For your account, have a look at the info on parachute accts - best to set up another one if you are worried they might close yours down. Some banks do, and some dont. From what I have heard the Clydesdale\Yorkshire bank dont do credit checks so you should manage to get one with them but read through the thread as you know your banking requirements best so can choose the best one for you

Dont worry, I know it seems scary but once that first letter is sent off to request the statements you will have time to gain a lot more insight into what to do. You can even write out\Print (Libraries let you print up here for 20p a sheet so that may be an option if you are concerned about it being handwritten) it off and take it into your branch with the £10 fee. Most people find this the quickest method although the banks etc are busy with all the claims going in so can take several weeks.

Dont worry, we've all been in the same boat but by the time your first claim is done you will wonder why you were so stressed about the process!

To be honest I am not sure the donation flag would make any difference - the ones who remain on the site helping others are the people who will be first to donate whereas the ones who got the help and got their money and didnt donate probably dont use the site anymore, they got what they wanted off it. The world i full of givers and takers and the sad fact is the takers would only give if they were made to pay for the service and thats just not what this site is about. Mayve some are getting scared anout thinking they HAVE to donate 5%. They have been in debt so long and are now looking out for number one, and clearing their feet or treating the kids is their priority. Plus a lot of people are probably on WTC or benefits. Maybe if you dont stress 5% so much and just say any amount UP TO A MAXIUM of 5% some people will donate who may have been ashamed beofre cos they couldnt afford the full 5%?!

Just a thought.

Nikki

I'm in Scotland and its 3 months up here which is pants cos my husband currently works away most of the year so 3 months is not much time together. And he doesnt want to divorce me, its me wondering at his motives for wanting us to stay together. Wondering if its just for him seeing kids? Cos he would rather keep the marriage going till timescales are past for proving adultery? I believe he just needs to grow up and for some mad reason I still love him, and I hope that if I give him the chance to keep his family that he will take this as its meant to be - his LAST chance. But I havent had a chance to rebuild any trust and if he is just stringing me along and still b*llsh*tting me as he has for most of this year, then I will go for divorce on grounds of adultery as I was commited to the marriage and dont see why he should be able to do this to me and the girls and walk away scot free. He has too much of the wrong advise and horror stories from guys who are divorced (Every one of his managers in the offices worldwide, as well guys he meets on ships when working on them) and that is making our chances at fixing this worse not better. He is thinking of his finances and himself when he should be thining of fixing this mess and his daughters.

Does anyone know what the laws are for taxi's? I have two babies aged 10.5 months and 20 months and dont drive. To have to take the seats out of my husbands car(Big enough nightmare as have to do it when kids are sleeping), then carry them, two babies, pram, nappy bag etc and get it all in the taxi would be a nightmare, and what am I supposed to do with them when the journey is over? If I am going to the supermarket/dentist/into town etc I cant exactly carry them about with me! Do taxi drivers have to provide them by law? What happens if I get a lift over to visit a family member and my lift home lets me down - not well\had to go offshore etc? Or if I am out with the pram and the weather turns really bad or one of the kids becomes ill or gets fed up with the pram and wants lifted? The train station isnt open yet in my village, the buses are mini buses and not very regular and would involve 2-3 different ones as this is a branch of the main routes (And the thought of getting me and the kids and the pram onto the bus without the kids having hysterics because I cant hold them both, fold and carry the pram and the bags I need to cart around! Are buses excluded from the new car seat laws (They were before).

Cheers for any info\advice\tips\weblinks!

Out of curiosity, by end of next month I will know whether to keep trying with my marriage or give up(thats when my 3 month deadline for adultery is over). I filled in the CSA form and it stated that based on husbands earnings I should get just over £700 per month from him - Do I actually get this or does the government get it to cover my Child and Family Tax Credits? Its just when i went in to claim Income Support and discuss all my options as a single parent they said that any money I got from him would reduce my payment from them for Income Support but that if he offered to pay anything over £40 a week for the two girls then I was doing ok. No offence, he has cheated on me twice, hardly been around for me and the girls, moved his wages to another acct from our joint one without notice which left me scr*wed for my loans\credit cards etc as well as bills and groceries and stuff for me and the girls and all he has given me in the last 9 months is £1000. He has paid one electric bill and I have had to pay the others and the phone etc. Last time we spoke about divorce he told me he didnt want me to benefit from his wages because I was leaving him and he would set up trust funds for the girls. Now he is raving on about how his wages are going to increase significantly, that when he leaves the UK he will only manage to see the girls a couple of times a year unless I fly out to him (He would pay for me to go but then that means he has a free baysitter!), he will be claiming all his tax back from UK etc He even text me yesterday to say a company that offered him a job before have asked him in to talk about the job. He had previously told them he was looking for approx 120,000 a year and not to have to live in the EU. I know most of his colleagues are divorced and he definately doesnt want me to go CSA route but says its for my and he girls benefit cos we would hardly get any of the money he would be forced to pay. Thats a liquidised version of it, he has done worse than I have divulged here.

