Hi all Thanks for all your advice along the way, my husband has given in and paid it today. As they may have applied for a CCJ or visited the house and as we have much more serious stresses to deal with at the mo. At least it's all over now Regards

Hi there We got a second letter from Regal today advising us that they will advise their client, Enterprise, to apply for a CCJ against us. Will they actually do this? We owe £136.55. Won't ruin our credit as we're both bankrupt anyway, so not worried about that side of things just don't want to pay for this when they could have had the money in April!! Thanks

Hi all, This is in relation to a mortgage with a bank so wasn't sure to post here or not but I am sure I will have this moved if in the wrong place. We have a residential mortgage and in 2008 moved to France for a 6 month trial intending to lead to permanently living there. We came back early for various reasons. We had PTL on the property but couldn't get a tenant (one of the factors we came back for) so as soon as we came back to the house we told the bank who said they'd amend the records. I asked for a copy letter shortly after, regarding something or other, and never received it. They confirmed it was sent which got my alarm bells ringing. It turned out in September of that year that they had sent every piece of paperwork to the address in France!!!! They still didn't rectify it until Dec of that year (I told them in June I had moved back). I formally complained, and they offered £75 compensation which I laughed at. Anyway, 3 traumatic years down the line and we are so cross because our fixed rate was up in June/July of that year and because we never got the letters to advise of this, we never had the opportunity to re-mortgage. Now we can't, as in order to pay our mortgage we both went BR to clear all our debt. As we are on a SVR, we have seen no rate cuts, and still pay almost £800pm on interest only. We feel like we can't carry on paying out so much, I've had to take a lower paid job due to the nature of my work changing. We feel like the bank are partly to blame for this, due to their DP breach and 'IT error'. Has anyone had any experience fighting the banks over something like this? All we want is for a better rate, a fixed rate or for them to give us permission to let. They won't give us any of these things.

Hi thanks for your reply. Just wondering, when you refer to 'a court would force them to give it' do you mean if it came down to the point of repo proceedings, or is this something we can push forwards ourselves? We live in Manchester, we hope that if we can rent it out one of the many employees of the BBC who have had to move to Media City in Salford may rent it out as we're right near tram links to there! Renting to us seems the best option, although I suppose we could try to sell - but in the end I think that will be futile right now.

Hi all We want to move abroad, and sell our house. We owe more than we can sell for and after speaking to the bank today for advice we are no wiser (as obviously they can't give 'advice' as such). If we want to sell for less than the mortage o/s then we need to reduce the mortgage balance she said (not possible) or put a written proposal in to them, of how we would pay the difference back. I don't mind doing this but what if they refuse our offer? Secondly, we could rent it out in the hope that maybe one day we may have equity in it again and then sell, but this is a problem as we would never get our lenders consent, and even if we did this we may have empty periods which we could not cover the mortgage for. I can't think of any other thing to do than let it be repo, but I have read into 'handing the keys back' etc and I know it is not as simple as that, and we could end up owing an absolute fortune. We want to do it right, but at the moment we feel trapped to bricks and mortar when a better life is out there waiting for us. (We will have a house abroad funded by family moving with us - we have no capital anywhere, both previously bankrupt so no finance available or wanted by us). Any advice about how to get out of this 'trap' would be much appreciated.

OK since yesterday morning we've had a call on our landline every hour up to 10pm from an unknown number, which I tend not to answer. Is this likely to be Regal? It is possible that Enterprise rent a car gave them our number. Also, what will happen if we don't pay and ignore Regal? I'm not bothered if they come to the door, we have a rather large and mad dog who will sort that situation out. I'm not bothered if they ring, I'll just hang up or bar their number.

Do you think it is likely they will apply for a CCJ for £136.55? Or will Regal start adding fees on to make it more to make it worthwhile? Shall we ignore Regal?

As someone who had to go bankrupt I'd be interested to know how much you owe before offering advice, I had 50k so it was definately worth it for me.

Ooops looks like I sent the letter to the wrong place, I sent it to the written enquiries section in Southend, Essex. I am not sure who my tax office is, and I'll bet my accountants won't be forthcoming......I'll update again soon

Are Regal not able to take us to court or send bailiffs etc?

