Hi 1] What other bankruptcy advisors could be recommended?:- First try a public body like Citizen's advice. Also, have a good poke around here. It is government: Bankruptcy - Frequently Asked Questions So far as I can see Payplan are a for profit company and I would not necessarily trust them to steer you in the right direction as opposed to the right direction for them to get a lot of fees! 2] Can they be prevented from petitioning from bankruptcy? - and if so, what is the minimum amount left over each month that a court would consider acceptable to divvy up between creditors under a formal arrangement? I don't know enough to answer personally. Hopefully other CAGers will answer this one. But looking on the .gov site above it says this: At the hearing the Court can do one of four things: 1. Stay (delay) the proceedings - often because the Court needs further information before it can decide whether to make a bankruptcy order. 2. Dismiss the petition - perhaps because an administration order would be more appropriate. 3. Appoint an Insolvency Practitioner - if the Court thinks that an Individual Voluntary Arrangement would be more appropriate. This will only be possible if your assets are more than £2,000; your unsecured debts are less than £20,000; and you have not been bankrupt or made an Individual Voluntary Arrangement in the previous five years. If you do not wish to enter into such an arrangement, you should inform the Court. 4. Make a bankruptcy order. You will be bankrupt the moment the order is made by the Court. The above would therefore indicate the court could order things other than bankruptcy. 3] Do the courts try to prevent bankruptcy, if at all possible - even if that is what the petitioner thinks will be in their best interest? The above indicates once again that the court might order something else. I would hope someone will come on here who can give you more focused advice for the situation, but just in case I would go to the Citizens Advice anyway. I wish all the very best for your family, a quick resolution and a fresh start.

Hi What is the date of your hearing for the interim to be made final? If they are very close I have got a good idea that will give you more time. (You may need this as hopefully other CAGers will come on here but the more time the better). Having added everything up you have not far short of £53K of debt plus negative equity of £23K so you are £75K behind the game, so to speak unless you have any significant assets elsewhere. It may be radical, and you should not undertake this in haste but maybe you should consider the district Judge's advice. If this happened you could kiss goodbye to everything and just start again. The alternative is possibly years of misery as you try to recover your position. Consider why you want the house. Is it really nice or just an investment? If the latter then it is not working for you. OK, it is a home for your child but your child's real home is wherever the pair of you are, and the child's home may be happier if you are not spending the next ten years dealing with debt. In my opinion there is too high a premium placed on owning your own home in this country. People often feel they have been left behind or are in a minority. Too many property shows on the TV etc. So perhaps consider the real value of this house. If it is not a family heirloom then it is one of many thousands that have been built and there will be opportunities of buying another in the future if you want. You will not be excluded from society just because you don't. own your own house, though it may at times feel like it. Having said all the above let us not forget you are on CAG and much of your debt has the potential to be challenged, managed, reduced and eliminated. As I said, do nothing in haste.

Inspirational: We should all live by what he says here: "It's their system," says Cunningham. "I didn't make the rules. I'm just learning what the rules are." Brilliant.

Hi again Do you have good proof you sent the CCA request? In the event you do have a CCJ that might help to get it set aside as they would have been taking enforcement action before providing you with a copy of your agreement. (Probably getting ahead of the script actually but just thought of it!).

Hi Not an expert so wait for one to come along but... On their letter is there any kind of reference to the judgment, even a date? (You don't need to put any details up here just yet but just answer the query). Use these guys; CCJs, court orders & fines - Search yourself and others - Trust Online to find out if there is anything against you. If it was recent I guess it is possible they haven't got it listed. I think you have 30 days to pay a CCJ before it hits the CRA's in which case they would not find it but don't quote me on that. I would agree with MorganaNK. If you haven't moved since taking out the agreement they would serve you at your current address and you would have several letters from the court during the process. Could you confirm whether you have moved since taking out the DP agreement and if so, have you had any correspondence from DP at your new address? I personally prefer to ignore DCA's if at all possible so as to deny them the pleasure of provoking a response. However, if you are worried about it you could write to them and ask them for full details of the judgment against you. Wait for some other CAGers to post as they will possibly have some better advice/direct experience.

Hi I respectfully think spamhead in post 42 may be in error in one point. If the situation is that a CCJ has been granted unopposed I would not think at that time the judge would set a repayment schedule, though I am prepared to be proved wrong. His judgement would simply be that the debt is due. An application for time to pay would have to come from the debtor at the time of the CCJ if they were there or had applied at the time, or at a later time if they were struggling, though I accept I could be wrong. Am I right that the statute of limitation does not apply to this as it is a CCJ? (as this has not already been mentioned).