I would ask Black Horse or the relevant DCA for a copy of the agreement. I had a loan with them which Unfortunately I have paid off. I wrote to them while the loan was still current asking how much I had left to pay and they gave me a date I thought was later than it should be. I wrote them back querying this date and they wrote back saying they couldnt find the agreement but the dates were correct. I paid it off to their dates but If this site had existed back then, I would have had the knowledge to get the loan terminated due to that. I still think I overpaid but nothing I can do except claim the 3 charges I received on this acct. Hopefully they wont find your agreement?!

Good luck with your finances, and with your RAF application.

received this secure message from Egg today:

Dear Nikki

Thanks for your message

I'm sorry to hear that your not happy with the Payment Protection.

I've tried to contact you today with regards to the Payment Protection on your Egg Loan but you were unavailable.

Please call our Lending Specialists on 0845 6000 291, they'll then talk this through with you and adjust the Egg Loan account as necessary. We wouldn't be able to refund the full premium as this was discussed at the time of the application and was signed on the credit agreement.

I've arranged for the original signed agreement to be sent to you first class.

Alternatively, you can send us another message including a convenient time and contact number and we'll be happy to call you.

I've also logged this as a complaint for you with out Customer Relations Team.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Victoria Richardson

Loans Servicing Specialist

and here is the garbled msg I sent prior to this:

Date22 Sep 2006 Time03:39 SubjectPayment Protection Insurance ComplaintDear Sir or Madam,I took out the above loan with yourselves at end of 2004. When I took it out, I must have signed up for Payment Protection Insurance although i believe I must have been mis-sold this as my employers scheme is generous for redundancy and illness so this was something that was not required. Also I can get PPI for ?3.95 per ?100 so I would not have taken out insurance with yourselves even if I hadnt been pregnant. Furthermore, as I have been on maternity leave since the beginning of 2005, I am not even covered for any payouts on this insurance. Finally i was also given the impression that the loan was conditional on me taking the PPI.Due to my marriage breakdown at end of last year I spoke to an advisor about my financial problems as my husband froze our joint acct and stopped giving me money, Despite advising the person that I was on maternity leave they never suggested I cancel the policy because it was of no use to me, and would have meant more of my payments would go straight to paying off the loan.I have been advised that I should be able to cancel the PPI contract at any time and receive a partial refund of the premium that I have paid. I would like to do this. And in view of the way I was mis-sold the insurance, I would like to ask for a full refund of the whole premium.

Any thought seeing as Egg are such a hard nut to crack?!

Have signed up for the free trial with Experian so will have a look at my credit file over the weekend. Received a letter from CITI acknowledging receipt and asking me to fill in a form and send them proof of my identity. It came last weekend but didnt get round to picking it up till Wednesday and have only sent it back today but at least the ball is rolling on this...

Oh well sent secure message to Egg asking for my acct numbers as I wanted to request my statements as I was contemplating divorce so would need financial details. They were helpful, came back with my acct numbers and advised that because the accts were closed I could get the statements for free. Just sent the SAR online so will see if they respond to it...

I think Blair oliver and Scott are part of HBOS - perhaps thats why they are being such a pain and refusing to hand it back to Halifax?

I know its nowhere near the 40 days but have received nothing from BOS yet so decided to email them via their website asking if they could acknowledge receipt. of my SAR. I did send it recorded delivery but the post office never gave me barcodes or whatever so I could track them and I was distracted with the kids getting grumpy in the pram!

Anyway I got this reply from their helpdesk within 30 mins of sending it -

Thank you for your e-mail of 22nd September 2006.

I am not familiar with the term 'SAR', please can you confirm what this

refers to and the address where your request was sent.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Joanne Scobie

Online HelpDesk

I emailed them back explaining what it is, what I requested and the address I sent it to. Also mentioned that I had heard others in the Consumer Action Group had received acknowledgements and as I hadnt just wanted to check that it was being processed. Not sure whether mentioning this group will slow down or speed up my application but couldnt resist mentioning it - after all I want them to know I WILL go all the way on this, and that I have a strong backing through this site!

