Have a look here (great site!): http://www.firstpluscomplaints.co.uk/ - note as I write this it is temporarily down - but there are loads of well informed FP customers on there.

My Virgin Credit Card is the least of my worries, but I thought I would raise the issue on this forum to see if anyone had had a similar experience. Basically Virgin have just almost DOUBLED my interest rate (now stands at an APR of 29%). Always kept the account in good order (never missed a payment - albeit a minimum payment!). Anyone had a similar experience? Is it worth complaining about as I noticed in the press today that the credit card companies were being taken to task about unfair terms. What is the normal route to follow re complaints?

I am in a right state financially - but hope SOMEONE out there can help (please!!). Firstly I work full time with a decent salary and my take home is around £2,500, however just seperated from my wife - so my situation is dire: Paid 204k for the house 18 months ago - worth now 150K Outstanding mortgage 147k (approx) with Abbey - 955 p/m Secured Loan 57k (First Plus) - 563 p/m In addition, 33k of unsecured debt (2 x credit cards - virgin and tesco/1 x personal loan - tesco) - total payments around 550) Then of course got all my other priorites - utilities, council tax etc. The upshot is almost more going out than coming in. Secured debts are in joint names, everything else in my name (my wife does not earn that much). I am hoping to avoid bankruptcy on the grounds that I do have decent money coming in and (for the sake of my daughter keep the house). CCCS 'online' assessment recommended bankruptcy, though I hoped to: Switch to interest only on morgage (should save upto £300) IVA for unsecured debt (hopefully for no more than £200 per month) Then cut expenditure in all other areas to a minimum. Any help or advice gratefully recieved. I was particulalry interested to know that, if I chose bankruptcy, would that mean the house would go (given it is in negative equity) and is bankruptcy that 'painful'???

No, but needed the cash urgently say pay a hefty interest charge - which they then put up again. Since then one minor reduction but nothing as a result of the current interest rate reductions.

Took out a First Plus loan at the height of the property boom, though now house is in negative equity and it's sale would not even cover the outstanding mortgage, never mind what is owed to First Plus. I have recently seperated from my wife and wondered what is likely happen if I approach First Plus to reduce the payments (the interest rate is astronomical!) given that if I did default the sale of the house would leave them with nothing anyway!! All this is part of a larger plan to 'stabalise' my finances. I am hoping to move my mortgage to interest only and move for an IVA on unsecured debt.

I have a £700 claim in with Abbey which is currently on hold, however they recently charged me: - June - £6.50 over limit for 2 days, charges £5 DD fee, £25 "monthly fee" - August - £17.78 over limit for 1 day, charges £35 OD fee, £25 "monthly fee" I wrote to them saying £90 "penalties" were essentially theft for going over my limit for £23 for 3 days. Unsurprisingly got no response at all. They went ahead and deducted the August charges today. Fuming rang them with partial success: - they refunded the £35 August charge - no questions - they are "not allowed" to refund the £25. Could not actually get a straight answer to who "was allowed" to - no joy on the June charges, as I can only have one refund every 12 months They clearly make the rules up as they go along! I will follow up with a strongly worded letter to Customer Services by recored post, I won't get any joy but will make me feel better and will give a jobs worth at Abbey something to do!!

I submitted a financial hardhsip claim to Abbey for my bank charges - got a standard letter back saying case stayed etc etc. They have since levied 2 further charges on my account first one £35 for going £5 over my OD limit for ONE day and then £61 for going £17.50 over the limit for 3 days. They are truly beyond belief. I am awaiting repsonse from my latest letter asking them to reconsider the charges. What they fail to realise that by levying these charges they are pushing us all further into debt. I think it is appalling we cannot claim yet they can still make the charges.......

Bought a dining set from DFS in May 07 on a buy now, pay from May 08 deal. It was a very busy time as we were just moving house, but I note on re-reading through the paperwork we may have been charged PPI. One lot of paperwork says one monthly repayment and then on another a monthly figure £25 higher (there is a tiny box on the credit form which has been ticked for PPI). The sales person has written pay by May 2008 and I am presuming this means to avoid PPI charges. We actually went in there for 4 years interest free credit (with pay nothing for a year), it seems what we actaully got is pay nothing for a year, then 6 monthly instalments with PPI. Although my own fault for not reading things carefully, have I got any recourse for having been mis-sold this agreement?

Hello - My daughter bought an LG Mobile phone from Phones 4 U on 30 May 2007. The screen on the phone is now faulty (she is very careful and it has only suffered normal year and rear). We still have the receipt - what rights (if any) does she have? A point to note is she paid £99.99 for the phone - it is now on sale for less than £50

I have a similar if not identical problem which was not quite answered - useful to know what the timeline is? NR really are bunch of t*ss*rs - seems they have done the same as people like us - borrowed more than we can afford!!. My missed paymnet only a couple of weeks old - yet already they are breathing down my neck - hardly a day goes by without a letter. Somene suggested a CCA request - not sure if this is the right answer???????????

Is there a standard spreadsheet you can use to work out exactly how much you can pay debtors - i.e. how much you should be left with for food etc?

I would be really interested in how you have dealt with them - how far down the road are you - had they threatened you with court action, how far in arrears etc?

Thanks for that - I take it CCA is the original credit agreement - I take it you just use one of the templates off here? How did they take your none refusal to pay?

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To be honest it is just one of those things - though a letter of complaint never hurts. The deed has been done so to speak and there is little they can do to rectify it - you must always consider what outcome you seek from a complaint like this. A further point is that your hubbie may have a grievance should his current employer takes action against him on the basis of applying for another post.

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Great advice - glad to see people have had the same experiences as me. The service really is shoddy. I have sent a detailed letter of complaint and will see what happens To be honest Scot Pow have been shoddy - sent a DD form off when I first moved in, 2 or 3 weeks later they sent me another form (no mention of the first) and then a couple of weeks after that they sent me a bill (no mention of a DD account). I rang them and no record of receiving any forms!! The are all as bad as each other!

Thanks for your kind words - After looking through these forums I have already looked at CCCS and Payplan - and may well ring Payplan - look forward to anyone else who can offer advice - especially anyone who has tackled debts (and suceeded) of my magnitude!

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On 30th of May I moved house and had previously paid all my bills by DD promptly. My new supplier is Scottish Power (who have been a nightmare in themselves having lost a number of DD forms I have completed). Yesterday, I received a "final warning" letter from Powergen claiming if I did not pay an outstanding bill of £136 (from my old home) I would be passed to a debt collection agency and there maybe county court action. The thing is I had not recived any previous correspondence from them - including any final bill - this final demand arrived out of the blue. They 'claimed' to have tried to contact me 3 times by post and email (though the email address they had was a very old one no longer in use). Having had no other problems with post, I find it hard to believe all correspondence from them had gone adrift. I had given them my new address/telephone when I gave them my final meter readings. To add insult to injury the the final warning was obviously a stanard 3 liner with a photocopied signature. I have rang them (operator was an ill mannered idiot who basically said I was a liar) and I have also written a letter of complaint. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar expereince and can offer any advice in a situation like this?