Hi You are where you are. Don't worry about it and don't beat yourself up about it. Everybody lies, as you know yourself. Just because the interviewer said they would check references it does not mean they would, or that they would ask for, or be able to get, previous sick leave data just because they said so. We spend a lot of time worrying about things that don't happen. Just do your job over and above what is required and sell yourself to them every day. You were the best candidate. Prove it to them. If they uncover this about you it may not come to light for a while by which time they may like you too much to care. The worst that can happen is they get rid of you. In this case you are no worse off than you are today plus you have gained a bit of experience (and some wages!). Good luck tomorrow and have a good day.

Ok excellent news regarding the other account. This does mean you have two debts with Lloyds, your card and your account, assuming it still does have some overdraft on it. Best to get your remaining payments away from them, and close the account to avoid any more charges. They will then have no control over you. Then you can repay this at an affordable rate from part e. of your income/expenditure sheet. The SAR is not linked to the CCA request. You can send both at the same time and should consider doing so. Do not be bullied. Only you can determine what you can afford to pay, not them. Make them an offer you can stick to and stick to it. (PS, if you set this up do not agree to Direct Debits, as they can take any amount they like. Standing orders only). Also, you are under no legal obligation to provide them with an income/expenditure sheet, either your's or any they send you to complete. Only a court could make you do this if it ever got that far. You may choose to do so if you want but I personally wouldn't. Once you get the SAR response post back here to say you have got it and I am sure there will be many CAGers to help out. 11. No. No more calls. They are expert on the phone and you are not. They can get you to agree to things or to say things you will regret. You need time to think and measure your responses and that is why you need to conduct business in writing. It is your right and don't let them tell you otherwise. Also, there is no record of what is said on the phone and that will be to your disadvantage. Also, written stuff is a PITA to them. Good I say! Still wait for some other CAGers. If you haven't used the card and it has no available limit it is probably worth getting rid of it. If you need a card in order to make payments etc and you don't have one with your present bank may I recommend the good old Post Office who do sterling pre-payment cards (VISA and Electron). There are also others out there.

OK ask them for a copy of the contract.

HDW No more phone calls!! Written stuff only. The amount you can offer depends upon how much you get out of the family when you get it. dx is right in his post 3. dx is also right in his post 5 If you get hold of as much information about the account as possible you may well find that great chunks of it are unenforceable. At this point you can tell MBNA that and see their offer come down.

Hi seanamarts I would definitely agree with you to watch out for their tricks. I would not necessarily say they were acting within the law, but I cannot deny what happened. I was not rude to them, and recognized they were doing a job, however distasteful, and in return they behaved in a business like manner. (I cant deny that the fact that I am 129kg of towering gut and grissle may have assisted my position!) hi fluffy bunny You could well be right. I have seen their name crop up on here and thought they were one and the same.

Forgot to add; If you are still using the card, consider giving it up.

Ok it is time to hold your head up and start to move forward with the exciting thing that is life!! Start by getting the Black Horse under some control. The strategy will be to a. shut them up, b. manage them, and c. reduce your liability to them. 1. Send them the telephone harassment letter here: Harassment by telephone - Consumer Wiki 2. If you bank with them, get another account. 3. Start to use the other account and stop all DD's SO's etc on the Lloyds account. (I would say there is no harm in keeping the Lloyds account open but don't use it). (Items 2 and 3 will remove any control of your money they may have). 4. Send them a CCA request as here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html#post162367 (Send by recorded delivery, don't sign, check it is delivered using GPO track and trace and print off the web page for your own records). Wait 12 plus 2 days. If they have not responded by then, optionally stop paying them until they provide what you have asked for. This will give you a breathing space. 5. Send them a SAR costing you £10. 6. Do a personal Income and expenditure sheet. The priority debts are: a. Mortgage or Rent b. Council Tax c. Utilities food Transport d. A small reserve. e. everything else. 7. Offer them a repayment based on e. above provided they freeze the interest. Do not let them or anyone else tell you what to pay. You are uniquely placed to determine what you can afford and that is it. 8. Keep to that payment. 9. Once you get the responses to the SAR and CCA there may be points there that allow you to challenge all or parts of the agreement. Challenge them. 10. Keep all correspondence, from wherever it comes, including the envelopes they came in. (I staple the envelope to the letter and file in date order). I would not be surprised to find that once you go on the offensive they will look to cut their losses and come back with offers, particularly if they cannot find documents, or there are irregularities. 11. No phone calls. Not ever. If they call, put the phone down. If they call back, leave it off hook. Written comms only. Never sign anything, never acknowledge the debt. WAIT FOR OTHER CAGers TO COME ON HERE AND CONFIRM/CORRECT WHAT I HAVE SAID. Post back with any developments. Good Luck.