Will let you know what they say!

I know its nowhere near the 40 days but have received nothing from Halifax yet so decided to email them via their website asking if they could acknowledge receipt. of my SAR. I did send it recorded delivery but the post office never gave me barcodes or whatever so I could track them and I was distracted with the kids getting grumpy in the pram!

Anyway I got this reply from their helpdesk within 30 mins of sending it -

Thank you for your e-mail of 22nd September 2006.

I am not familiar with the term 'SAR', please can you confirm what this

refers to and the address where your request was sent.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Joanne Scobie

Online HelpDesk

I emailed them back explaining what it is, what I requested and the address I sent it to. Also mentioned that I had heard others in the Consumer Action Group had received acknowledgements and as I hadnt just wanted to check that it was being processed. Not sure whether mentioning this group will slow down or speed up my application but couldnt resist mentioning it - after all I want them to know I WILL go all the way on this, and that I have a strong backing through this site!

Will let you know what they say!

With regards the statements, the SAR allows 40 days from date of receipt for the company to provide these so guess it depends if you sent a SAR in, and how long it has taken them so far. If you believe its a genuine mistake and they are not just trying to delay things then I'd just wait the extra days as I believe it takes at least a week to get all the old statements and I believe strangely enough the banks are quite busy at the moment!

With regards late payment charges on credit cards as far as I know you can claim them back - I will be when I get my statements.

Finally, not sure if you know but people are also succeffully claiming back PPI (Payment protection insurance) on cards and loans (something to do with proving they were mis-sold) as well as ERC (Early Redemtion penalties) on loans and mortgages as a lot of companies charge excessively on these and like the charges, the costs do not justify the charge.

Hope that makes sense, am typing inbetween dealing with my two midgets who as usual are causing mayhem! Note to self, never buy a cream carpet again!

Sent them a letter via the web page complaining about PPI and asking for a refund on the payments. I have been on maternity leave since a month or two after taking loan out so insurance was no use to me. Also, I was under the impression that the loan was conditional upon me taking their PPI which I would not have taken otherwise as I knew then i was pregnant and owuld be off work in a month or two.

Will see what they say - have given them 14 days to respond. Didnt phone Egg re cancelling as hate phoning but if necessary I can reference the secure mail I sent as my cancellation and refund request. Will be curious to see how they respond, and how long that will take.

Nikki

Not sure if its 6 years from court date or 6 years from date they received your SAR (Unless you have taken a lot longer than normal to get through stsges to court). I would guess it would be (Or should be) from the date of receipt of SAR cos its the Bank who have delayed paying up so surely not your fault?

Also have heard of a few people claimg longer - think the argument was along the lines that you only just found out about these illegal charges so couldnt claim before.

I guess someone with more time and experience will clarify for you/us!

Nikki

Any thought? I have two cards but have only received this for one of them. Will this complicate things for claiming charges if I cancel and get refund. Also would I have paid interest on this money, or should I claim interest from them?!

Just noticed that my Egg Loan of 13353 has Loan payment protection of £1908.63. I have had the loan since Oct/Nov 2004 and went on maternity leave mid November 2004 and am still on it till November this year. I would guess this does not protect me but I did not tell them when i took the loan out that I was pregnant cos I thought I wouldnt get the loan. The loan also paid off a previous loan with themselves and gave me some cash.

I had money problems end of last year due to my husband freexing the joint acct and putting his wages into his own acct. At the time I advised them of my problems, stating i wasnt working due to maternity leave, and that my husband and I were splitting up (been on\off ever since) and to help they extended my loan to maimum period.

What I am wondering is if I can cancel the Loan Payment protection - I only took it cos I thought it was a condition of the loan and obviously its not much use to me. What are the chances that I paid all the Protection on the first loand and then paid again on this one or would they have reimbursed me some of the inital payment? Would I be able to claim any of my payment protection back, or have it knocked off the loan total?

Any advice\recommended strategies\letters would be appreciated. I have online access so can email them any queries\request and they are usually not bad at getting back to me. Will also be putting a SAR in for my two old credit cards - I was behind with payments to them but paid them off in January and they then closed the accts due to my change in circumstances. I have paid all payments this year, could they forclose on the loan if I try to cancel insurance or claim my charges on my old cards? I dont think I received any docs about the change in length of loan and if they make me go back to old terms I wouldnt be able to afford the increase in payments. I also am unable to pay the loan off just now as I am on Family Credit and still debating whether I can manage to return to work in November.

