I am after some advice on PPI on a loan. I made an approach to question the sale of PPI to the loan company Central Trust in 2008 some time after the loan was paid off and then subsequently referred the claim to the FOS in 2009 when Central Trust rejected the claim. The FOS also rejected the claim as they say Central Trust was not under their jurisdiction as the loan was taken out prior to 14th January 2005. Despite this and the time elapsed I still think that I have a really solid case for a claim that the PPI was miss-sold. Is the ruling of the FOS final or do I have another option? Have rules changed that would permit me to make another approach to Central Trust or the FOS? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi I have rented a house for the past four years and am happy with the conduct of the estate agent and response to issues I have highlighted during this time. Within the last week both the washing machine and fridge freezer have broken down. The estate agent has told me that the landlord will not be repairing or replacing these items and I will need to go and buy my own new appliances. These two were in the property when I moved in and are listed on the inventory. I selected this house as semi furnished as I didn't and still don't have the money to go and buy my own. I don't want to make an issue of this if its going to result in my rent going up but id like to know where i stand on this issue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Steve

I have recently found out I have not been claiming enough over time for my hours worked. Its only 15 mins per shift but I have around 18 months of this. Is there a legally accepted time which I can request my employer to repay? My manager has said its my own fault and that I am not allowed retrospective payments. All my colleagues have been claiming 1 1/2 hours for work between 19:00 and 20:00 whereas I have claimed 1 1/4. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a question about an issue that my employer is proposing to enforce on myself and my colleagues. Due to a recent situation where staffing levels fell short the management are proposing to enforce a contact change whereby employees may be compelled to provide shift cover with little or no notice. This would impact on the personal lives of myself (as a single parent) and my colleagues in similar ways. Is this proposed change to our contracts legal and is it something that can be imposed upon us considering the problems it will inevitably cause to all our personal lives?

Thanks for the reply. What worries me is that the money in this pension is not my main pension policy (which was disclosed at the time of entering the IVA but when I retire (eventually!!), it will be a nice little supplement to my full pension.)If I was going to contact my IVA practitioner would they say I have to pay it into the IVA and could I end up not being able to use the pension money to clear the IVA entirely?I imagine the IVA practitioner would be compelled to disclose this money to the creditors and they would just take it all and I would still be left with the remaining £2k plus interest and fees to pay?If I am going to contact the IVA company to suggest using this money I would want assurances it would completely wipe out the IVA.

I have three pension policies, one I pay into and two dormant. I have one with just over 10k in that been dormant since 2005. It would pay very little at retirement and as my main one is going to be quite sufficient ive just left it sat there. I am currently in an IVA and just started year 3. The 10k in the pension would more than cover the IVA, but is this something that could be done? To release me from the IVA and free up my finances the value of the pension once I am 65 is nothing compared to what it would be worth to me today if it could be used to discharge the IVA. Any advice on this one would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Steve

HiI posted last week with my gas meter reading as of 17:30 on 02/05. The reading at the same time today is 03467 731.ThanksSteve

Hi Apologies for the late reply. I have the following details for you. Current meter reading (metric meter) = 03462 586 Your monthly direct debit payments = £64 per month Your current tariff (standard energy or one of the online discounted tariffs) - i'm on a tariff called 'go save'. its 7.471 ppu before 4572 then 2.987 after The first part of your postcode - HD8 Is your boiler a modern one, or is it behind a gas fire? -Modern boiler serviced regularly 7 days after providing your meter reading here, please return here to provide a new reading. This is so I can see what you have consumed over 1 week Also look at your gas meter and let me know which of the following it looks like Looks like they have the seriel numbers wrong but I am not getting my hopes up!! I will post the meter reading 7 days from now same time. Thanks for your help

Hi, Thankyou for this suggestion. I have spoken to NPower and compared the serial number on the meter to the one they have on their records, and guess what!! They dont match. They are undertaking an investigation. I'm not going to get my hopes up but I would be delighted if they have been overcharging me and I get my overpayment back. £60 - £70 per month for a house occupied 2 days a week cant be right!

I use NPower for my gas and electricity in my small 2 bedroomed house. I live there for around 2 days a week. The rest of the time I live at my girlfriends house. When away everything is switched off, the boiler is off at the mains. The only thing on is the fridge freezer and the security alarm. My girlfriend has two children and a three bedroom house so all appliances are used everyday. My bills though are higher than hers. In fact she has built up almost £300 credit whereas my account is £50 in debit. I have had issues with NPower over my bills but they insist they are accurate. I have had online billing since 2011 but have never seen any details on my online account so I doubt the meter has ever been read. The bills seem to be calculated on my readings alone. These readings are correct but I am convinced I am being overcharged somehow. Is there any way to have NPower carry out a reading or assess the meters to my property, preferably without costing me?

I provided an out going reading to the old supplier (BG) and the same one to npower, i requested a monthly DD be set up because it made it easier to manage my finances

I was paying £44 per month for combined gas and elect'. i switched to npower as they promised a lower bill for combined gas and elect.

Ive copied below a letter of complaint ive drafted. In short i switched to npower, despite providing hand over meter readings they didn't bill me for three months, then set the bill what i think now was artificially low. Today I get a letter and my bill have more than doubled, they say to repay the debit. If any one could take the time to read my letter and offer any suggestions or advice id really appreciate it. Thanks Steve I am writing to make a complaint about what I consider to be a failure in your levels of service resulting in me being issued with an increased direct debit payment. When I switched to yourselves I provided a meter reading for the handover from my previous utility provider. I provided another reading further to this but didn’t receive a bill from npower for around three months. I was eventually provided with a direct debit of £34 per month. This seemed low to me but in view of the fact that I am a single man and am only at home for around half the week I just assumed it was accurate for my energy consumption. I was shocked to receive a bill dated 27th July informing me of my new payment of £80 per month which would reduce my account debit over 6 months. I immediately called npower to speak to an advisor who extended the repayment period thus reducing the bill to £64 per month. I consider this to be an excessive increase which is in no part attributable to myself. The reasons it has increased are clearly due to my account being in debit but I attribute this failure to the substandard service levels provided by you. Put simply I would like you to address the following issues which have caused this situation: • Why did it take so long to create my first bill? • Why was the first bill set so low? I would like to understand why your inefficiencies in effectively processing my account has so dramatically increased my bill and as I can not afford to pay the debit off I am effectively compelled to remain with npower until I’ve repaid. If I do not receive a satisfactory response I will be taking my complaint to the relevant ombudsman and further if necessary.

Hi, I have complained about misselling of PPI on a loan from First Plus. They rejected my complaint. I then turned to the FOS who also have rejected my complaint on the basis that First Plus was not a member of the FSA when I took out the loan. Am I correct in thinking that I need to complain now to the GISC? How can I find out who regulated First Plus when I took out the loan in 2005, about a week before it came under the jusisdiction of the FSA? Do I still have any grounds to complain? ANy advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there. My wife and I are in the process of writing to first plus. after reading this forum i think we will request a sar initially. I would greatly appreciate any background info on first plus which may improve my chances of getting a refund. any advice would be greatly appreciated. SM