Well, just a quick update - I wrote to shop direct and advised that I would be advising the financial ombudsmen over their lack of help and understanding. Had heard nothing from them until this morning when I received statements showing refunds of nearly £1700 on each account !! I can't quite believe it and am not sure if this means that they will now accept the reduced payments, but just the fact that the debt has reduced by £3400 makes me smile

Thank you, I know they are a low priority but they are now the largest outstanding debt I have due to all these charges.....

I have got myself in suh a pickle and not sure what to do. I advised my creditors back in March 2011 that I was having financial difficulties and please would they accept reduced payments and freeze interest. Simply Be did with no problem. I also had 6 shop direct accounts (crap I know!!!), 4 of them eventually agreed to do the same, however two of the, have continued to add charges ever since - nearly £90 per month in interest etc.... . I keep writing to them but they have said that unless they get something from a company regarding my finances then they are within their right to keep adding these charges!!' I feel,totally sick as both these debts have now doubled and there is no way I can ever, ever afford to pay these back !! What do I do now - just feel awful that I stuck my head in the sand and let these get away with it Thanks Nicki

So how do I get them to stop adding them or can't I? And will they backdate removal of said interest ?

How the heck do I get Shop Direct to stop adding interest charges? I advised them over twelve months ago that I was having financial problems and could only afford to pay them £20 per month... However, even though I have made these payments , they continue to add interest and charges resulting in both debts increasing by nearly £1000 each - now the heck is this fair? I'm at the end of my tether.

Thank you for your reply, I will def start the ball rolling regarding claiming back the fees, over the past year there must be hundreds over the 6 accounts. I have been paying the reduced amounts every 4 weeks without fail, but as I say interest charges on a coule of them is over £60 each per month and when I asked them to freeze the interest I was told that they were unable to do that unless I went down an official route! I just feel weary from it all at the moment as I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall and getting nowhere other than my debt increasing! But I take on board your advice re: telling them what I'm going to do and not the other way round. Will see what happens. Thank you x

Hiya, i really been some advice. I have been trying to set up my own DMP for nearly a year now. And Shop Direct which I have foolishly got 6 catalogue debts (Choice, Littlewoods, Very, Additions, Great Universal, Kays) with are just not playing ball. They have been accepting my reduced payments whilst charging me a £12 fee every 28 days and on 3 of them, they are continuing to add interest, thereby increasing my debt to them rather than reducing it. One of the Catalogues - Choice have now passed my debt to Lowells and I currently have a payment plan in place with them which is all good. Kays had already changed my shopping account into a loan account, so apart from the £12 missed minimum payment fee, it is coming down slowly. Today I have received approx 30 default letters from Littlewoods and Great Universal . Default Notice served under section 87(1) of the Consumer Act 1974. "The payment clause of the agreement provides that you must make the required periodic payment in full by its due date. You are in breach of that clause because you have failed to make all your periodic payments in full when due and arrears amounting to xxxxx are outstanding. To remedy the breach you must pay us the total arrears by 19th March. IF YOU DO NOT TAKE ACTION REQUIRED BY THIS NOTICE BEFORE THE DATE SHOWN THEN THE FURTHER ACTION SET PUT BELOW MAY BE TAKEN AGAINST YOU. Further Action: On the date shown, we shall require the outstanding balance on the account , less any rebabte allowable, as set out below. IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY IN PAYING ANY SUM OWING UNDER THE AGREEMENT OR TAKING ANY OTHER ACTION REQUIRED BY THIS NOTICE, YOU CAN APPLY TO THE COURT WHICH MAY MAKEAN ORDER ALLOWING YOU OR ANY SURETY MORE TIME. Please HELP me, i feel sick getting all these letters today and don't know what to do next??? Thank you xx

I have been paying them every 28 days since I sent them the proposed offer of payment around 6 months ago, they have never agreed to the reduced amount and have continued to add interest and £12 fees every 28 days...

Hi there, I have outstanding debt with around 6 catalogues, which I keep writing to and offereng reduced payments, apart from adding £12 charges each month and a couple still adding interest I am keeping on top of letter sending etc. Today I got this e-mail: Lowell Reference Number: 1******** Original Account Number: ******** Original Company: Littlewoods Account Balance: £1589.85 Dear Mrs N, We wrote to you recently regarding your debt that has been sold to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd by Littlewoods. Please call 0113 308 6085 today regarding the outstanding debt due to our above client. We are not aware of any reason why your debt should remain unpaid. It is therefore very important that you contact us as soon as possible so that we can agree repayment. If you cannot afford to pay back the money in one go we are willing to let you pay this monthly by direct debit. You could be entitled to re-pay as little as £1 per day should your circumstances warrant it. If you cannot afford £1 per day then please let us know what you can afford. Please call an account manager today so that we can bring this matter to a close or follow this link and securely set up a direct debit. Please visit our website www.lowell.co.uk for details about how you can pay, find out information about who we are and how we can help you and you can find answers to some of the common questions we are asked. Yours sincerely, Robert Taylor Collections Manager I have never ever had a letter advising me of this, however I have probably done something really daft, I e-mailed them back and told them I had never received a letter advising me and was wary but once i received confirmation then i would be happy to set up a standing order only for the amount I can afford.. Have i done right???? Will Littlewoods pass on all my debts to these people?? Thank you for your help in advance x

How do I get the charges removed/refunded? And would that apply to Shop Direct too? For each of the accounts I have with them I am charged at least £12 per month and for some interest charges are also added....