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Hi Please accept my deepest sympathy for your loss and my best wishes for your recovery and restoration to a happier life. In that regard I would say as follows: Every day is a new day and a chance for you to begin anew. You should take a positive attitude to your life and particularly work. 1. Always turn up on time or before time. 2. Alway turn up as smart as you can both in appearance and demeanor. 3. Do your full day and give your employer everything you are contracted to give. 4. Be positive and polite to all you meet. If you do the above 4 things you will be one of the 30% of people that employers want to keep. Say nothing about what went on before. Let points 1-4 speak for you every day. If you do this he will be lucky to have you. If the subject comes up, explain honestly what happened and why you lied, and hold your head up because not withstanding what you said at the interview you have given everything and more to the current guy and he has not lost out. I speak as an employer, previously an employee and as a human being. Good luck.

Hi My experience of mobile contracts is that they have a minimum term, in this case 18 months and they then run monthly thereafter. You should check the small print to see if that is the case. If so they continue to supply you with a service beyond the 18 months for which they have some expectation of getting paid, so I would say you are probably contractually liable for the amount they are claiming if you did not cancel your contract. I would also say this is reasonable. If this is the case and they have said you can pay a reduced amount it might be worth taking advantage of that offer. If it is not immedaitley affordable offer a shortish payment plan of two or three payments at the reduced total amount to clear it up. If you do this do it by letter, not on the phone and top the letter "Without Prejudice".

See my post on your other thread for MBNA. Say comments apply.

Hi You have done OK so far in repaying them at a low rate with frozen interest. If you want to offer a final amount in return for a reduced settlement I would not do so until you know how much money will be available to you and you actually have the money. At that point you can write to them explaining that a family member will offer x amount in full and final settlement and asking them if they want to accept it. Either they will or they wont and provided you have written the offer letter correctly I see no reason why they would go back on the payment plan. Make sure they understand you don't have the money but can get it but only for a final settlement. Also, insist they remove any default they may have placed with CRA's. To do this you do not need a subject access request. You would only need that if you wish to challenge the enforceability of the debt. If you went that route you would need to put in a CCA request at a cost of £1 and or the SAR at a cost of £10. I don't know what their reaction would be if you made those requests. The following is just a personal opinion not backed by any facts but.....I would say in theory, provided you maintain your payments whilst the two applications take their course I cannot see why they would withdraw from the payment plan, as you are simply making requests for information which is your right under the relevant laws. However, wait for some other CAGers to come on first and see what they say. A subject Access Request is a letter you send to the Organization, together with a fee of £10 (this is the maximum they can charge). The letter asks for information they hold about you and you are legally allowed to ask for it and they are legally obliged to provide it. The relevant laws are in the Data Protection Act. Here is the process: 1. Find the template letter on this site. 2. Adapt it to your circumstances (address, account numbers etc) 3. Do not sign it. 4. Send it with a £10 postal order by recorded delivery. 5. After a few days check the GPO track and trace to confirm it has been delivered/signed for and print out a copy of the web page for your own records. 6. In theory the organisation should, within 40 days, reply with a copy of all the information they hold about you. 7. Maintain your payments throughout the process. Once you have it you can examine it to see if there is anything there that allows you to challenge all or part of the agreement. Good luck

I would also add when they get on the phone to you they may describe themselves as "Enforcement Office". This is a psychological trick to scare you. They are a company called John Marstons and I would have thought the proper way to identify themselves is to say "John Marstons" Dont let them intimidate you with this trick.

Hi 1. They are a big well organized firm that operates from a base in the Midlands. 2. My experience of them has been as a result of dealing with them when they have recovered trade debts from a business I assist with. 3. They visited us a few times. I had no choice but to let them in as our business is open to the public. The visits were conducted professionally in my opinion. They were discrete, well dressed and polite. I was able to sit down with them, and explain our financial situation, which was laid out on my spreadsheet for them to view. I was able to offer repayment plans which they then said they had to run past the OC. Whether or not they did I do not know but they subsequently always accepted our offer. 4. However, this is not to say they cannot get up to dodgy tricks. One of their favourites is to send a letter saying they will be on site with a van by a set date and will charge you a fee. On one occasion the phoned the day after the van was supposed to arrive. Subsequently they charged us a van fee despite the fact we never saw it. I do not beleive they routinely organise third party transport as they imply they do. Although I was somewhat complimentary to them in point 3. this is based on my own experience and I am not endorsing them as a good or ethical firm, but must report as I find. It might be helpful for you to post more details of the debt, the amount sought, and what has happened, as CAGers can then focus specific help on you. Also, wait for some other CAGers to come on here with their own experiences, which I sadly suspect may not be the same as mine.

