First I have ever heard of such a clause, will look into it and thanks, surely goes against common justice. agreed not all Solcrs but it is a lottery which sort you get, one in Stockport the 2nd in Hanley, not prudent to name them but I can tell you if its the one you are using if you give a name, mine began with D.

Legal Aid - don`t wish to be a damp squid just don`t get your hopes up, been there with one who all he had to do was make the Halifax obey a Court Order and respond to an Independent Audit, instead he dragged it out for two years then withdrew his services just days before the repo hearing, I sued him via l/aid and another incompetent solcr who dumped my case on to a newly qualified junior and messed it all up, the Office for the Supervision of Solictors stated the first could withdraw his services as it was a "professional judgement" and they could not question this, the 2nd was ordered to pay me £300 for losing me my case, they are only in it to make as much money as they can and the longer they drag it out the more they make. you can look forward to months/years of none productive stress as they can`t do anything until the Banks answer their letters and the Halifax`s norm was an average of 3 months a time. And when you give up so you can get on with your life, you`ll be debitted with the Banks Costs. You are in a No Win No Win situation - pay them even if you don`t actually owe it - cheaper in the long run. Cost me into double six figures to not pay £2609 I didn`t owe.

am willing to try anything, but I do know that MP`s are only allowed to act on behalf of their own constituents. The FOS responded more in a manner expected from the Halifax`s Counsel, contradicting, misquoting and misdirecting evidence, I have enough bullets to shoot them down just nobody to fire the gun. let me know how your enquiries get on.

You will not beat the Halifax, they have a policy of deliberately elongating the issue until you give up or pay up, they are not concerned about the FOS in my case they told him my complaint was none of his concern and refused to acknowledge further letters from him for nine months, he did nothing. They do not comply with the Banking Code or the FSA requirements neither organisation is concerned. Responses from them take anything up to nine months I even had to wait two years for the first response.They dragged a false claim against me on for nine years then refused to correct their error with Equity. Advice received at the onset was to pay them money I didn`t owe them as it would be cheaper in the long run and turned out to be true.

Re asked in the House - Does anyone know one who would do this, MP`s rules only allow them to act for their own constituents and many appear to have been working the system re two houses. I started to email facts to all 600 MPs listed, gave up after a couple of hundred as only half a dozen responded. All those that should care have been given details of the Halifax`s criminal methods of Banking. Tony Blair PM passed my complaints to H.M.Treasury who advise they cannot interfere with the workings of the FOS. Gordon Brown PM wasn`t interested, then appointed the Halifax CEO as his advisor. David Cameron MP wasn`t interested that the Halifax given taxpayers money, ignored the Protective Codes and the Law of the Land. Lord Hunt reported on the failure of the FOS but didn`t respond to the list of criminal actions I sent him. The OFT don`t get involved in individuals complaints. The ASA do not think the Halifax are misleading the public by advertising they comply with the Banking Codes requirements when I have proof they do not do this. The Trustees of The Banking Code state they do not police their own Code, is the responsibility of the FOS and are not concerned the FOS are not ensuring their Code is complied with. The FSA "good business practise" - do not police their own own Code for individuals complaints, the FOS do this for them and again are not concerned when they are shown they do not, as they can`t interfere with the FOS. The Halifax failed to comply with a request as made under The Data Protection Act and totally ignored a Lawful Court Order, the FOS refuse to respond to questions as to why this was not addressed by them. The papers and Watchdog did not reply, Max Clifford said not his domain, everyone who should know the Halifax operate in a Criminal manner have been informed and not interested in doing anything about it. The Chairman of the Halifax passed my list of their Criminal actions to their Complaints Dept then forwarded me their response -"as far as we are concerned the matter is closed" then responded further by saying any other letters from me would be ignored. Various CEO`s of the Halifax respond as above - "the matter is closed" Latest one from a letter addressed to Stephen Hester, the man who has just paid the FSA £3million pounds for the Halifax treating their customers badly, one of whom is myself on whose back the FSA has benefitted, is not a response from him but one from the RBS Customer Care Dept returning my list of complaints stating the RBS is not part of the Halifax Group -very funny lets LOL. All I did was refuse to pay claimed Mortgage Arrears until proven to be owed, the Halifax took 24 months to provide their first ever response to my repeated protestations but not before they had Summonsed for Repossession. Spent a further 48 months supplying false accountancy proving I owed the money, then after 6 years of costs/stress said it had all been a mistake through a printing error on their part and that the £2609 proven to be owing was actually £260. Another 27 months passed before they made an offer of correction, which was a credit in hindsight of misclaimed demands and the debitting of all their Costs to my Account. They then re-Summonsed claiming these unpaid Costs as Arrears together with the unentitled to portion of the 100% increases to monthly demands, increased portions which was agreed I did not need to pay until claimed arrears were proven. After 9 years of stress, because they would not correct their error in any manner other than one that ensured they were not a penny out of pocket and on the fact that "Arrears are the failure to pay amounts demanded, irrespective of whether these amounts are correct or not" I submitted to repossession where they kindly debitted my £23k mortgage with additional Costs of £21.5k. I repeatedly and publicly state that the Halifax plc are a Bank that operates in a Criminal Manner, knowing that they will not take any action to prevent me stating this as I can prove it to be the truth. That The Cabinet and H.M.Treasury have been given details that it is now funding a Criminally operating Bank with taxpayers money. 10 years of being pursued for money not in fact owed and another 10 years of trying to get them to correct their error with Equity. hence -"passedhelp"

Also in my case, the evidence was ignored or misdirected, proof of the Halifax failing to comply with The Banking Code, FSA good business practise, Data Protection Act, ignoring a Court Order, were not only not considered but the FSO refuse to explain why so, they also misdirected evidence and even contradicted proven facts, the Halifax claiming mortgage arrears and pursued same for six years, finally admitting they did not exist and only showed to be owed due to a printing error on their part, it then took them a further 27 months to provide a correction to their error which included debiting all their Costs to my account which as I refused to pay them were then claimed as arrears, NONE of these points were addressed by the FOS who refuse to respond to any requests asking why so ?. charged with failing to provide the required care and attention to the evidence supplied the adjudicator refuses to examine my complaints. The FOS is for most consumers a total waste of time.

I only know that they will not investigate anything that is under discussion within the legal system (Court), if you wish to complain to the FSO then make sure no reference is made to the other matters and you may be ok.

You can do either in any order just not both at the same time. In my case the Halifax Summonsed thus denying me access to the Ombudsman and with General Adjournments kept the matter in the legal system (permanently) until after nine years I gave up.

Don`t waste your time, the Ombudsman is either incompetent or bank biased, I charged them with failing to apply the required due care and attention to evidence supplied and they refuse to investigate my claims, the Ind Assessor states they only investigate charges of Poor Service, they have also changed their Name (not address or staff) and cannot investigate complaints about a previous Ombudsmans Scheme, so I have no answer to my complaints about them. What did they do wrong in investigating my complaint that the Halifax plc had claimed and pursued for eight years, Mortgage Arrears that only showed to exist as a result of a Halifax printing error, the FSO misdirected evidence/replies, invented amounts, quoted dates and amounts out of sequence, contradicted hard copy evidence, even got my address incorrect, refused to comment on the Halifax of failing to comply with the Banking Code, Data Protection Act, FSA requirements, a Lawful Court Order and when correcting their error not only ignored all my Costs and Losses but debited their Costs to my account. Question to the FSO = why do they think the proven innocent party should pay everyones Costs ? - no answer.