Sorry if this has been asked before, I did do a quick search but couldnt find anything and since then have been busy with the youngest midget!

Thanks,

Nikki

PS Am happy to read any threads etc that may be relevant if you know of any please send me the links!

Received letter about my PPI (Must have received an earlier one but with everything going on I cant remember it? Will have to dig through my pile of paperwork.Has anyone else received a similar one?

September 2006

Dear Mrs XXXXXXX

IMPORTANT: Have you read and understood the Payment Protection Insurance Policy Document we recently sent you?

It is important that you have read and understood the Policy Document we recently sent you relating to the Payment Protection insurance you have taken out on your Capital One credit card. This document details important information relating to your policy so please ensure that you have:

read the policy Documents carefully - in particular the Policy Summary section

checked that you are eligible for this product, full details are set out in section 2 of

the policy document

made yourself familiar with the exclusions and limitations relating to your Payment

Protection Insurance, full details are set out in the Policy Document.

checked that the insurance cover provided by this policy is right for you

If you would like another copy of this document please contact us on the number below.

We hope that you will still find that this Payment Protection Insurance is of value to you. However, should you believe this insurance cover is not right for you, you may cancel by 16th November 2006 to receive a full refund of your premiums paid. Full details of your right to cancel can be found at section 7.1 of the enclosed Policy Document.

If you decide to cancel your Payment Protection Insurance or you have any questions about the above please call us on freephone 0800 422 0289. We're here 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am-5pm on Saturday.

Once again accept our apologies for any confusion or inconvenience caused by this mistake.

Yours sincerely

xxxx

My daughter has screwed up my keyboard so rhs of keyboard not working so lots of cutting and pasting and not able 2 type much at moment!

Nikki

kk

Got the standard letter from Kathy Blunt at Capital One saying they will get all my statements etc sent to me. Also received a letter about my PPI (Must have received an earlier one but with everything going on I cant remember it? Will have to dig through my pile of paperwork.. Has anyone else received a similar one?

September 2006

Dear Mrs XXXXXXX

IMPORTANT: Have you read and understood the Payment Protection Insurance Policy Document we recently sent you?

It is important that you have read and understood the Policy Document we recently sent you relating to the Payment Protection insurance you have taken out on your Capital One credit card. This document details important information relating to your policy so please ensure that you have:

read the policy Documents carefully - in particular the Policy Summary section

checked that you are eligible for this product, full details are set out in section 2 of

the policy document

made yourself familiar with the exclusions and limitations relating to your Payment

Protection Insurance, full details are set out in the Policy Document.

checked that the insurance cover provided by this policy is right for you

If you would like another copy of this document please contact us on the number below.

We hope that you will still find that this Payment Protection Insurance is of value to you. Howevere, should you believe this insurance cover is not right for you, you may cancel by 16th November 2006 to receive a full refund of your premiums paid. Full details of your right to cancel can be found at section 7.1 of the enclosed Policy Document.

If you decide to cancel your Payment Protection Insurance or you have any questions about the above please call us on freephone 0800 422 0289. We're here 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am-5pm on Saturday.

Once again accept our apologies for any confusion or inconvenience caused by this mistake.

Yours sincerely

xxxx

No word from Halifax re statements, hopefully I will get them soon as am not doing any more claims to other companies till I get past the SAR stage with all these as trying to minimise any confusion or possibility of missed dates cos I am dealing with too many at once!

Congrates on your win - hope the other two go as smoothly. I am still waiting for statements from companies, seems to take ages but guess this is the longest period with not much happening, other deadlines are shorter!

Nikki

Just tell him, HI from the CAG group and we should all hopefully keep him out of the office and travelling through the UK for the considerable future!

Just to say good luck for tomorrow..am just getting my acct numbers etc and will be sending off my SAR to Egg this week....

Hi 274 - Can you send me that screensaver - my kids are still too young to read so will be able to use it!

Hiya, just want to add to the well dones and also to say i picked up a lot of info in your thread. I am a fast reader but it can be difficult to read everything properly with two midgets running around and grief between me and the husband! Never knew about the mortgage being 12 years so thats really helpful too as I am trying to help out as many in my family that want the help! Strange some dont want to or dont feel they should claim?! saves me hassle but I just dont understand!

Hope your other claims get sorted out as swiftly and they help put you on the path to no more charges!