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This might be it: http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/571-failiure-to-provide-a-copy-of-the-agreement-within-the-prescribed-timescale Glad your situation is under full control. Either the loan will ultimately prove to be unenforceable or it wont. In the latter case you can pay it under your own control. Post back here with any other events/results because there are ways of negotiating the repayments down. It looks like this will be a black mark on your credit file for the next six years (but you never know).

I would say if they are being rude and querying your legal rights to ask for the evidence they will rely on then they havent got anything. If they did have something they could be polite about it. Insults, and temper are what you have left when you have nothing. A good sign I think.

Hi Madi's Mum Thanks for the update. You are not a numpty. You are on CAG because you need help like the rest of us. The numptys are the DCA's and institutions we deal with. OK First the BC As you have seen I am very good at asking questions but numpty when it comes to the answers. From my interpretation the letter they sent indicates they might not have sent you original True Copies which, if that is the case, puts them in default but I would want to see confirmation from other non-numpty CAGers who know this area well. I guess that means looking at what you have been sent. I dont know what I am looking at so this would have to be someone else. The SD The SD seems to be an entirely separate issue to do with another debt. In this case Capquest say they sent an SD which you did not respond to because you never received it? Where or how do they say that? If in fact they did send an SD and you did not receive it, from their point of view they would consider you had received it. If they were serious they should then have gone on to bankrupt you which they would have done by going to court to apply for your bankruptcy, which did not happen. I have in my possession no less than three SD's issued as part of the threatomatic system operated by DCA's. I ignored them. Not one has subsequently been followed up. Now, they say they are coming to personally serve you with an SD. My view is they may and they may not, but until you see one there is nothing you can do at this stage so I would not worry about it. If one does arrive then post back here and get some more advice. (by the way the MOJ takes a dim view of using the court processes to collect debts. They have cautioned at least one DCA for sending out SD's without the intent to follow up, which is the case a lot of the time. These are an escalation of the psychological war between DCA's and debtors). If yo have a valid claim against someone the last thing you would do if you had any sense would be to make them bankrupt, because by so doing you dilute any assets they may have amongst all the creditors they have. Far better to keep those assets to yourself by means of a County Court Summons/judgment, as if you win the creditor only pays you. That may offer you some small reassurance.

Hi I am not an expert so I hope and expect others to comment on what I am about to say. First the letter As I understand it you sent the CCA to the DCA and the DCA presumably asked BC for a copy of the CCA. BC replied with the letter reproduced above. (and if the above statement sounds like dialogue from Good Morning Vietnam I can only apologise!). Question One: Is that Correct? In the letter Barclaycard said As you now manage this debt, it is your responsibility to provide the statement of account as required under Section 78. I presume they were telling the DCA that. It made me laugh as one interpretation of it is that Barclaycard are not very enthusiastic about providing true copies once they have kicked the account out of the door. The letter goes on to say: Since the terms of the agreement were varied it is necessary to send the most recent version of the credit agreement, as amended. This version will contain the terms of the regulated agreement for the purpose of Section 78 and the Regulations because the Regulations require that the up-to-date terms are provided (Regulation 7) I enclose the most recent version of the credit agreement that is applicable to this account as amended. I read this, possibly incorrectly, that they have provided you with later terms and conditions. The recent law seems to be that they are not required to provide you with an exact copy photocopied from your original agreement but can provide you with reconstituted copies providing they contain all the information as it was AT THE TIME of the agreement, not what they are using for modern agreements they send out now. If my reasoning is sound it is very likely they have not sent you a "true copy" of the agreement so should be looked at very carefully. Indeed, this letter just might be an inadvertent admission of that fact. I think nowadays they also have to state whether or not they hold a copy of the original agreement. Second the SD You received a letter from Capquest saying last July they sent a SD. Question Two As you never got the SD does the letter you got today mention the amount they are after and does the amount match what BC are after? In other words is it the same debt or another one? (I only ask because none of my own 1st Credit/MH cases involved Capquest). Question Three Not withstanding whether the debts are the same if Capquest did send you an SD why did they not act on it when you failed to respond? Question Four Presuming you have not been in contact with them regarding the non receipt of the first SD (Have you by the way?) why are they now coming with a second SD? You only need one and from their point of view you have already got it? What I am getting to with these last points is whether the Scotcall/Capquest co-dickheadedness is an immediate cause for concern. I hope other CAGers will come in here and correct/progress my thoughts. (Apologies for the rambling thread but this is all I can do now that the wife wont let me drink!)