. Even if the injunction only cover CAG members it would be good. Any ideas or views for or against?

One thing I am not sure about is that Cobbett’s have said that I cannot claim for the first 2 entries relating to charges on my schedule as they are outside the 6 year limit. Is this serious, or can I ignore it as intimidation.

Should I edit and send just the court bundle and I presume the schedule of charges. Anything else? Can I add charges on my account since the court claim began??

Hi all, I got a "notice of allocation to the small claims track (hearing)" in the post today. It says; 1/Each party shall deliver to every other party, and to the court office copies of all documents on which he intends to rely at the hearing. 2/the copies shall be delivered to the court by 4pm on Wednesday, 13th December 2006 My question is, what am I supposed to send to the court and does the bank have to disclose there costs regarding fees at this point? If so this is likely to be the end of the line for my claim as the banks wont reveal there fees and so should I get the money in the next three weeks?

Thanks Michael letter sent, hope that does the trick

I have just this morning received a letter from Cobbett’s, offering me £1500. In their letter they also state; “Upon consideration of your schedule of charges we note that you set out in your schedule charges that incurred between 7th June 2000 and 4th July 2000. Under the Limitation Act 1980, you cannot bring a claim more than 6 years after (before?) the date on which the cause of action accrued. You issued your claim on 22nd September 2006, as such, you cannot claim for the first 2 entries relating to charges on your schedule” My reply (not yet sent, until someone can say its ok) is; ----------------------------------------------- Dear Cobbett’s Thank you for your letter dated 20th November 2006, I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £####.## I will only accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will continue to pursue recovery of the remainder with the County Court claim. Also I will not agree to your terms, it is me taking your client to court, and it is me or the court who will set any conditions, not you. Your letter states that I cannot claim the first two charges, the 6 years starts when I first asked for my money back, not when the court process stated, there have also been more charges since the schedule was produced, I can of course add a claim for those as well. This would add approximately £140 to the total. It is believed that you cannot go beyond six years because a reasonably diligent person could have known that penalty charges were unlawful all along, so it cannot be said that they just found out about it. I would beg to differ. While it is true that (however unlikely) I could have known that penalty charges are unlawful, I could not possibly have known that the banks charges were penalties. This is because: A. The banks, to this day, keep the breakdown of their costs secret. B. When asked for a breakdown, they will not tell reveal them C. They say that their charges are not penalties. For me, they key event was the OFT's statement earlier this year to the effect that they consider the banks charges to be excessive. I trust this clarifies my position. ---------------------------------------- Does this look ok, or should I change it? Thanks for any help.