Update - 18th Jan , had a letter from Fredrickson Int today and they have agreed to my proposed payment, I am so relieved:-). Just need to get the shop direct problem sorted now...

So here we are 4 months on and I am no further forward - really need to get on top of this now. Reliable collections have now sold my debt to Fredrickson, so have written to them to tell them how much I can afford and amawaiting a reply - my debt with them rose from £1900 to £2400, due to interest charges and late payment fees' This is the latest response I have had from Additions (just one of the catalogues I am fighting with but all part of the Shop Direct group): Thank you for your message. We cannot freeze the interest on your account as you have signed up for and agreed to the terms of shopping via an interest bearing account with Additions.. the minimem we can set an arrangement on the account for you is 132.56 every 28 days beginning on 27/01/12. If you cannot manage this you may wish to seek advice from a Debt management Company such as C.A.B etc. I understand that you are paying what you can afford but we cannot alter the terms of the account and you are fine to pay what you can afford as it shows you are still trying to pay. Also you advised you only wanted to correspond in writing, we cannot lways write to you as your query is of a complex nature. Thank you. I am currently paying the £20.67 every 4 weeks as per my budget calculator - so where do I go from here???? I wrote to them again and said I can only afford £20.67 and then gor this response: Thank you for your message, Unfortunately we are unable to set an arrangement up for the amount you are offering, also because the interest is part of your terms and conditions we are unable to stop this. If you are struggling to meet payments then it may benefit you to seek advice from a debt management company and a money advice company. If you have any further questions please call . PLease, please could I have some of your wonderful words of advice , thank you.

Hiya,They have never asked me to send anything, although I have sent them an Income and Expenditure form, but they just keep writing and saying that the payment that has been offered is not acceptable although they are accepting the payments I am making..

Hi guys,An update from me, well Reliable Collections never turned up at my door - surprise, surprise.... although (slightly worryingly) I have gone from hearing from them every couple of days (by post as they don't have my number) to not hearing anything since 8th July!!!!Having said that the OC and my other creditors have all written and said they are not prepared to accept my offer of payment or to freeze interest........... please could you advise what to do now? Do I just write again?Many thanksNicki x

Hiya, I have sent letter above to them, went in the post yesterday. Today, however I have received a letter from Reliable Collections telling me they are going to do a doorstep visit on Weds (no date so I don't know which Weds), as my last payment wasn't enough... Will they and can they do this? Or the fact that they haven't put a date on there , is it just another scare tactic to get me to either ring them or pay money I haven't got? What shall I do ? Thank you. Nicki x

Thanks Tingy, Will follow your second course of action and let you know how I get on.

Ok, so have now sent my catalogues a second letter saying that I am sorry they feel unable to accept my offer of payments but it is the best I can do for now... and will see what reply I get from that. Simply Be (now part of the JD Williams group) are doing my head in though... My debt to them was £1900, now risen to £2200 with charges and interest.. My pro-rata offer of payment to them is £30.04 per month. They have written telling me they will only deal with me by phone, then threatened to send a doorstep caller, then they wrote and said in light of my current circumstances they would be prepared to accept reduced?? payments of £111 per month!! yeah right. So I e-mailed them and asked if they had actually read the budget planner I had sent them, to which they have replied asking me to complete a new one - which to be honest I am not inclined to do as I know they have received my original one. I am now thinking of doing the CCA and see what happens from there.... Any other words of wisdom at all? Thank you all. Nicki.

Hi all, Am after some more advice please. I am in debt with Shop Direct (5 separate accounts which have now been passed to NDR) and Simply Be (now passed to Reliable collections). I have sent my income and expenditure form to them all and my offer of payment at this current time. THey have all refused my offer of payment saying it is too low.... where do i go now, I cannot afford to pay anymore than I have offered. I am still being charged interest and missed minimum payments fees on all of the accounts, so therefore my debts are increasing rather than decreasing, and Reliable Collections seem to write to me daily telling me I need to phone them to get this sorted, which I have already said I won;t do as I want it all in writing. So please could someone point me in the right direction... Thank you. Nicki

Hi there, Thanks Baz and Tingy for your advice... I have set up a new bank account but cannot decide whether I should just start using that now - ie bills and wages etc, or continue to use our account withthe overdraft for the time being and start paying off a bit each month?? Obviously if wages and bill stop on the manin account I assume that the bank will recall the overdraft immediately??? Is it worth asking them to reduced the overdradt amount by a little each month, so I know that's going down too?? Also would this mean I would not need to send the proposed DMP to my bank? Aaargghh, my head is spinning. Thanks for your help again. Nicki xx

Hiya, Can anyone tell me if I have to include my bank account on my DMP.. it's a joint account with overdraft but the DMP will be in my name only (as my other half has no idea!! ) Thanks N x

Thanks all for your help so far.. I have made a start, applied for a new bank account, done my income and expenditure form and have just started to write letter 1 to all my creditors asking them to put my account on hold whilst i start sorting this out... First step of a long road, but am feeling positive at the moment - am just worried about the overdraft mainly..

Hiya, This is my first post, so please bear with me. I am in the process of sorting a DMP with CCCS, however the more I think about it the more I feel I want to do it myself. Do you think this is advisable?? I have 7 debts in total - 6 catalogues and a bank overdraft. What would you suggest is the best way forward? Many thanks Nicki