I wish we could argue this point, but the contract says 'damage' (will be billed now or later) and does not define what would be considered damage/wear & tear. Personally, I look at it like this - if you would normally claim on your car insurance then it is DAMAGE and if not, then it is wear & tear. However, as I have no legal knowledge I doubt I am correct! But there are many definitions lacking from the contract we signed.

Thanks for your replies, I will find out if we have a copy of the sheet - I know we did but I would think they could provide us with a copy anyway. It was Enterprise, who we have used several times and have never had a problem with. When we arrived at our destination, we heard a hissing sound and my husband found a nail embedded completely into the tyre (could have come from anywhere but I hasten to add that the caravan we stayed in was not maintained very well and the grass 'parking space' was very overgrown). We rang Enterprise (head office as branch was shut) who advised us to call the AA/RAC whoever to put the spare on for us. We then had to wait until the Tues to go to the garage (after the Sat we had the puncture) as it was Easter Bank Hol. We were advised by the breakdown company not to use the car until then as if the police saw us with the spare on for any other trip than to a garage for repair then we could get pulled. So we lost 2 days use of the car as it was. We went to the garage on the Tues, rang the local branch to ask what to do (and obviously the garage themselves rang them for authorisation to complete work etc) and the lad told my husband he didn't know whether we'd be charged or not. When we returned the car, the sheet was signed off (as the car had a brand new top of the range tyre as they said it was not repairable) and our deposit returned. 3 months later and we get a bill and the branch manager told me we were lucky to have been billed only £136.55 as our excess was actually £600 and they could bill us for that. Just trying to find out what powers Regal have as that is the pressing issue at the moment and my husband wants to pay this now, to avoid further action, but I am keen to dispute it.

Hi all My husband hired a car in April 2011 for our week's holiday to Wales. We got a flat tyre, had to get it repaired on hol and when we handed the car back they said all was OK and gave our deposit back. However, at the end of July we had a bill for £136.55 for the new tyre!! It gave us a week to pay or they would auto-debit our card. To avoid this as we disputed it, we cancelled the bank card and then today we had a letter from Regal. I am still not going to pay, as the contract in my eyes does not specify that flat tyres have to be paid for (and the split in the tyre could have been there before we took the car for the week as it may have been on the underside of the car when my hubby checked it) and besides which, they gave us our deposit back!! All I really need to know here is what action can Regal take? I'm not worried about bankruptcy or anything like that as we have both already been made BR. What else can they do? Are there limits for certain types of action (we owe £136.55) to be taken and could this fall under it? Sorry if this sounds flippant, but we paid enough for the car and they chose which car we had and I didn't really want low profile fancy alloy wheels with their equally expensive tyres!!

Just a small update, I have now been appointed as director and my relative has bee taken off. I hope now if they don't allow the strike off and they do investigate that it will be me they check out. And fingers crossed I chose the right HMRC address of the many they have!

It doesn't seem like there has been any maladministration here, and there is no dispute that the money is owed. Councils will act very quickly when it comes to BR, especially if they think there is money to be acquired by doing so. I would suggest as a last resort that you request a Charging Order on one of the properties (I'm assuming the 10k + is owed over several properties rather than just the one?). I think throwing in the Ombudsman is not appropriate, and would be a waste of time, as they deal more with disputes and liability matters rather than how councils recover money. I would assume that selling a house or two and only cutting even would still improve the situation for you though, as you would then have no ongoing Council Tax liability? Are these houses all empty? If not then why are you paying CT anyway? The occupier should be paying. Can you clarify the situation as to how may properties you owe on and who lives in them? I have many years experience in this field and could try to assist if you wish to message me.

They could also go for a Charging Order on any house that you own, which may be an option to 'cap' the debt as such and start afresh. They charge the O/S council tax to your house. If you then pay your current CT as stated you would be fine. However, if you continue with non-payment then they could force a sale on the house they have the Charging Order on. How can you own 3 properties and not be affording to pay CT? Would it not be prudent to sell one off and pay your liabilities?

Hi sorry I haven't been on for a few days. The last day I actually worked on a contract was 14th July, so I'm sending DS01 off on the 14th Oct. I have letters drafted to sign now, am just waiting for a few days before I send it off otherwise if they haven't changed us over as directors then they may wonder why signed by me?

Will do, I'm still keeping fingers crossed too. When you say I still have to send a letter to every creditor with the DS01 - am I sending a copy of a post-dated DS01? As I can't file for strike off until 14th Oct, I was just going to send a letter to each creditor (HMRC and my accountant). And will it be OK to send these letters out say, next week? It may take CH longer than that to put me down as director? Thanks for all your help

Right then, I sent the form to take my mum off and make me director today - I used the date of 01.06.11 so I hope that will be OK with them. Next step is to write out to inform of striking offf in Oct. Will I be told that they have made me director once it has been done? Thanks

Ah I see, well I suppose the value of the DLA would be the same as the CT owed, about £5k - I basically overpaid dividends to myself which I intended to replace before May next year. I don't know if it is formally recorded as a DLA anywhere? BTW, as my Mum was director, no salary was ever drawn over the year the company traded. Does this make any difference? All fiunds were drawn as dividends, bar the VAT I have paid over the year. Are you confident that seeing me taking over as director after the company ceased trading, and also given that I have had a previous company struck off won't make HMRC automatically start wind-up/investigations? Sorry I'm so scared. Reassuring that you can pull the plug and come to arrangements if it came to it though Oh, and when you say just do DS01 would that suggest I don't write to creditors immediately as I planned to do, or should I still write to HMRC as BD advised? Thanks again

P.S I am starting saving my children's child benefit to ease my mind that I will have something to pay in should the need come - the VAT is due end of August and CT due May 2012. I need to get my letter to HMRC asap or else they'll be fining me for not paying VAT HMRC and my accountant are my only creditors - Bank account £0 not overdrawn, owe accountant £240 and HMRC VAT £600 (roughly) and CT I think £5000 max. It's only on the CT side of things they are entitled to issue win-up proceedings I assume? (BD said debt to creditor has to be over £750 is that right?)

Oh, thanks by the way for replying - I forgot to say that first! Also, what is DLA?

My relative had no say in the company whatsoever - it was just a name to put down and they set up a bank account for me. I was in control, and the intention was that in Nov 2010 when I was discharged, I would take over but I never changed it over (wish I had). I can't submit DS01 until 14th Oct this year as was still trading until 14th July. Now I'm thinking it would be foolish to take over the company as I have previously closed a company down when I went BR so if they see my name again I think it would look a bit worse. It's the whole interview with the OR I must avoid for my relative at all costs - if they inform me they are going to start wind-up proceedings can I stop there and agree to pay everything back (not sure how I could do it but I would find a way)? Or if they start then would my relative be obliged to attend even if I do say I'll pay all liablilities? I've paid my accountant £180 per month (stupid money) since Aug 2010, I missed the July payment and for August it reduces to £60 as a dormant company. They are doing the work anyway and I said I may agree to pay the final amount I owe them, but BD advised me not to. They are doing the VAT return anyway - as I've paid so much! I don't know why I took the advice of the agency and the accountant, I should have just worked umbrella until I was discharged, and now I regret every action. I'm still not sleeping

Hi all Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I have recently spoken to Business Debtline and I have taken their advice but still remain terrified. I had a company as a contractor, but a relative acted as director (as I was unable to be one having been made bankrupt and unable to open a business bank account). This was done as the accountants advised it, and BD told me this was awful advice. Anyway, my company has no money so I am applying for Strike off in Oct (I ceased trading last month). I am just about to send letters to HMRC, the accountant and the bank. I owe about £600 VAT but about £5000 CT. As a company BD think HMRC are unlikely to object, but of course there are no guarantees and I have read a thread on here from someone who was in a similar position to me and HMRC DID object. For info, my annual return has been submitted (it's possible they may know how much CT I owe) and my accountant are about to submit my VAT return - should I try to stop them? Anyway, I need to protect my relative, if HMRC object to the strike off then will I have an option to pay (heaven knows how I'll do it but if it comes to it then I will find a way as my relative must not be affected by this). There is no money left as I overdrew dividends, with the intention to pay them back later this year but then I lost my contract and wages of £600 per week with it. £5k was not so much to be thinking to re-pay but now I am earning £45 per week (less than JSA!) and it's not possible to put funds back in to close the company down. I am so scared, I wake in the night and haven't slept all night for ages. I am increasingly drinking alcohol to try and forget, and am worried about where this will all end Please help with any advice - I know there may be people on here who deal with this every day